Richard Frewin, M.D. (1681?-1761), was an English

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and professor of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Early life and education

Frewin, the son of Ralph Frewin of London, was admitted as a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar is a foundation scholar (elected on the basis of good academic performance and usually qualifying for reduced fees) of one of certain public schools. These include Eton College; The King's School, Canterbury; The King's School ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

in 1693, and elected thence to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, in 1698. He took the degrees of

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1702,

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1704, M.B. in 1707, and

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

in 1711.

Career

In 1708 he is described at the foot of a Latin poem which he contributed to 'Exequiæ Georgio principi Danise ab Oxoniensi academia solutæ' (Oxford, 1708) as professor of chemistry; he was also, in 1711,

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

reader at Christ Church. As a physician he had an excellent reputation; he attended Dean Aldrich on his deathbed. John Freind's 'Hippocrates de Morbis Popularibus' is dedicated to him, and contains a letter from him (dated Christ Church, 20 July 1710), giving an account of a case of variolæ cohærentes which he had been attending. In 1727 he was unanimously elected to the Camden professorship of ancient history, no other candidate offering himself. Hearne relates that soon after his election he bought a hundred pounds' worth of books on history and

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

, 'on purpose to qualify him the better to discharge' the duties of the office. He died 29 May 1761, having survived his children, who died young, and three wives, Lady Tyrell (widow of

Thomas Tyrrell Sir Thomas Tyrrell (23 June 1594 – 8 March 1672) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and 1660. He fought on the Parliamentarian side in the English Civil War. Tyrrill was the son of Sir Edward Tyrrell ...

),Jeffrey, R.W. (1927) ''A Forgotten College of Oxford''
The Brazen Nose Vol IV no 6.
/ref> Elizabeth Woodward, and Mrs. Graves, daughter of Peter Cranke. He bequeathed £2,000 in trust for the king's scholars of Westminster elected to Christ Church, and another £2,000 in trust for the physicians of the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. History The initial proposals to build a hospital in Oxford were put forw ...

, and left his house in Oxford, now known as

Frewin Hall Frewin may refer to: People * Anthony Frewin Anthony Edward Frewin (born 1947 in Kentish Town, London) is a British writer and erstwhile personal assistant to film director Stanley Kubrick (from 1965 to 1968, and from 1979 to 1999). Frewin now re ...

, to the Regius Professor of Medicine for the time being. His library of history and literature, consisting of 2,300 volumes, he left to the Radcliffe Library. There is in that library a volume containing a collection of dried specimens of plants made by him, with his notes in manuscript on their medicinal uses. Portraits are in the hall and common room at Christ Church, and a bust, presented by Dr. Hawley in 1757, in the library there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frewin, Richard 1681 births 1761 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford 18th-century English medical doctors 18th-century English historians Camden Professors of Ancient History