Charles Oliphant

Charles Oliphant (1666 – 9 December 1719)^[1] was a Scottish physician and politician. He built his career in Edinburgh, but moved to London in 1708. He sat in the House of Commons from 1710 until his death, and was physician to the Prince of Wales (later King George II).

Early life and family

Oliphant was the second son of Charles Oliphant of Edinburgh, a principal clerk of the court of session and a descendant of the 3rd Lord Oliphant.^[2] His mother Barbara was a daughter of Patrick Kinloch of Alderston, Haddingtonshire.^[3] He graduated from Edinburgh University with an M.A. in 1684, from Leiden in 1687, and was awarded his MD at Rheims University in 1691.^[3]

Edinburgh

Oliphant set up a medical practice off High Street in Edinburgh, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1693.^[3] In 1699 he published a treatise on vomiting during fevers, which was challenged in 1701 by Dr George Cheyne in his New Theory of Continual Fevers.^[4][5] Oliphant realised that Cheyne's criticism had been prompted by Dr Archibald Pitcairne, a fellow Edinburgh physician with whom Oliphant had been friendly at the start of the 1690 but fell out with over the course of the decade.^[4] Oliphant responded with a series of attacks on Pitcairne's work, accusing him of plagiarism.^[4] The dispute escalated into an acrimonious exchange of pamphlets.^[3]

London

In 1708, Oliphant moved permanently to London, blaming his decision on the Act of Union. He had concluded that "our remoteness from the centre of the government must certainly drain us, and carry all those that have ambulatory employments, or live by their industry, to live in England".^[3]

At the 1710 general election, Oliphant was elected in the Duke of Argyll's interest (MP) as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayr Burghs.^[6] He had no previous connection to the area and appears to have been rather uninterested its affairs, but with the Duke's support he was re-elected 1715.^[6] Argyll also help to secure Oliphant's appointment in 1714 as physician to George, Prince of Wales.^[3]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 3)
2. Wilkinson, David (1970). R. Sedgwick, ed. "OLIPHANT, Charles (c.1665-1719)". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
3. Wilkinson, David (2002). D. Hayton; E. Cruickshanks; S. Handley, eds. "OLIPHANT, Charles (1666-1719), of Edinburgh and London". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
4. Casteel, Eric Grier (2007). Entrepot and Backwater: A Cultural History of the Transfer of Medical Knowledge from Leiden to Edinburgh, 1690–1740. ProQuest. p. 155.
5. Guerrini, Anita (1989). French, Roger Kenneth; Wear, Andrew, eds. Issac Neton, George Cheyne and the Principia Medicinae. The Medical Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge University Press).
6. Wilkinson, David (2002). D. Hayton; E. Cruickshanks; S. Handley, eds. "Ayr Burghs 1690-1715". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 6 May 2015.