Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 13 - Section III
III. Chamberlan (or Chamberlen).
We have to chronicle four generations of medical practitioners, descended (it is said) from Guillaume Chambrelan, a younger son of Le Comte de Tanquerville, in Normandy, who fled from the St. Bartholomew’s Massacre to England, accompanied by “Jeneveva Vignon,” his wife. He had (with other children) two sons, and for some sentimental reason he named each of them Pierre. These sons have been identified as good refugee Protestants of the designated period, and it is immaterial what was their pedigree. The senior Pierre is said to have left a daughter. It is with Pierre Chamberlan, junior, that this memoir is concerned.
1. Pierre Chamberlan is known in medical annals (see Munk’s Roll) as Peter Chamberlan, surgeon and general medical practitioner, of London. He married Sara, daughter of William Delaune, preacher of God’s word and physician, who mentions him in his will as a son-in-law. They had two children, registered at Threadneedle Street: Pierre (12th May 1601), and Sara (9th September 1604).
2. Peter Chamberlan, born in 1601, followed his father’s profession, but rose to a higher position, having become physician to King Charles I. and Charles II. He became M.D. of the University of Padua in 1619, and was incorporated at Oxford on 26th June 1620, and at Cambridge in 1621. Having completed his studies with universal approbation at so early an age, he was fond of asserting himself as a born gentleman and man of spirit, as appears from the Annals of the London College of Physicians. That learned and nervously respectable body did, on 7th April 1628, elect him a Fellow, but it was only by a majority, and only upon the condition that the President was to admonish him that his dress too much resembled that of a young gentleman and a courtier, and that he must exchange it for the decent and modest costume of a grave physician. Dr. Chamberlan proved an able and successful physician. The Czar sent an autograph letter to King Charles I., saying that the Doctor was willing to enter into his service, and requesting his Majesty’s permission to that effect. The imperial letter was followed by the despatch of a distinguished escort to Archangel, to welcome the Doctor to Russia, and conduct him to Moscow. But instead of a physician, a royal letter arrived, informing the Czar that a native Russian, Dr. Elmston, had studied medicine in England, and had gone home with all necessary qualifications, and that the King could not spare Dr. Chamberlan. The Doctor devoted himself much to midwifery; and ignoring the pockets of his medical brethren, he had the audacity to propose that the King should found a company of female practitioners in that department. For this and other acts of so-called contumacy, the Physicians dismissed him from his Fellowship on 23d November 1659. Dr. Chamberlan married Jane, daughter of Sir Hugh Middleton, Bart., and had eleven sons and two daughters. He purchased the manor of Woodham-Mortimer Hall, near Maldon, in Essex. In my last edition, when writing the memoir of his grandson, my authorities led me to say of him, “he brought Mauriceau’s invention of the obstetrical forceps into notice and use.” The grandson did no such thing, except that he persevered in the use of what was his grandfather’s invention, and translated Mauriceau’s treatise, which had followed in the same line, published in 1668. Dr. Peter Chamberlan’s invention — an instrument so long kept secret by the inventor and his relatives, but benevolently used by him in his practice — “has probably saved more lives than any mechanical invention ever made.” The ferment that he raised among the doctors is evident from Dr. Munk’s list of his writings:—
1. A Paper delivered by Drs. Alston, Hamaeus, Bates, and Micklethwaite, together with an answer by P. Chamberlan. 4to. London, 1648.
2. The Poor Man’s Advocate, or, England’s Samaritan. 4to. London, 1649.
3. Master Blackwell’s Sea of Absurdity, concerning sprinkling, calmly driven back. 4to. London, 1650.
4. The Disputes between Mr. Crawford and Dr. Chamberlan at the house of Mr. William Webb. 4to. London, 1652.
5. A Discourse between Captain Kiffin and Dr. Chamberlan about imposition of hands. 4to. London, 1654.
6. Legislative Power in Problems. Folio. London, 1659.
7. The Sober Man’s Vindication, discovering the true cause and manner how Dr. Chamberlan came to be reported mad. Folio. London, 1662.
8. Vindication of Public Artificial Baths.
9. A Voice in Ramah; or, a Cry of Women and Children. London. 12mo.
10. To my Beloved Friends and Neighbours of the Blackfriars. London. Folio.
11. The Accomplished Midwife (posthumous).
He died 22d December 1683, aged eighty-two. Woodham-Mortimer Hall passed to another family, who in the year 18 15 were making some alterations in the entrance porch. Built over the porch, a series of closets stood, one over the other. When the flooring of the uppermost closet was taken up, there was found among a number of empty boxes, a cabinet containing coins, trinkets, letters, and a curious collection of midwifery instruments, and the celebrated forceps among them. The instruments are described in the Transactions of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, Vol. IX.
3. Hugh Chamberlen, M.D., was a son of the Doctor just memorialized, and grandson of Sir Hugh Middleton, after whom he was named. In 1664 he signed himself Hugh Chamberlen, thus leaving out the a (a relic of his French origin) from the last syllable of his name. He seems never to have applied for admission to the College of Physicians, resenting perhaps their treatment of his father. Materials for a memoir are therefore wanting. He inherited a fine medical practice which descended to his own son and namesake in beautiful preservation. His wife was Dorothy, daughter of John Brett, Esq., of Kent.
4. Hugh Chamberlen, jun., M.D., the son above alluded to, was born in 1664, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was created M.D. (comitiis regiis) 8th October 1689. He wrote “Queries concerning the Practice of Physick.” 18mo. London, 1694. In the same year he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He maintained the splendid practice to which he succeeded, and in 1723 had a notable patient in the Tower, the Jacobite Dr. Atterbury (late Bishop). Dr. Chamberlen translated Mauriceau’s Traité des maladies des femmes grosses. He was three times married, and had three daughters, but left no son. His memory, however, survives. He died on 17th June 1728. His monument was provided by Edmund, Duke of Buckingham, and his epitaph by Bishop Atterbury. Mr. George Lewis Smith says that this monument, which is in Westminster Abbey, is executed in marble of different colours by P. A. Scheemakers and Laur. Delvaux, and is “of striking effect;” the recumbent statue of the author, and the figures of Health, Longevity, and Fame are all gracefully and successfully designed and executed.
The following is the epitaph : —
HUGO CHAMBERLEN,
Hugonis ac Petri utriusque Medici filius ac nepos,
Medicinam ipse excoluit feliciter et egregié honestavit:
ad summam quippe artis suae peritiam
summam etiam in dictis et factis fidem, insignem mentis candorem,
morumque suavitatem, adjunxit,
ut an languentibus an sanis acceptior, an medicus an vir melior esset,
certatum sit inter eos qui in utroque laudis genere
Primarium fuisse uno ore consentiunt.
Nullam ille medendi rationem non assecutus,
depellendis tamen Puerperarum periculis, et avertendis lnfantium morbis,
operam praecipuè impendit,
eâque multoties cavit
ne illustribus familiis eriperentur haeeredes unici,
ne patriae charissimae cives egregii.
Universis certè prodesse (quantum potuit) voluit,
adeoque, distractâ in Partes republicâ,
Cum iis, a quorum sententiâ discessit, amicitiam nihilominus sanctè voluit,
artisque suae praesidia lubens communicavit.
Fuit ille
tantâ vitae elegantiâ et nitore, animo tarn forti tamque excelso,
indole tam propensa ad munificentiam,
specie ipsâ tam ingenuâ atque liberali,
ut facilè crederes prosapiae ejus nobilem aliquem exstitisse auctorem,
utcumque ex praeclarâ stirpe veterum Comitum de Tankerville
jam a quadringentis Ilium annis ortum nescires.
In diversâ quam expertus est fortunae sorte,
Quod suum erat — quod decuit — semper tenuit;
cum Magnis vivens
baud demissé se gessit,
cum Minimis non asperé, non inhumané,
utrosque eodem bene merendi studio complexus,
utrisque idem, aequé utilis ac charus.
Filius — erat mirâ in patrem pietate;
Pater — filiarum amantissimus quas quidem tres habuit,
unam e primâ conjuge, duas ex alterâ, castas, bonas, matribus simillimas;
cum iis omnibus usque ad mortem conjunctissimè vixit.
Tertiam Uxorem sibi superstitem reliquit.
Ad humaniores illas ac domesticas virtutes tanquam cumulus accessit
Rerum Divinarum amor non fictus,
summa Numinis Ipsius reverentia,
quibus imbuta mens, exuvias jam corporis depositura,
ad Superiora se erexit,
morbi diutini languoribus infracta permansit,
et vitam tandem hanc minimè vitalem — non dissoluté, non intructuosé actam —
morte verè Christiana claudens,
ad patriam co3lestem migravit.
Obiit 17o Junii, a.d. 1728,
annis sexaginta quatuor expletis, provectiore aetate sané dignus,
cujus ope effectum est
ut multi, non inter primos pené vagitus extincti,
ad extremam nunc senectutem possint pervenire.
Viro Integerrimo, Amicissimo
ob servatam in partu vitam,
ob restitutam saepius et confirmatam tandem valetudinem,
Monumentum hoc Sepulchrale ejus Effigie insignitum posuit
EDMUNDUS DUX BUCKINGHAMENSIS,
appositis inde statuis ad exemplum marmoris antiqui expressis, quae
quid ab illo praestitum sit, et quid illi (redditus licet)
adhuc debetur, posteris testatum faciant.
Besides his above-named contributions to medical literature, an anonymous brochure concerning one item in his own professional practice is said to have been written by him; it is entitled, “A Philosophical Essay upon the celebrated Anodyne Necklace recommended to the World by Dr. Chamberlen.” London, 1717. It is dedicated to Dr. Chamberlen.