Memoir of John Stearne, M. & J.U.D., S.F.T.C.D., founder and first President of the College of Physicians : including the original charter of that College, and other records concerning the profession of physic in Ireland, never before published : with a review of his writings / by T.W. Belcher.

  • Belcher, T. W. (Thomas Waugh), 1831-1910.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of John Stearne, M. & J.U.D., S.F.T.C.D., founder and first President of the College of Physicians : including the original charter of that College, and other records concerning the profession of physic in Ireland, never before published : with a review of his writings / by T.W. Belcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    DR. STEARNE’S BIRTH, FAMILY, AND EARLY LIFE. John Stearne was born on the 2Gth of November, 1624, at Arclbraccan, in the County of Meath, in the house of the then bishop of that diocese, who was his grand-uncle, and whose name has descended to posterity as “Archbishop Ussher.” His family, he himself tells us, was of English origin ; and amongst eminent members of the same stock I may mention Richard Sterne, Archbishop of York, who died in 1683, aged 87 years; and Laurence Stearne, better known to fame as the author of Tristram Shandy, The Sentimental Journey, and other works. It is stated that although Archbishop Sterne was born in Nottinghamshire, yet he was descended from a Suffolk family;i * * * * * * * * * 11 and from this same family, members of which were now settled in various English counties, John Stearne was likewise descended.11 According to Mr. Percy Fitzgerald (Life of Laurence Sterne) his father was John Stearne, of Stapleford, County Cambridge; and he came to Ireland as “ officer” to Theophilus Buckworth, Bishop of Dromore, who died in 1652. This John Stearne became John Stearne, Esq., of Greenane, County Down, and married Mabel Bermingham, of Ballogli, Co. Dublin, granddaughter of Arnold (or Arland) Ussher, one of the six clerks in Chancery, father to the celebrated primate.0 Thus, the subject of this memoir was grand-nephew to Primate James Ussher, and great grand-nephew to Primate Henry Ussher, the first Fellow of T.C.D., nominated in the charter of Queen Elizabeth. He was also great great grandson to James Stanihurst, who was Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, in the reigns of Queens Mary and Elizabeth, in a See Sterne Richard, in Chalmers’ Biographical Dictionary. Lond., 1812-17. b Information from Rev. Dr. Todd. See also the Life of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald, M.A., M.R.I.A. Two vols. London. 1864. c For some of this information I am indebted to my learned friend Richard Caulfield, Esq., B.A., F.S.A., Librarian to the Royal Cork Institution. The pedigree of the Stearnes, of which more hereafter (p. 448), he obtained for me from Thomas Tuckey, Esq., of Cork, a collateral descendant through Timothy Tuckey, M.D., whose weather tables are given in Smith’s History of Cork (1750), Vol. ii. p. 398. Dr. Tuckey was nephew to Major-Gen. Stearne, who was son to Capt. Stearne, John’s eldest brother. The following is part of Archbishop Ussher’s genealogy, drawn up by Sir William Betham, and inserted in Elrington’s Life and Works of Ussher :— Arnold (or Arland) Ussher JIargt., dau. of Jas. Stanihurst. i i i i i John Janies —Phcehe, Margt., Mable, Anne, Sarah, Ellinor, Thoma- Eliza- Ussher, Ussher, i dau. of Wife of Wife of Wife of Wife of Wife of sine. betli. oh. s. p. Archbip. j I,like Robert Dr. Lewis William Tlieopliil. Robert of Armagh Challoner, Berming- Jones, Hilton. Buck- Lill, of D.D. ham. Bishop of worth, Trim, Kildare Bishop of Esq. Dromore. only child. Wife of Sir Timothy Tyrrell, Bart.