William Clowes (surgeon) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Clowes
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| Born | c. 1543/1544 |
| Died | 1604 (aged 60 or 61) |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Clowes and Emma Beauchamp |
William Clowes the Elder (born around 1543 or 1544, died 1604) was an important English surgeon from a long time ago. A surgeon is like a doctor who performs operations. He wrote books about his medical cases, suggesting how to use special powders and creams to help people heal. He also wrote one of the first English guides on how to fix a broken femur, which is your thigh bone.
Contents
William Clowes's Early Life and Training
William Clowes was born in Kingsbury, Warwickshire. His father was Thomas Clowes and his grandfather was Nicholas Clowes. William learned how to be a surgeon by becoming an apprentice to George Keble, a surgeon in London.
In 1563, William Clowes started working as a surgeon in the army. He joined the army led by Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, in France. During this trip, he became good friends with another surgeon, John Banester.
Becoming a London Surgeon
After his time in France, Clowes worked in the navy for several years. Around 1569, he moved to London and settled there. On November 8, 1569, he became a member of the Barber-Surgeons' Company. This was a group for surgeons and barbers who also performed small medical procedures.
William Clowes was quite successful in his work. However, not every case went perfectly. For example, in 1573, a man complained that Clowes had not successfully cured his wife. Clowes had to pay the man twenty shillings.
Working at Hospitals
In March 1575, Clowes joined the surgical team at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He became a full surgeon there in 1581. He also worked as a surgeon at Christ's Hospital. In his later books, he shared many stories and details from his work at both hospitals.
At St. Bartholomew's, he introduced a new type of powder that helped stop bleeding. This powder was better than the one used before, which was made by Thomas Gale.
Military Service and New Ideas
In May 1585, William Clowes left his job at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He was ordered to go to the Low Countries (modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) with Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.
In his book Proved Practise, Clowes wrote a lot about this military trip. He mentioned that some bad surgeons caused more deaths than the enemy soldiers. However, he and another surgeon, Mr. Goodrouse, did not lose any patients from gunshot wounds unless they were already fatally injured.
Clowes helped Mr. Cripps, a soldier who worked for Sir Philip Sidney. He was also present when Sidney was wounded. Clowes had smart ideas about helping injured soldiers quickly. He even noted that sword scabbards (the cases for swords) could make excellent splints for broken bones. He learned new things from everyone he met, whether they were English or foreign surgeons. He also experimented to find better ways to treat injuries. For example, in Arnhem, he successfully tried a new balm on a deep pike-wound.
Return to London and Retirement
After the war, Clowes returned to London. On July 18, 1588, he became an assistant at the Barber-Surgeons' Company. Soon after, he served in the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. He kept his military surgical chest, which had the symbol of his old commander on it.
Clowes was never called to serve in another war. He became a surgeon to the queen and worked successfully in London for several years. Later, he retired to a country house in Plaistow, Essex. He passed away in 1604. His son, William Clowes the younger, also became a surgeon to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, thanks to the connections his father had made.
William Clowes's Important Books
William Clowes's books were some of the most important surgical writings during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. All his books were written in English. They were sometimes long but always clear and easy to understand. He read many medical texts and learned a lot from them. However, he also trusted his own observations and experiments. This made his books different from others that just copied information from older texts.
In 1579, he published his first book, De Morbo Gallico. His best ideas and observations are found in his later works.
Stories from His Practice
His books, Prooved Practise for all young Chirurgians (1591) and Treatise on the Struma (1602), are full of interesting stories about daily life in Elizabethan England. He wrote about:
- A cloth seller from the north whose leg was broken by robbers outside London.
- A man injured when a viewing platform broke at a bear-baiting event.
- A servant whose leg was pierced by an arrow near an archery range.
- One of Sir Francis Drake's sailors who was shot by a poisoned arrow in Brazil.
- A merchant wounded by a pirate on his own ship near the mouth of the Thames River.
Clowes didn't care much about critics. He always spoke kindly of other surgeons like Goodrouse, Banester, Bedon, and George Baker. He also respected physicians like John Gerard and Rodrigo López. He had met all of them for medical discussions.
He admitted he had some secret remedies, like "my unguent" or "my balm." However, he never made special deals for cures or tried to attract patients in a flashy way, which some surgeons did back then. He shared funny stories about meeting fake doctors and was proud of always acting like a "true artist." He even showed a barber's basin as one of his surgical tools. He was also skilled at preparing bodies for burial and knew how to wrap them in special cloths.
Clowes used everyday English in his books and knew many proverbs. He also had a good understanding of French and Latin. His books were all printed in London.
List of His Major Works
- De Morbo Gallico, published in 1579. A new edition came out in 1591 called Treatise of the French or Spanish Pocks, by John Almenar.
- A Prooved Practise for all young Chirurgians concerning Burnings with Gunpowder, and Woundes made with Gunshot, Sword, Halbard, Pike, Launce, or such other, published in 1591. A new edition was released in 1596 as A Profitable and Necessary Book of Observations.
- A Right Frutefull and Approved Treatise for the Artificiall Cure of the Struma or Evill, cured by the Kinges and Queenes of England, published in 1602.
Later, in 1637, his books De Morbo Gallico and Profitable Book of Observations were reprinted. Some of his letters can also be found in other medical books from that time, like Banester's Antidotarie (1589) and Peter Lowe's Surgery (1597).
