Catalogue description CHARLES II. Letters Patent under the Great Seal.

This record is held by Royal College of Physicians of London

Details of RCP-LEGAC/Charter 1663 SR/1K
Reference: RCP-LEGAC/Charter 1663 SR/1K
Title: CHARLES II. Letters Patent under the Great Seal.
Description:

Seal: Line engraving of Charles II within the initial capital; other royal emblems and ornaments at head. Endorsed on outside sheet as rolled:

 

"A Confirmation of the Char to the Kings' College of Physicons. Howard".

 

NOTE: The largest of all the Charters granted to the College, it contains over 12,000 words.

 

The Charter of 10 Henry VIII., the statute 14 Henry VIII, other grants and privileges, and the Charter of James I are recited and confirmed, and among other provisions are the following:-

 

CORPORATE NAME: That the College shall continue a corporation by the name of the President, Fellows & Commonalty of the King's College of Physicians in the City of London.

 

FELLOWS: That there shall be forty Fellows and thereof one President, ten Elects and four Censors, and that the following doctors in physic shall be the present Fellows for life:-

 

Sir Edward Alston, Sir Francis Prujean, Baldwin Hamey, Francis Glisson, Peter Salmon, George Ent, George Bate, Alexander Frazier, William Stane, John Micklethwaite, Nathan Pagett, Jonathan Goddard, Edmond Trench, John King, Thomas Cox, Henry Stanley, Daniell Whistler, Charles Scarburgh, Thomas Wharton, Christopher Morrett, Samuel Collins, Luke Rugeley, John Wilby, Sir Wm. Pettie, Christopher Terne, Sir John Baber, John Hale, Edward Greaves, Thomas Croydon, Gabriell Beauvoir, Thomas Wolfe, Martin Luellin, Sir John Finch, Thomas Baynes, William Quarterman, James Hide, Humfry Whitmore, Robert Waller, Peter Barwicke & Robert Morrison.

 

PRESIDENT: That Sir Edward Alston shall be President.

 

ELECTS: That the following ten Fellows shall be Elects:- Sir Edward Alston, Sir Francis Prujean, Baldwin Hamey, Francis Glisson, Geo. Ent. Geo. Bate, Alexander Frazier, William Stane, John Micklethwaite, and Nathan Pagett.

 

CENSORS: That the following four Fellows shall be Censors: George Ent, John Micklethwaite, Daniell Whistler and Christopher Merrett.

 

ELECTIONS: of President.

 

Of Vice-President.

 

Of Censors.

 

Of Elects.

 

Of Fellows.

 

VISITORS: That the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper, Lord Chief Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer shall be Visitors of the College.

 

This Charter, through the opposition of Apothecaries, Surgeons, and others, never received the sanction of Parliament, and was therefore invalid. On being threatened with a Quo Warranto by James II the College on 19 October, 1685, resolved to surrender it and affixed the common seal to an instrument for that purpose. The surrender, however, was probably never inrolled; in which case the surrender would be invalid. If surrendered, it must subsequently have been restored.

Date: 26 March 1663
Related material:

It is quoted in full in Goodall's Royal College of Physicians, etc., 1684, p.62. and a precis or summary will be found in Willcock's Laws of the Medical Profession, p.XXI.

Held by: Royal College of Physicians of London, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Physical description: 9 Parchment Skins
Physical condition: Fragment of Great Seal pendent from silk cords.

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