Peter and Hugh Chamberlen
Peter John Chamberlen
b 1601 d 1683
Hugh Chamberlen (the elder)
b 1630 - 1720
Hugh Chamberlen
b 1664 - 1728
Woodham Mortimer Hall
Peter Chamberlen was born on 8
May 1601 at Blackfriars, London as the oldest son in a wealthy
family.
Several generations of his
family were physicians.
Their family secret was the
invention of forceps for use in difficult deliveries that had been
invented by Peters's grandfather.
At that time forceps were
crude hooks and were used to extract dead babies as they would kill
live babies before they could be delivered.
Peter gained a MD at Cambridge
University and became an eminent Doctor being made the physician to
King Charles I and later to King Charles II.
During his life Peter had two
wives and 18 children, the best known of which was his son Hugh.
For their times the Chamberlen
family were radical thinkers proposing a number of schemes some of
which were practical and some less so.
In Chamberlen's time midwives
were not regulated and received no formal training.
In most cases they were
appointed by the Church. Chamberlen caused a furore by suggesting
that Midwives be forced to join a College and receive training.
This was strongly opposed by
midwives and church alike.
The midwives believed that
their experience was better than training and the church was
concerned at the loss of revenue from the midwives
In the 1640's Peter became
religiously minded and embraced the new evangelical religion.
He still continued to make his
views felt about subjects of the day and supported Cromwell and the
long Parliament.
On the accession of Charles II
he was expelled from the College of Physicians but this was short
lived and on reinstatement he was appointed as physician to King
Charles II.
Expulsion from the College
seemed to have affected Peter as he sold his house in London and
bought Woodham Mortimer Hall as the family home.
Woodham Mortimer was within a
days ride of London but away from involvement in politics.
New inventions and ideas kept
flowing and rumours of his madness grew to the extent that he was
forced to publish an article designed to prove that he was sane.
He died on 16 December 1683 at
his Woodham Mortimer home and was buried in the adjoining cemetery.
Hugh Chamberlen followed his
fathers footsteps in becoming a physician and like his father was
appointed as physician to King Charles II.
He gained praise for staying
in London during the Plague unlike most Physicians who left the
Capital.
By this time other physicians
were experimenting with forceps and High Junior journeyed to France
where he made an unsuccessful attempt to sell the secret of the
forceps.
He moved on to Brussels where
we was successful in selling the secret to two eminent Doctors.
On his return to England he
used his family flair for language to translate a French medical
textbook called the accomplished midwife into English at which point
it became a best seller further adding to his reputation and wealth.
Hugh Chamberlen junior was
born in 1664 and obtained his MD at Trinity College
Unlike his controversial
father and grandfather young Hugh married well and moved in society
to the extent that he was appointed as a censor.
He continued to prosper to the
extent that on his death a memorial Tablet was erected in
Westminster Abbey.
Although he married three
times Hugh only had daughters and so the family secret use of
forceps stopped with Hugh.
Postscript
In 1813 the owner of Woodham
Mortimer House noticed a loose floorboard and on checking found a
small hiding hole.
This contained the Chamberlen
family secret ie three sets of forceps
History will judge the actions
of the Chamberlen family who achieved considerable wealth by use of
the forceps which they kept secret for four generations.
As a result many women and
children dies from difficult childbirth who would have survived had
the Chamberlen's shared their secret.
Fortunately by the death of
Hugh Junior similar designs were becoming available
