Cromwell Mortimer FRS (June 1702 – 7 January 1752) was a British physician, antiquary and second secretary of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

from 1730 to 1752.

Early life

Mortimer was the second son of John Mortimer of Topping Hall in

Hatfield Peverel Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets of ...

, Essex, and his third wife Elizabeth Sanders, daughter of Samuel Sanders. His father's first wife was Dorothy Cromwell, daughter of

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's deat ...

. He was awarded his M.D. in 1724 at

University of Leyden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

.Courtney, W.P. (1885). "Cromwell Mortimer," ''Dictionary of National Biography,'' pp. 118-119. He married and had one son

Hans Winthrop Mortimer Hans Winthrop Mortimer (1734–1807) was a British property speculator and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1775 and 1790. Mortimer was the only son of Cromwell Mortimer secretary of the Royal Society, of Topping Hall, Essex and ...

who became

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

Career

Mortimer's medical practice developed in London after he was admitted to the College of Physicians in 1725. He was elected to membership in the

in 1728; and those signing that nomination letter were: Francis Clifton; Claudius Amyand (surgeon);

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

.Royal Society Library and Archive catalogue
/ref>

Notes

References

* Nichols, John and Samuel Bentley. (1812). ''Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century.'' London: Nichols and Bentley
OCLC 447914677

External links

* Linnean Society of London
digitized letter from Cromwell Mortimer to Carl Linnaeus (27 July 1736)
1693 births 1752 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Leiden University alumni People from Hatfield Peverel {{UK-scientist-stub