Bedford, Nathaniel (b 1757)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0114 MS0002
Held at	: Royal College of Surgeons of England   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/archives/ ›
Full title	: Bedford, Nathaniel (b 1757)
Date(s)	: 1781-1783
Level of description	: FONDS
Extent	: 1 volume
Name of creator(s)	: Bedford, Nathaniel, fl 1781-1783, naval surgeon
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Nathaniel Bedford was born in 1757. In 1776 he served a years apprenticeship under John Gunning at St George's hospital. He qualified under the auspices of the Company of Surgeons as Second Mate, First Rate, March 5 1778 and as Surgeon, 5th Rate on April 19 1781. In December 1781 Bedford, joined the 'Formidable' as Surgeon. It was docked at Portsmouth and left in January 1782 sailing for the West Indies. Bedford was appointed Surgeon to the 'Ardent' in June 1782, soon after that he joined the 'Conqueror' in Barbados and sailed with it to New York and Boston and then back to Barbados. In December 1782 the ship sailed to Antigua and Guadeloupe and then to English Harbour returning to England in July 1783. The rest of Bedford's life and career is not known.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

This collection contains a single manuscript volume, the 'Naval Surgeons Casebook'. The volume begins with details of cases, symptoms and cures of Nathaniel Bedford's patients at St George's hospital during 1781. The rest of the volume contains descriptions of cases, sickness, and treatments during his travels whilst a ship's surgeon in the West Indies during 1781-1783.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Chronological

Conditions governing access:

Access available on application to the Deputy Librarian. Please contact Tina Craig.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No photocopying permitted

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Presented by Robert Rutson James to the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1933. The donation was noted in the Library donation registers on 4th May 1933. James attributed the volume to Bedford.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by R R James to library of Royal College of Surgeons in 1933

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

A Naval Surgeon's Log, 1781-1783 by R R James [Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service Oct 1933]

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Taken from AIM25 description prepared by Claire Jackson, Archivist, RCSENG. September 2000. Updated and transferred by Beth McNeice, Project Archivist, August 2003.

Rules or conventions:
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; ISAD(G), Second Edition, 2000.

Date(s) of descriptions:
September 2000.