A statute of 1511 placed regulation of the medical profession in the hands of the bishops.
Implementation was sporadic. Exeter has fuller records than most Dioceses. There is a published list by Ian
Mortimer "Index of medical licentiates, applicants, referees and examiners in the Diocese of Exeter, 1568-1780"
Devonshire Association Report and Transactions vol 136 (2004) p99-134. That lists about 600 licences etc.
The licences are recorded in the Act Books of the Bishops of Exeter,
original books kept at Devon Record Office.
The books in the Diocesan archives were catalogued and numbered and partially indexed by Rev. John Frederick Chanter
(1854-1939) and the books are still referred to by 'Chanter numbers' he assigned.
The 1757 licence for John Pridham shown in the poster is in "Chanter 87". This has entries for preachers, lecturers,
curates, surgeons, schoolmasters and organists in date order. It also has an index of surgeons prepared by Chanter.
The letter of support signed by Marwood is in a file PR518, Colyton surgeons' licences, also in Devon Record Office
Archbishops could grant licences covering more than one diocese. Those from the Archbishop of Canterbury are listed by county in Lambeth Palace Library Research Guide - Medical Licences Issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 (Devon page 30 31).
Those who have passed are shown in various lists published by the Society of Apothecaries;
the Wellcome library has a collection of the lists, see
Lists of Apothecaries (Wellcome Library Catalogue)
Books and lists published by the Society of Apothecaries include
"A list of persons who have obtained certificates of their fitness and qualification to practise as apothecaries,
from August 1, 1815, to July 31, 1840" and an addition up to 1852, then annual lists.
Those qualified are shown with "LSA" (Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries) in the
Medical Register from 1858, Medical directories from 1847, and also in in the 1851 and later census entries.
Details of parentage, apprenticeship, courses, and clinical hospital attendance are in the
archives of the Society of Apothecaries.
I thank Janet Payne and John Ford who volunteer in the archives and have provided information and photographs
from the archives.
In records of City of Exeter freemen, the first barber is in 1335, apothecary 1488, surgeon 1503, doctor of medicine 1566, barber surgeon 1621, chirurgeon 1653. The 1973 book (Reeve, Margery and Jackson, Andrew. Exeter Freemen 1266-1967, Devon and Cornwall Record Society 1973) lists all freemen in one chronological list with name, profession, whether free by apprenticeship, succession or payment, giving names of apprentice masters or fathers. I have used copies in the British Library, Devon Record Office, and Society of Genealogists. In the introduction the compilers comment that "By 166o the city's control over admissions by apprenticeship exercised via the gilds appeared to be weakening. By the late 16th Century there were craft gilds which had few city freemen among their ranks." Thus the list is not a complete list of those practising medicine in the city.
I have extracted a list for medical professions, including barbers, up to 1699. The table shows the number of each profession by century.
| Century | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th |
| Apothecary | 0 | 1 | 10 | 61 |
| Barber | 11 | 10 | 21 | 43 |
| Barber-surgeon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Chirurgeon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Doctor of medicine | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Druggist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Surgeon | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
The records of the individual guilds have not survived.
The Colyton 1698 list in the poster is from Quarter Sessions Records - Returns of jurymen (freeholders), photographed at Devon Record Office (reference QS/5). There are more transcripts and an overall index of names linked from Devon Freeholders 1711-1799 (Genuki and Friends of Devon Archives
There are many other documents which sometimes give occupations. Examples are eases, deeds, parish registers. Poor law apprenticeships give the occupation of the master, Though some I thought hopeful with the master as a surgeon showed the apprenticeship being trained in husbandry or housewifery. The book "Population and Society in an East Devon Parish - Reproducing Colyton 1540-1840" by Pamela Sharpe (University of Exeter 2002) lists records which give occupations. For example they are in the parish registers 1609-12, 1765-79, 1813-19. The 1674 Hearth tax, 1659-1699 bailiff's accounts, 1590-1744 Bastardy Bonds 1579-1720 Churchwardens fabic accounts are other records she lists.
British Newspaper Archive a commercial site in partnership with the British Library provides a free search on almost 7 million pages of newspapers. Viewing images is on a pay-per-view or subscription basis. For Devon the earliest paper is the Exeter Flying Post starting 1800. You can search by words, publication region or county, newspaper and date. The images in the poster are from the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Friday 30 June 1871 and the Exeter Flying Post 20 March 1800.
historicaldirectories.org from
the University of Leicester gives free access to indexes and images including
Pigot's 1844 Directory for Devon then White's 1850, Slater's 1852, White's 1878, etc.
The 1830 Pigot's example in the poster showing surgeons in Bideford is from
Ancestry, a subscription website. Note that the Wellcome Library has
a library subscription to some of the records available through Ancestry.
The first medical directory is the
Medical Register 1779 with a list by county,
Devon pp 72- 78 of1779 edition.
It was short lived - the
Medical Register 1783 is also available online
with
Devon pages 61-63 of 1783 edition.
These are pdf versions, with facilities to search or page through.The London and Provincial Medical directory
was published annually from 1847 (1846 was London only), continuing as "The Medical Directory" from 1870.
There is a good run of the books in some libraries, e.g. the Wellcome. Some editions are available commercially online,
e.g.
1853 Medical Directory in FamilyRelatives.com. The lists available vary over the years. Some early ones just have
an alphabetical list of names and their locations and qualifications, later ones add more details of training and former posts,
some editions have lists by county and town, lists of poor law medical officers, lists of hospitals, lists of coroners.
The 1852 list by location in the poster was photographed from a printed book.
For 1853 and 1854 there was a rival publication. British medical directory for England, Scotland and Wales, 1853 (text) is available free online with a searchable pdf file; the main list is alphabetical not by locality, it has county lists for Poor law medical officers for Devon and Hospitals and medical institutions. The 1854 edition is available as a Google ebook free; the alphabetical list of names starts on p89, Poor Law medical officers by locality p566, search is available.
The Medical Register annually from 1859 is the General Medical Council list of licenced medical practitioners, one alphabetical list of names with date of registration, residence and qualification. It is available online by subscription through Ancestry, and it included in the Ancestry Library Edition available free through the Wellcome Library (after registration as a reader at the library).
Lambeth Palace Library Research Guide - Medical Licences Issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 (Devon page 30 31)
Devon Wills project on Genuki (Originals of wills proved in Exeter were destroyed in an air-raid. The project aims to track down and list copies, transcripts and abstracts of these lost wills and administrations).
Plymouth and West Devon Record Office
Access to Archives provides a catalogue including national archives and many documents from local archives.
Wellcome Library Biography and Family History Guide
Higgs, Michelle. Tracing your medical ancestors : a guide for family historians. Barnsley : Pen and Sword Family History, 2011.
UK and Ireland Genealogy - a virtual reference library. It includes Devon Wills project. Originals of wills proved in Exeter were destroyed in an air-raid. The project aims to track down and list copies, transcripts and abstracts of these lost wills and administrations).
Copyright 2013 David Hawgood
This page by David
Hawgood
was amended 24 August 2013