Ralph or Raphael Schomberg (1714–1792) was a British medical doctor of the 18th century. His father,

Meyer Löw Schomberg Meyer Löw Schomberg (1690 – 4 March 1761) was a German physician who moved to London and had a successful business there. Life His father, Löw Schomberg, was a physician in Meyer's birthplace and Meyer (probably Löw's eldest son) followed ...

, was a Jewish medical doctor who settled in England, but he became alienated from Judaism and had Ralph and his brothers, who had initially been brought up as Jews, attend St Paul's School, London, and then renounce the Jewish faith by publicly receiving the

sacrament A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol ...

according to the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

rites. This made the brothers able to enter on public careers without impediment from the

Test Act The Test Acts were a series of penal laws originating in Restoration England, passed by the Parliament of England, that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Catholics and nonconformist Prote ...

. Ralph had a twin brother, Isaac, who was a physician and public notary. Ralph was left 1s. in his father's will in 1761. Ralph moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in around 1761, and settled there until at least 1771, occasionally attending on Gainsborough and his family (including – in 1771 – his elder daughter Mary, whom Thomas hoped Ralph had cured to a recurring illness which all other doctors had told him was hereditary). He later moved to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. His son was captain

Isaac Schomberg Captain Isaac Schomberg (27 March 1753 – 21 January 1813) was a highly controversial officer of the British Royal Navy whose constant disputes with senior officers resulted in courts-martial, lawsuits and the eventual stagnation of his care ...

References

External links

DNB entry

National Gallery portrait

Ralph Schomberg
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
1714 births 1792 deaths English Jews 18th-century English medical doctors Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism People educated at St Paul's School, London English people of German-Jewish descent Schomberg family {{Judaism-bio-stub