Everything has been a bit quiet of late, but work has been continuing in the background to start bringing out some of the fantastic data that has accumulated across the life of the project.
We’re very pleased to be able to make a new addition to the site, in the form of a series of county studies by Dr Peter Elmer, each containing, in alphabetical order by surname, detailed biographies for all practitioners that we have yet found, together with the source materials relating to each one. These can be found in the ‘County Studies’ page at the top of the site.
This is a fantastic new resource for medical historians, social historians, family history…and even just to browse through some of the fascinating characters who inhabit our medical past.
These studies will continue to be updated, with other counties imminent. Please enjoy, and do spread the word.
FAO Professor Barry and/or Dr Elmer
I am researching a distant ancestor, whom I believe to have been a ‘Surgeon Apothecary’. I discovered your project this morning and hope this information may be of help/interest to you.
John Cooksey, born in approx. 1750 in Ledbury, Herefordshire, carried the title of Master and registered in 1779 an apprentice by the name of Daniel Price, and was apparently still resident in Ledbury at this time.
He married Ann(e) Haynes, whose father had been Mayor of Worcester
His daughter Mary Ann married the Hon. Henry David Erskine, so it is likely that this particular Cooksey family had some stature.
The Cooksey family recycled names even more than most other families of this time and there are many many instances of John Cooksey from this time-point onwards but I can currently find no trace of John’s parentage whatsoever.