Alexander Pennycuik (or Pennecuick) (1605-1695) was a Scottish military

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who became Surgeon General of the Scots forces in Ireland during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. He was elected Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh

Early life

Alexander Pennycuik was born in 1605, a member of a landowning family, which owned the estate of Penicuik, just south of Edinburgh. When he inherited the estate of Romanno, north of Peebles in 1647, he sold the family estate of Penicuik and bought the New Hall estate on the southern borders of Midlothian. In the minutes of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh he is often referred to as Alexander Pennycuik of New Hall.

Career

Like many Scots, he felt drawn to serve in the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

. He was surgeon under General Johan Banér who led one of the armies of Queen Christina, the daughter of

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. He was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh in 1640 in consideration of his "literature and qualifications" and on the payment of the sum of £200 Scots.Cresswell, CH. ''History of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh''. Edinburgh, Blackwell, 1926. p27 He spent much of his life as a military surgeon in Scotland and Ireland, becoming Surgeon General of the Scots forces in Ireland during the

. In 1650 he was placed in charge of the wounded left behind in

Stirling castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

. For these many years of service he claimed to have been paid a meagre £165 sterling. Furthermore his loyalty to the Crown over this period had resulted in the loss of his land, which was plundered by the Parliamentarian Army. After the war in 1663 he petitioned Parliament for £3668 sterling which he reckoned was the balance due to him for services as a military surgeon. Like most surgeons of his day he also acted as an apothecary and indeed took legal action against the father of a patient for non-payment of fees after he had treated the patient for scrofula (tuberculosis) 'with all kinds of inward and outward medicines'. He was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh between 1644 and 1646.Dingwall, H. ''A famous and Flourishing Society.'' Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2005. p63

Later years and family

Despite spending most of his working life as a surgeon in conflicts, he went on to live to about 90. In his later years he was cared for by his son Alexander Pennycuik (or Pennecuick) (1652–1722) who had qualified and practised as a physician but found fame as a poet and naturalist. His estate of New Hall was thought to be the setting for '

The Gentle Shepherd ''The Gentle Shepherd'' is a pastoral Comedy#Etymology, comedy by Allan Ramsay (poet), Allan Ramsay. It was first published in 1725 and dedicated to Susanna Montgomery, Lady Eglinton, to whom Ramsay gifted the original manuscript. The play has ...

', Allan Ramsay's celebrated pastoral poem. His son, in a fond posthumous tribute, described his father as:

"The oldest Aesculapian of his age… Who flattered not the rich nor scourged the poor From old forebears much worth he did inherit A gentleman by birth but more by merit"

He was buried in the churchyard at Kirkurd/Newlands Parish Church near Peebles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennycuik, Alexander Scottish surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1605 births 1695 deaths Presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 17th-century surgeons 17th-century Scottish medical doctors