Richard Frewin, M.D. (c.1681–1761) was an English

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and professor of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Early life and education

Frewin, the son of Ralph Frewin of London, was admitted as a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar, abbreviated KS in the United Kingdom, is the recipient of a scholarship from a foundation created by, or under the auspices of, a British monarch. The scholarships are awarded at certain Public school (United Kingdom), public ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

in 1693, and elected thence to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, in 1698. He took the degrees of

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1702, M.A. in 1704, M.B. in 1707, and

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

in 1711.

Career

In 1708, he was described at the foot of a Latin poem which he contributed to 'Exequiæ Georgio principi Danise ab Oxoniensi academia solutæ' (Oxford, 1708) as professor of chemistry; he was also, in 1711,

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

reader at Christ Church. As a physician he had an excellent reputation; he attended Dean Aldrich on his deathbed. John Freind's 'Hippocrates de Morbis Popularibus' is dedicated to him, and contains a letter from him (dated Christ Church, 20 July 1710), giving an account of a case of variolæ cohærentes which he had been attending. In 1727 he was unanimously elected to the Camden professorship of ancient history, no other candidate offering himself. Hearne relates that soon after his election he bought a hundred pounds' worth of books on history and

chronology Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

, 'on purpose to qualify him the better to discharge' the duties of the office. He died on 29 May 1761, having survived his children, who died young, and three wives, Lady Tyrell (widow of Thomas Tyrrell),Jeffrey, R.W. (1927) ''A Forgotten College of Oxford''
The Brazen Nose Vol IV no 6.
/ref> Elizabeth Woodward, and Mrs. Graves, daughter of Peter Cranke. Frewin bequeathed £2,000 in trust for the king's scholars of Westminster elected to Christ Church, and another £2,000 in trust for the physicians of the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...

, and left his house in Oxford, now known as Frewin Hall, to the Regius Professor of Medicine for the time being. His library of history and literature, consisting of 2,300 volumes, he left to the Radcliffe Library. There is in that library a volume containing a collection of dried specimens of plants made by him, with his notes in manuscript on their medicinal uses. Portraits are in the hall and common room at Christ Church, and a bust, presented by Dr. Hawley in 1757, in the library there.

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frewin, Richard 1680s births 1761 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford 18th-century English medical doctors 18th-century English historians Camden Professors of Ancient History