Millennium Project
Early Modern Practitioners (1500-1715)
This website has been created by a research group in association with Exeter University. Click on the 'County Studies' tab and then 'Oxfordshire Medics' to find the entries following.The page number of the site follows each entry.
Samuel BELCHER or BELCHIER (1638-1688) Occ: apothecary Person ID: 19257 Loc: Deddington, Oxfordshire Samuel Belcher was the son of John Belcher and his wife Elizabeth, nee Poulton, and was baptised at Barford St John, Oxfordshire, on 8 October 1638. He practised as an apothecary in the Oxfordshire village of Deddington. Belcher married twice. He married his first wife Ann Bennett at Deddington on 1 April 1662. She was buried in the local parish church on 5 January 1665/6. Belcher subsequently married Beata West at Cropredy, Oxfordshire, on 2 September 1667. She was buried at Deddington on 3 October 1686. Mr Samuel Belcher died on 9 December 1688 and was buried at Deddington two days later. A mural tablet to his memory was erected with the family motto ‘Loyall au mort’. Belcher owned extensive property in the county of Oxfordshire, including two shops in Deddington and Woodstock, as well as properties in Banbury, Great Barford and Deddington. It was divided among his four sons (Thomas, Samuel, James and John) and two daughters (Beata and Ann). Belcher named his brother James and kinsman Edward Cockson, rector, of Westcot Barton, Oxfordshire, as joint executors. Children of Samuel Belcher and Ann: 40 John, bapt.11 October 1664; buried 3 November 1664 [Deddington]. Children of Samuel Belcher and wife Beata: Thomas, born [at Banbury] 10 January 1668/9; bapt.19 January 1668/9 [Deddington]. Apothecary. Beata, bapt.23 October 1671 [Deddington]. She married Thomas Appletree, apothecary. William, born 12 April 1674; bapt.21 April 1674; buried 14 February 1681/2 [Deddington]. Samuel, born and bapt.6 June 1676 [Deddington]. He was apprenticed to Edmund Warneford, apothecary, of London, 1 August 1693 and practised as an apothecary in London. James, bapt.5 February 1678/9 [Deddington]. Ann, bapt.14 March 1681/2 [Deddington]. John, bapt.14 March 1685 [Deddington]. He was still alive in 1744 [will of sister Beata Appletree]. Oxfordshire History Centre, PAR 24/1/R1/1 [parish registers of Barford St John, Oxfordshire]; PAR 86/1/R1/1 and 2 [parish registers of Deddington, Oxfordshire]; PAR 78/1/R1/3 [parish registers of Cropredy, Oxfordshire, 1654-1719]; m.i., Deddington, Oxfordshire; TNA, PROB 11/395, ff.9v-10v [will of Samuel Belchier of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 7 December 1688, pr.15 April 1689]; London apothecary database. Thomas BELCHER or BELCHIER (1669-1727) Occ: apothecary Person ID: 17333 Loc: Deddington, Oxfordshire Thomas Belcher or Belchier was the eldest son of Samuel Belcher, apothecary, and his wife Beata nee West, and was born at Banbury on 10 January 1668/9. He was baptised at Deddington nine days later. He inherited his father’s apothecary shop in Deddington where he continued to practice until his death in 1727. Belcher was buried at Deddington on 29 August 1727. He does not appear to have married, leaving most of his estate, including his apothecary shop, drugs, medicines and wares to his nephew John Appletree, the son of his widowed sister Beata (who acted as executrix). Oxfordshire History Centre, PAR 86/1/R1 [parish registers of Deddington, Oxfordshire]; TNA, PROB 11/395, ff.9v-10v [will of Samuel Belchier of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 7 December 1688, pr.15 April 1689]; Oxfordshire History Centre, 9/1/34; 219.212 [will of Thomas Belchier, apothecary, of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 4 August 1727, pr.7 August 1728].
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Also see Ch5 'Deddington Folk' of Mary Vane Turner's Story of Deddington
John LANE (1673-1736) Occ: surgeon Person ID: 34427 Loc: Deddington, Oxfordshire There is a grave monument to the memory of John Lane at Deddington, Oxfordshire, which describes him as ‘a skilful surgeon and a benevolent man’ who died aged 68. He is almost certainly the same as the John Lane, son of John Lane, gent (who may have been licensed to practise medicine and surgery in 1662), and his wife Frances who was baptized at Deddington on 4 March 1672/3. Lane was apprenticed to Charles Peter, surgeon, of St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, on 29 December 1691, but discharged eighteen months later. John Lane was buried at Deddington on 29 March 1736. In his will, made over twenty years before his death, he left various houses and properties in Deddington to his two sons, John and Thomas. He also mentions his ‘now wife’ Mary and named his ‘loving kinsman’ Hawtrey Huckell, yeoman, of Bodicote, at executor in trust. John Lane married Mary Lane, the daughter of his uncle Dr Joshua Lane of Banbury at New College, Chapel, on 14 May 1700. Children of John Lane and wife Mary: John, bapt.3 May 1702 [Deddington]. After studying at Eton, he became a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, graduating BA and MA in 1725 and 1729. A clergyman, he was murdered in Epping Forest by a highwayman in October 1746. Thomas, bapt.25 August 1706 [Deddington]. He married Mary Dobell. m.i., Deddington, Oxfordshire; Oxfordshire History Centre, PAR 86/1/R1/1, 3 and 4 [parish registers of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 1631-1734; 1687-1775; 1734-1794]; M.Scott (ed.), Apprenticeship Disputes in the Lord Mayor’s Court of London 15731723 (London, BRS, Apprenticeship Series, vol.1, Part 1, 2016), p.606; TNA, PROB 11/676, ff.284r-v [will of John Lane, gent, of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 23 April 1713, pr.3 April 1736]; Oxfordshire History Centre, PAR 199/1/R1/1 [parish registers
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Also see Ch5 'Deddington Folk' of Mary Vane Turner's Story of Deddington
William SCROGGS (d.1643) Occ: surgeon Person ID: 25626 Loc: Deddington, Oxfordshire William Scroggs, surgeon, was buried at Deddington, Oxfordshire, on 27 August 1643. One Mary Scroggs, widow, was buried in the same parish, 3 September 1653. Oxfordshire History Centre, PAR 86/1/R1/1 [parish registers of Deddington, Oxfordshire, 1631-1734].
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Editor's note: He is possibly the father of the more well known Sir William Scroggs. See Ch5 'Deddington Folk' of Mary Vane Turner's Story of Deddington
The Griffin Family of Practitioners
A succession of medical men, mainly called William Griffin, are recorded as practising in Deddington from 1658 to the 1890s