Helkiah Crooke

Helkiah Crooke (1576 – 1648) was Court physician to King James I of England. He is best remembered for his textbook on anatomy, Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man. He was the first qualified doctor to be appointed Keeper of Royal Bethlem Hospital, but his conduct as Keeper was so controversial that he was eventually removed from that office on the grounds of corruption and constant absenteeism.

He was born in Great Waldingfield, Suffolk, the third son of Thomas Crooke, rector of the parish and later reader at Gray's Inn, and his wife, whose family name was Samuel. His eldest brother Sir Thomas Crooke achieved distinction as the founder of Baltimore, County Cork. Thomas and another brother Samuel Crooke, (who was also a clergyman) were like their father inclined to Calvinism; Helkiah on the other hand is said to have linclined to Roman Catholicism. Sir Thomas in his will of 1629 speaks with obvious affection of "dear Helkiah". The brothers seem to have been rather similar in their characters: both were men of talent and energy, but both were accused of a complete lack of scruple: just as Helkiah was accused of corruption, so Thomas was accused, rightly or wrongly, of enriching his new town of Baltimore by the profits of piracy.

Helkiah went on the Sir Henry Billingsley scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1596; then went to the University of Leiden, where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine in only a few months. For some time he practiced privately in Suffolk; his first application to join the Royal College of Physicians was unsuccessful, but he was admitted in 1613 and became a fellow in 1620 and anatomy reader in 1629. Possibly through the influence of his brother Thomas, who had some acquaintance with King James I, he was appointed doctor to the Royal Household.

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