Medical dynasties are not uncommon, but medical dynasties which serve royalty are rare. This paper describes the work and responsibilities of three successive generations of the Chase family who served as apothecaries to a total of seven British monarchs. Two of them were also Masters of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, as also was a later member of the family.
Archive Centre, King’s College, Cambridge. KCAR/3/3/1/1/3.
4.
Whittet TD. The apothecaries in the great plague of London, 1665. London: Society of Apothecaries, 1965, pp.9, 25.
5.
MatthewsLG. The royal apothecaries, London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1967. pp.103–6, 117–8, 123–4, 135–6, 141, 144.
6.
WallisP. London Livery Company apprenticeship registers, volume 32: Apothecaries’ company, 1617–1669, London: Society of Genealogists, 2000.
7.
Burnby J. John Parkinson (1566/7–1650). Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21372 (2004, accessed 25 November 2015).
8.
FurdellEL. The royal doctors, 1485–1714: medical personnel at the Tudor and Stuart courts, Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2001. pp.126, 182–184, 216–217.
9.
HuntingP. A history of the society of apothecaries, London: The Society of Apothecaries, 1998. pp.51–53, 55, 62–67, 156–158, 164–166.
10.
ThurloeJ. A collection of the state papers of John Thurloe, Esq (Birch T, ed.)1742; Vol. 3, London: Thomas Woodward and Charles Davispp. 343–344.
11.
RichardsJM. A chronology of medicine ancient, mediaeval, and modern: being a historical, an antiquarian, & a curious survey of the birth & growth of medicine from the earliest times to the present day, London: Bailliêre, Tindall, and Cox, 1880. pp.182–185, 190–191,195, 201, 207.
12.
WisemanR. Several chirurgical treatises, London: E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R. Royston and B. Took, 1676. pp.349, 401.
13.
Mandelbrote S. Robert Morison (1620–1683). Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, 2004, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19275 (accessed 25 November 2015).
14.
Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (Munk’s Roll), http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/ (accessed 25 November 2015).
15.
Dasent AI. Nell Gwynne 1650–1687. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd, 1924, pp. 302–306 and endpaper.
16.
Latham R and Matthews W. The diary of Samuel Pepys. Vol. 2, 1661. London: Harper Collins, 2000, p.170. John Battersby lived in Fenchurch Street and became Master of the Society of Apothecaries in 1674–1675.
17.
Measuring Worth – Relative Worth Calculators and Data Sets, www.measuringworth.com (accessed 25 November 2015).
18.
Anon. Last moments of an English King. Household Words1854; 9: 277–280.
19.
MatthewsLG. Day book of the Court Apothecary in the time of William and Mary, 1691. Medical History1978; 22: 161–173.
20.
GrzybowskiSAllenEA. History and the importance of scrofula. Lancet1995; 2: 1472–1474.
21.
GregoryLF. Parson Malthus’s great grandfather: Daniel Malthus, Royal Apothecary. Eugenics Review1961; 53: 91–92.
22.
Minutes of the Court of Assistants of the Society of Apothecaries. (The Society’s Archive is held at Apothecaries Hall. Microfilm copies of many of the pre-20th century records are held at the Guildhall Library in London).
23.
Wall C, Cameron C and Underwood EA. A history of the worshipful society of apothecaries of London. Vol. 1, 1617–1815. London: Oxford University Press for the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 1963, pp.115–120.
24.
Allen E. Christopher Merret (1614–1695). Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, 2004, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18599 (accessed 25 November 2015).
Chester JL (ed.). The marriage, baptismal, and burial registers of the collegiate church or abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. Publications of the Harleian Society, 10. London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1876, p. 15.
28.
Rivercourt House and the site of the Queen Dowager's House. In: Bird J and Norman F (eds) Survey of London: Volume 6, Hammersmith. London: London County Council, 1915, pp.74–80, www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol6/pp74-80#anchorn15 (accessed 25 November 2015).
29.
A monteith is a deep, ornamental bowl with a scalloped rim from which drinking vessels may be hung and which can be used for cooling glasses or as a punch bowl.
30.
ClarkGN. A history of the Royal College of Physicians of London1964; Vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press for the Royal College of Physicianspp.286, 308–309, 352.
31.
Oster M. Jonathan Goddard (1617–1675). Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, 2004, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10857 (accessed 25 November 2015).
32.
WolbarshtMLSaxDS. Charles II, a Royal Martyr. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London1961; 16: 154–157.
33.
Coley NG. Nicaise Le Févre (c.1610–1669). Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford University Press, 2004, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16342 (accessed 25 November 2015).
34.
CookHJ. The Society of Chemical Physicians, the new philosophy, and the Restoration Court. Bulletin of the History of Medicine1987; 61: 61–77.
35.
Register of Apprentice Bindings of the Society of Apothecaries, Society of Apothecaries Archive (see note 22).
36.
WallisPJWallisRV. Eighteenth century medics, 2nd ed. Newcastle upon Tyne: Project for Historical Biobibliography, 1988.
37.
FosterJ. Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford 1500, 1715–1886Oxford: University of Oxfordpp. 1887–1888, 1891–1892.
38.
List of the graduates in medicine in the University of Edinburgh from MDCCV to MDCCCLXVI. Edinburgh: Neil and Co., 1867, pp. 117.
39.
The London and Provincial Medical Directory. London: John Churchill, 1847.