Edward Bancroft
(1718-1746)

Mary Ely
(1716-1761)

William Fellows

Penelope

Dr Edward Bancroft, M.D., F.R.S.
(1745-1821)
Penelope Fellows
(1749-1784)

Dr Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D., F.R.C.P.
(1772-1842)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Ursula Hill Hoseason

Dr Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D., F.R.C.P.

  • Born: 16 May 1772, Marylebone, London 2
  • Marriage (1): Ursula Hill Hoseason on 6 Oct 1812 in Kingston Parish Church, Jamaica 1
  • Died: 18 Sep 1842, Kingston, Jamaica aged 70 3
  • Buried: 19 Sep 1842, Kingston Parish Church, Jamaica 4

  

Edward was born in Marylebone, London, in May 1772 but there is, rather surprisingly, no record of his baptism. In May 1777, he went with his mother and his younger brother Samuel to join his father in Paris where the latter had gone to work for the American Commission there.

The Bancroft family stayed in Paris until June 1783 when they returned to live in London once more. Edward and his brother Samuel were sent to Dr William Rose's Academy at Chiswick. Following Dr Rose's death in July 1786, the Academy moved to Hammersmith and later to Greenwich under the headmastership of Dr Rose's son-in-law, Mr Charles Burney. It is said by some that Edward was also tutored by the Rev. Samuel Parr, a circumstance that would have required him to reside with the Rev. Parr at his Hatton Parsonage in Warwickshire if it was so, which seems unlikely.

During his time in Paris, Edward became very fluent in the French language judging by a surviving letter that he wrote to Dr Benjamin Franklin in November 1783,
5  that letter and others he wrote to Dr Franklin in 1784, show considerable maturity for someone aged 11ฝ.

In the summer of 1789, Edward went up to St John's College Cambridge where he was admitted as a sizar (someone who is helped with college and university fees, etc., by way of a bursary/scholarship).
6 7  In 1793, he broke off from his studies to join Hon. Thomas Walpole as his private secretary when the latter was in Bavaria as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Elector Palatine 8 9 - this Thomas Walpole was the son of Edward's father's friend and sometime business colleague, Hon. Thomas Walpole, M.P. (1727-1803). Edward went back to St John's College as a "fellow commoner" in April 1794 and was awarded his MB at the end of that academic year. It is said that Edward then matriculated at Edinburgh University with a view to continuing his studies for his MD there but only completed one academic year before breaking off to seek practical experience in "the field".

Edward seems to have been drawn to the army hospital service very early in his career and he took up a post as Physician to the Forces between 1795 and 1802 and served with the Army in the Windward Islands, in Portugal, the Mediterranean, and in Egypt, latterly carrying much responsibility as a senior hospital doctor. If his father's Will of September 1802 is correct, Edward, then on half pay, went back to St John's College for a period,
10 perhaps even a full academic year, before going back to the army on full pay in September 1803.11 He did the so again in 1807 after another period on half pay. In 1804, he was awarded his MD from Cambridge; became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1805, was elected a Fellow in 1806 and was honoured by being asked to give that year's Goulstonian Lecture to its members, which he did on the subject of Yellow Fever. During these years, it is said that he ran a private practice possibly based in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, where he and his father had a house.

As mentioned earlier, he was briefly back on full pay from June 1807
11 but that appointment does not seem to have lasted very long as he joined the staff of St George's Hospital in 1808. He was also honoured by the Royal College that year by being appointed a Censor. A Censor was one of a select committee who oversaw the College's professional standards and Edward's appointment owed much, it is said, to his very public defence (by pamphleteering) of the authority of physicians over the growing assertiveness of army surgeons in military medical matters.

Once again, in July 1809,
11 he was summoned back to full time army employment but on this occasion, he declined due to ill-health and a copy has survived of part of a letter from him to The Right Honourable General Sir David Dundas, who was Commander-in-Chief at the time, explaining why he did not accompany the Earl of Chatham with the British Expeditionary Force to Holland* that year.12 Instead, he remained at St George's Hospital, finding time to write and publish an erudite essay** expanding on his earlier lectures on Yellow Fever.

It is not clear why Edward switched back and forth between military and non-military medical practice during his years in London or later in Jamaica. Was it because the Army required his services (it was the time of the Napoleonic Wars) or because he requested to be put back on full pay because he was in need of income? Certainly, the latter appears to have been the case in 1840 (see later) but, generally, those put on service half pay, be they serving in the Army or the Navy, had to wait patiently hoping they would be given a new position.

In 1811, Edward was 39 years of age and, for some time, his health had been hampering his medical duties in England, both as an Army physician (see earlier) and at St George's Hospital. Clearly, a "change of air" was required and, presumably on the basis of his earlier experience of the West Indies, he decided that living there would improve his health and, as things turned out, it did, as he lived an active life in Jamaica for another 30 years avoiding the very Yellow Fever to which so many succumbed and on which he was an authority.

In the summer of that year, he resigned his post at St George's Hospital and sailed for Port Royal. Ironically, the newspaper report that confirms his presence there in October, refers to him as a "convalescent"!
13 It is said by some that he took up a position as Physician to the Forces but there is no corroborating evidence, nevertheless, given his financial circumstances, that might have been the case. Alternatively, he may not have had an Army position to go to but chose Jamaica as the best place in the West Indies to set up in practice due to the Island's size and importance to the British at that time. Whatever the case may be, he did settle in Kingston and it is noteworthy that when he and Ursula Hoseason were married there in October 1812, there was no mention in their "marriage lines", or any newspaper report of their wedding, of him being employed as Physician to the Forces. 1
  
In October 1815,
11 however, records do show that Edward was called back to full-time service as a Physician to the Forces on the Island and later elevated as to be brevet Deputy Inspector of Hospitals in July 1817, that the latter appointment ended in August 1818 when he went back on half pay, a state in which he was to remain for the next 20 years or so.

Edward's appointment to Deputy Inspector of Hospitals was probably announced when he and Ursula were in England with their first child, Ursula Maria, who had been given a Bancroft family christening at Margate earlier that year (she had already been baptised in Kingston). Later, in October that year, Ursula stayed on in England to have their second child, Edward James, while Edward, senior, sailed on his own for Jamaica, it was to be the last time he made that voyage as he never returned.
14 15
       
Surviving family papers and contemporary Jamaican newspapers give little indication of how Edward occupied himself following his return to half pay in 1818. Presumably, he continued to practice medicine either as a private physician or working in Kingston's public hospital, which he is reported to have done in 1839 & 1840,
16 otherwise it seems unlikely that the Army would have taken him on again in 1840.11 However, most reports concern meetings or dinners connected with the Horticultural Society of which he was president for many years17 or latterly in relation to the establishment of a Jamaican College of Physicians,18 a proposal that he, and others similarly qualified, supported against strong opposition from less well-qualified, local physicians. Edward's engagement in December 1840 as brevet Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals on the Island was the last of his public appointments and seems to have remained in place until his death aged 70, in September 1842. The appointment, it is said, was at Edward's request as he needed money to be able to send his son William to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

The 1820s and 30s brought Edward many family sadnesses. An infant son, George died in 1825 and in 1830 his beloved Ursula died "after much suffering" in childbirth in January 1830,
19 20 followed shortly by the baby, Charles Augustus.21 Later, Edward was to lose both his elder children, Edward James dying in the late 1830s in Spain and Ursula Maria at home in 1840. Very fortunately, he lived long enough to see his daughter Augusta married to Peter Espeut — they were married by special licence at 2 am on September 18th 1842 at his bedside - and his surviving son William placed at Sandhurst as an officer cadet.
 
The Jamaican Royal Gazette published a lengthy obituary following Edward's death, said to be contributed by someone who knew him well. In summing up his career it said, "… a gentleman whose death we are persuaded will be greatly lamented by those who wished to be assisted in their laudable endeavours to obtain knowledge, for Doctor Bancroft was studiously attentive and patient, neither trouble, nor time, indisposition or occupation (unless of an extraordinary nature) were ever allowed to form obstacles either to his acquiring or imparting knowledge. He was in every sense a gentleman and a scholar, on whom nature had bestowed more than her ordinary gifts.".

A mural plaque commemorating his memory was placed by the physicians and surgeons of Jamaica in the Cathedral Church of Kingston as a token of the high regard in which he was held by them. The plaque reads: -

Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D., Cantab, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, and Deputy Inspector General of Army Hospitals, (Erected by the Physicians and Surgeons of Jamaica). Ob. at Kingston 18th Sept., 1842, ๆt. 70.

Munk's Roll records the following quotation about Edward taken from Authentic Memoirs of the most Eminent Physicians and Surgeons of Great Britain (2nd edit. 8vo. Lond. 1818, p. 68.): "[Dr Bancroft's writings] 'display not only the finished style of the classical scholar, but the acute and accurate reasoning of the logician. His inductions are generally drawn in a strong and masterly manner, and as a polemical writer he uses his pen with much energy and effect in turning the facts or arguments of an antagonist against himself.'" There is a suggestion that this quotation forms part of the plaque mentioned earlier but that has not been confirmed and Captain Lawrence-Archer only recorded the part quoted above.

Notes

* A disastrous British military expedition in 1809 to secure the sea approaches to Antwerp by capturing and holding the island of Walcheren in the Scheldt estuary. The expedition's objectives were totally undermined by disease (so-called Walcheren Fever) with approximately 40% of the expeditionary force's 40,000 officers and men succumbing to it. By 1810, 60 officers and about 4000 soldiers had died from disease compared to 100 killed fighting.

** Edward's work on Yellow Fever entitled An Essay on the Disease Called Yellow Fever, with Observations Concerning Febrile Contagion, Typhus Fever, Dysentery and the Plague was published in London in 1811 with a forward by his father. He produced a sequel to this in 1817. These two essays were influential in changing medical thinking in regard to the origin and propagation of diseases in general and, more particularly, of Yellow Fever. Although Edward was mistaken in associating the development of the latter with malarious conditions, this view was nonetheless adopted by contemporaries largely because of his skill in explaining away entire sets of facts vouched for by authorities such as Sir John Pringle, Donald Marvo, and Sir Gilbert Blane.


Edward married Ursula Hill Hoseason, daughter of William Hoseason and Maria Hill, on 6 Oct 1812 in Kingston Parish Church, Jamaica.1 (Ursula Hill Hoseason was born on 5 Oct 1788 in Spanish Town, Jamaica 25, baptised on 3 Dec 1788 in Parish of St Catherine's, Jamaica,26 died on 31 Jan 1830 in Kingston, Jamaica 27 and was buried on 1 Feb 1830 in Kingston Parish, Jamaica.)

  

Sources


1  "Parish Register Transcript" (Unattributed or foreign transcripts), Jamaica, Church of England Parish Registers Transcripts, 1664-1880 — Kingston Marriages 1721-1825, Vol. 1, Page 193 — Kingston Marriages 1812. …
October 6 - Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, Doctor of Physic & Ursula Hill Hoseason, spinster, both of this parish.

2 Edith Bancroft, "The Bancroft Family" (An unpublished family history of the Bancroft family by Edith Bancroft (1862-1941) now in the possession of J R U Green (2023)), Page 80.

3 Captain J. H Lawrence-Archer, "Monumental Inscriptions — British West Indies" (London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1875), Page 89 — No: 51 (Inscriptions from the Cathedral Church of Kingston). ...
(Ab.) EDWARD NATHANIEL BANCROFT M. D. CANTAB; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON; AND DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF ARMY HOSPITALS. (ERECTED BY THE PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS OF JAMAICA) OB. AT KINGSTON, 18 SEP. 1842, AET. 70. ... Mural, W. M. Tablet.

4 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston Parish Burials, 1842 (Vol. 2, Page 231, No. 372). Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, Physician Gen. [?] of Army Hospital, 70 yrs, [abode:] Corner of North St & Blackmore St, [when buried:] Sept 19, 1842, [where buried:] C. Y.น, [by whom:] Alexander Campbell Officiating Minister.... น Church yard.

5 "Unpublished letters of Dr Benjamin Franklin", July 1, 1783, through to December 15, 1783; December 16, 1783, through to June 30, 1784 and July 1, 1784, through to March 31, 1785. …
Chiswick 18 Novr. 1783
Cher Docteur
J'ai attendu longtemps เ vous ้crire et je pense que vous vous ้tes bien impatient้ tout le temps que nous avons ้t้ s้par้s. Je vous eus ้cris plut๔t, mais je voulois un peu connoitre l'Angleterre …. … This is the first part of a letter Edward wrote to Dr Franklin addressed, "A Monsieur / Monsieur le Dr. Franklin เ. Passy pr่s Paris / En France". He was already at Dr Rose's Academy in Chiswick by then.

6 J. A. Venn, Litt.D., F.S.A, Alumni Cantabrigienses — Part II — 1751 to 1886 (Cambridge - At the University Press - 1944 and 1947), Edward Nathaniel Bancroft. ...
Adm. sizar (age 17) at ST JOHN'S, June 29, 1789; re-adm. Fell.-Com. Apr. 17, 1794. Of Middlesex. S. of Edward, M.D., F.R.S. (for whom see D.N.B.). B. 1772, in London. Matric. Michs. 1789; Scholar; M.B. 1794; M.D. 1804.

7 William Munk, M.D., F.S.A., F.R.C.P, The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London. … Vol III., 1801 to 1825 (London: Published by The College. Pall Mall East. MDCCCLXXVlll [1878]), Edward Nathaniel Bancroft — Page 31 & 32.

8 Edith Bancroft, "The Bancroft Family" (An unpublished family history of the Bancroft family by Edith Bancroft (1862-1941) now in the possession of J R U Green (2023)), Page 80. …
Edith Bancroft writes: "While yet at Cambridge in 1792 he [Edward] went with the Hon'ble Thomas Walpole to Munich as his secretary, Walpole having been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary there, …". … Edith Bancroft is probably incorrect about the date that Edward went with Thomas Walpole to Munich as he was not appointed Minister Plenipotentiary there until November 1783. (See below) .

9 London Gazette, 18 November 1783, Page 2. ...
St. James's, November 22.
The King has been pleased to appoint Thomas Walpole, Esq., to be His Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary to the Elector Palatine, and Minister to the Diet at Ratisbon. [Diet of Regensburg (1541) The Colloquy of Regensburg, historically called the Colloquy of Ratisbon].

10 Testator, Will, Edward Bancroft, Doctor of Physic, of Francis Street, St Pancras — dated 11th September 1802. …
… that is to say unto my oldest & now my only son Edward Nathaniel Bancroft of St John's College in the University of Cambridge Bachelor in Physic and Physician to his Majesty's Forces ….

11 London Gazette, Record of Edward Nathaniel Bancroft's Army Hospital Staff announcements — 1803-1841. …
10 September 1803, Page 1195 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M. D. from Half-Pay, to be Physician to the Forces.
9 June 1807, Page 780 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M. D. from Half-Pay, to be Physician to the Forces.
4 July 1809, Page 1038 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D. from Half-Pay, to be Physician to the Forces.
21 October 1815, Page 2123 — HOSPITAL STAFF. To be Physicians to the Forces, Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M. D. from half-pay. Dated September 21, 1815.
23 August 1817, Page 1807 — HOSPITAL STAFF. To be Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, by Brevet, Physician Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M. D. Dated 7th July 1817.
22 August 1818, Page 1492 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Dr. John Mackenzie, from the half-pay, to be Physician to the Forces, vice Dr. Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, who exchanges. Dated 13th August 1818.
18 December 1840, Page 3016 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Brevet Deputy Inspector-General Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M. D. from the half-pay, to be Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals, vice Bone, promoted. Dated 6th November 1840.
6 January 1843, Page 38 — HOSPITAL STAFF. Staff- Surgeon of the First Class William Hackett, M.D. to be Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals, vice Bancroft, deceased. Dated 6th January 1843.

12 Various, "Surviving Family Letter", Copy of part of a letter from Dr E N Bancroft to The Rt. Hon'ble Genl. Sir David Dundas K. B. Commander-In-Chief. …
St Margaret's St, Cavendish Sq, 2nd October, 1809
Sir,
A month has now elapsed since I sent to the Physician General a letter containing, as I think, a sufficient justification of my conduct in declining to accept reappointment to the Office of Physician to his Majesty's Forces, & to join the expedition under the Earl of Chatham, which letter has, I have no doubt, been duly transmitted to you. ….

13 Royal Gazette (Published in Kingston, Jamaica), POSTSCRIPT — Saturday 5 October 1811, Page 19, Col B - Shipping Intelligence. …
The Polyphemus, of 64 guns, Capt. Graves, sailed from Port-Royal on Monday morning, having on board Admiral Rowley, who had proceeded to sea for the benefit of his health, Dr. Bancroft was likewise a convalescent, and Capt. Pateshall, of the Shank sloop of war, also went out in her. The customary salutes were fired on the Admiral's quitting port.

14 The Morning Chronicle (Published in London.), Saturday 4 October 1817, Page: 4, Col B — SHIP NEWS -— Deal, Oct. 2. ...
Came down from the River and sailed, the James, for Jamaica; Medina for ditto and Solon, for New York.

15 Royal Gazette (Published in Kingston, Jamaica), Postscript. Saturday, 15 November 1817, Page 19, Col B - PASSENGERS ARRIVED. …
In the Medina: - Edw. Nath. Bancroft Esq. M. D.; R. T. Foster, Esq. Naval Storekeeper; … .

16  "Jamaica Almanac (Transcription)", CIVIL LISTS - COUNTY OF SURREY - CITY AND PARISH OF KINGSTON - PUBLIC HOSPITAL. …
(1939) Physician, E. N. Bancroft, Esq. M.D. ฃ200
(1840) Physician, E. N. Bancroft, Esq, M.D. ฃ300.

17 Royal Gazette (Published in Kingston, Jamaica), Saturday 12 August 1826, Page 18, Col B. ...
At a Meeting of the Horticultural and Agricultural Society, held on Monday, the following prizes were awarded: … … In the evening the Members and Friends celebrated the second anniversary of the Society's formation, by a Public Dinner at the City-Tavern, Dr. Bancroft, the President. In the Chair, supported in the Vice-Chairs by W. Hyslop, Esq. the Foreign Secretary, and Samuel J. Dallas, Esq. the English Secretary, and a number of highly respectable characters, to the number of between eighty and ninety. ….

18 Morning Journal (Published at Kingston, Jamaica), Thursday 21 November 1839, Page 2, Col A. …
Hon. House of Assembly. Tuesday, Nov. 19.- The Bill to Regulate the Practice of Physic and Surgery.
A Dr Barnett speaking against the Bill is quoted as saying, "… He hoped the bill would be thrown out. It was uncalled for - it was impossible to form a College without medical lectures, professors and the study of anatomy. He would not detain House as the honourable member for St John had laid the subject so fully before them. He would say he had every respect for Dr. Bancroft [a keen supporter of the Bill), but that gentleman would be unable to do much good as he was getting too old. If his life could be ensured for twenty or thirty years longer there might be some chance of making the college effectual but if he were out of the way there would be none …". … This is an extract of one of several newspaper reports that covered the controversial debate about the proposed regulation and the formation of a College to monitor them; Dr Bancroft featured in many.

19 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 All Parishes Burials 1826-1836, Vol. 1 - Kingston, Page 29, No. 20. ...
Ursula Hill Bancroft - White - East Street - February 1st - 41 yrs - J B Crowe.

20 Various, "Surviving Family Letter", John Hoseason of Annotto Bay,Jamaica, dated 17th October 1831, to his brother Robert Hoseason of Udhouse, Shetland. Copied from the original by W. S. Hoseason on 17.7.1934. ...
"... You will no doubt hear of poor Mrs Bancroft's death after much suffering & giving birth to her seventh child which survived her only a few weeks. She was a sweet woman and I cannot tell you how much I feel her loss.".

21 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 All Parishes Burials 1826-1836, Vol. 1 - Kingston, Page 31, No.71. ...
Charles Bancroft - White - East Street - April 12 - Infant - J B Crowe.

22 Julia Ursula Bancroft Vidal (ne้ Espeut), Julia Vidal (Notes, papers and correspondence of Julia Vidal now in the possession of the executors of the late Mrs J. R. C. Marston (2022)), Notes on various relatives.

23  Royal Gazette (Published in Kingston, Jamaica), September 26, 1842.

24 Captain J. H Lawrence-Archer, "Monumental Inscriptions — British West Indies" (London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1875), Page 89 — No: 51 (Inscriptions from the Cathedral Church of Kingston) (See above).

25 Parish Registers of Jamaica, St Catherine's, Jamaica — Baptisms.

26 Parish Registers of Jamaica, St Catherine's, Jamaica — Baptisms. Dec 3 1788... Ursula Hill daughter of William and Maria Hoseason... [ b ] 5 Oct 1788.

27 Captain J. H Lawrence-Archer, "Monumental Inscriptions — British West Indies" (London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1875), Page 125 — No: 159 (Monumental plaques in the Cathedral Church of Kingston). ...
(Ab.) EDWARD NATHANIEL BANCROFT, ESQR., M. D., DEPY. INSPT. GENL. OF ARMY HOSPLS., OB. 18 SEP., 1842, AET. 70 ALSO HIS WIFE, URSULA HILL, OB. 31 JANY., 1830, AET 40. GEORGE AUGUSTUS B., OB. 11 MAY, 1824, AET. 5 MTHS. CHAS. AUGUSTUS B., OB. 11 APRIL, 183..., AET. 7 weeks. URSULA MARIA B., OB. 30 AUGT., 1840, AET. 24 CHILDREN OF THE ABOVE E. N. B. & U. H.

 


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