Robert Child (1613–1654) was an English physician, agriculturalist and alchemist. A recent view is that his approach to agriculture belongs to the early ideas on
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
.
Early life
The son of John Child of
Northfleet in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
he was educated at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He then attended the universities of
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
and
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, taking a medical degree at Leiden in 1635, and his M.D. at Padua in 1638.
In New England
Child did not practise medicine as a new graduate. In 1638 he travelled to
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
, where his first stay lasted to 1641. There he came to know
John Winthrop the younger
John Winthrop the Younger (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony, and he played a large role in the merger of several separate settlements into the unified colony.
Early life
Winthrop was born ...
, and a supporter of his ironworks project. Residing in
Watertown Watertown may refer to:
Places in China
In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways.
Places in the United States
*Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town
**Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
, he joined the Nashaway Company, who were interested in
iron ore; but left to go back to England.
Moore writes that, during the period from 1641, Child worked in England using good contacts, trying to make New England self-sufficient in iron. He also travelled widely in continental Europe, meeting the alchemist
Pierre Jean Fabre.
On Child's return to New England in 1645, he was active in running the
Saugus ironworks. He took an interest in the
fur trade; he was also prospecting for a vineyard, but became involved in local politics and religious matters.
This second visit ended in his departure in 1647, forced out as a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
.
Child had taken part in agitation against the dominant
Independents (congregationalists) in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, becoming the leader of the dissident Remonstrant group, who took their name from the "Remonstrance and Humble Petition" he wrote. Scholars disagree on its aims, but they included extending the
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
's control across the Atlantic.
The group of seven signatories included also
Samuel Maverick
Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803 – September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term "maverick," first cited in 1867, which means "indepe ...
(the others being Thomas Burton, lawyer at
Hingham, John Dand, Thomas Fowle, John Smith and David Yale).
Pamphlets on the case, in the Massachusetts General Court, appeared in 1647. ''New-England's Jonas cast up in London'' was by Child's brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, a major in the parliamentary army. ''New England's Salamander'' was by
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...
, who had been instructed to counter the arguments of the Remonstrants and
Samuel Gorton
Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) was an early settler and civic leader of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and President of the towns of Providence and Warwick. He had strong religious beliefs which differed from Puritan the ...
. It has been suggested that the "Jonas" pamphlet was written by
William Vassall.
Alchemy
Child shared with John Winthrop the younger, and
Richard Leader Richard Leader (1609–1661) was an English businessman who was the first manager of the Saugus Iron Works, the first integrated ironworks in North America. He later engaged in business in Maine and Barbados.
Early life
Leader was born in 1609. On ...
of the Saugus works, an interest in
alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
arising from the metallurgy of iron. In the 17th century, a number of writers stated that Child was
Eirenaeus Philalethes, the pseudonymous alchemist. That view was circulated by
Johann Ferdinand Hertodt, among others.– It was incorrect, since the pseudonym concealed in fact his associate
George Starkey from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Child, along with
Benjamin Worsley Benjamin Worsley (1618–1673) was an English physician, Surveyor-General of Ireland, experimental scientist, civil servant and intellectual figure of Commonwealth England. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, but may not have graduated.Newman a ...
, also took an interest in the chemical work of
Johann Glauber.
Among Child's chemical contacts was
John French who wrote on distillation.
He knew
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
well enough to introduce Starkey to him, in 1650. At that time he was also setting up a group including
Thomas Henshaw,
Thomas Vaughan and William Webbe, to gather and translate alchemical and chemical texts.
Agriculture
Child was an advocate of
intensive cultivation over
traditional agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
. His views were expressed in ''The Defects and Remedies of English Husbandry'' (1652) and put him at odds with conventional wisdom, as represented by
Walter Blith
Walter Blith (1605–1654) was an English writer on agriculture, husbandry and an official under the Commonwealth of England, Commonwealth. His books promoted improvements in techniques, but were suppressed after the Restoration (1660), 1660 Resto ...
. He is now considered to have been ahead of his time. This work, known also as Child's "Large Letter", formed part of ''Samuel Hartlib His Legacie'' of 1651; others who contributed to the work include
Cressy Dymock,
Gabriel Plats (in the 1655 edition) and
Richard Weston. The farming use of
marl provoked a comment by Child published in the ''Legacie'', suggesting that "husbandmen" should take an interest in what could be dug out of the ground.
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb (c. 1600 – 10 March 1662)
M. Greengrass, "Hartlib, Samuel (c. 1600–1662)", ''Oxford D ...
was an
intelligencer
Intelligencer is an archaic word for a person who gathers intelligence, like a spy or secret agent. The term may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Daily Intelligencer (disambiguation)'', multiple papers
* ''Edwardsville Intelligencer'' (1862–present) ...
whose wide-ranging group of correspondents is now identified as the
Hartlib Circle; Child had joined it by 1645. He was in agreement with other members of the Circle in approving of
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
s of land.
Gerard and
Arnold Boate's ''Ireland's Naturall History'' was representative of the Circle's interests, and took up Child's suggestion in a survey of "Metals, Minerals ..." in Ireland.
Last years
In 1651 Child was invited by
Arthur Hill to his estate in
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
. He remained there for the rest of his life, working on
natural history and studying the agriculture of the area.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Robert
1613 births
1654 deaths
17th-century English medical doctors
English agriculturalists
English alchemists
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Leiden University alumni
University of Padua alumni
English metallurgists
17th-century alchemists