Register of Certification of the Journals of Naval Surgeons presented to the Worshipful Company of Barbers between 1709 - 1745.

Transcribed and annotated by Liveryman Dr Peter Willoughby MA DM FRCP and Vicky West MA, Archivist, The Barbers' Company, in 2015.


Notes


1) Some words in the original record are absent or unintelligible.

2) The spelling of both surgeons' names and ships' names is variable.

3) The new year started on March 25th until 1752. Old style dates written in the text are given as e.g. 1736/37 or 1736/7; interpreted dates are indicated as e.g. 1736(37). On occasions the clerk seems to have used a new style date in the first three months of the year without making this evident.

4) Important comments or uncertainties are high-lighted in red (not applicable to this online database).

5) The classes of vessels have been identified from the internet transcription of Colledge J J (1969) ' Ships of the Royal Navy. The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy ' [ revised edition, Warlow, Ben 2006 ].

6) At any one time there was usually only one ship in the Royal Navy with a particular name. There are occasional exceptions, as in the early eighteenth century when a Fourth rate, and a Royal Yacht bore the name ' Mary ' simultaneously.
Where ' Mary ' appears among a cluster of journals from royal yachts, it has been assumed that the name refers to the yacht rather than to the larger warship.

7) During the period covered by the register, vessels were often replaced or rebuilt. A ship with the same name may therefore be of a different type or rating at different times covered by the document.

8) There is a tendency in the register for journals from a particular class of vessel to be assessed on the same day; this is particularly so for the Royal Yachts.

9) Occasionally the dates on which journals were presented for assessment are slightly out of calendar order. This always occurs in sections of the register entered in the same handwriting and suggests that the records were at least sometimes written into the book in blocks and retrospectively.

10) The same surgeon often appears at the Hall on a number of dates and presents journals for different attachments over several years. These accounts were presumably an eighteenth century version of Continued Professional Development (CPD) and were probably used to judge increasing experience and hence suitability for more senior appointments.

11) Only two journal assessors - 'Governors of the Company of Barbers and Surgeons' - are documented in the register, and then only in the early entries. Gratian Bale was Master of the Company in 1709 and Edward Green was Master in 1711.

12) Relatives and executors of deceased surgeons sometimes asked the Company of Barbers and Surgeons for certificates of service. This was presumably so that the estate had evidence to claim back-pay and other allowances - such as prize money - from the Board of Admiralty.

13) In general, the dates on which certificates were awarded are only entered in the early and in the later parts of the register.

14) Most of the naval surgeons only appeared at the Hall for their initial assessment and for later appraisals of their journals. However, a significant minority seem to have become members of the Barbers' Company. These have been tentatively identified by reference to the 'Index of Freemen from 1552 ' database kept by the Company and are shown in the final column of the table. Where the surgeon had an unusual name the identification is fairly reliable, but in cases of common surnames and forenames the link is inevitably more tenuous. The Index entries are sometimes marked with an 's' which seems to indicate that the person was a surgeon ( Other annotations are: 'b'- barber, 'p'-patrimony, 'r'-redemption and 'serv'-servitude ). The term 'Foreign brother' presumably refers to a surgeon who had done his training outside the remit of the Barber-Surgeons in London. An entry marked with a '?' indicates that the identification of the surgeon as a company member is possible but uncertain.