Abstract
Ever since the publication of James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), it has been known that Johnson’s young servant, the former slave Francis Barber ‘ran away’ at one point and worked for a London apothecary. But the apothecary was not named by Boswell and has not been identified by any of Johnson’s numerous biographers nor in recent studies of Francis Barber. Research in surviving Boswell manuscripts, 18th-century London guides and the archives of the Society of Apothecaries prove the apothecary to have been Edward Ferrand. This article sets out the circumstances in which the reference to the anonymous apothecary came to appear in the Life of Johnson and reconstructs Ferrand’s life and career. Examining Ferrand’s origins, his social circumstances and his career, a case study is presented of a successful practitioner of the profession of apothecary in early Georgian Britain and a suggestion made as to why the distinguished apothecary came to provide a place of refuge for a teenaged runaway servant who had been a slave until he was about nine years old.
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References
1.For Barber, see Reade AL. Johnsonian gleanings , part II: Francis Barber, the doctor’s negro servan t. London: Arden Press, 1912, supplemented by Reade AL. Francis Barber: some more material for his biography . In: Johnsonian gleanings , part VIII: a miscellany. London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co, 1937, pp. 73–82; Larsen L. Dr Johnson’s household. Hamden: Archon Books, 1985; and Bundock M. From slave to heir: the strange journey of Francis Barber . In: The New Rambler , 2003–2004, E: 7, pp. 12–28 .
2.The footnote appeared in the first edition of Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, LLD 2 vols, London, 1791, i: 130, note 4. It now appears in the standard scholarly edition, the Life of Johnson. Hill GB (ed), Powell LF (rev), 6 vols, 1934–1964. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 239, n. 1. (This edition is referred to hereafter as ‘Life of Johnson ’) .
3.Waingrow M (ed). The correspondence and other papers of James Boswell relating to the making of the ‘Life of Johnson’. 2nd ed., corrected and enlarged. Edinburgh and New Haven: Edinburgh University Press and Yale University Press, 2001, p. 127. This volume is hereafter referred to as ‘Waingrow. Correspondence ’ .
4.Reade AL.Will of Richard Bathurst, Gentleman of Close of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 14 August 1756, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Glazier Quire Numbers 202–251, The National Archives: PRO PROB 11/824. In: Johnsonian Gleanings II .
5.For Dr Bathurst, see John Wiltshire. Samuel Johnson in the medical world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 94–96; Bundock M. From slave to heir . p. 14; and Robert DeMaria, jun. Bathurst, Richard (1722/3–1762). Oxford dictionary of national biography . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 .
6.Life of Johnson , i: 239, n. 1; Marshall Waingrow (ed) James Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’. An edition of the original manuscript in four volumes , vol I, 1709–1765. Edinburgh, New Haven and London: Edinburgh University Press and Yale University Press, 1994, p. 173
7.Daily Advertiser , 14–15 February 1757. See Rizzo B. The elopement of Francis Barber. In: English language notes , September 1985, pp. 35–38. The statement that Barber was absent ‘for some months’ helps to place the flight at the end of 1756
8.Waingrow. Correspondence , p.127 .
9.Life of Johnson . i: 239, n. 1, Boswell’s own note
10.Waingrow. Correspondence , p. 127 .
11.Waingrow. Correspondence , pp. 128–129, n. 1: ‘the letter must therefore have been returned and the inquiry conducted in person – perhaps at the London address that Boswell had noted on the back of Barber’s last letter to him’. Barber’s last letter was addressed from No 47 St John Street Smithfield (Waingrow. Correspondence , p. 107) .
12.The genealogist Tim Powys-Lybbe, http://www.tim.ukpub.net, 2009, following Burke’s commoners and John William Clay. Dugdale’s visitation of Yorkshire, with additions. Exeter: W Pollard & Co, 1899, ii:177, nominally linked the Edward Ferrand born 1691 with the London Apothecary whose will was proved in 1769 .
13.Powys-Lybbe, following Clay, Dugdale’s visitation , ii:177 and Johnson Atkinson Busfeild. Fragments of Bingley parish. Bradford: privately printed by Henry Gaskarth, 1875; Venn. Alumni Cantabrigienses; Burke’s landed gentry ; Samuel Margerison. Registers of the parish church of Calverley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Bradford: GF Sewell, 1880–1887, ii:7 .
14.Samuel Ferrand is supposed to have married a second time, to a ‘Miss Dobson’ but his six sons were all stated by Burke’s commoners to have been by his first wife, Anne (Marsh) Ferrand. They were: (a) Benjamin, in holy orders, died [1729, Alumni Cantabrigienses ] without surviving issue; (b) Philip, and (c) James who both died in the sea service without issue; (d) Robert, died young; (e) our subject, Edward, who married Anne Freeman, of Bristol, and died 21 January 1769, leaving two daughters, Anna, married to Edward Astley, esq. of Carey Street, Lincoln’s Inn, and Elizabeth, unmarried in 1774 and (f) Fytch-William, of St James, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, married Hannah-Maria Wallis, died 1 November 1759. Powys-Lybbe (2009) gives the dates of the Samuel Ferrand sons as: Benjamin (c1690–1728), Philip (b 1693), James (no dates), Robert (no dates), our subject Edward (1691–1769) and Fytch William (d 1759) .
15.The dates of the baptisms at Calverley, Yorkshire, of Edward (2 November 1691) and two of his brothers, Benjamin (24 April 1690 [Alumni Cantabrigienses says 1689]) and Philip (15 May 1693) are established in Margerison S. Registers of the parish church of Calverley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Bradford: GF Sewell, 1880–1887, p. 3 .
16.Venn. Alumni Cantabrigienses .
17.Microfilmed Parish Registers for St Anne’s Church, Soho, 1686–1931 .
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19.Bannerman WB. The registers of St Mary Le Bow, Cheapside, etc .
20.The National Archives: PRO PROB. 11/946 .
21.Bannerman WB. The registers of St Mary Le Bow, Cheapside; All Hallows, Honey Lane; and St Pancras, Soper Lane, London. Part II: marriages . Harleian Society Register Section 45, 1915 .
22.Entry for 15 March 1769, Society of Apothecaries Court minute book 1767–1778, p. 28; Burke’s commoners .
23.The following Parish registers were surveyed in search of his burial: St Stephen Walbrook, St Dunstan-in-the-West, St Mary-le-Bow, St George the Martyr, Queen Square, St George Bloomsbury, St Andrew, Holborn. Record of his burial was not found in these sources .
24.The National Archives: PRO PROB 11/946 .
25.Hamilton B. Medical professions in the eighteenth century. In: The economic history review 1951, NS4, pp. 141–169 at 161 .
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27.Wall, p. 117 .
28.Wall, 18, p. 136 .
29.Wall, pp. 136–137 .
30.A catalogue of the several members of the society of Apothecaries 1719; A catalogue of the several members of the society of Apothecaries 1752
31.Court Minute Book 1694–1716, p. 270 .
32.Wall, p. 78 .
33.On the training of apprentices, see Wall, pp. 76–90 and Hunting P. A history of the society of Apothecaries. London: The Society of Apothecaries, 1998, pp. 45–47 .
34.‘Edward Farrand [sic] Appr[entice] of Mr James Holland having served his full time was ex [examined] Appr [approved] Sworne and made free.’ Ferrand paid to the Society the sum of 7s 2d, the fee payable on being made Free. (Court Minute Book 1716–1726, p. 68; Hunting, p. 38) .
35.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 116v, p. 122 .
36.PJ and RV Wallis, with the assistance of JGL Bumby and the late TD Whillet. Eighteenth century medics: subscriptions, licenses, apprenticeships. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Project for Historical Biobibliography, 2nd improved and enlarged edition, 1988, p. 198 lists three apprentices, Dungale, Waley and Sainsbury. On our reading of the entries in the Court Minute Books the names of these apprentices are Dungate, Whaley and Sainsbery. Our reading agrees with that of Cliff Webb, abstracter. Society of Apothecaries 1670–1800 with Masons’ Company 1619–1639 ; London Livery Company Apprenticeship Registers, 42. London: Society of Genealogists, 2006 .
37.Court Minute Book, 1716–1726, 83v .
38.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 63v .
39.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 116v .
40.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 162v .
41.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 22v .
42.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, p. 190; Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 54 .
43.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 68 .
44.‘The stewards for the feast of the sons of the clergy, for the year 1751'. London Evening Post , 9 April 1752; issue 3819; London Daily Advertiser , 13 April 1752; issue 349; General Advertiser , Tuesday, 14 April 1752; issue 4556 .
45.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 187v .
46.Society of Apothecaries rough Court Minute Book, 1776–1783 [n.p.], Special Court of Assistants, 14 January 1783 .
47.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 116v .
48.Hunting, p. 41 .
49.Wall, pp. 88–89 .
50.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 31 and 34 .
51.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 127 .
52.2 September 1756; 1 January 1759; 20 September 1759; 30 September 1762 and 24 September 1765 (Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 133, 137, 146, 176v and 196v) .
53.For the garden, see Wall, pp. 162–181, Hunting, pp. 116–151 and Sue Minter. The Apothecaries’ garden: a new history of Chelsea physic garden. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2000 .
54.He was appointed on 12 October 1758, 18 October 1759, 16 October 1760, 21 October 1762, 24 October 1765 and 21 October 1766: Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 134, 147v, 158v, 177v, 197v and 205 .
55.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 131v, 132v, 133, 134v, 138, 141v, 144, 148, 148v, 152v, 159 and 177v .
56.Wall, pp. 18–19 and 32 .
57.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 129, 163v and 201 .
58.On the stock companies, see Wall, pp. 148–161 .
59.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 123, 123v, 135v .
60.Appointed 28 November 1765, Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 198v .
61.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 220v .
62.October 1758, 18 October 1759 (bills), 12 August 1762, 21 October 1762 (Black Fryars Wharf): Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 134, 147v, 159, 175v and 177 .
63.Catalogue of the several members of the society of Apothecaries , for years 1758–1764
64.Mortimer, T. The universal director; or, the nobleman and gentleman’s true guide to the masters and professors of the liberal and polite arts and sciences , London, 1763, p. 61 .
65.Court Minute Book 1745–1767, pp. 196–197 .
66.Court Minute Book 1745–1767, 202v. Reported in Public advertiser 22 August 1766, issue 9925 .
67.Court Minute Book 1767–1778, p. 1 .
68.A catalogue of the several members of the Society of Apothecaries , issued in September of each year; years 1745–1769 consulted
69.Court Minute Book 1767–1778, p. 28 .
70.A list of the liverymen of the city of London. London, 1768, p. 16
71.Freeman W. A complete list, of the stewards, vice-presidents, and treasurers belonging to the Royal Corporation, for the relief of the poor widows and children of clergymen, from … July 1, 1687 … , London, 1733. The court and city register for the year 1765 . London, [1765], p. 247, noted among the ‘Court of assistants of the governors for relief of widows and children of clergymen’, a ‘Mr Edward Ferrand’ .
72.The court and city register for the year 1756 , London, 1756, p. 218
73.List of the governors of Bridewell and Bethlem hospitals , 1756, 2, List … 1758, p. 6; Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser , 6 August 1766, issue 11, p. 670
74.London Evening Post 14 July 1763, issue 5570; Gazetteer and London Daily Advertiser , 16 July 1763, issue 10715; ‘Edward Ferrand, Esq., Southampton-row’, A list of the governors of St Bartholomew’s Hospital. London, 1767, p. 8
75.Waingrow, Correspondence , p. 127 .
76.Wall, p. 187; Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 19v .
77.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, p. 136 .
78.Court Minute Book, 1745–1767, 139v–141 .
79.Life of Johnson , i:242
80.Seccombe T. Levet, Robert (bap. 1705, d. 1782), rev. Robert DeMaria, jun. Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 .
81.HL Douch. Gone away! Runaway apprentices in the 18th and 19th centuries. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall , ns, II, 1:1 1991: 82–99 .
82.Chater K. Black people in England, 1660–1807. Parliamentary History 26: 78 .
83.Chater K. Black people in England, pp. 66–83, esp. pp. 78–79; Kathleen Chater. Untold histories: black people in England and Wales during the British slave trade, c. 1660–1812. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009, pp. 231–232. The proclamation of the Corporation of London forbidding black apprentices was issued on 14 September 1731; see Walvin J. Black and white: The Negro and English society 1555-1945. London: Allen Lane, 1973, p. 59 and 76 .
84.For a full account of Barber’s naval career, see Bundock. From slave to heir , pp. 16–22 .
85.Waingrow. Correspondence , p. 127 .
86.Life of Johnson , i:242
87.Waingrow. Correspondence , p. 128 .
88.‘[Number] 16. William Deyman (? the Mr Diamond, apothecary, visited by Dr Johnson in Cork Street in 1752), 1746–52 … ’ Cork Street and Savile Row area: Table of notable inhabitants on the Burlington Estate, Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2, 1963, pp. 566–572 .
89.Catalogue of the Society of Apothecaries 1746–1752; the 1745 catalogue has him of ‘Surry-street, Strand ’
90.London Daily Post and General Advertiser , 13 August 1736, issue 557, ‘On Tuesday last Mr Deyman, an eminent Apothecary in Arundel-street, was married to Miss Bridget Staples of Salisbury, a very agreeable young Lady, with a considerable Fortune’; London Evening Post , 17 May 1739, issue 1796: ‘Thursday died Mrs. Deyman, Wife to Mr Deyman, an Apothecary, at his House in Surrey-street’; Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer , 19 January 1749, issue 460: ‘Yesterday died, after a most painful Illness of more than six Months Continuance, Mrs Deyman, Wife of Mr Deyman, an Apothecary in Cork-street, Burlington-Gardens’. The link between Deyman of Arundel-street and the William Deyman who knew Johnson seems provisional
91.De morbis venereis topicis tractatus ad praxin accomodatus, Londoni [sic]: impensis T Gardner, 1747
92.London Evening Post 7–10 February 1736, The stewards of the feast of the sons of the clergy for the year 1735 , 1736; Philip Barton, The superiour excellence of charity. A sermon preach’d before the sons of the clergy … 1736, p. ?4, ‘William Deyman, Gent’ .
93.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, p. 198 .
94.Wall, p. 83 .
95.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 27v, 67v and 74 .
96.A catalogue of the several members of the Society of Apothecaries 1752
97.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 181v, 200 .
98.Court Minute Book, 1726–1745, 9v .
99.For Howe, see Society of Apothecaries Freedom Admissions Register, 1725–1785:133. Pottell does not appear in the Register .