Lawrence Bohun (born between 1575 and 1585, ) was an English physician and member of the

Virginia Governor's Council The Governor's Council, also known as the Privy Council and Council of State, was the upper house of the legislature of the Colony of Virginia (the House of Burgesses being the other house). It also served as an advisory body to the List of colon ...

. His surname is occasionally spelled "Bohune" or "Boone" and he is known for experimenting with some of Virginia's indigenous plants and minerals. He is sometimes credited with being the first experimental scientist in Jamestown and one of its first physicians. Not much is known about Bohun's early life, but it is estimated that he was born in England between 1575 and 1585 and that he received his education at the

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Bohun had a reputation for being an excellent physician"Two Tragical Events." The William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, vol. 9, no. 4, 1901, pp. 207. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1920038. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025. and was hired to perform as the personal physician for

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr ( ; 9 July 1576 – 7 June 1618), was an English nobleman, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. A member of the Ho ...

, who was the first governor of Virginia appointed by the

Virginia Company of London The Virginia Company of London (sometimes called "London Company") was a Division (business), division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for British colonization of the Americas, colonizing the east coast of North America between 34th ...

. He arrived in Virginia on 10 June 1610, which enabled him to help with colonists that had survived the

Starving Time The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of starvation during the winter of 1609–1610. There were about 500 Jamestown residents at the beginning of the winter; by spring only 61 people remained alive. The colonis ...

of that prior winter. While living in Virginia, Bohun experimented with

sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eo ...

and

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. ...

as medicines. Bohun also worked on brewing

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

. When De La Warr left Virginia the following year in order to recuperate from a bout of

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

, Bohun accompanied him on the trip. They eventually ended in England, where Bohun practiced medicine and married Alice Barnes. During this time Bohun was active with the Virginia Company, as he was listed as a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

in their third charter and was approved for two grants for Virginia land. Bohun was interested in seeing if

silkworm ''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...

s could be cultivated in Virginia, which was evidently unsuccessful as records from the Virginia Company stated that he had a project (presumably the silkworms) that "promised much benefitt but in the end came to nothinge." Bohun was appointed the Physician General of the Virginia colony in 1620 and was also appointed to the Governor's Council, but he would never make it to Virginia to carry out his responsibilities. He departed England on the ''Margaret and John'' with Captain Anthony Chester in December, 1620. While stopping at

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

for water and supplies, the ship was attacked by Spanish warships and Bohun received a mortal wound. His final words to Captain Chester were "Fight it out, brave man, the cause is good, and Lord receive my soul."Brown, Alexander. ''The Genesis of the United States: A Narrative of the Movement in England, 1605-1616''. Volume 2. pp830. United States, Houghton, Mifflin, 1897.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohun, Lawrence 1500s births 1621 deaths 17th-century English medical doctors Virginia Governor's Council members Year of birth uncertain Emigrants from the Kingdom of England Winemakers