Edmund Smith, MD

• Birth* 1599 Dr. Edmund Smith was born in 1599 at London, England.2
• Anecdote 1614 The Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, 1614 shows him as Edmund Smith: of London (baptized at St. Lawrence Pountney): son of Edmund Smith (p. 104), minister. At school (Merchant Taylors') in London, under Mr. Haynes. Age 16. Admitted pensioner, May 1, 1614. Surety, Mr. Brown. B.A. 1617-8: M.A. 1621. Incorporated at Oxford, July 12, 1623. M.D. 1627. Scholar, Mich 1615 to L. Day 1618. Junior fellow, Mida 1621 to L. Day 1627. Appointed by royal mandate, dated Dec 18, 1620. Fellow of the College of Physicians, 1632. Died of pleurisy in his house in Shoe Lane, Feb 16, 1653-4. He only survived for fortnight the opening of the Harveian Museum of which he had been an active promoter: "Sussau et cura Franc. Prujeani Presidis, et. Edmundi Smith, inchoata et perfecta est haec fabrica" (Munk's Roll). Of St. Andrew's, Holborn, July 21, 1646; when he was fined £35 as a delinquent: "being a physician in ordinary to the king he went to Oxford in attendance on him" (Cal. of Com. for Compounding). Will proved at Westminster, March 1, 1653-4.2
• Anecdote* 1618 Dr Edmund Smith attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; BA 1618, MA 1623, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, 1632; physician-in-ordinary to Charles I during the Civil War--an office later executed by his nephew Sir Charles Scarburgh for Charles II. This Edmund Smith was a close personal friend of William Harvey (who encouraged Charles Scarburgh to "leave off thy gunning" and come to Cambridge), and is named by a biographer of Harvey as Scarburgh's uncle.1
• Death* before 1 March 1653/54 He died before 1 March 1653/54 at Westminster, London, England. It was on this date that his will was proved.2

[Whether he married or had any children is unrecorded.]

Citations

1. [S2434] Christopher Handy, to M.K. Miles.
2. [S2434] Christopher Handy, to M.K. Miles, Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College, 1349-1897, p. 224-225, 1614 (Edmund Smith of London).