William Harvey

 

We've spent a lot of time at the William Harvey hospital within the last month or so, as visitors so dont worry, but it hasnt been the most pleasant experience. However, we noticed this statue of the physician and Ren got to thinking about the man the hospital was named after. We've got a few posts lined up on famous people already, so we decided why not branch out and craft a post on this gentleman as well.

What we never knew was his connection to the Witch Trials, but we'll come to that in a moment, but this certainly made him a bit more interesting.

William Harvey was born in Folkestone (woop woop), the eldest of nine children to a mayor and juror father. In his younger days he was schooled in Folkestone and Canterbury before going off to Cambridge for further education. Once he graduated Harvey went overseas to Italy in order to study medicine, he graduated as a doctor at 24 years old and then returned to Cambridge to obtain the same degree.

Once qualified, William Harvey established himself in London, marrying Elizabeth Browne and joining the Royal College of Physicians. Three years later he was elected a Fellow and accepted a position at St Bartholomew's Hospital where he became the physician in charge and remained for most of his life.

During his time, while also maintaining his role at St Barts, Harvey also became a lecturer with the intention to spread knowledge and light among his fellow doctors or those studying medicine. Alongside this however, he was presented with a much more important role. In 1618, Harvey was appointed Physician to the King, otherwise known as Physician Extraordinary, to none other than King James I. 

Now this of course is the gateway to how this man ended up connected to the Witch Hunt of England. King James I was obsessed with Witches, having been convinced that he was a victim of witchcraft himself. Harvey on the other hand, a medicine man with a mind of science, was a sceptic, and he approached the investigation with this mindset. When sent to investigate the accused of Lancashire, likely Pendle which we will be visiting early November so that we can look into the witch trials here, he managed to get the four women in which he examined acquitted. Two years earlier he was sent to Newmarket to investigate a woman accused of being a witch. He posed himself as a wizard who had come to discuss the craft with her and questioned her within this strain. When asked if she had a familiar the woman presented a toad which Harvey promptly dissected to see if there was anything remarkable about it once he sent the woman on an errand.

When the woman returned and found what he had done she was beside herself with grief and anger, however Harvey explained his true identity and that he had been sent to find if she was a witch and if confirmed to have her arrested. The woman quietened down and it seems Harvey left it at that, saving the woman from eventual execution while also having murdered her pet. In some aspect we believe him a hero within the witch community, understanding that the accused were simply women, the falsely accused, or perhaps those who did things differently or were a little mad (who wasn't during the Stuart times?), but we don't forgive the death of the toad. The above was unlikely his thought process and is our modern take, he likely just wanted to disprove the existence of witchcraft, but regardless he saved at least 5 women from death.

Harvey went on to serve as Physician in Ordinary to King Charles I and was granted carcasses of animals to develop his earlier theories. He later retired in his sixties from all his pursuits but continued his interests interrupted only by those trying to tempt him back to work. He died at his brothers house in Roehampton and was buried at St Andrew's Church in Hempstead in 1657. Most interestingly to us macabre folk, he was not buried within a coffin, his corpse was encased in lead. When he was reinterred in 1883, his lead corpse was laid within a sarcophagus full of his works. 

Now the reason he was reinterred and offered another layer of protection was because of the natural decay of his lead casing. He was laid to rest, uncovered, between his two nieces also encased in lead, in the Harvey Chapel built by one of his brothers. Over the next two hundred years or so, the lead had ended up in rough shape so it was repaired by the Royal College of Physicians and he was laid again to rest with added protection. You may recall a similar thing when we came across the lead coffins at Farleigh Hungerford.

As a whole, William Harvey is most famous for his discovery of how the heart pumps the blood around the body. More specifically pulmonary and systemic circulation. Prior to his research and discovery, it was thought that the blood travelled around the body via invisible pores, so Harvey was critical to how we proceed with medicine today.

As an out of the ordinary post, we wont do the usual ratings as we have no doubt that this statue, one also in Folkestone to mark his birthplace, is haunted due to its connection with the hospital opposite. It is obvious we weren't invited or paid to be here and do this it was just an interest due to an observation when Ren visited the hospital for a few weeks. But as historical bloggers, we couldn't help but share what we found. She also has ADHD so it became a bit of a fixation in order to distract her.

Regardless, it was an interesting discovery especially as it links in to on of our upcoming adventures!