On 29th December 1615 Charles Scarburgh was born to Edmund Scarburgh at St Martin in the Fields Church [Map].
In 1660 Charles Scarburgh [aged 44] was appointed physician to King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland [aged 29].
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 27th February 1663. After dinner Dr. Scarborough [aged 47] took some of his friends, and I went along with them, to see the body alone, which we did, which was a lusty fellow, a seaman, that was hanged for a robbery. I did touch the dead body with my bare hand: it felt cold, but methought it was a very unpleasant sight. It seems one Dillon, of a great family, was, after much endeavours to have saved him, hanged with a silken halter this Sessions (of his own preparing), not for honour only, but it seems, it being soft and sleek, it do slip close and kills, that is, strangles presently: whereas, a stiff one do not come so close together, and so the party may live the longer before killed. But all the Doctors at table conclude, that there is no pain at all in hanging, for that it do stop the circulation of the blood; and so stops all sense and motion in an instant.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 27th February 1663. Thence we went into a private room, where I perceive they prepare the bodies, and there were the kidneys, ureters [&c.], upon which he read to-day, and Dr. Scarborough [aged 47] upon my desire and the company's did show very clearly the manner of the disease of the stone and the cutting and all other questions that I could think of... how the water [comes] into the bladder through the three skins or coats just as poor Dr. Jolly has heretofore told me.
In 1669 Charles Scarburgh [aged 53] was knighted by King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland [aged 38].
John Evelyn's Diary. 21st May 1670. Came to visit me Mr. Henry Saville [aged 28], and Sir Charles Scarborough [aged 54].
In 1685 Charles Scarburgh [aged 69] was elected MP Camelford.
On 6th February 1685 King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland [aged 54] died around midday the morning at Whitehall Palace [Map] attended by Charles Scarburgh [aged 69]. His brother James [aged 51] succeeded II King England Scotland and Ireland. Duke York merged with the Crown. Mary of Modena Queen Consort England Scotland and Ireland [aged 26] by marriage Queen Consort England Scotland and Ireland. His brother King James II of England Scotland and Ireland, William Chiffinch [aged 83], Richard Mason [aged 52] and Archbishop William Sancroft [aged 68] were present.
The time of his death reported differtently by different contemporary sources: John Evelyn's Diary 'at halfe an houre after eleven in the morning', the Anonymous Letter to Reverend Roper: 'Yesterday noon', Ambassador Barillon's Account: 'and at noon, he died without any struggle or convulsion.' and Charl;es Scarburgh's Manuscript: 'He expired on February the Sixth soon after noon'.
According to Mark Bryant's book "Private Lives: Curious Facts about the Famous and Infamous' King Charles is supposed to have said the much repested phrase: "I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying." This doesn't appear to come from a contemporary source. Macaulay in his 'History of England', writing much later has "He apologised to those who had stood round him all night for the trouble which he had caused. He had been, he said, a most unconscionable time dying; but he hoped that they would excuse it." Perhaps the nearest we can find in a contemporary source is the Anonymous Letter to Reverend Roper: 'and beg the pardon of the standers by, and those that were employed about him, that he gave them so much trouble: that he hoped the work was almost over...'
Before 26th February 1694 Charles Scarburgh [aged 78] and Mary Daniell were married.
On 26th February 1694 Charles Scarburgh [aged 78] died. He was buried at St Dunstan Church, Cranford where his wife Mary Daniell commissioned a memorial.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough
A canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: 'In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed.'
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John Evelyn's Diary. 10th March 1695. I dined at the Earl of Sunderland's [aged 53] with Lord Spencer [aged 19]. My Lord showed me his library, now again improved by many books bought at the sale of Sir Charles Scarborough, an eminent physician, which was the very best collection, especially of mathematical books, that was I believe in Europe, once designed for the King's Library at St. James's; but the Queen dying, who was the great patroness of that design, it was let fall, and the books were miserably dissipated.
