Christopher Irvine (physician and surgeon)
| Christopher Irvine | |
|---|---|
| Born | c.1620 |
| Died | 1693 |
| Education | University of Edinburgh |
Christopher Irvine of Bonshaw (c. 1620–1693) was a Scottish physician and surgeon who was the first medically qualified member of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh. A prolific author, he became historiographer to King Charles II and to King James II and VII.
Christopher Irvine of Bonshaw was born around 1620 as the son of Christopher Irvine of Robgill Tower, Annandale, a barrister of the Temple and member of the Irvine family of Bonshaw, Dumfriesshire.
Irvine matriculated at the University of Edinburgh but was expelled for initially refusing to sign the National Covenant in 1638. For a time he resorted to school teaching at Leith and at Preston, but after being reinstated he graduated MA from the University in 1645. He appears to have graduated in medicine before this date, since, in the list of graduates in Arts from the University of Edinburgh in 1645 he is designated "Medicinae Doctor" indicating that he had probably obtained a medical degree from a University in continental Europe. Irvine was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh in 1658.
Initially a Royalist, Irvine joined King Charles II at his camp at Atholl in June 1651 and travelled with the Royalist army as they marched into England. After the King’s defeat at the Battle of Worcester in September 1651 he served the Parliamentarians as surgeon to General George Monck's army of occupation in Scotland, a post he retained until the Restoration, after which he became surgeon to the Horse Guards.
After serving under Cromwell, Monck would later play a leading role in the restoration of Charles II and like him, Irvine reverted to supporting the monarch. He served under Charles II acting as historiographer and as 'Physician General for Scotland'
It is not clear how much time he spent as a surgeon in Edinburgh, and he did not own a shop in the city which was unusual for Edinburgh surgeons who practised as surgeon-apothecaries. Irvine had as his apprentice in 1689 John Monro, who would later go on to play a prominent part in the founding of the Edinburgh medical school and become in effect the founder of the famous Monro dynasty of anatomists. Monro was allowed to attend another surgical master, William Borthwick because ‘the Doctor [Irvine] does not keep a public shop whereby the said John Monro may get insight and knowledge into the art of chirurgerie’
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