author
Richard Mead
1673–1754
A celebrated English physician of the early 18th century, he became known for writing about plague, smallpox, and other contagious diseases at a time when public health was still taking shape. He was also famous in London society, treating prominent patients while building a remarkable library and art collection.
4 Audiobooks
A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Methods to Be Used to Prevent It
by Richard Mead
Medica Sacra Or, A Commentary on the Most Remarkable Diseases Mentioned in the Holy Scriptures
by Richard Mead
A Discourse on the Plague
by Richard Mead
A Mechanical Account of Poisons in Several Essays
by Richard Mead
About the author
Born in Stepney, London, on August 11, 1673, Richard Mead studied widely before taking his medical degree at Padua in 1695. He went on to build one of the most distinguished medical careers in Britain, later also receiving an Oxford M.D., serving at St Thomas’ Hospital, and becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Mead is best remembered for his writings on contagious disease, especially his 1720 work on plague prevention, which helped shape early thinking about quarantine and public health. He was regarded as one of the leading physicians of his age and attended notable figures in British intellectual and political life.
Beyond medicine, Mead was known as a generous patron of learning. He collected books, manuscripts, and works of art on a large scale, and his home became a meeting place for scholars, writers, and artists. That mix of medical authority, curiosity, and cultural influence made him one of the most striking public figures in Georgian London.