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James Yonge (surgeon)

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504:, He wrote on the large number of unqualified people practising medicine, saying it was "a great wonder that in this age of regulation and amendment nothing is done to rectify the notorious abuses and secure us from the mischief done by those men who without skill or authority under he pretence of restoring and preserving do destroy men's lives and estates and more especially at such a time when the Nation is in need of both for its defence and preservation.... Why then should impudent ignorant quack and empirics (smiths weavers cobblers draymen women etc.) boldly and unaccountably take upon them great cures and things of great difficulty in which they partly use sorcery, witchcraft, grievous hurt damage and destruction of many of the Kings liege people, most especially of them that can not discern the uncunning from the comic cunning" 331:"in May this year I got a warrant to be Surgeon of the Navy and yard at Plymouth, Capt. Hen. Greenhill Commander, John Addis, clerk of the chequer, Mr. Stollard master attendant, Mr. Watt master builder, Mr. Gazby store keeper, Mr. Rob. Yonge clerk of the ropeway, Mr. Thomas Yeo master ropemaker, Mr. Chavy mast-maker, Mr. Jethro Brown boatswain of the yard, Mr. Richard Lea clerk of the survey, Mr. Israel Pownel builder's assistant, Mr. Spickerwell master caulker, and myself surgeon, with Mr. Perry as porter. These were officers that had houses in the yard; the sailmaker, joiner, bricklayer, &c. had none. We all very fine houses, stables, gardens, &c., but did not live easy under the Commander, who was a proud, morose man." 307:"Rob Brown Mayor 1711 Was chosen the usual day. A tool, & a fool, dyed soon after, and was succeed by B. Berry, who served the rest of the yeare: and having no house in town, Lodged and Kept the Mayoralty at an house that was common for quarting strangers, & selling punch, Ale, to the great scandal of the office... but they stuck at nothing, -seemd [ 313:] to regard neither the credit, or welfare of the town, filled up ye benches with men that were of mean, Scandalous, --- as if they had been sworn to choos the worst --- and did many things contrary to the constitution, & custom of the Burrough, chose a Mayor that did not Inhabit, filled the Benches with Lawyers." 287:] up both Benches, by chosing In", Rogers, Nics. Edgcumb, Wm• Munyon, and m' Tho Bound Aldermen. Tho Burgoyn, James Bligh, Tho Darracot, Wm Lovel, Ben Berely and Wm Wyat 0who had been my aprenytic, assistants.... The new Key fid up to the outside of the Slipp before Mr Allens house, and all new paved over. 561:"I am sorry to say my Prefacer a great friend to all dissenters, went to all their meetings, contributions etc. till he was forced to go to sacrament to get the hospital at Plymouth and then he baulked at complying and was dragged to the Lords table and then became one of the greatest enemies they had." 515:
How absurd it is to affirm that a bright and dark moon shall have the same effect, that a body fourteen times less than the Earth and at such a great distance from it shall press the ocean to such an extent and while its in the like situation force it to retire.... So the cause of the motion seems as
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During the late 17th century, Yonge seems to have travelled over Devon and Cornwall. He gave his earnings for one year, receiving £40 for 12 days treatment for a man run through with a blade, a lady at Butshead that he often had to visit £40 a year, tapping Mr Pake 25 guineas etc., curing 9 fistulas
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Yonge held the appointment as surgeon to the Devonport dockyard from 1692 to April 1701. Towards the end of his tenure at the end of the 17th century, a residential terrace was built at the dockyard for senior officers. Most of this was destroyed in the Second World War, but Yonge's part survives. He
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Dec. the Lord Cutts came to town, Lay at my house. 3 Regiments quartered in town, to be Embarked for the W. India by this Lord, gave me great trouble in Quartering them.... June My Ld Marquis of Carmarthen, son & heir to the duke of Leeds, being Rere Admiral of the blew came into port, spent an
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Yonge returned to Plymouth in September 1662 and was unwillingly bound to his father for another seven years. This action by his father rankled him all his life: "My elder brother was maintained like a prince, I clad with old turned cloaths, and not one penny in my pocket, he was hard as a master."
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Most of Yonge's published works were on surgical procedures. He was probably the first in England to perform a successful brain operation. Because few believed him, he published in 1682 a treatise entitled "Wounds of the Braine Proved Curable", based on several of his cases. He left details of an
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Once his name was made, Yonge's role resembled that of a consultant or society doctor. He amassed a large fortune through hard work and one suspects hard commercial thinking. A document in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office shows his assets and income in 1718 at £21,000 – remarkable from a
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1701. The beginning of this year, April 25, I was displaced from the dock by the false accusation of Comr St Lo. He had attempted it twice before, but then the Lords of Admiralty made enquiry into the matter and found me innocent but notwithstanding that and a promise they made not to hearken any
167:. He describes his arrival: "Coming up with the ice we find no passage, stand through it and in two hours got on the inside of it ... but not without knocking our ship. find ourselves the first ship in the land and Admiral of St Johns. God be praised for this good landfall and good place!" 362:
for which he got between £30 and £70 each, treating an ulcer in the bladder for four years £200 etc. He earned twice a hundred guineas for a single operation, boasting that he obtained £120 in one year for treating sailors for the pox (syphilis) in the naval hospital at Plymouth.
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Yonge refers to 12 shillings as the fee for a twenty-mile visit, another £1, and, for an outside visit of two days' duration, £1 10s. Bleeding a lady in bed cost 10 shillings, as against 2 shillings and sixpence for a man. A post mortem 3 shillings and fourpence.
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medical practice. It is hard to compare monetary value with today, but as an example from several sources, an average farm labourer in 1718 earned £18 a year and an attorney £120. Yonge's wealth placed the family in society for generations to come.
30:, where his father was a surgeon. He went to sea as an apprentice surgeon as a young boy. Later he joined several voyages with Newfoundland fishing fleets. In his twenties he set up a practice in Plymouth and prospered. He was elected a 393:
Yonge died on 25 July 1721 and was buried in the Church of St Andrew, Plymouth. A memorial was erected, but apparently destroyed in the Second World War, when the church was badly damaged. An old church guide quotes it:
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Little is known of the forebears of James Yonge. His father's origins as a surgeon in the Plymouth area are unclear. He may have come from Ireland as a member of the Protestant ascendancy there. Yonge refers in his
156:, possibly conflating his time as a Dutch prisoner with his naval service off Algiers. In September 1666 he was exchanged for a relative of the secretary of the Dutch Admiralty, who was imprisoned at 398:"Here underneath lyeth buried the body of James Yonge physitian. Fellow of the Royal Society. He was once mayor of his native town and dyeth the 25th day of July 1721 in the 76th year of his age." 933: 175:
Yonge returned to Plymouth on 29 September 1670 and established himself in practice, aged 25. He was then appointed surgeon at the Naval Hospital in Plymouth, set up after the outbreak of the
72:. His parents were married in St Saviour's, Dartmouth, in September 1640. By the time Yonge was born, his parents had moved to Plymouth, where he was baptised in the Parish Church of 269:. In 1679 he was elected a life member of the Common Council of the Borough of Plymouth. In 1682 he was appointed a churchwarden at St Andrew's. In 1694 he became an alderman and 525:
operation performed on a man who "by a prodigious wound in the forehead lost as much brain as the shell of a pullets egg can contain and was cured in Plimmouth by J. Y. 1686."
569:, Devon. Yonge made this possible by paying off Upton's debts and mortgages and building a new Puslinch House for some £10,000. The house remains in Yonge family ownership. 908: 344:
more to him, they did on this third wrong information put me out without notice or hearing and this injustice he got by quitting Weymouth to Col Churchill's brother.
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in Devon. By her he had two sons, the elder predeceasing him, and six daughters, of whom only one, Johanna, survived to adulthood to have a family of her own.
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In his Plymouth Memoirs Yonge gives short biographies of mayors in his time, containing "ye memorable occurrences in their respective yeares". For example:
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There is a family story of a quarrel with his brother Nathaniel, who unlike Yonge was not a Royalist. There is evidence that they did not get on in Yonge's
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By the 1670s Yonge had become of importance, called to fill successive civic and professional offices in Plymouth, whose charter had been restored by
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evning merryly at my house, & treated me wth r Governor, &c next day on board the Lenox very nobly, wth Gunnes.... In August filld [
918: 299:"He was a zealot in this new model and I believe the disappointment they met and the odium they contracted help to bring ye asthma on him." 91:
In 1658 Yonge's father had him articled as an apprentice at the age of ten to Silvester Richmond of Liverpool, a surgeon on the Navy vessel
106: 421:. It gives a complete account of his life from the age of ten to 61 and is viewed as the most important 17th-century diary after those of 198:
that there was no need, as he did not intend to practise in or around London, as he already had licence from the Bishop (presumably the
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in the following year. He was released from his apprenticeship in May 1662, by his master's retirement, then worked as an assistant at
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on subjects as diverse as "on a bullet in the trachea, on two huge gallstones and on intestinal concretion". In correspondence with
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A Censure of Three Scandalous pamphlets – A defence of Dr Crisp against the charge of Mr Edward Thomas British Library 4152.aa.5
132:. Yonge spent his time on land walking between settlements, sketching and observing the industry. In January 1666, during the 745:
Arthur J. Jewers, "Copies of inscriptions; drawings of coats of armour in the churches of St. Andrews and Charles, Plymouth".
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and the flap operation in amputation, and showing familiarity with tourniquets. On 3 November 1702 Yonge was elected a
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was captured by the Dutch and he was shackled with other prisoners for 51 days. The biography of the Victorian writer
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His brother Samuel wrote a work entitled "A Censure of Three Scandalous pamphlets, and in it he commented on Yonge:
461: 110: 656: 913: 497: 215: 211: 190:'s anatomical lectures at Surgeons Hall. In London again in 1702, he was persuaded to sit the examination of the 57: 443:, member of Parliament for Plymouth, and while there met members of the Royal Society. This led him to write 565:
Yonge's eldest son James Yonge (1679–1718) married Mary Upton, daughter and heir of John Upton of Puslinch,
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At sea again, Yonge took voyages to the Newfoundland fisheries, the first in May 1663, aged 16, in the ship
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Yonge's brother Nathaniel was also involved in the politics of the town. On his death, Yonge wrote in the
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on 11 March 1647. He was the fifth of seven children, all of whom survived at least to early adulthood.
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to an apothecary named Clarke, where he presumably gained practical knowledge of making up medicines.
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Yonge's mother, Joanna Blackaller (1618–1700), was the daughter of Nicholas Blackaller, a merchant of
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James Yonge, "Some considerations touching the debate etc. concerning the Newfoundland Trade", 1670.
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appeared in a second edition in 1683. Yonge pointed out that it put together text from the
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George Duke of Buckingham a very handsome and accomplished person a wit and a debaucheer
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in 1672. In 1674, Thomas Pearse, Surgeon-General of the Navy, made Yonge his deputy.
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as well as Tyson. He was also a frequent visitor to Oxford, where he catalogued the
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Yonge made what was to be his final voyage in February 1668, to Newfoundland in the
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Yonge's service for the Navy ended on an unhappy note in 1701. As he wrote in his
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is embalming a body in preparation for the lying in state in London of Admiral
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he noted the application of lemon juice as good for the gums in cases of
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for 1694 and 1695. He wrote medical textbooks and a journal of his life.
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Yonge married on 28 March 1671 Jane, daughter of Thomas Crampporne of
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was written by Charles I. Modern research, however, ascribes it to
429:. In it are mentioned famous people he had seen in his travels: 153: 486:
Sidrophel Vapulans: or, The Quack-Astrologer tossed in a blanket
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Journal of James Yonge, Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
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Journal of James Yonge - Plymouth and West Devon Record Office
186:, Plymouth, Yonge had to go to London. While there he attended 880: 309: 283: 182:
In 1692, after his appointment as surgeon to the new dock at
670:. Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 326. 273:. He gives an account of his mayoralty in 1694–1695 in 736:
Plymouth and West Devon Record Office PWDRO 107/680.
934:Royal Navy personnel of the Second Anglo-Dutch War 755:Symons, John. "Frederick Noël Lawrence, Poynter". 682: 623:Devon Parish Registers Devon Record Office Exeter 516:that of the heart only known to him that made it. 488:, again criticizing Salmon, who was a well-known 727:, published by the Plymouth Institution in 1951. 365:One of the last commissions he refers to in his 872:. Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). 249:of William Molins with illustrations from the 806:– James Yonge 1698 British Library 004002051. 381:of the Royal Navy. For this he was paid £50. 22:(27 February 1646/1647 – 25 July 1721) was a 8: 822:(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 761:(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 693:(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 507:Yonge did not get everything right. Also in 419:The Journal of James Yonge, Plymouth Surgeon 433:Sebastian King of Portugal a fool and a sot 194:, as an Extra-Licentiate. He states in his 804:Sidrophel Vapulans or the Quack Astrologer 720: 718: 716: 619: 617: 98:. He was next appointed surgeon's mate to 16:English Royal Navy surgeon, 1646/1647–1721 598: 596: 594: 592: 590: 588: 586: 584: 582: 799: 797: 644:by Christabel Coleridge Macmillan, 1903. 909:Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon 819:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 758:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 690:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 578: 496:, an ally of Salmon, over comments on 61:that he descended from the Yonges of 7: 816:Cook, Harold J. "Goodall, Charles". 929:Royal Navy Medical Service officers 882:The Yonge Family of Puslinch Devon 725:Plymouth Memoirs of Dr James Yonge 439:In 1678 Yonge visited London with 14: 869:Dictionary of Canadian Biography 667:Dictionary of National Biography 657:"Yonge, James (1646-1721)"  445:Currus Triumphalis de Terebintho 243:Compleat Treatise of the Muscles 415:Frederick Noël Lawrence Poynter 409:Yonge's best known work is his 51:to visiting his grandmother in 480:, criticizing John Browne and 459:and made contributions to the 206:and associated in London with 1: 919:Fellows of the Royal Society 836:UK public library membership 775:UK public library membership 707:UK public library membership 874:University of Toronto Press 862:Poynter, F. N. L. (1979) . 457:Fellow of the Royal Society 226:and was entertained at the 32:fellow of the Royal Society 950: 462:Philosophical Transactions 866:. In Hayne, David (ed.). 447:, describing how he used 379:worst peacetime disasters 789:A treatise on the scurvy 476:Yonge published in 1685 65:, Devon, are unfounded. 413:, published in 1963 by 828:10.1093/ref:odnb/10949 767:10.1093/ref:odnb/70332 654:Moore, Norman (1900). 563: 518: 400: 373:, who drowned off the 371:Sir Cloudesley Shovell 346: 333: 315: 301: 289: 699:10.1093/ref:odnb/3681 559: 513: 396: 341: 329: 305: 297: 278: 192:College of Physicians 177:Third Anglo-Dutch War 58:Burke's Landed Gentry 642:Charlotte Mary Yonge 478:Medicaster Medicatus 165:Marigold of Plymouth 146:Christabel Coleridge 142:Charlotte Mary Yonge 552:Buckland Monachorum 924:Mayors of Plymouth 509:Sidrophel Vapulans 502:Sidrophel Vapulans 233:Yonge exposed the 55:. The accounts in 834:(Subscription or 773:(Subscription or 705:(Subscription or 530:Several Evidences 349:Financial rewards 271:mayor of Plymouth 251:Tabula anatomicae 208:Francis Atterbury 36:mayor of Plymouth 28:Plymouth, England 941: 914:English surgeons 877: 849: 846: 840: 839: 831: 813: 807: 801: 792: 785: 779: 778: 770: 752: 746: 743: 737: 734: 728: 722: 711: 710: 702: 686: 678: 672: 671: 659: 651: 645: 639: 633: 630: 624: 621: 612: 609: 603: 600: 528:Yonge published 293:Plymouth Memoirs 275:Plymouth Memoirs 255:Giulio Casserius 224:Ashmolean Museum 220:Walter Charleton 200:Bishop of Exeter 134:Second Dutch War 95:Constant Warwick 70:Dartmouth, Devon 949: 948: 944: 943: 942: 940: 939: 938: 889: 888: 861: 858: 853: 852: 847: 843: 833: 815: 814: 810: 802: 795: 786: 782: 772: 754: 753: 749: 744: 740: 735: 731: 723: 714: 704: 680: 679: 675: 653: 652: 648: 640: 636: 631: 627: 622: 615: 610: 606: 601: 580: 575: 548: 494:Richard Boulton 467:Charles Goodall 437: 434: 407: 391: 351: 320: 263: 212:Charles Bernard 204:Sir Hans Sloane 173: 136:, his ship the 89: 44: 17: 12: 11: 5: 947: 945: 937: 936: 931: 926: 921: 916: 911: 906: 901: 891: 890: 887: 886: 878: 864:"Yonge, James" 857: 856:External links 854: 851: 850: 841: 808: 793: 780: 747: 738: 729: 712: 684:"Browne, John" 673: 646: 634: 625: 613: 604: 577: 576: 574: 571: 567:Newton Ferrers 547: 544: 535:Eikon Basilike 484:, and in 1699 482:William Salmon 431: 406: 403: 390: 387: 377:in one of the 350: 347: 319: 316: 262: 259: 172: 169: 88: 85: 43: 40: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 946: 935: 932: 930: 927: 925: 922: 920: 917: 915: 912: 910: 907: 905: 902: 900: 897: 896: 894: 885: 883: 879: 875: 871: 870: 865: 860: 859: 855: 845: 842: 837: 829: 825: 821: 820: 812: 809: 805: 800: 798: 794: 790: 784: 781: 776: 768: 764: 760: 759: 751: 748: 742: 739: 733: 730: 726: 721: 719: 717: 713: 708: 700: 696: 692: 691: 685: 677: 674: 669: 668: 663: 658: 650: 647: 643: 638: 635: 629: 626: 620: 618: 614: 608: 605: 599: 597: 595: 593: 591: 589: 587: 585: 583: 579: 572: 570: 568: 562: 558: 555: 553: 545: 543: 541: 537: 536: 532:to show that 531: 526: 524: 517: 512: 510: 505: 503: 499: 498:Charles Leigh 495: 491: 487: 483: 479: 474: 472: 468: 464: 463: 458: 454: 450: 446: 442: 436: 430: 428: 424: 420: 416: 412: 404: 402: 399: 395: 388: 386: 382: 380: 376: 372: 368: 363: 359: 356: 348: 345: 340: 338: 332: 328: 326: 323:wrote in his 318:Naval surgeon 317: 314: 312: 311: 304: 300: 296: 294: 288: 286: 285: 277: 276: 272: 268: 261:Civic affairs 260: 258: 256: 252: 248: 244: 240: 236: 231: 229: 225: 221: 217: 216:Edward Browne 213: 209: 205: 201: 197: 193: 189: 185: 180: 178: 170: 168: 166: 161: 159: 155: 151: 148:dubs Yonge a 147: 143: 139: 135: 131: 126: 122: 120: 116: 112: 108: 107:Lord Sandwich 104: 103: 97: 96: 86: 84: 82: 77: 75: 71: 66: 64: 60: 59: 54: 50: 41: 39: 37: 33: 29: 26:surgeon from 25: 21: 881: 867: 844: 817: 811: 803: 788: 787:James Lind, 783: 756: 750: 741: 732: 724: 688: 676: 665: 649: 641: 637: 628: 607: 564: 560: 556: 549: 533: 529: 527: 519: 514: 508: 506: 501: 485: 477: 475: 460: 451:to arrest a 444: 438: 432: 423:Samuel Pepys 418: 410: 408: 405:Publications 401: 397: 392: 383: 375:Scilly Isles 366: 364: 360: 354: 352: 342: 336: 334: 330: 324: 321: 308: 306: 302: 298: 292: 290: 282: 279: 274: 264: 250: 246: 242: 232: 195: 188:Edward Tyson 181: 174: 164: 162: 150:galley slave 137: 129: 127: 123: 109:'s fleet in 101: 94: 90: 80: 78: 67: 56: 48: 45: 34:in 1702 and 19: 18: 904:1721 deaths 899:1647 births 681:Lyle, Ian. 662:Lee, Sidney 540:John Gauden 453:haemorrhage 441:John Sparke 427:John Evelyn 239:John Browne 138:Bonaventure 130:Reformation 87:Life at sea 20:James Yonge 893:Categories 838:required.) 777:required.) 709:required.) 523:trepanning 511:he wrote: 449:turpentine 267:Charles II 247:Muskotomia 235:plagiarism 228:University 105:, part of 42:Background 24:Royal Navy 111:the Downs 100:HMS  93:HMS  74:St Andrew 241:, whose 171:Medicine 102:Montague 664:(ed.). 490:empiric 411:Journal 367:Journal 355:Journal 353:In his 337:Journal 325:Journal 196:Journal 184:Hamoaze 158:Harwich 152:of the 119:Wapping 115:Algiers 81:Journal 63:Colyton 49:Journal 832: 771: 703: 546:Family 521:early 471:scurvy 660:. In 573:Notes 500:. In 389:Death 154:Moors 425:and 218:and 53:Cork 824:doi 763:doi 695:doi 417:as 310:sic 284:sic 253:of 237:of 144:by 895:: 796:^ 715:^ 687:. 616:^ 581:^ 542:. 473:. 339:: 327:: 295:: 257:. 230:. 214:, 210:, 160:. 83:. 884:. 876:. 830:. 826:: 769:. 765:: 701:. 697::

Index

Royal Navy
Plymouth, England
fellow of the Royal Society
mayor of Plymouth
Cork
Burke's Landed Gentry
Colyton
Dartmouth, Devon
St Andrew
HMS Constant Warwick
HMS Montague
Lord Sandwich
the Downs
Algiers
Wapping
Second Dutch War
Charlotte Mary Yonge
Christabel Coleridge
galley slave
Moors
Harwich
Third Anglo-Dutch War
Hamoaze
Edward Tyson
College of Physicians
Bishop of Exeter
Sir Hans Sloane
Francis Atterbury
Charles Bernard
Edward Browne

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