Sir Alexander Fraizer FRS (1610? – 3 May 1681), was a Scottish physician.

Life

Fraizer was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

about 1610, and graduated M.D. at

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

on 1 October 1635. He was incorporated at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

on 9 March 1637, and was elected a fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

on 23 November 1641. He was a faithful royalist, followed Charles II abroad, and became his physician. The king placed confidence in him, and he was in turn courted and abused by the factions which grew up among the English exiles on the continent. He was once friendly with

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (18 February 16099 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II from ...

and at another time avoided communication with him. Fraizer was declared by the king to be excellent as a physician, and was employed in court affairs. There was probably some resemblance of character which sustained the confidential relation; but the conclusion stated by some contemporary writers, that the physician was as unprincipled as his royal patient, is unsupported by evidence, and no weight attaches to the abuse of Sir

John Denham John Denham may refer to: * John Denham (died 1556 or later), English MP for Shaftesbury * John Denham (judge), (1559–1639), father of the poet below, and one of the Ship Money judges * John Denham (poet) (1615–1669), English poet * John Denham ...

and of

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

. Denham's attacks are founded on personal enmity, of which the cause is not now known. Pepys's informant was Pierce, a groom of the privy chamber, who repeated backstairs' gossip. The respect with which Fraizer is mentioned by Dr. Edward Browne, and the fact that on 26 July 1666 he was chosen an elect at the

College of Physicians of London The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

, a distinction which his being king's physician would not have obtained for him had his professional character been low, are evidences of his general uprightness. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, who dealt in wood, arrested Fraizer for a wood bill of about £30. The bailiffs were beaten by the king's order, but this was not due to any misconduct on the physician's part, but to royal indignation at a supposed breach of a prerogative. Few records of Fraizer's practice remain. He attended Mary, Princess of Orange in the attack of small-pox which ended fatally on Christmas Eve, 1660, and the young James, Duke of Cambridge and Charles, Duke of Kendal in the illness which killed both in 1667, and he superintended the successful trepanning of

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

's skull on Sunday, 3 February 1666. At

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Mr. Elburg was his apothecary. Soon after the

Restoration of Charles II The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...

, Fraizer was knighted and in 1663 elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. His wife was made a dresser to the queen. He died on 3 May 1681. He had a son, Charles, who became a fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, was physician in ordinary to Charles II, and was elected a fellow of the

in 1684.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraizer, Alexander 1610 births 1681 deaths 17th-century Scottish medical doctors Physicians-in-Ordinary Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal Society