William Wagstaffe (1685 – 5 May 1725) was a British physician. Wagstaffe was born in

Cublington Cublington is a village and one of 110 civil parishes within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about seven miles (11 km) north of Aylesbury. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "Cubbel's estate". ...

, Buckinghamshire, UK, The only son of the town's rector, and related to the Wagstaffe family of Knightcote,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

. He was educated at a school in Northampton, entered Lincoln College, Oxford in 1701, graduated B.A. (16 June 1704) and M.A. (5 May 1707). The same year, he joined the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

"practice of physics" of his relative

Thomas Wagstaffe Thomas Wagstaffe the Elder (13 February 1645 – 17 October 1712) was a clergyman of the Church of England, after the nonjuring schism a bishop of the breakaway church. Early life Wagstaffe was born on 13 February 1645 at Binley in Warwickshire, ...

. He married Thomas' daughter and, after her early death, married the daughter of surgeon Charles Bernard. On 8 July 1714, Wagstaffe graduated M.B. and M.D. at Oxford. He became 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 22 December 1718, and was a censor in 1720. He became reader on anatomy to the Barber-Surgeons on 15 December 1715, and succeeded

Salisbury Cade Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

as physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital on 29 December 1720. He became a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

on 13 March 1718. Wagstaffe died in Bath.

Works

* ''A Comment upon The History of

Tom Thumb Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. ''The History of Tom Thumb'' was published in 1621 and was the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tan ...

e'' (1711) * ''A Letter showing the Danger and Uncertainty of inoculating the Small Pox'' (1722)

External links

*
Chalmer's Biography
(1812)
''Miscellaneous works of Dr. William Wagstaffe''
at Google books * * 1685 births 1725 deaths People from Buckinghamshire (before 1974) English surgeons British medical researchers Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians 17th-century English people 18th-century English medical doctors Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford {{UK-med-bio-stub