EDWARDS, Richard | British History Online

Physicians and Irregular Medical Practitioners in London 1550-1640 Database. Originally published by Centre for Metropolitan History, London, 2004.

Citation:

Margaret Pelling, Frances White, 'EDWARDS, Richard', in Physicians and Irregular Medical Practitioners in London 1550-1640 Database( London, 2004), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-physicians/1550-1640/edwards-richard [accessed 31 October 2024].

Richard EDWARDS

Biography


Name	Richard EDWARDS
Gender	Male
Primary occupation	medical apothecary (Apothecary's servant 1601. Apothecary 1609. Master SA 1632-4.)
Period of medical practice	1601-1655
Date of death	1655
Address	Bucklersbury 1640. Cheapside 1655.
Other notes	Trouble 1601-31 - usually no proof. SA Charter 1614 1617. Cf. Thomas WILLOUGHBY 809.

Known London address


	Cheapside
Date	1655
	Bucklersbury
Parish	St Benet Sherehog (St Sithe; St Benet & St Sithe)
Ward	Cheap
Date	1640

Censorial hearings


	6 May 1601
Entry	E, servant of the late John Noble, apothecary, confessed to administering clysters and other medicines 'not of his own devising but from old bills or recipes of other physicians preserved in the shop'. He also confessed to having given many medicines to a woman for scurvy &c.
Attitude of the accused	confessed
Action taken	Fined £5 and imprisoned.
Verdict	guilty
Sentence	Fined £5 and imprisoned
Number of crimes	2
	21 June 1631
Entry	E appeared and denied giving Mr (?sic) Ward anything not prescribed by Dr Chamberlain or Mr Chamberlain, surgeon. There was no proof against him.
Action taken	?None, no proof.
Verdict	not proven
Number of crimes	1
	4 July 1634
Entry	[Apothbiz.] Apossecary.
	9 July 1634
Entry	[Apothbiz.] Apossecary 2.
	25 June 1635
Entry	[Apothbiz.] In list of boycotted apothecaries.
Action taken	Discommuned (boycotted).
	11 Aug 1609
Entry	E, an apothecary, was convicted and fined 40s.
Action taken	Convicted and fined 40s.
Verdict	guilty
Sentence	Fined 40s.
	6 Oct 1609
Entry	E asked for half his fine to be remitted.
Action taken	?
	12 April 1611
Entry	Richard Edwards, an apothecary, appeared on a charge: he was sent away however pending the presence of the man to prove the case.
Action taken	Deferred.
	3 May 1611
Entry	Dr Lister charged E with prescribing a dietetic potion (vomit & purge) to a brass worker. However, the brass worker was called and said that Thomas WILLOUGHBY 809 (qv) had prescribed it. E exonerated.
Initiator of the complaint	college member
Action taken	Exonerated, but see next.
Number of crimes	1
	7 June 1611
Entry	Richard Edwards brought Dr. Lister's prescription and the sick brass worker who confessed that a short time previously he had taken a dietetic potion prescribed by Thomas Willoughby a linen draper and prepared by William Webb, a grocer: due to this he vomited and was purged. Thus Edwards was hereby absolved.
Initiator of the complaint	patient
Action taken	E was absolved.
Verdict	innocent
	4 April 1617
Entry	E, 'apothecarie', was charged by Dr Goulston with treating Mr Dowgill. He said that he had only given what was prescribed by Dr Clement.
Initiator of the complaint	college member
Action taken	Warned.
Verdict	not proven
Number of crimes	1
	2 March 1627
Entry	E was accused, but Dr Saunders (?his accuser) was not present, so the matter was deferred.
Initiator of the complaint	college member
Action taken	Deferred.
Verdict	case not completed
	28 Jan 1631
Entry	Dr Saunders said that E had given Mrs Ward of St Helens a violent course of medicine, and that she later died. Dr Rand confirmed this. Dr Saunders also reported [that E had given] medicines to a scorbutic penitentiary and to a boy with hectic fever.
Initiator of the complaint	college member
Second initiator of the complaint	college member
Action taken	See next.
Number of crimes	3