| Authorised form of name | Cockburn; William (1669 - 1739); physician |
| Dates | 1669 - 1739 |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of birth | 1669 |
| Place of death | London, England |
| Date of death | November 1739 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
The middle aisle of Westminster Abbey, London (24 November 1739) |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Activity | Education:
Edinburgh; MA (1688); Leyden (admitted 1691); King's College, Aberdeen; MD (1697)
Career:
Physician to the Fleet (c1694); created a secret remedy for dysentery, which he supplied to the Fleet and the Army on foreign service as well as private patients, thereby making his fortune; practised in London; Physician to Greenwich Hospital (1731)
Memberships:
LRCP (1694) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 30/11/1696 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1703, 1705, 1707, 1709 |
| Relationships | Parents: Sir William Cockburn, Bart, of Ryslaw and Cockburn.
Spouse: 1) Mary de Baudisson, a widow; 2) Mary, daughter of Basil Fielding, 4th Earl of Denbigh |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 33743 |
| OtherInfo | Little is known of his early life.
While at Leiden he attended the lectures of Scot Archibald Pitcairne, and was strongly influenced by Pitcairne's combination of iatromechanism and Newtonian matter theory.
His first book, Oeconomia corporis animalis, is a scheme of general pathology, or first principles of physic.
Produced a small work entitled 'An account of the nature, causes, symptoms and cure of the distempers that are incident to seafaring people', which was a record of his two years' experience as ship's doctor on the home station. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Innes Smith |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/10782288 |
| Code | NA5735 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/000903 | Cockburn, William | nd |
| LBO/28/66 | Copy letter from Dr Brady to William Cockburn | nd |
| CLP/22i/53 | Paper, Account of the book 'The nature and causes of loosenesses [dysentery] plainly discovered' by William Cockburn | [1701] |
| CLP/12i/66 | Paper, 'An account of the cure of two sinuous ulcers possessing the space of the whole arm with an extraordinary supply of a callus which fully answers the purposes of the os humeri lost in time of cure' in a letter from John Fawler to William Cockburn | [1707] |
| EL/B2/62 | Letter, from Sam Brady to Dr William Cockburn | 1705 |
| EL/K/22 | Letter, from John Keill to William Cockburn | 1708 |
| CLP/14ii/40 | Paper, 'Concerning the difficulty in curing fluxes' by Wm [William] Cockburn | [1732] |
| CLP/14i/63 | Paper, 'The practice of purging and vomiting medicine according to Dr Cockburn's solution of his problem' by Dr [William] Cockburn | [1708] |
| EL/C2/37 | Letter, from W[illiam] Cockburn [to the Royal Society], dated at London | 13 February 1704 |
| RBO/18/15 | Concerns the use of 'Ipecacuanha' in France by William Cockburn after reading Monsieur Jussieu's 'Memoire' | 1732 |