Richard Wiseman (1622–1676) was an English surgeon, the first consultant surgeon in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He was personal surgeon to King Charles II, and author of a medical work called ''Severall Chirurgical Treatises''.

Early life

Wiseman's parentage is uncertain. In early 1637, at age 16, he was apprenticed at the Barber-Surgeons' Hall to Richard Smith, surgeon, of

Little Britain, London Little Britain is a street in the City of London running from St. Martin's Le Grand in the east to West Smithfield in the west. It is situated in the Aldersgate and Farringdon Within wards. Postman's Park is also bounded by Little Britain. ...

Civil War years

Wiseman learned surgery on the battlefield. During the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the A ...

, he joined the royalist army of the west, then under the nominal command of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. He was present at the first battle of Weymouth on 9 February 1645. He remained in Weymouth during the siege, and subsequently seems to have accompanied the royalist forces into Somerset and Cornwall; he was present at the siege at

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

, and took part in the fighting of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro c ...

. The royalist army was then under the command of

Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton, (159628 September 1652), was an English politician, soldier and landowner. During the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War, he served as Royalist commander in the West Country, and was made Baron Hopton of Str ...

. After the defeat at Truro, on his own account, Wiseman was the only surgeon who continuously attended Charles, the Prince of Wales, from the west of England to France, Holland, and Scotland, in the years 1646–1650. He was at first attached to the troops in attendance on the prince, but when Surgeon Richard Pile (Pyle) returned to England he became the prince's immediate medical attendant. Wiseman accompanied Prince Charles from Jersey to France, and from France to The Hague, where news arrived in February 1649 of the

execution of Charles I The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in ...

. From The Hague Wiseman accompanied Charles II to

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda ...

, Flanders and back to France, arriving at St. Germains in August 1649. He then went to Jersey again, and when Charles left Holland in June 1650 Wiseman accompanied him to Scotland. He was taken prisoner at the

battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

(3 September 1651) and marched to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, where he was kept in captivity. Having procured a pass, Wiseman arrived in London about February 1652, and was admitted to the Barber-Surgeons' Company, 23 March 1652. He acted for a time as assistant to Edward Molines of St. Thomas's Hospital. Then he set up in practice for himself, living in the Old Bailey at the sign of the King's Head, where he had royalist patients. Early in 1654 he was rearrested on a charge of assisting Read, a patient, to escape from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...

, and in March 1654 he was sent a prisoner to

Lambeth House Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposit ...

. It appears that he owed his liberty to friends. Wiseman wrote that he served for three years in the Spanish navy, and from the evidence it has been deduced that this period was from 1654 to 1657. He was in

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label= French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.

Later life, death and legacy

Early in 1660 Wiseman returned to his house in the Old Bailey, where he was living at the time of the

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...

; but shortly after the Restoration he moved westward to

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. Ten days after the arrival of Charles II in London, on 8 June 1660, Wiseman was made royal surgeon

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household, it indicates that a position is a permanent one. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" (from the 17th century) are those out of service for repair ...

. On 5 August 1661 that Wiseman, already on a pension, was formally appointed and salaried as surgeon by royal warrant. He was promoted to the grade of principal surgeon and serjeant-surgeon to the king in 1672. He was elected a member of the Barber-Surgeons' court of assistants in 1664, and in the following year was appointed Master of the company. Wiseman died suddenly at Bath, Somerset around 20 August 1676. He was buried at the upper end of

St Paul's, Covent Garden St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit for ...

on 29 August. He believed in the

royal touch The royal touch (also known as the king's touch) was a form of laying on of hands, whereby French and English monarchs touched their subjects, regardless of social classes, with the intent to cure them of various diseases and conditions. The ...

for the cure of scrofula, and in the miracles wrought by the blood of Charles I. Wiseman was the first of the major British surgeons who elevated the surgical profession. His work was continued by Samuel Sharp,

Percivall Pott Percivall Pott (6 January 1714, in London – 22 December 1788) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen. Career He was the ...

, and John Hunter. He was essentially a clinical observer; his cases are clearly described, and their treatment is carried out on a plan. His ''Treatises'' cover 600 cases, with a broad background (though

lithotomy Lithotomy from Greek for "lithos" (stone) and "tomos" ( cut), is a surgical method for removal of calculi, stones formed inside certain organs, such as the urinary tract (kidney stones), bladder (bladder stones), and gallbladder (gallstones), th ...

does not appear), and were influential.

Works

Wiseman's works are written in a plain and simple style; they were used by

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford D ...

, in the compilation of his dictionary, as a mine of surgical nomenclature. They were: *''A Treatise of Wounds'', London, 1672, printed by

Richard Royston Richard Royston (1601 in Oxford – November 1686) was an English bookseller and publisher, bookseller to Charles I, Charles II and James II. Royston, the son of an Oxford tailor Richard Royston and Alice Tideman, was admitted a freeman of th ...

. *''Severall Chirurgical Treatises'', London, 1676, (Royston and Took); 2nd edit. 1686; 3rd edit. 1696; 4th edit. 1705; 5th edit. 1719; 6th edit. 1734. A pirated edition was published by Samuel Clement at the Swan in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1692. It is called the second edition, but it seems to have been made by printing a new title-page and inserting it into copies of the 1676 and 1686 editions. The work describes over 600 of Wiseman's own cases. In the assessment of biographer G. Hull, "It is a more detailed and personal account than any written by his contemporaries, and his sections on the

King's Evil The disease mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis, also known as scrofula and historically as king's evil, involves a lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes associated with tuberculosis as well as nontuberculous (atypical) mycobacteria. Dis ...

and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

show a remarkable understanding of disease for his time."

Family

Wiseman's first wife, named Dorothy, died on 23 February 1674, and was buried in the chancel of St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden; his second wife was Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Mauleverer of Allerton Mauleverer in Yorkshire, and granddaughter of Sir Thomas Mauleverer the

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

. His only child was a posthumous son, who was buried near his father in November 1678. His widow married Thomas Harrison of Gray's Inn, the lawyer who settled her husband's affairs, and died in February 1678.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiseman, Richard (surgeon) 1620s births 1676 deaths English surgeons English medical writers