JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM, M. & LL.D. &c.

Born in 1744; died in 1815.

Published by J.Nichols & Co Jan 11817.

JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM, M. D.

This excellent man was an Israelite without guile, and may truly be said to have carried his heart in his hand. From "his undeviating friendship," I have, for nearly half a century," derived many of the most grateful and rational enjoyments of my life;" and I can truly assert, that, during this long period, Dr. Lettsom was " an ornament to society; the liberal friend to merit; and an example of beneficence to every avenue of human distress!" His benevolence was unbounded. To thousands, as well as to myself, he was the happy instrument both of "gladdening, and of lengthening life." He was invariably a friend to the indigent, and a comfort to all who were so happy as to possess his friendship, or had occasion for his medical skill. He was equally distinguished for public and private benevolence, and for every species of useful exertion, both in the medical profession, and as a member of society at large.

Dr. Lettsom was born, in December 1744, in a small Island in the Atlantic, near Tortola, called Little Van Dyke*; and was one of a twin.

His ancestors on the father's side originated from Letsom (in Domesday called Ledsom), a small village in Cheshire. On the mother's side they were lineally descended from Sir Cæsar Coakley, an Irish baronet, whose family uniformly possessed a seat in the Parliament of Ireland; the last of whom was Sir Vesey Coakley. Different branches of these families, during the government of Ireton in Ireland, went to Barbados, in favour of the Commonwealth; and settled afterwards in different Islands among that

* A view of the House which gave him birth, and its surrounding scenery, is given in Gent. Mag. vol. LXXXV. ii. p. 577.

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large cluster known to us by the name of the Leeward and Windward Islands.

When only six years of age, he was sent to England for education. His future destiny seems to have been determined by the accidental circumstance of his landing at a sea-port where Mr. Fothergill, then a celebrated Preacher among the Quakers, and brother to the distinguished Physician of that name, happened to be on a visit; and he was received into the very same house in which the Preacher lived. By the advice of that excellent man, who conceived a parental affection for him, young Lettsom was sent to school to Mr. Thompson, uncle to Dr. Gilbert Thompson (afterwards an eminent Physician in London), who was then an assistant in the school; between whom and his pupil an inviolable friendship commenced, which continued in advanced life with unabated fervour. Mr. Thompson's school was in the vicinity of Warrington, where Mr. Fothergill lived; and by this means the superintendance of his education was continued till the period when the law admits of a youth choosing his own guardian, which, in consequence of the death of his father some years before, he did, in the person of his friendly protector. The amiable Pastor accepted the important charge; and placed him, with a view to his future profession, with Mr. Abraham (afterwards Dr.) Sutcliff, of Settle, in Yorkshire, intending, when proper age and experience, to recommend him to the patronage of his brother, then in the highest line of practice in the great medical sphere of London.

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After leaving Dr. Sutcliff, young Lettsom came to town, and assiduously attended at St. Thomas's Hospital as a dresser. After two years' study and practice in that Hospital, he returned to his native soil, to take possession of a property which came to him by the deaths of his father and elder brother; the latter of whom, having contrived to run through an ample fortune in a few years, left very little of the family estate to be inherited by his successor,

except a number of Negro slaves. These degraded beings, with that admirable spirit of benevolence which his conduct in maturer years uniformly displayed, he emancipated; and in the twenty-third year of his age, as he more than once informed the Compiler of this Memoir, found himself five hundred pounds worse than nothing.

The fortune of Mr. Lettsom was henceforth, therefore, solely to be obtained as a Medical Practitioner; and so strenuous were his endeavours, and so extensive was his practice in Tortola, where he settled, that, in a very short time, he was enabled to return to Europe; and to visit the great medical schools of Paris, Edinburgh, and Leyden, at the latter of which Universities he took the degree of M. D. on the 20th of June 1769. To complete his education, he visited, besides Paris, most of the places of resort for the relief of invalids abroad; as Spa, in Westphalia, Aix la Chapelle, and various others. When he went to Paris, among other honourable recommendations, he carried one from Dr. Benjamin Franklin to M. Jaques Barbeu Dubourg†. He was afterwards introduced to the celebrated Macquer, Le Roi, and other characters conspicuous at that period, with whom he continued to correspond till their decease.-After this circuit, he repaired to London, where he finally settled, with the undeviating friendship of his old guardian, and of his brother Dr. John Fothergill, whose Life he afterwards published as a tribute of gratitude and respect.

Under such patronage, with a mind richly stored with science, matured by reflection, improved by early and dear-bought experience, success was insured; and its fruits were displayed, not in a fastidious conduct and ostentatious parade, but in active schemes for the relief of the distressed poor,

*. See some notices of his Thesis, p. 678. † Dr. Lettsom published the Life of his friend Dubourg, in the First Volume of Memoirs of the Medical Society of London.

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and numerous charitable institutions to mitigate pain and repel disease. Many of these originated with himself; and, of those that were planned by others, several received from him considerable improvement, and all his active support.

In many instances he fostered genius, cherished science, and expanded the circle of the Arts, in periods of individual and national distress; and his purse, equally with his pen, was devoted to their cause.

Medicine and Botany were particularly indebted to his zealous researches. Foreigners of talents and merit ever found an hospitable reception under his roof; and he constantly corresponded with the Literati of eminence both in Europe and America*.

* His intimate friend Mr. T. J. Pettigrew observes,

Among these Correspondents, several of whom are now numbered with the dead, may be found many names deservedly ranking high as men of Science, Literature, and Benevolence.

"In the first class may be enumerated the great Linnæus, the Swedish Naturalist; -Baron Haller, of Switzerland, the greatest Physiologist that ever existed ;-Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the celebrated author of Zoonomia, Phytologia, &c.-Dr. William Cullen, of Edinburgh;-Dr. William Hunter, whose splendid Museum is attached to the University of Glasgow ;-Dr. Zimmerman, the first Physician to his Majesty at Hanover, and the author of the well-known Essays on Solitude, National Pride, &c.;-Dr. Alexander Russell, the author of the History of Aleppo, &c.;-Dr. William Cuming, of Dorchester;-Dr. George Cleghorn, the Professor of Anatomy in the University of Dublin, and who published on the Diseases of Minorca ;-Dr. Edward Jenner, to whom the world is indebted for the discovery and application of that inestimable blessing the Cow Pock, as a security against that most dreadful of diseases, the Small Pox ;--the ingenious Dr. John Haygarth, of Bath;-Sir Gilbert Blane, Bart., Physician to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent ;-Dr. Hope, the Professor of Botany; Dr. Andrew Duncan, Senior, the Professor of the Institutions of Medicine; Dr. A. Hamilton, the Professor of Midwifery; and Dr. Francis Home, the Professor of Materia Medica, in the University of Edinburgh ;-Dr. James Johnstone, of Worcester, who published some Medical and Physiological Essays of great value;-Dr. Bardsley, of Manchester; -Dr. Cheston, of Gloucester ;-Dr. James Currie, of Liverpool; —Dr. William Falconer, of Bath, the author of a Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions upon the Disorders of the Body, &c.;-Dr. Dixon, of Whitehaven ;-Dr. Renatus Desgenettes,

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