Gilbert Primrose (surgeon)

Gilbert Primrose (c.1535 -18 April 1616) was a Scottish surgeon who became Surgeon to King James VI of Scots and moved with the court to London as Serjeant-Surgeon to King James VI and I on the Union of the Crowns. He was Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh on three occasions.

Gilbert Primrose
Mural monument at the tomb of Gilbert Primrose in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh
Bornc.1535
Culross, Scotland
Died18 April 1616
Westminster, England
OccupationSurgeon

Early Life and education

Gilbert Primrose was born c.1540, at Culross, Fife, Scotland. He was the son of Duncan Primrose and Helen Smyth[1], whose niece, Euphan Primrose, married Sir George Bruce, from whom the Earls of Rosebery are descended.[2][3] On 6 June 1558 he was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh as apprentice to Robert Henrysoun, one of the founder members of the Incorporation.[4]

Career

In 1558 Scotland was threatened by an invasion from "the auld inemies of Ingland", the Edinburgh craft guilds were required to list those men who could be mustered in the event of an attack and Primrose was included.[5] In September 1575 Regent Morton sent him to Coldingham to mend the broken leg of the messenger Ninian Cockburn.[6] In September 1584 he 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 the apothecary Alexander Barclay.[7]

Primrose went on to become Surgeon to King James VI. In June 1592 the Earl of Angus was injured falling from his horse and sent for Primrose.[8] On 10 February 1594 he was appointed to attend Anne of Denmark at Stirling Castle, when she gave birth to Prince Henry, with the physicians Martin Schöner and Gilbert Moncreiff, Alexander Barclay, and the midwife.[9]

He was a friend of Dr Peter Lowe, the co-founder of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, who dedicated the first edition (1597) of his surgical textbook The Whole course of Chirurgerie (which was renamed Discourse of the Whole Art of Chirurgerie for the 2nd and 3rd editions)[10][11] to Gilbert Primrose.[12] Pimrose was elected Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers on no fewer than three occasions. Whilst he was Deacon in 1581 the Surgeons became first in the order of precedence of the 14 crafts of the City of Edinburgh.[13] When he was elected Deacon for the third time in 1602 his status was such that he was able to impose considerable discipline on the Incorporation. Under his leadership all members of the Incorporation swore that they would uphold all aspects of the Seal of Cause (the Charter of the Incorporation) and any violations were punished.[14] Primrose was also responsible for passing new Laws which sought to maintain even higher standards within the craft. Admission and examination fees were established and each member of the Incorporation was required to pay a subscription.[15] The Incorporation thrived under his leadership.

On 30 April 1597 his mother Helen Smith, over 80 years old and blind, was assaulted and robbed in her house at Culross.[16]

As principal surgeon to King James VI he accompanied the Court to London on the Union of the Crowns in 1603. He became Serjeant-Surgeon or chief surgeon to the King, now James VI and I and Queen Anne.[17]

First name on Fellows’ Roll

Whilst the names of the earliest members of the Incorporation appear in the Edinburgh Burgh records,[5] the assignation of a roll number for Members and Fellows starts from 1581 when the Deacon of the Incorporation was Gilbert Primrose. His name is first in the Roll of Fellows which has continued in an uninterrupted sequence ever since.

Repilca of Gilbert Primrose's mortar in Surgeons' Hall Museum, Edinburgh

Primrose’s mortar

Surgeons’ Hall Museum has a treasured relic of Gilbert Primrose. It is labelled "a replica of the mortar used by Gilbert Primrose, an ancestor of the Earl of Rosebery and a Deacon of the Chirurgeon-Barbers in 1581". This mortar was presented to the College by Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, a descendant of Gilbert Primrose in December 1909.[15] The original is held in the National Museums of Scotland.

Family

His brother Archibald Primrose became 1st Laird of Burnbrae. Other brothers included David Primrose, Henry Primrose, Duncan Primrose and Peter Primrose.[2] He married Alison Graham. Their son Gilbert Primrose (c1580–1641) became a Calvinist pastor. Other children included Dame Marion Primrose (1566-1637), David Primrose and Robert Primrose.[18]

Death

Gilbert Primrose died in Westminster, London on 18 April 1616 and was buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh where his monument still stands. His grave carries a Latin inscription translated as:

To Gilbert Primrose, Chief Surgeon to James and Anne, King and Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland. His heirs erected this monument. He lived happily 80 years. To the end of his life he was Chief Surgeon to the King, and died, adorned with testimonials of public sorrow from Prince and people, in the year of our Lord 1616 on the 8th of April.

Great Gilbert Primrose shut his mortal eyes

Full fraught with honours as with length of days

My will and life to Christ I still resign'd

Hence neither life nor death did bitter find[19]

Detail of inscription on mural monument at the tomb of Gilbert Primrose in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh
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References
  1. The Great Seal of Scotland no.1043, confirmed 1 October 1586.
  2. "Gilbert Primrose, principal surgeon to James VI of Scotland".
  3. Douglas, Robert. The peerage of Scotland: containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom. Edinburgh : Printed by George Ramsay and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh p575 https://archive.org/details/peerageofscotlan02douguoft
  4. Comrie, J.D. History of Scottish Medicine to 1860. London, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 2nd ed, 1932 p 174 https://archive.org/details/b2045711x
  5. Extracts From the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1557-1571. 10 June 1558. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/edinburgh-burgh-records/1557-71/pp15-26
  6. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 73.
  7. David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578-1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 692, 695.
  8. Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 703.
  9. HMC Mar & Kellie, vol. 1 (London, 1904), p. 42.
  10. Lowe P. The whole course of chirurgerie ... Compiled by Peter Lowe Scotchman, Arellian, Doctor in the Facultie of Chirurgerie in Paris, and chirurgian ordinarie to the most victorious and christian King of Fraunce and Nauarre. London:Printed by Thomas Purfoot; 1597.
  11. Donaldson, IML. ‘Peter Lowe’s Whole Course of Chirurgerie…1597’. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 2013;4:374-376 https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/Journal/peter-lowe%E2%80%99s-whole-course-chirurgerie%E2%80%A61597
  12. Dingwall, Helen. A famous and flourishing Society ; The History of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1505-2005. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University press, 2005. p15 ISBN 978-0748615674
  13. Cresswell, CH The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Historical Notes from 1505 to 1905 . Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1926 p 9
  14. Cresswell, CH The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Historical Notes from 1505 to 1905 . Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1926 p 19
  15. Cresswell, CH The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Historical Notes from 1505 to 1905 . Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1926. p19
  16. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 392.
  17. Comrie, J.D. History of Scottish Medicine to 1860. London, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 2nd ed, 1932 p 175.https://archive.org/details/b2045711x
  18. "Dame Marion Primrose".
  19. Monteith, Robert. Collection of Epitaphs and Monumental Inscriptions: Chiefly in Scotland. Glasgow. Printed by D Macvean. 1834 https://archive.org/details/collectionepita00macvgoog
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