Abstract
Three sets of documents have recently come to light relating to the death (and life) of Edward Gibbon, which are not without interest for the Royal Society. It may be recalled that Gibbon was born in 1737. After a sickly childhood he had a healthy adolescence, and in 1759 he was commissioned as captain in the South Hampshire Militia in which he served for three years during the Seven Years’ War. In 1761 Gibbon consulted the surgeon Caesar Hawkins for a complaint which Hawkins considered must be either the beginning of a hernia or a hydrocele but could not determine which,1 though he inclined to the view that it was the latter. He ‘ desired him to have patience till it became larger and fuller ’ and to return and consult him again. This Gibbon failed to do, but according to his Journal for 6 September 1762, when at Southampton he consulted a surgeon of that town, Mr Andrews, ‘ in relation to a complaint I had neglected for some time; it was a swelling in my left testicle which threatens being a serious affair. Mr Andrews ordered me several things for it.
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