Richard Bayley (1745 – August 17, 1801) was a prominent New York City physician and the first chief health officer of the city. An expert in

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, he helped discover its epidemiology, improved city sanitation, and authored the federal Quarantine Act of 1799. The 1788 Doctors' Riot was sparked by fears that his students were secretly removing corpses from graves in order to dissect them.

Biography

Bayley was born in 1745 in Fairfield, then in the

Colony of Connecticut The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

, to a family of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

and English descent, based in

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. In 1766 he was apprenticed to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

physician John Charlton. Bayley married John's sister, Catherine Charlton, at

St. John's Episcopal Church (Elizabeth, New Jersey) St. John's Episcopal Church (official name, St. John's Church) is a historic Episcopal church located at 61 Broad Street in the historic heart of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Now part of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey headquartered in Trenton, ...

in 1767; her father was the

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of St. Andrew's Church (Staten Island, New York). The couple had three children, Mary Magdalen (b. 1768, m. 1790 to

Wright Post Wright Post (February 19, 1766 – June 14, 1828) was an American surgeon. Post was born at North Hempstead, Long Island on February 19, 1766. He studied medicine for six years in New York and London, and began to practice in New York in 1786. ...

), Elizabeth Ann (1774-1821, later known as Mother Seton, and the first native-born citizen of the United States to be declared a saint), and Catherine (1776–8). Richard Bayley traveled to

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in 1769, where he studied

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 ...

with William Hunter. Bayley returned to the United States in 1772, where he opened a practice with Charlton, his father-in-law and former instructor. He returned to England in 1775 to continue his work with Hunter. A Loyalist, Bayley returned to America and enlisted in the British army as a surgeon at the start of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and was stationed in

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. In 1777, however, the illness of his wife caused him to return to New York, where she died in May. He took no further part in the conflict. Thirteen months after his first wife's death, he married Charlotte Amelia Barclay. Three daughters and four sons were born of this marriage: Richard, Andrew Barclay, Charlotte Amelia, William, Mary Fitch, Guy Carleton (b. 1786), and Helen. Guy's son

James Roosevelt Bayley James Roosevelt Bayley (August 23, 1814 – October 3, 1877) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark (1853–1872) and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore (1872–1877). Early life and educat ...

became a

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Bishop and Archbishop. They later separated. Bayley's chief focus in his medical practice was the poor of the city. He helped to found the New York Dispensary, which operated in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

neighborhood well into the 20th century. He was the first American surgeon to successfully amputate an arm at the shoulder. By 1783, Bayley had begun performing cataract surgery. His laboratory was attacked in the 1788 Doctors' Riot, which was sparked by public outrage at the illegal procurement of corpses for dissection. His anatomical collection was destroyed, but he escaped without injury. In 1792 he began to teach anatomy and surgery at Kings College of New York. He began studies of

when the disease broke out in New York in 1795. His work helped discover its epidemiology. As a result, around 1796, he was appointed as the first health officer of the Port of New York, in charge of a

quarantine station A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

in what is now

Tompkinsville, Staten Island Tompkinsville is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City. Named for Daniel D. Tompkins, sixth Vice President of the United States (1817-1825), the neighborhood sits on the island's eastern shore, along the waterfront facing U ...

. In 1797 the newly created Board of Health Commissioners was given the authority to make ordinances for cleaning the city. Efforts to address standing water and sewage in the streets where the soap and candle makers worked, prompted the soap boilers and tallow chandlers talk of petitioning the Legislature for a removal of the Health Officer. He authored the federal Quarantine Act of 1799."Early History of Medicine in New York", Part II, ''Americana'', Vol. 9
National American Society, 1914, pp. 1025–1026. Bayley contracted yellow fever while checking a ship that had just arrived from Ireland and died from it on August 17, 1801. He was buried in the cemetery of the church served by his father-in-law.

Legacy

Bayley Seton Hospital Bayley Seton Hospital (BSH) was a hospital in Stapleton, Staten Island, New York City. It was a part of the Bayley Seton campus of Richmond University Medical Center but is permanently closed. The campus was established in 1831 as a U.S Marine ...

, once located in the

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

section of Staten Island, was named for both Bayley and his daughter, Elizabeth. It was founded and run by the

Sisters of Charity of New York The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul of New York, most often known as the Sisters of Charity of New York, is a religious congregation of sisters in the Catholic Church whose primary missions are education and nursing and who are dedicated ...

, until 2006.

References

External links

Letter of Alexander Hamilton and Richard Harison to Dr. Richard Bayley regarding the quarantine of passengers aboard the ship ''Nancy'', July 19, 1796

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayley, Richard 1745 births 1801 deaths Bayley family People from Fairfield, Connecticut Physicians from New York City People from Staten Island Port of New York and New Jersey Deaths from yellow fever People of colonial Connecticut Loyalists in the American Revolution from New York (state) American public health doctors