The Royal College of Physicians Commissioners for Madhouses 1774-1827
A Middlesex University resource provided by Andrew Roberts
Contents page THE LUNACY COMMISSION,
ITS ORIGIN, EMERGENCE AND CHARACTER
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The Royal College of Physicians
Commissioners for Madhouses
1774-1827

2.6 TABLES

INTRODUCTION

There are three tables on this web page, showing who held office and for what periods they served in the madhouse commission of the Royal College of Physicians. The organisation of the commission is explained on the previous web page

Table one shows the Officers of the Physician Commission

Table two shows the system of appointing commissioners, and how it developed

Table three lists the individual commissioners, in chronological order of first appointment, with biographical notes. The individual commissioners are also indexed alphabetically in the Directory of Lunacy Commissioners

With the exception of the first Secretary, all Commissioners were Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, and have biographies in Munk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians.

Method of identifying the commissioners

The list of Presidents and Treasurers was taken from Munk, the names of Secretaries and commissioners from Royal College of Physicians manuscript records. The Secretaries' names and periods of office were taken from the Treasurer's Account Book for the Commission (Royal College of Physicians Commission Account).

The appointments of commissioners were minuted in the Royal College of Physicians Annals. By themselves, the Annals entries were not sufficient for identification. That for 30.9.1926 read:-

"The College elected the Presdt, Dr Frampton, Dr Young, Dr Yeates and Dr Macmichael, Commissioners for Licensing Madhouses during the ensuing year."

This was the standard form of the entries. I found several names difficult to read, but recorded each as it appeared. (E.g. "Dr Buxges" (x?), "Dr Morrw" (Morris?)). Each different name was then entered on a separate sheet with the dates of commissionership (E.g. "Dr Austie, Commissioner 1817"), and I attempted to correlate these with the Licentiates and Fellows in Munk.

The date a physician became LRCP or FRCP and his date of death gave definite margins to whether he could have been the commissioner. In cases where there were still rival contenders, Munk's biography often helped to reduce the field. Someone resident in Leicester, for example, was unlikely to have served as a London commissioner.

By this means the names and periods of service of the majority were established, but I was still left with some entries which I could not find a physician to fit, or where the identification was ambiguous. There was no "Austie" in Munk (1701 to 1825) for example, and the nearest name I could find was William Austin, who died in 1793. In such cases I consulted other sources. In a list of Fellows and Licentiates in 1818 I found the nearest to "Austie" was Henry Ainslie, and I entered him as the commissioner. I have provided notes on such doubtful and ambiguous cases at the end of the table of individual commissioners.

Finally I checked my results against the statements of commissioners before Select Committees. There were not many of these, but, as can be seen from the identifications notes, those there were generally fit my results with one marked exception (Thomas Young).

Analysis incomplete (Annual changes only)

I only recorded commissioners appointed at annual meetings, but, by the 1774 Madhouse Act section 4 , they could be, and occasionally were, replaced at other times. To have traced the replacements exhaustively would have involved reading through each years minutes for fifty four years. My lists, therefore, are not strictly speaking lists of the commissioners, but of those elected at Annual Meetings. This deficiency may account for some of the remaining ambiguities.

2.6.1d SENIOR AND JUNIOR COMMISSIONERS

There were clues to the division into senior and junior commissioners in Select Committee reports. Bright was asked if the commissioners were changed every year, and replied:

"Part are ... the two junior commissioners are generally retained two years; the senior commissioner often continues in office for three years; beyond that, by the Act, I believe he cannot" (1827 SCHC p.41/116)

Senior here refers to the President. Junior seems to have been in general use in the sense in which I have used it. (E.g. See quotation 25.2.1. Licensing Meeting).

Following such clues, I divided commissioners into junior and senior according to whether they had previously served. Before 1797 different numbers of each were appointed each year, but from 1797, with two exceptions, exactly two `juniors' were appointed each year, and they usually served two years.

The exceptions were in 1812 and 1819, when three juniors (in the sense of not having served before) were appointed. On biographical grounds I have allocated James Franck (1812) and Sir Christopher Pegge (1819) to the seniors column in Table 2

Referring back to my original notes I found that the commissioners listed as juniors in this table were invariably entered last in the Royal College of Physicians Annals minute.

Although the results are reasonably `neat', they cannot be conclusive. The evidence of Young, already referred to, for example, does not fit in with them. (See Identification Note 1)

Table 3 shows that, from 1783, juniors with minor deviations, were elected in the order of their fellowship.

Table 2 includes by each senior the number of years since he last served. Although the interval varied, the appointments were not random. No senior (apart from Presidents), in the period after 1783, served more than a year at a time. Four years was the most frequent interval between appointments and this was also the minimum, except in 1816 when Richard Budd served again after only three years. Thirty two of the 69 intervals were of four or five years. All but seven were less than ten year intervals.

Table One
2.6.1 TA1 OFFICERS
SECRETARIES OF THE COMMISSION
  Period of Office
Mr Wall 1774 or 5 to 1797
Dr John Mayo 1797 to 1807
Dr Richard Powell September 1808 to 1825
Dr John Bright 1825 to 1828
TREASURERS OF THE Royal College of Physicians
AND THE COMMISSION
Dr Henry Hinckley 1762 to 1.11.1779
Dr Robert Thomlinson 1780 to 1787
Dr (from 1794 Sir) Lucas Pepys 1788 to 1798
Dr Richard Budd 18.3.1799 to 4.4.1814
Dr William George Maton 4.4.1814 to 1820
Dr John Gilbert Currey 26.6.1820 to 11.12.1822
Dr Thomas Turner 23.12.1822 to 25.6.1845
PRESIDENTS OF THE Royal College of Physicians
External link to RCP's online list
Dr Thomas Lawrence 1767 to 1774
Dr William Pitcairn 1775 to 1785
Sir George Baker 1785 to 1790, 1792 to 1793, 1795
Dr Thomas Gisborne 1791, 1794, 1796 to 1803
Sir Lucas Pepys 1804 to 1810
Sir Francis Milman 1811 to 6.10.1813
Dr John Latham 1813 to 1819
Sir Henry Halford 30.9.1820 to 9.3.1844
REGISTRARS OF THE Royal College of Physicians
Richard Tyson. 1774 to 1780.
Henry Revell Reynolds. 1781 to 1783.
James Hervey. 1784 to 1814.
Clement Hue 1815 to 4.2.1824
William Macmichael. 6.2.1824 to 1829.
Table Two
2.6.1 TA2 Physician Commission: Table showing system of appointment.

A figure in square brackets is the number of years since the commissioner was appointed a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).

¶ precedes the commissioner of longest standing, who by law acted as Chair. PRESIDENTS ARE IN CAPITALS.

Junior Commissioners are in italics.

A figure following a forward slash (/) is the number of years since a non-Presidential senior commissioner last served. These re-appointments are coloured blue if their previous appointment was as a Senior Commissioner. They are coloured mauve if their previous appointment was as a Junior Commissioner. Clicking the colour will take you to the previous appointment.

The Secretary from 1774 to 1797 was Mr Wall. The Treasurer to 1779 was Henry Hinckley, who also served as a commissioner for the first two years.

From 1774 to 1777 only two of the initial five commissioners were replaced each year and nearly all commissioners were fellows of several years standing, including Royal College of Physicians officers and ex- officers.

Throughout the life of the Physician Commission, the President was almost invariably a commissioner unless debarred by the three year rule. (See 1774 Madhouse Act section 2.

1774 W.Pitcairn[24] Hinckley[19] Thomlinson[7] Pringle[11] ¶Reeve[38]
1775 ¶W.PITCAIRN Hinckley Thomlinson Brocklesby[19] Gisborne[16]
1776 W.PITCAIRN Brocklesby Gisborne ¶Lawrence[32] Cadogan[18]
1777 Gisborne ¶Lawrence Cadogan Petit[10] Warren[16]

In 1778 four completely new commissioners were appointed with the President. Two were long established fellows, but two were much more recently FRCP. Thereafter one, two or three commissioners each year were normally quite recent fellows (Junior Commissioners)

From 1783 the juniors were clearly selected in the sequence of their admission to fellowship.

From 1780 to 1787 the Treasurer was Robert Thomlinson. He had served as commissioner in 1774 and 1775, but did not serve during his office as Treasurer.

1778 ¶W.PITCAIRN Baker[21] Tyson[17] Schomberg[7] Reynolds[4]
1779 ¶W.PITCAIRN Baker Schomberg Reynolds MISSING ONE
1780 ¶W.PITCAIRN Tyson/2 Turton[12] Reynolds Wright[5]
1781 ¶Thomas[24] Turton Wright Pepys[6] Burgess[6]
1782 ¶W.PITCAIRN Thomas Heald[22] Pepys Burgess
1783 ¶W.PITCAIRN Heald Monro[12] Budd[6] Milman[5]
1784 Brocklesby[28]/8 Monro Budd Milman Hervey[2]
1785 ¶BAKER[28] Cadogan/8[27] Hervey Caulet[1] Watson[1]
1786 ¶BAKER Gisborne/9[27] Watson D.Pitcairn[1] Knox[0]
1787 ¶BAKER Heald/4 D.Pitcairn Knox Barclay(*)[0]

The Treasurer from 1788 to 1798 was Lucas Pepys. He had served as a junior commissioner in 1781 and 1782, and served twice as a senior commissioner during his office as Treasurer. In 1790 he was the first ex-Junior commissioner to be appointed a Senior commissioner. In 1804 he became President.

From 1790 an ex-Junior commissioner was appointed a Senior commissioner each year. Note that they are appointed in the same order as they served as juniors.

1788 W.Pitcairn/5[38] Monro/4 Barclay(*) Fordyce[1] Austin[1]
1789 ¶BAKER Cadogan/4 Fordyce Austin Ash
1790 BAKER[33] Pepys/8 ¶Brocklesby/6 Ash Smyth[2]
1791 ¶GISBORNE Burgess/9 Smyth Latham[2] Mayo[3]
1792 BAKER ¶Brocklesby/2 Budd/9 Latham Mayo
1793 ¶BAKER Cadogan/4 Milman/9 Saunders[3] Baillie[3]
1794 ¶GISBORNE Pepys/4 Hervey/9 Baillie Saunders
1795 BAKER ¶Brocklesby/3 Burgess/9 Roberts[2] Halford(**)[1]
1796 ¶GISBORNE Monro/8 Hunter[3] Roberts Halford(**)


The Secretary from 1797 to 1807 was Dr John Mayo, who had served as a junior commissioner in 1791 and 1792.

By 1797 the selection of commissioners was so systematic as to be quite simply tabulated:

  • Each year the President (except in the fourth year), two senior commissioners and two junior commissioners were appointed.

  • The next year, both seniors were replaced, but the juniors served a second year before being replaced by more recent fellows.

  • Some years later, the ex-juniors would serve as seniors for a year.. and so on.

The Treasurer from 1799 to 1814 was Richard Budd, who had served as commissioner in 1783, 1784, 1792 and 1797. He served four times as a senior commissioner during his period of office, and once afterwards.

  Presidents and Senior Commissioners Junior Commissioners
1797 ¶GISBORNE Budd/5 Milman/4 Ainslie Hunter
1798 ¶GISBORNE Hervey/4 Fordyce/9 Ainslie Wollaston
1799 Monro/11 Smyth/8 Latham/7 Stone Wollaston
1800 ¶GISBORNE Pepys/6 Burgess/5 Stone Pemberton
1801 ¶GISBORNE Budd/4 Milman/4 Powell Pemberton
1802 ¶GISBORNE Hervey/4 Barclay/14 Powell Morris
1803 Latham[14]/4 ¶Smyth[15]/4 Saunders/9 Heberden Morris
1804 ¶PEPYS Roberts/8 Hunter/7 Heberden Frampton
1805 ¶?PEPYS[30] Budd/4 Burgess[30]/5 Willis Frampton
1806 ¶PEPYS Hervey/4 Milman/5 Willis Gower
1807 D.Pitcairn[22]/20 Latham[18]/4 Saunders/4 Maton Gower

The Secretary from 1808 to 1825 was Dr Richard Powell.

1808 ¶PEPYS Mayo/16 Morris/5 Maton Haworth
1809 ¶PEPYS Budd/4 Ainslie/11 Lambe [5] Haworth
1810 ¶PEPYS Stone/10 Pemberton/9 Lambe Price [5]
1811 ¶MILMAN[33] Hervey[29]/5 Roberts[18]/7 Currey [6] Turner [6]
1812 ¶MILMAN Frampton/7 Franck[9]/- Currey Price
1813 LATHAM[24] ¶ Budd[36]/4 Gower/5 Satterle y [7] Turner

The Treasurer from 1814 to 1820 was Dr William Maton.

1814 LATHAM ¶Pepys[39]/4 Maton/6 Satterle y Nevinson
1815 LATHAM ¶Hervey[33]/4 Haworth/6 Warren Nevinson
1816 Budd[39]/3 Roberts/5 Franck/4 Bree Cooke
1817 ¶LATHAM Ainslie[22]/8 Lambe/7 Bree Cooke
1818 ¶LATHAM Stone[23]/10 Currey/9 Hume Whitter
1819 Pepys[44]/5 Pegge[23]/- Turner/8 Hume Whitter

The Treasurer from 1820 to 1822 was Dr George Currey.

The Treasurer from 1822 to 1827 was Dr Thomas Turner.

1820 ¶HALFORD[26] Frampton[22]/8 Nevinson/5 Bright Hue
1821 HALFORD ¶Hervey[39]/6 Gower/8 Bright Hue
1822 HALFORD ¶Roberts[29]/6 Lambe/5 Cholmeley Young
1823 Pepys[48]/4 Maton[21]/9 Bree/6 Cholmeley Ager
1824 ¶HALFORD Turner[19]/5 Cooke/7 Harrison Ager

The Secretary from 1825 to 1827 was Dr John Bright.

1825 HALFORD[31] ¶Latham[36]/7 Hue/4 Yeates Paris
1826 ¶HALFORD Frampton/6 Young/4 Yeates Macmichael
1827 ¶Heberden[31]/23 Bree[20]/4 Hume/8 Williams Macmichael
See the identification notes to TA3, with respect to the following: (*) James Robertson Barclay. (**) Henry Vaughan, later Halford.

mental health
history
timeline Citation: see referencing suggestion

Click for:

Alphabetical index of all commissioners (1774- 1912)

Directory of Commissioners

identifying the commissioners

identification notes

incomplete

junior commissioners

licensed houses

mad houses

senior commissioners

Table one (officers)

Table two (system)

Table three (all commissioners)

Table Three
2.6.1 TA3 Physician commissioners: Table of individuals with biographical notes

The table is in chronological order of the year the commissioner was first appointed (first column), gives the total number of years served (third column), the year of becoming a fellow of the college (fourth column), and the specific years of appointment in the last column.

The footnote references all relate to problems of identification.

Year first appointed Number of years as a commissioner
  Name and notes   frcpSpecific Years Appointed
1774 William Pitcairn (3).
born 1711 died 25.11.1791
President 1775-1785
Physician the Blue-Coat School
Fellow Royal Society from 1770
10 FRCP
1750
Commissioner 1774,1775+1776, 1778+1779, 1780,1782+1783, 1788.
  Henry Hinckley.
died 1.11.1779
Treasurer 1762-1779
2 FRCP
1755
Commissioner 1774+1775
  Robert Thomlinson.
died 5.6.1788
Treasurer 1780-1787
2 FRCP
1767
Commissioner 1774+1775.
  John Pringle.
born 1707 died 18.1.1782.
See note
1 FRCP
1763
Commissioner 1774
  Thomas Reeve.
born about 1700 died 3.10.1780.
President 1754-1763


1 FRCP
1736
Commissioner 1774
1775 Richard Brocklesby.
born 11.8.1872 died 1797.
Physician to Samuel Johnson.
See note
7 FRCP
1756
Commissioner 1775+1776, 1784, 1787, 1790, 1792, 1795.
  Thomas Gisborne
died 24.2.1806
President 1791, 1794, 1796-1803. Physician to George 3rd


12 FRCP
1759
Commissioner 1775,1776+1777, 1786, 1791, 1794, 1796,1797+1798, 1800,1801+1802.
1776 Thomas Lawrence
born 25.5.1711 died 6.6.1783.
President 1767-1774.
Friend & Physician to Samuel Johnson. See note
2 FRCP
1744
Commissioner 1776+1777
  William Cadogan.
born about 1711 died 26.2.1797


5 FRCP
1758
Commissioner 1776+1777, 1785, 1789, 1793.
1777 John Lewis Petit.
died 27.5.1780
1 FRCP
1767
Commissioner 1777
  Richard Warren.
born 13.12.1731 died 22.6.1797.
Physician to George 3rd during his madness. Friend of the Prince of Wales.


1 FRCP
1761
Commissioner 1777
1778 George Baker.
born 1722 died 15.6.1809.
President 1785-1790, 1792-1793, 1795.
George 3rd's personal physician.
10 FRCP
1757
Commissioner 1778+1779, 1785,1776+1777, 1789+1790, 1792+1773, 1795.
  Henry Revell Reynolds
born 26.9.1745 died 22.10.1811.
Registrar RCP 1781-1783
Physician to George 3rd during his madness.
3 FRCP
1774
Commissioner 1778,1779+1780
  Isaac Schomberg
died 4.5.1780
note Whitmore House
2 FRCP
1771
Commissioner 1778+1779.
  Richard Tyson.
died 9.8.1784.
Registrar RCP 1774-1780


2 FRCP
1761
Commissioner 1778, 1780.
1780 John Turton.
born about 1736 died 14.4.1806.
A royal physician.
2 FRCP
1768
Commissioner 1780+1781
  Richard Wright.
died 14.10.1786


2 FRCP
1775
Commissioner 1780+1781
1781 Sir Lucas Pepys (1)
born 26.5.1742 died 17.6.1830.
Treasurer 1788-1798.
President 1804-1810.
Physician to George 3rd during his madness.
14 FRCP
1775
Commissioner 1781+1782, 1790, 1794, 1800, 1804,1805+1806, 1808,1809+1810, 1814, 1819, 1823.
  Noah Thomas
died 17.5.1792.
Physician to George 3rd.
2 FRCP
1757
Commissioner 1781+1782.
  John Burgess.
born 1745 died 2.4.1807


6 FRCP
1775
Commissioner 1781+1782, 1791, 1795, 1800, 1805
1782 Thomas Heald.
died 26.3.1789.
3 FRCP
1760
Commissioner 1782+1783, 1787
From 1783 there is a clear practice of appointing one, two or three commissioners who have only recently become fellows, and that they are appointed in the same chronological order as their fellowship. From this point the column of specific years is divided into years as a junior commissioner and years as a senior commissioner.
Year first appointed Number of years as a commissioner
  Name and notes     Specific Years Appointed:
1783 Richard Budd.
born 1746 died 2.9.1821.
Treasurer 18.3.1799 to 4.4.1814.
9 FRCP
1777
Junior
1783+1784
Senior Commissioner
1792, 1797, 1801, 1805, 1809, 1813, 1816.
  Donald Monro.
born 1727 died 9.6.1802
4 FRCP
1771
Junior
1783+1784
Senior Commissioner 1788+1799
  Francis Milman.
born 1746 died 24.6.1821.
Sir (Bt) 1800.
President 1811-1813.
Physician to the Royal Family
8 FRCP
1778
Junior
1783+1784
Senior Commissioner
1793, 1797, 1801, 1806, 1811, 1812.
1784 James Hervey
died 1821.
Registrar 1784-1814.
9 FRCP
1782
Junior
1784+1785
Senior Commissioner
1794, 1798, 1802, 1806, 1811, 1821
1785 William Watson (2)
born 1715 died 10.5.1787.
Sir (Kt) 1786
2 FRCP
1784
Junior
1785+1786
 
  John Gideon Caulet.
born 1750/1753? died 24.7.1786
1 FRCP
1784
Junior
1785
 
1786 Robert Knox.
died 22/5/1792
2 FRCP
1786
Junior
1786+1787
 
  David Pitcairn (3)
born 1.5.1749 died 17.4.1809
Physician to Charles and Mary Lamb
3 FRCP
1785
Junior
1786+1787
Senior Commissioner
1807
1787 James Robertson Barclay (4)
died 1827?
Physician to Princess of Wales 1799
3 FRCP
1787
Junior
1787+1788
Senior Commissioner
1802
1788 William Austin.
died 21.1.1793
2 FRCP
1787
Junior
1788+1789
 
  George Fordyce.
born 18.11.1736 died 25.5.1802
3 FRCP
1787
Junior
1788+1789
Senior Commissioner
1798
1789 John Ash.
born about 1723 died 18.6.1798.
The only commissioner for whom I found a record that he had, himself, been insane. (See Munk)
2 FRCP
1787
Junior
1789+1790
 
1790 James Carmichael Smyth.
born 1741 died 18.6.1821.
Physician to George 3rd
4 FRCP
1788
Junior
1790+1791
Senior Commissioner
1799, 1803.
1791 John Mayo.
born 1761 died 1818.
Secretary 1797-1807
3 FRCP
1788
Junior
1791+1792
Senior Commissioner
1808.
  John Latham (1)
born 29.12.1761 died 20.4.1843.
President 1813-1819.
Physician to George 4th.
11 FRCP
1789
Junior
1791+1792
Senior Commissioner
1799, 1803, 1807, 1813, 1814+1815, 1817, 1818, 1825.
1793 Mathew Baillie.
born 27.10.1761 died 23.9.1823.
Physician to George 3rd in 1810. See Halford's biography
2 FRCP
1790
Junior
1793+1794
 
  William Saunders.
born 1743 died 29.5.1817.
Physician to Prince of Wales.
4 FRCP
1790
Junior
1793+1794
Senior Commissioner
1803, 1807
1795 Henry Halford (1) (2)
born 2.10.1766 died 9.3.1844.
President 30.9.1820 to death.
Physician to four monarchs. See separate biography
8 FRCP
1794
Junior
1795+1796
Senior Commissioner
1820,1821+1822, 1824,1825+1826.
  Edward Roberts.
born about 1762 died 21.11.1846.
6 FRCP
1793
Junior
1795+1796
Senior Commissioner
1804, 1811, 1816, 1822.
1796 John Hunter.
died 29.1.1809.
3 FRCP
1793
Junior
1796+1797
Senior Commissioner
1804.
1797 Henry Ainslie (5)
born about 1762 died 26.10.1834.
4 FRCP
1795
Junior
1797+1798
Senior Commissioner
1809, 1817.
1798 William Hyde Wollaston.
born 6.8.1766 died 22.12.1828.
Left medicine (for chemistry) in 1800.
2 FRCP
1795
Junior
1798+1799
 
1799 Arthur Daniel Stone.
born 14.2.1764 died 12.8.1842.
See 2.5.2.1 and 6BIOL5.
4 FRCP
1795
Junior
1799+1800
Senior Commissioner
1810, 1818.
1800 Christopher Pemberton.
born about 1765. died 31.7.1822.
Royal Physician.
3 FRCP
1796
Junior
1800+1801
Senior Commissioner
1810.
1801 Richard Powell.
born 1767 died 18.8.1834.
Secretary 1808-1825.
2 FRCP
1796
Junior
1801+1802
 
1802 George Paulet Morris.
born about 1759 died 17.9.1837.
3 FRCP
1795
Junior
1802+1803
Senior Commissioner
1808.
1803 William Heberden. (1)
born 23.3.1767 died 19.2.1845.
Royal Physician.
Evidence to 1828 Select Committee
3 FRCP
1796
Junior
1803+1804
Senior Commissioner
1827
1804 Algernon Frampton. (1)
born 7.1.1776 died 21.9.1842.
5 FRCP
1798
Junior
1804+1805
Senior Commissioner
1812, 1820, 1826
1805 Robert Darling Willis. Son of Rev. Francis Willis who treated George 3rd's insanity in 1788. Robert Darling was in charge of the King from 1810. 2 FRCP
1798
1805+1806
 
1806 Charles Gower.
died April 1822.
4 FRCP
1800
Junior
1806+1807
Senior Commissioner
1813, 1821.
1807 William Maton.
born 31.1.1774 died 30.3.1835.
Treasurer 1814-1820.
Royal Physician.
4 FRCP
1802
Junior
1807+1808
Senior Commissioner
1814, 1823.
1808 James Haworth.
died 2.5.1823.
2 FRCP
1803
Junior
1808+1809
 
1809 William Lambe.
born 26.2.1765 died 11.6.1847.
An eccentric vegetarian who practised amongst the poor
4 FRCP
1804
Junior
1809+1810
Senior Commissioner
1817, 1822.
1810 Charles Price.
born about 1786 died 8.9.1853
2 FRCP
1805
Junior
1810, 1812
Senior Commissioner
1811 George Gilbert Currey.
died 11.12.1822.
Treasurer 26.6.1820 to death
3 FRCP
1805
Junior
1811+1812
Senior Commissioner
1818
  Thomas Turner (1)
born 17.1.1733 died 10.3.1865.
Treasurer 23.12.1822 to 25.6.1845.
Went on to be a Metropolitan Commissioner.
4 FRCP
1805
Junior
1811, 1813
Senior Commissioner
1819, 1824.
1812 James Franck.
died 27.1.1843.
An army physician.
2 FRCP
1803
  Senior Commissioner
1812, 1816.
1813 Richard Satterley.
died 1815.
2 FRCP
1806
Junior
1813+1814
 
1814 Charles Dalston Nevinson.
born 23.11.1773 died 12.8.1846.
3 FRCP 1806 Junior
1814+1815
Senior Commissioner
1820
1815 Pelham Warren.
born about 1777 died 2.12.1835.
1 FRCP
1806
Junior
1815
 
1816 Robert Bree.
born about 1759 died 6.10.1839.
4 FRCP
1807
Junior
1816+1817
Senior Commissioner
1823, 1827
  John Cooke.
died 1.1.1838.
Published a treatise on nervous diseases in 1820.
3 FRCP
1807
Junior
1816+1817
Senior Commissioner
1824.
1818 Tristram Whitter.
born about 1774 died 5.2.1855.
2 FRCP
1808
Junior
1818+1819
 
  Thomas Hume (2) (6)
born 1781/1782 died 1.3.1857.
Went on to be a Metropolitan Commissioner.
3 FRCP
1808
Junior
1818+1819
Senior Commissioner
1827
1819 Christopher Pegge. (Sir)
born about 1764 died 3.8.1822.
Regius Professor of Physic, Oxford.
1 FRCP
1796
  Senior Commissioner
1819
1820 John Bright (1)
born 17.12.1782. died 1.2.1870.
Secretary 1825-1828.
Went on to be a Metropolitan Commissioner.
2 FRCP
1809
Junior
1820+1821
 
  Clement Hue (6)
born about 1779 died 23.6.1861.
Registrar 1815 to 4.2.1824.
3 FRCP
1808
Junior
1820+1821
Senior Commissioner
1825.
1822 Thomas Young (1)
born 13.6.1773 died 10.5.1829
2 FRCP
1809
Junior
1822
Senior Commissioner
1827
  Henry James Cholmeley (7)
born about 1777 died 14.6.1837.
2 FRCP
1810
Junior
1822+1823
 
1823 Joseph Ager (2)
born about 1780 died 17.7.1857.
2 FRCP
1811
Junior
1823+1824
 
1824 Richard Harrison.
born about 1785 died 10.1.1825.
1 FRCP
1814
Junior
1824
 
1825 John Ayrton Paris.
born about 1785 died 24.12.1856.
President 20.3.1844 to death.
1 FRCP
1814
Junior
1825
 
  Grant David Yeates (1) (or Yeats)
born 1773 died 14.11.1838.
Physician to Duke of Bedford.
He helped establish the Bedford County Asylum.
Evidence to 1827 Select Committee
2 FRCP
1815
Junior
1825+1826
 
1826 William Macmichael (1)
born 1784. died 10.1.1839.
Registrar 6.2.1824 to 1829
See Halford's biography
2 FRCP
1818
Junior
1826+1827
 
1827 Robert Williams.
died 24.11.1845.
1 FRCP
1817
Junior
1827
 


IDENTIFICATION NOTES TO TABLE THREE


(1) The identity of commissioners marked (1) is confirmed by the minutes of evidence of Select Committees of the Houses of Commons or Lords. (References given below).

The evidence of Heberden, Macmichael and Yeates, confirms the dates given. The evidence of Nevinson, confirms 1820 and fits the other dates. The evidence of Pepys, Frampton, Turner, Bright, and John Latham fits the dates given without positively confirming them. In Latham's case, his evidence to the 1828 SCHL eliminates a manuscript ambiguity, for it is clear that it is John Latham and not his son, Peter Mere Latham, who was commissioner in 1825.

Bright in 1827 names Halford, Frampton, Young, Yates (sic), and Macmichael, as commissioners for that year. The year of appointment would have been 1826, and this corresponds with the manuscript.

The evidence of Thomas Young, does not correspond with my notes from the manuscript. He says that he had been a commissioner three different years, and was first so ten or twelve years ago. That would be 1818 or 1816. My (only) manuscript dates are 1822 and 1827. Later he was asked Were you a Commissioner in þ 1820?, and answered No; I was Commissioner much longer ago than that, and again last year.

References:

1815 SCHC (Madhouses). Sir Lucas Pepys (p.911) John Latham (p.913). Richard Powell gave evidence as Secretary, but does not mention having been a commissioner.

Henry Halford gave evidence to the 1816 SCHC (Madhouses) (p.913), but not as a commissioner.

1827 SCHC (Pauper Lunatics). John Bright (pp 119+116), William Macmichael (p.?), Algernon Frampton (p.134), Grant David Yeates (p.162).

1828 SCHL (Bills) William Heberden (p.725), Charles Dalston Nevinson (p.731), Thomas Turner (p.737), John Bright (p.742), Thomas Young (pp 733+734), John Latham (p.735).


(2) On the evidence, I am convinced that no Licentiate was ever chosen by the College as a commissioner. In the cases of Watson, Halford, Roberts and Hume, however, there were Licentiates listed in Munk who could arguably have been the persons meant by the minutes rather than the fellows I have named:

  • The manuscript entry, Dr Watson, could have been a Thomas Watson who was licensed 9.8.1784 and practised for some time in Chancery Lane.

  • The manuscript entries, Dr Roberts, could have been a Charles Julius Roberts who was licensed 22.12.1821.

  • The manuscript entries, Dr Hume, after 1819, could have been John Robert Hume who was licensed 22.12.1819.

  • Henry Halford (1795) was Henry Vaughan until 1809 when he changed his name ((see biography). The entries for 1795 and 1796 are Dr Vaughan. There were three Licentiates named Vaughan, but as they practised in the provinces they are very unlikely to have been the Dr Vaughan in the minutes. Generally, I ruled provincial physicians out of consideration when attempting to correlate the manuscript names to those in Munk's Roll.

Joseph Ager: I read the 1823 entry as L. Dr Ager. I thought L might stand for Licentiate, but I cannot find any Ager who was a Licentiate, either in Munk or in Anon, 1818. Dr Ager (the Fellow) was amongst those I noted as present at the annual meeting in 1824. (I made no note of those present in 1823).


(3) William Pitcairn and his nephew David Pitcairn (1786) were both Fellows in the period 1785 to 1791. The entries for 1786 to 1788 are: 1786 Dr Pitcairn, 1787 Dr Dd. Pitcairn, 1788 Dr William Pitcairn. The 1786 entry could have referred to either. I have taken it as David.


(4) James Robertson Barclay. The entries are: 1787 Dr Robertson, 1788 Dr Ja. Robertson, 1802 Dr Robertson Barclay. James Robertson changed his name from Robertson to Barclay in October 1799 (Munk)


(5) Henry Ainslie. I read the 1817 entry as Austie. There is no Austie in Munk. Ainslie is the nearest name I can find in Anon, 1818. The nearest alternatives are Ash and Ager in the list of Fellows, and Adams in the list of Licentiates.


(6) Thomas Hume and Clement Hue. I am not certain that entries I read as Dr Hume were not Dr Hue, or vice versa, in some cases.


(7) Henry James Cholmeley. I read the 1823 entry as Cholmsley, but there is no Cholmsley, in Munk 1701-1825.

 

© Andrew Roberts 1981-

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