Alexander Barclay (apothecary)

Alexander Barclay (floruit 1565-1608) was an apothecary in Edinburgh.

Barclay provided drugs and medicines for the Scottish royal family and their physicians John Naysmyth, Gilbert Primrose, and Martin Schöner.[1]

Barclay was established as an apothecary and burgess of Edinburgh on 20 October 1570. His father George Barclay was also an Edinburgh burgess.[2]

He was appointed apothecary to James VI of Scotland on 7 February 1577 with an annual pension of £50 Scots.[3]

In 1577 he supplied candles, called censer candles, to James VI and his tutor Peter Young.[4]

In September 1584 the surgeon Gilbert Primrose was imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle. He was allowed bail or caution for future loyalty at £1,000 Scots, guaranteed by the textile merchant Robert Jousie and Barclay.[5]

On 10 February 1594 he was appointed to attend Anne of Denmark at Stirling Castle when she gave birth to Prince Henry, with the doctors Martin Schöner, Gilbert Moncreiff, and the surgeon Gilbert Primrose. As apothecary to the king and queen he was rewarded with an exemption from customs duties in 1597.[6]

He supplied drugs for Princess Margaret to Martin Schöner and materials for her embalming.[7]

In May 1601 he supplied plasters, oil, and liniments to James VI who had hurt his arm, and in the same month provided medicines for Anne of Denmark and Prince Charles.[8]

In November 1602 he was paid £388 Scots for "drugs, oils, unguents, medicaments, and plasters" supplied to the king.[9]

Barclay had apprentices, including Thomas Adamson from Kelso in 1597.[10]

The exact date of his death is uncertain, but it took place before 1608.

Family

Barclay married Janet Auchmowtie who died in 1571. He married secondly, Margaret Henderson. Their children included:

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References
  1. Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles (Edinburgh, 1835), pp. lxxvi-lxxvii, lxxxi, lxxxiv: Mary Anne Everett Green, Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman Conquest, vol. 6 (London, 1857), p. 89.
  2. Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses (Edinburgh, 1929), p. 47.
  3. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal: 1575-1580, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 130 no. 888: Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1574-1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 167.
  4. Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland: 1574-1580, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), pp. 163, 258.
  5. David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578-1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 692, 695.
  6. HMC Mar & Kellie, vol. 1 (London, 1904), p. 42: National Records of Scotland, Privy Seal Register, PS1/69 f. 162.
  7. Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles (Edinburgh, 1835) p. lxxvi.
  8. Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles (Edinburgh, 1835) p. lxxix.
  9. George Duncan Gibb, Life and times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carriber, vol. 1 (London, 1874), p. 371 quoting the royal treasurer's accounts.
  10. Francis James Grant, The register of apprentices of the city of Edinburgh, 1583-1666 (Edinburgh, 1906), p. 3.
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