James Welwood: Physician to the Glorious Revolution (review)

Elizabeth Lane Furdell. James Welwood: Physician to the Glorious Revolution. Signpost Biography. Conshohocken, Penn.: Combined Publishing, 1998. 288 pp. $29.95 (1-58097-005-2).

James Welwood (1652-1727) went from radical Scots Presbyterian to the venerable status of physician, historian, and political propagandist for the Glorious Revolution. He had the good fortune and astute political judgment to support the winning side in 1688, and his close attachment to the Crown thereafter brought him continued royal patronage and a comfortable style of life. Elizabeth Furdell's biography brings together the available sources to present a clear narrative, making Welwood's life accessible to the general reader.

Few details of childhood in the seventeenth century have been preserved in the archives, and so Furdell has little direct evidence of what life was like for young James. She has made the most of other sources concerning James's father--a radical Covenanting minister, who was dismissed from his parish for opposition to the religious policy instituted by Charles II--and his two brothers, who continued the family tradition of radical opposition to the Crown.

Furdell speculates that the turbulent experiences of Welwood's Scottish childhood led to his lifelong support for religious tolerance. Another interpretation is that they led to his lifelong aversion to Scotland, for he studied medicine on the Continent between the mid-1670s and 1684. (It is not clear how Welwood, whose family was apparently in modest circumstances, could afford to pursue medical studies for so long.) He seems to have spent some time in the Hague, where, Furdell suggests, he may have come into contact with supporters of William III, Prince of Orange. He received his M.D. degree from the university at Reims, where, Furdell further suggests, he may have experienced first-hand Louis XIV's oppression of Protestants. After graduating he briefly returned to Scotland, perhaps making further contacts with the circle of Scottish supporters around William. Eventually he settled in Newcastle with his growing family. If he intended to live peacefully as a physician, the events of June-November 1688 upset his plans: Newcastle was a Whig stronghold, and the city was firmly behind William's accession; perhaps on his own, or perhaps at the urging of the Scotsman Gilbert Burnet, one of Queen Mary's trusted advisors, Welwood began his career as a political writer, supporting William and attacking his opponents.

Soon after, Welwood moved to London, again perhaps at Burnet's behest. His Mercurius Reformatus, one of many partisan newspapers that flourished in the period, was steadfast in its support of the Crown even in the face of Parliamentary opposition. Welwood spent a period in jail when his attacks on Parliament in support of William's policies grew too troublesome. He was also handsomely rewarded with subsidies and with patronage, becoming physician to the queen and receiving other medical appointments. And when Queen Mary wanted a history written of her grandfather, Charles I, she turned to Welwood. His Memoirs of . . . the Last Hundred Years, Preceding the Revolution in 1688 is his most important book, the first to make use of many of the letters and archival materials. As Furdell amply shows, Welwood was honored throughout his life as a loyal supporter of the Crown, as a physician, and as a man of letters.

It is hard to balance the presentation of archival material with the needs of general and scholarly readers, and this book is better suited for afficionados of medical biography than for historians. Scholars will be familiar with the sections on historical background; they will also note that Welwood has been presented with a very modern, idealized sensibility: in favor of tolerance, opposed to religious controversy, and constantly maintaining his professional persona. Nonetheless, readers will be fascinated to have so colorful a character as Dr. James Welwood rescued from obscurity.

 

Lisa Rosner
Richard Stockton College

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