William Beckett

Born in Abingdon in 1684, William Becket was trained in medicine and became known in London as a surgeon. He served for a time at St. Thomas's Hospital in Southwark and later built a reputation not only for practical surgical writing but also for his interest in the history of medicine.

Becket wrote on wounds, cancers, venereal disease, and other medical subjects, and his work was later gathered in A Collection of Chirurgical Tracts. He was also active in learned circles: records connect him with the Royal Society and with the early Society of Antiquaries, showing how strongly he valued observation, research, and the wider history of his profession.

Later in life he retired to Abingdon, where he died on November 25, 1738. Though not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries, he stands out as a figure who combined hands-on medical practice with a lasting curiosity about how medicine developed over time.