‘The Advice of a Gent Who Died from Neglecting it’: The Gentlemanly Pursuit of Knowledge Regarding Domestic Medicine in Kent c.1630–1800

Abstract

Summary English gentlemen in the early modern period held ultimate responsibility for the health of their households. Building on previous studies which have revealed how both men and women of the gentry participated in remedy-collecting and some forms of caring duties as necessity demanded, this article situates gentlemanly interest in domestic medicine within familial, social and professional networks of knowledge and reading practices. Employing a micro-historical approach, this study explores the interests of Sir Henry Oxinden of Barham and his great-grandson, Lee Warly of Canterbury, who developed their medical knowledge by consulting female relatives, local acquaintances and medical texts. They assessed the value of physicians’ advice and the appeal of new ingredients. This article thus contributes a significant case study to the historiography of domestic medicine, presenting the gentlemanly pursuit of medical knowledge for practical and academic purposes as an activity which enhanced male status within the family and community.