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Authorised form of nameMead; Richard (1673 - 1754)
Dates1673 - 1754
NationalityBritish
Place of birthParish of Stepney, Middlesex, England
Date of birth11 August 1673
Place of deathHis house in Great Ormond Street, London
Date of death16 February 1754
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
The Temple Church, London
OccupationPhysician
Research fieldMedicine
Antiquities
ActivityEducation:
Educated by his father; Pupil of John Nesbitt; Thomas Singleton's school (1688); Utrecht (admitted 1689); Leyden (admitted 1693). Padua: MD, PhD (1695). Oxford: MD (by diploma 1707)
Career:
Fled to Holland with his father; fellow student with Herman Boerhaave (FRS 1730) of Archibald Pitcairne, Professor of Medicine, Leyden; Mead, a Whig, pleaded for the life of Pitcairn's Jacobite son who was imprisoned in the Tower of London (1715); travelled to Italy with Thomas Pellett (FRS 1712) (1695); practised in London (1696-death); Physician, St Thomas's Hospital, London (1703-1715); Anatomy Lecturer to the Barber-Surgeons' Company (1711-1715); Governor, St Thomas's Hospital (1715); Governor of St Bartholomew's, Bethlehem and Bridewell Hospitals, London (1720); Physician to George II (1727); persuaded Guy to bequeath his fortune to found Guy's Hospital; a wealthy man, he was known for his generosity to scholars, artists and the clergy; amassed a library of over 10,000 volumes and large collections of pictures, coins and antiquities, all of which were sold after his death
Memberships:
FRCP (1716); Hon FCPE (1745)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election30/11/1703
ProposerSir Hans Sloane
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Council (1705, 1707-1730); VP 1713-
RelationshipsSon of Matthew Mead, Nonconformist Minister, of Stepney, Middlesex
Married: 1) Ruth, daughter of John Marsh, Merchant, of London; 2) Anne, daughter of Sir Rowland Alston of Odell, Buckinghamshire; father-in-law of Frank Nicholls (FRS 1728) and of Sir Edward Wilmot (FRS 1730)
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
References:
Jonathan Andrews, 'A Respectable Mad-Doctor? Dr Richard Hale, FRS (1670-1728)' in NR 1990 vol 44 pp 169-203
H G Lyons, 'Two Hundred Years Ago: 1739' in NR 1939 vol 2 pp 34-42
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/45083556
CodeNA8349
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
IM/003042Mead, Richardnd
L&P/1/45Letter, 'A post-mortem examination' from H Cotton to Richard Mead24 January 1741
L&P/2/213Letter, 'The model machine made by Mr Salter to shew his pipes for extracting foul air out of ships' from Richard Mead to Martin Folkes13 June 1751
L&P/1/340Letter, 'Of a giant boy, Thos Hale of Willingham' from Thomas Dawkes to Richard Mead3 October 1744
LBO/18/28Copy letter from Joseph Wasse, Northamptonshire, to Richard Mead16 May 1724
LBO/18/86Copy letter from John Walsh, Aynho, to Richard Mead13 July 1725
L&P/1/124Letter, 'De motu particulari... [Of particular motions]' from Thomas Glass to Richard Mead20 August 1742
L&P/1/59Letter, 'Concerning cases of stone treated by Mrs Stephen's remedies' from H Cotton to Richard Mead22 February 1741
L&P/2/272Letter, 'Concerning the late plague at Constantinople' from Mordack MacKenzie to Richard Mead25 February 1752
L&P/2/158Letter, 'Of an earthquake at Smyrna' from Mordach MacKenzie to Richard Mead 23 May 1750
L&P/1/443Letter, 'De Diaphragmate fisso [The split diaphragm]' from John Fothergill to Richard Mead [English translation]1745
L&P/2/120Letter, 'Of an impostume formed in the stomach' from Daniel Peter Layard to Richard Mead17 February 1750
L&P/2/466Letter, 'On the bust of a youth just found at Herculaneum' from Joseph Spence to Richard Mead7 December 1753
DM/5/102A list of benefactors to the Museum, to the value of £5 or upwards at one time c.1737
EL/N1/64Copy of a letter, from Isaac Newton, Hans Sloane, Richard Mead, Edmond Halley, and Abraham Hill to John Flamsteed, dated at Crane Court1712
L&P/1/442Letter, 'De Diaphragmate fisso [The split diaphragm]' from John Fothergill to Richard Mead1745
EL/O2/181Letter, from William Oliver to Richard Mead1723
EL/W3/141Letter, from Reverend Joseph Wasse to Dr [Richard] Mead1725
L&P/2/411Letter, 'An account of some antiquities dug up at Herculaneum' from Camillo Paderni to Richard Mead18 November 1752
CLP/14i/66Paper, 'An account of three cases of the hydrophobia' by R [Richard] Mead[1709]
MS/73Journal of travels in the Eastern Mediterranean by Francis Vernon1675-1676
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