Dr. Isaac Schomberg

British, 1714 - 1780

BiographyIsaac Schomberg, a physician, was born at Schweinsberg, Germany, on August 14, 1714, one of eight children of Meyer Löw (1690-1761), who assumed the name Schomberg around 1715. The family settled in London in 1720, where the senior Schomberg became one of London's most successful physicians. Isaac obtained his M.D. from the University of Leyden in 1745, and early in 1747 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in pursuit of a second medical degree. In February 1747 his rash response to a summons for examination from the Royal College of Physicians (the body responsible for granting medical licenses to London doctors) initiated a twenty-year feud. Denouncing Schomberg's letter as "improbable and indecent," the College suspended his medical practice. He nevertheless continued to see patients, and fanned public interest in his case through anonymous pamphlets and a series of legal hearings held between November 1751 and July 1753. In 1761 he became co-heir of his father's estate along with his brother Sir Alexander Schomberg (1721-1804), a captain in the Royal Navy (their five brothers were cut off with a shilling each). On December 23, 1765, Schomberg at last received his medical license, but not until September 30, 1771, was he admitted as a fellow of the College of Physicians. Notwithstanding his professional difficulties, Schomberg attained a high position among London physicians, was an active Freemason, and a subscriber of numerous publications. In 1779 he attended his friend David Garrick [see cat.no. 104] on his deathbed and among the actor's final words were those addressed to Schomberg: "Though last, not least in love." Schomberg died unmarried at Conduit Street, London, on March 4, 1780, and was buried at St. George's church, Hanover Square.

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