Three misleading diaries: John Knyveton MD – from naval surgeon’s mate to man-midwife

Abstract

This article re-examines three books published between 1937 and 1946: Diary of a Surgeon, Surgeon’s Mate and Man Midwife. They purported to have been edited and annotated by Ernest A. Gray from an old journal written by a John Knyveton (1729–1809) who had served as a surgeon’s mate in the Royal Navy between 1752 and 1762, after a short training in surgery in a London hospital. The books had been criticised and their authenticity doubted. Now additional errors have been revealed, making it certain that the books are essentially fictional and written in the twentieth century. Although drawing inspiration from a biography of the eighteenth century Dr Thomas Denman (1733–1815), and very readable, the stories are marred by errors, altered dates and events taken from other periods of time. These books have been cited by many writers and researchers who mistakenly believed them to be eighteenth century sources. We hope that this article will make their unreliability and fictitious content more widely known.