Samuel Wathen, M. D. (c. 1720–1787) was an English physician who practised in London during the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...

. He acted as personal physician to Rev.

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

, and may also have served Queen Charlotte of England as a male midwife.

Life and career

Samuel Wathen was born in 1719 or 1720, most probably in

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

, Gloucestershire, to Jonathan Wathen, a wealthy clothier of Stroud, and his wife Sarah Watkins. He became a physician, and then as a young man in Bristol in 1737, he met the Rev.

, one of the founders of Methodism. He ultimately became Wesley's personal physician, and there are several mentions of Wathen in Wesley's journal. He was the elder brother of Jonathan Wathen (c.1728-1808), a well-known London surgeon. Wathen was admitted to the

King's College in Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Unive ...

, Scotland on the recommendation of Dr. Nicholas Munckley (c. 1721–1770), a physician at Guy's Hospital in London and a member of the Royal Society. He graduated as a doctor of medicine on 28 September 1752 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians on 30 September 1756, going on to become one of London's best-known physicians. In addition to being a surgeon and John Wesley's personal physician, he was also one of the physicians of the City of London Lying-in Hospital on City Road where he was a man- midwife extraordinary. He was also listed on the Royal Kalendar of 1766 as man-midwife to the Queen, which must have been Charlotte, wife of George III, and makes it likely that he attended the Queen when her sons, the future George IV and William IV were born. Wathen ultimately retired from London to

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, where his son-in-law, John Eckersall, owned Burford Hall. He moved later to

Wrington Wrington is a village and a civil and ecclesiastical parish on the north slopes of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset, England. Both include nearby Redhill. Wrington lies in the valley of the Congresbury Yeo river, about east of Weston-super-M ...

, Somersetshire, where another son-in-law, Rev. William Leeves, was rector of All Saints Church. He died on 26 July 1787 at

. There is a painting of Samuel Wathen with his family by the artist George Knapton in the collections of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Family

Wathen was married three times, his third wife being Elizabeth Malthus, whom he married on 19 March 1750 at St Mary-at-Hill, London. She was the daughter of Sydenham Malthus (c. 1678–1757), a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, but she is best known as the aunt of the economist Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), who was one of the first to write on the dangers of mankind overpopulating the earth. Samuel had one daughter from his second marriage, and at least five children from his third, including the actor George Wathen (1762–1849), who was well known on the London stage as "Captain Wathen". Samuel and Elizabeth were the grandparents of the poet Marianne Baillie.''Bury St. Edminds, St. James parish records, baptisms 1558-1800, (1915), ''Suffolk Green Books, Paul and Matthew, London, p. 403.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wathen, Samuel 18th-century English medical doctors 1720 births 1787 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen