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Royal College of Surgeons of England

Bedford, Nathaniel (b 1757)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0114 MS0002

Held at: Royal College of Surgeons of England

Title: Bedford, Nathaniel (b 1757)

Date(s): 1781-1783

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 1 volume

Name of creator(s): Bedford, Nathaniel, fl 1781-1783, naval surgeon

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Nathaniel Bedford was born in 1757. In 1776 he served a years apprenticeship under John Gunning at St George's hospital. He qualified under the auspices of the Company of Surgeons as Second Mate, First Rate, March 5 1778 and as Surgeon, 5th Rate on April 19 1781. In December 1781 Bedford, joined the 'Formidable' as Surgeon. It was docked at Portsmouth and left in January 1782 sailing for the West Indies. Bedford was appointed Surgeon to the 'Ardent' in June 1782, soon after that he joined the 'Conqueror' in Barbados and sailed with it to New York and Boston and then back to Barbados. In December 1782 the ship sailed to Antigua and Guadeloupe and then to English Harbour returning to England in July 1783. The rest of Bedford's life and career is not known.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

This collection contains a single manuscript volume, the 'Naval Surgeons Casebook'. The volume begins with details of cases, symptoms and cures of Nathaniel Bedford's patients at St George's hospital during 1781. The rest of the volume contains descriptions of cases, sickness, and treatments during his travels whilst a ship's surgeon in the West Indies during 1781-1783.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Chronological

Conditions governing access:

Access available on application to the Deputy Librarian. Please contact Tina Craig.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No photocopying permitted

Physical characteristics:

Bound volume, vellum, worm holes on spine

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

None expected

Archival history:

Presented by Robert Rutson James to the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1933. The donation was noted in the Library donation registers on 4th May 1933. James attributed the volume to Bedford.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by R R James to library of Royal College of Surgeons in 1933

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

A Naval Surgeon's Log, 1781-1783 by R R James [Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service Oct 1933]

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

The author's name is not written anywhere on the volume but only one pupil at St George's Hospital at this time went on to qualify as a naval surgeon. The warrant of Bedford joining the 'Ardent' is still in existence at The National Archives.

Archivist's note: Taken from AIM25 description prepared by Claire Jackson, Archivist, RCSENG. September 2000. Updated and transferred by Beth McNeice, Project Archivist, August 2003.

Rules or conventions: National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; ISAD(G), Second Edition, 2000.

Date(s) of descriptions: September 2000.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Death | Life cycle
Experiments | Research work
Medical treatment | Therapy | Medical sciences
Naval personnel | Armed forces | State security
Nutritional and metabolic diseases | Diseases | Pathology
Patients | Health services
Physicians | Medical personnel | Medical profession | Medical sciences
Scurvy | Nutritional diseases | Diseases | Pathology
Ships | Vehicles | Transport
Surgeons | Medical personnel | Medical profession | Medical sciences
Surgery | Medical sciences
Vitamin deficiencies | Diseases | Pathology
Weather | Climatology
Working class | Social class | Social stratification
Surgeons x Physicians
Health
International relations
Military organizations
Oceanography
Personnel
Social sciences
Social welfare

Personal names
Bedford | Nathaniel | fl 1781-1783 | naval surgeon

Corporate names
Formidable | ship
St George's Hospital | London

Places
Antigua and Barbuda | Caribbean
West Indies x Caribbean