Martin Davy (1763–1839) was an English physician and academic, Master of

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

from 1803. In later life he was also a cleric. Martin Davy by John Opie

Life

Davy's father was a country gentleman at Ingoldisthorpe,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He was educated first at

Norwich grammar school Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...

, then was a pupil of a Great Yarmouth surgeon. Later he studied medicine at Edinburgh, and adopted the Brunonian system. Davy entered Caius College, Cambridge in 1786, and graduated M.B. in 1792 and M.D. in 1797. In 1795 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mastership of Caius, when Richard Belward was elected. For the next two years he accompanied Lord Ossulton on a tour including Italy. In 1803, on Belward's death, Davy became Master of Caius. Both before and after his election to the mastership Davy practised medicine with success. Vice-chancellor in 1803–4, he took steps to exclude a local medical practitioner, Frederick Thackeray, from taking a medical degree, by a restrictive interpretation given to a statute relating to medical study. As a college man, however, he is credited with a meritocratic approach. He was vice-chancellor a second time in 1827–8. Critical accounts by Henry Gunning and

Joseph Romilly Joseph Romilly (1791–1864) was an English academic administrator, known as a diarist. Life He was son of Thomas Peter Romilly of London, by his cousin Jane Anne, second daughter of Isaac Romilly, who was uncle of Sir Samuel Romilly. He entered ...

affected his subsequent reputation. He had Whig principles, and supported a move of 1834 in favour of the university education of nonconformists. In 1811 Davy took holy orders, and was admitted D.D. In 1827 the Tory ministry gave him the rectory of

Cottenham Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. Cottenham is one of the larger villages surrounding the city of Cambridge, located around five miles north of the city. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 6095. Cottenham ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, and he was made prebendary of Chichester in the year 1832. Davy was elected a Fellow 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 ...

in 1801, and a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

in 1812. He died at Cambridge on 18 May 1839, and was buried on 25 May in the antechapel of his college. He bequeathed Heacham Lodge, Norfolk, to follow the mastership of Caius.

Works

Davy wrote in 1809 a pamphlet ''Observations upon Mr. Fox's Letter to Mr. Grey contained in Lord Holland's preface to C. J. Fox's History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second'', 1808, a verbal quibble with

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

Notes

;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davy, Martin 1763 births 1839 deaths 18th-century English medical doctors 19th-century English medical doctors 19th-century English Anglican priests Masters of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London People from Ingoldisthorpe People educated at Norwich School Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh