author
John Freke
1688–1756
An influential English surgeon, he helped push surgery into a more independent profession and became known for early specialist work on diseases of the eye at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He also wrote on electricity and practical surgical techniques, showing a mind that ranged well beyond the operating room.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1688, John Freke built his career in London medicine after apprenticing with the surgeon Richard Blundell. He went on to serve at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where he became especially notable for treating eye diseases and is often described as the hospital’s first ophthalmic surgeon.
Freke is remembered as one of the figures who helped separate surgeons from the older barber-surgeon tradition, alongside later reformers such as Percival Pott. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1729, reflecting his wider scientific interests as well as his medical reputation.
Beyond hospital practice, he published work on surgery and on electricity, including observations on dislocations, tumors, and natural phenomena. That mix of hands-on medical experience and curiosity about the science of his day gives his work a lasting place in the story of eighteenth-century medicine.