| Authorised form of name | Chamberlen; Hugh (c1630 - c1720); physician and economist |
| Other forms of surname | Chamberlayne |
| Dates | c1630 - c1720 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | The parish of St Anne's, Blackfriars, London, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | c. 1630 |
| Place of death | Amsterdam, Dutch Republic, [modern day Netherlands], Europe |
| Date of death | c. 1720 |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Research field | Obstetrics |
| Gynaecology |
| Activity | Career:
Made a proposal for ridding the city of the plague (1666); travelled to France (1670); practised in London as a physician and man-midwife; Physician-in-Ordinary to the King (1673); attended the confinements of Queen Mary of Modena; regarded as something of a charlatan, he was fined £10 by the Royal College of Physicians (1688); pardoned for treason (1688); devised a project for a land bank (1690), on the collapse of which he was forced to flee to Scotland (1699); made proposals for a land bank there and wrote in support of the union of England and Scotland; retired to Amsterdam, where he practised medicine |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 06/04/1681 |
| Proposer | John Houghton |
| Other Royal Society activity | Occasional correspondent to Robert Boyle (FRS 1660);
Submitted a paper on medical matters (1670) |
| Relationships | Parents: Peter Chamberlen and Jane Myddelton
Siblings: Paul Chamberlen
Married: Dorothy Brett
Additional relatives: grandfather Peter Chamberlen the younger |
| OtherInfo | Hugh Chamberlen was a member of a family of prominent physicians, who were were important in the development of obstetric instruments, especially the forceps, which remained a 'family secret' for generations. Chamberlen referenced this in the preface to his 1672 translation of Francois Mauriceau's obstetrical treatise. In 1694, he also published his own medical work advocating for a health insurance scheme regardless of personal wealth. The family's collection of obstetric instruments was found in a former home, Woodham Mortimer Hall, in 1813 and are now in the possession of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Venn; Hunter; ODNB
Dunn, Peter. 1999. 'The Chamberlen family (1560-1728) and obstetric forceps', in Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition, vol. 81, pp. 232-234
Notes:
Possible birth date between 1630 and 1634. Venn has confused him with his son, who was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1682, when his father's address was given as above. DNB says he was still alive in Nov 1720, when he declined to administer his son's estate. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/24947180 |
| Code | NA8398 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| CLP/12ii/54/1 | Manuscript note, description of an abscess on the left kidney by Francis Glisson and Hugh Chamberlen | 18 November 1670 |
| CLP/12ii/54/2 | Watercolour, stones found in kidney and ureter by unknown artist | [1670] |
| CLP/12ii/54 | Note, description of an abscess on the left kidney by Francis Glisson and Hugh Chamberlen | 18 November 1670 |