Peter Lowe or Low ( – 1610) was a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and

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of the institution now known as the

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow is a global community of over 15,000 Members working together to develop skills, knowledge and leadership to drive the highest standards in healthcare. For 425 years, the Royal College of ...

Biography

Lowe was born in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

around 1550 and left in 1565 to study medicine on

the Continent Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by so ...

. He completed his studies in Paris and by 1589 he was chirurgian (surgeon) major to the Spanish Regiment in the service of

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

at the siege of Paris. In the early 1590s he travelled in England with Alexander Dickson, the secretary to the

Earl of Errol Earl of Errol (or Erroll), in the County of Perth, is a title in the Baronage of Scotland. It was created by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1546 for Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Erroll. It is not to be confused with Earl of Erroll, both of which had been ...

, who, like his master, was a

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. While there he surveyed several harbours, sending details back to

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in Scotland. On his return to France he was appointed chirurgian ordinary to

Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

. On his return to Scotland, he settled in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

around 1598. He found that the practice of medicine in the west of the country was in the hands of "cosoners, quack-salvers, charlitans, witches, charmers, and divers other sorts of abusers." He petitioned the King, then James VI, and was granted a Charter which enabled the foundation of a medical incorporation for physicians and surgeons. The college later expanded to include dentists, making it the only institution in the

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to admit all three professions. Lowe was dispatched by James VI in 1601 to accompany the

Earl of Lennox The Earl or Mormaer of Lennox was the ruler of the region of the Lennox in western Scotland. It was first created in the 12th century for David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and later held by the Stewart dynasty. Ancient earls The first e ...

on a mission to King Henry's court in Paris. In Glasgow he married as his second wife, Helen Wemyss, the daughter of the first Protestant minister of the Cathedral. He died in 1610 and is buried in the grounds of

Glasgow Cathedral Glasgow Cathedral () is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Glasgow, and the mother church of the Archdiocese of Glasgow and the province of Glasgow, from the 12th ...

against the southern boundary wall, where his grave is marked by a large monument. A large 19th-century bronze memorial to his memory also exists on the inner north wall within

Family

He married Helen Weems, daughter of Rev David Weems of the High Kirk of Glasgow. They had a son, John Lowe.

Writings

* ''Spanish Sickness'' (1596) * ''A Discourse on the Whole Art of Chirurgerie'' Surgery"(1597)

Artistic Recognition

A contemporary portrait of Lowe is held at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow.Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of Portraits in the New Galleries of Art in Corporation Buildings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Peter 1610 deaths 16th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish surgeons Year of birth uncertain Burials at Glasgow Cathedral