Edward Milward (1712?–1757) was an English physician and historian of medicine.
Life
He was born about 1712, probably at
Lindridge
Lindridge is a village and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District in the north of the county of Worcestershire, England, near the Shropshire border and the town of Tenbury Wells. The area around the village is known for its extensive hop
A ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
, where his family resided. He was entered at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, but left without graduating, and acquired the degree of doctor of medicine abroad.
In 1733 Milward was a doctor of medicine, living in London at Queen's Square,
Ormond Street; he later moved to Portugal Row,
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...
. At this period he was patron to
Edmund Chapman, the writer on midwifery.
On 7 July 1741 he was created by royal mandate M.D. of Cambridge as a member of Trinity College. He was admitted licentiate of the
College of Physicians A college of physicians is a national or provincial organisation concerned with the practice of medicine.
{{Expand list, date=February 2011
Such institutions include:
* American College of Physicians
* Ceylon College of Physicians
* College of Phy ...
30 September 1747, and fellow 30 September 1748; was censor 1752, and in the same year delivered the
Harveian oration
The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feas ...
. He became
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
21 January 1742.
Milward moved to
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
, where he died 26 August 1757. He was buried in the Knighton Chapel, Lindridge, among other members of his family. His epitaph states that he died at the age of 45.
Works
Milward was a scholar of the classical medical writers. His major work was his essay on
Alexander Trallianus, a Greek physician of the sixth century. Milward intended this essay to be the prelude to a new edition of the text of Alexander. Another project was in his ''Letter to Learned Men'': a complete history of British writers on medicine and surgery. He started with the papers of
William Becket, bought from
Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll (''c.'' 1675 – 11 December 1747) was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealth ...
the bookseller. He again referred to it in the preface to
James Drake's ''Orationes Tres'', but nothing was published. Another projected but unpublished work was a treatise on
gangrene
Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
.
His published works were:
* ''The Essay on Trallianus'', with different title-pages in 1733 and 1734.
[The texts are identical: (a) "A Letter to Sir Hans Sloane in Vindication of the Character of those Greek Writers on Physic that flourished after Galen, but particularly of Alexander Trallian, etc. By E. Milward, M.D., formerly of Trinity College, Cambridge", London, 1733. (b) "Trallianus Reviviscens, or an Account of Alexander Trallian, &c., being a Supplement to Dr. Freind's "History of Physick," in a Letter to Sir Hans Sloane", London, 1734.]
* ''A Circular Invitatory Letter to all Orders of Learned Men … concerning an Attempt towards an History of the Lives, etc., of the most celebrated British Physical and Chirurgical Writers'', London, 1740.
* ''Oratio Harvæana'', 1752, London, 1753.
Milward also edited ''Jacobi Drakei Orationes tres de febre intermittente'', London, 1742.
References
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milward, Edward
1712 births
1757 deaths
18th-century English medical doctors
Fellows of the Royal Society