Helkiah Crooke (1576 – 1648) was Court physician to King
James I of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the Union of the Crowns, union of the Scottish and Eng ...
. He is best remembered for his textbook on
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
, ''Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man''. He was the first qualified doctor to be appointed Keeper of
Royal Bethlem Hospital, but his conduct as Keeper was so unsatisfactory that he was eventually removed from that office on the grounds of
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and
absenteeism
Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation without good reason. Generally, absenteeism is unplanned absences. Absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implici ...
.
Family
He was born in
Great Waldingfield
Great Waldingfield is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England about two miles (3 km) north-east of Sudbury and two miles (3 km) south-west of its sister village, Little Waldingfield. The village is spli ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, the third son of
Thomas Crooke, rector of the parish and later reader at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
; his mother's family name was Samuel. His eldest brother
Sir Thomas Crooke achieved distinction as the founder of
Baltimore, County Cork
Baltimore (, ; , translated as the "Fort of the Jewels") is a village in western County Cork, Ireland. It is the main village in the parish of Rathmore and the Islands, the southernmost parish in Ireland. It is the main ferry port to Sherkin Isla ...
. Thomas and another brother
Samuel Crooke (who was also a clergyman) were, like their father, inclined to
Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
; Helkiah, on the other hand, is said to have leaned towards
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. Sir Thomas in his will of 1629 speaks with obvious affection of "dear Helkiah". The brothers seem to have been rather similar in their characters: both were men of talent and energy, but both were accused of a complete lack of scruple: just as Helkiah was accused of corruption, so Thomas was accused, rightly or wrongly, of enriching the town of Baltimore by the profits of
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
.
Early career
Helkiah went on the Sir
Henry Billingsley
Sir Henry Billingsley (died 22 November 1606) was an English merchant, Lord Mayor of London and the first translator of Euclid into English.
Early life
He was a son of Sir William Billingsley, haberdasher and assay master of London, and his wif ...
scholarship to
St. John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...
, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1596; then went to the
University of Leiden
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 ...
, where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine in only a few months. For some time he practised privately in Suffolk; his first application to join the
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
was unsuccessful, but he was admitted in 1613. He became a fellow in 1620 and an anatomy reader in 1629. Possibly through the influence of his brother Thomas, who had some acquaintance with King James I, he was appointed physician to the Royal Household.
Mikrokosmographia
Among Helkiah's patients was
William Jaggard
William Jaggard ( – November 1623) was an Elizabethan and Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays. Jaggard's shop was "at t ...
, who later became famous as the publisher of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
; Helkiah is said to have treated Jaggard for
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
. It was Jaggard who in 1615 published Helkiah's best-known work, ''Mikrokosmographia''. The book was a popular success, although it caused some controversy, partly because it was written in English, and partly because it criticised the teachings of
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
, which were still accepted without question by most of the medical profession. In addition, it contained frank illustrations of the human sexual organs, leading the Church authorities to denounce it as "indecent". Perhaps because of Helkiah's position at Court, the controversy did his reputation little damage and a second edition appeared in 1631. How much of the book was original has been disputed: it has been described as a compilation, with little original observation; some critics accused Helkiah of outright
plagiarism
Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
.
Keeper of Bedlam
In 1619 he was appointed Keeper of Bethlem Royal Hospital, popularly known as "
Bedlam", the principal London hospital for the treatment of the mentally ill. He was the first qualified doctor to hold the office. He had conducted a vigorous campaign to remove his predecessor, Thomas Jenner, due to his lack of the proper qualifications. His record at Bedlam, as elsewhere, is controversial. His admirers called him a reformer who pioneered the humane treatment of the mentally ill: his critics claimed that he
embezzled
Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
funds and was usually absent from the Hospital, deputising his duties to his son-in-law, Thomas Bedford. Most serious was the complaint that the care of patients was so neglected that many were "like to starve". Food intended for the patients was often stolen by the hospital steward, whom the patients had to bribe to hand it over or go without. Helkiah was often accused of attacking others for faults of which he was himself guilty, and his denunciation of his predecessor Jenner for incompetence was is unlikely to have been forgotten. His attempts to break the long-standing oversight of the administration of Bedlam by the Governors of the
Bridewell Prison
Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...
were unsuccessful, and the inevitable quarrel with the Governors of Bridewell merely made him more enemies.
![Plan of the first Bethlem Hospital](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Plan_of_the_first_Bethlem_Hospital.png)
Complaints about his conduct became so numerous that an inquiry was held in 1632. It covered the charges of mismanagement, corruption by the steward, and failure to feed the patients. Most serious perhaps was the charge of failing to make any effort to cure the patients of their mental illness. The death of King James I in 1625 had removed Helkiah's protection as a
royal favourite
Royal may refer to:
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, and he was found guilty and removed from office. He was the last Keeper to be appointed simply on the basis of royal
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
.
Last years
The cost of defending himself at the inquiry is said to have greatly impoverished him, and in 1635 he resigned his fellowship of the College of Physicians.
[Moore p.205] He retired to
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.
The well after which it was named was redisco ...
: so little is known of his last years that he is sometimes thought to have died in 1635, but there is a record of his burial at
St James's Church, Clerkenwell
St James Church, Clerkenwell, is an Anglican parish church in Clerkenwell, London, England.
History Nunnery of St Mary: c. 1100–1539
The parish of St James, Clerkenwell, has had a long and sometimes lively history. The springs which giv ...
in March 1648.
Little is known of his family except that he had a daughter, Alice, who married Thomas Bedford. His sister Sarah, widow of the noted preacher
Stephen Egerton Stephen Egerton may refer to:
* Stephen Egerton (priest) (1555?–1621?), English clergyman
* Stephen Egerton (diplomat) (1932–2006), British Ambassador to Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Italy
*Stephen Egerton (guitarist)
Stephen Patrick O'Reilly (bor ...
, at her death in 1624 left legacies to both Helkiah and Alice, but does not mention Helkiah's wife, who had presumably died by then.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crooke, Helkiah
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
Leiden University alumni
People from Babergh District
1576 births
1648 deaths