John Armstrong

Born in 1709 in Scotland, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and built a career as a physician as well as a writer. That dual life shaped his work: he moved comfortably between literature and medicine, and became known in London’s literary world.

His best-known poem, The Art of Preserving Health (1744), brought him lasting attention. Written in blank verse, it offered practical guidance on healthy living while showing the ambition and elegance of an 18th-century poem. He also wrote other verse and prose, including The Oeconomy of Love.

Armstrong died in 1779. He is remembered as an unusual and appealing figure in British literary history: a doctor who wrote poetry with real skill, and an author whose most famous work joined everyday health advice with literary style.