Ralph Bayley (abt. 1565 - 1645)

Husband of Anne (Hungerford) Bayley — married 7 May 1611 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire

Died 1645 at about age 80 in Widcombe, Somerset, England

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Biography

Ralph was born about 1565. He “matriculated at New College November 24th, 1581; B.A. April 12th, 1594; Fellow: M.A. March 20th, 1597-1598; licensed to practise medicine July 11th, 1617; B. and D. Med. July 16th 1617” ^[1]

Probably son or nephew of the Dr. Walter Bayley (1529-1592) who was personal physician to Queen Elizabeth 1st.

“Doctor Ralph Bayly, of whom I am next to treat, was well known to all his Collegues of New-Colledge in Oxon, where he had his Education to be as stout a man as that Society hath yielded, having in his Temper an equal mixture of Mars and Mercury, or rather, born under the praedominium of Mars, as he hath often evidenced when he long’d for Venison, though sometimes bought at a dear rate.

Doctor Bayly was born in Berkshire, descended of a good Family in that County, whose Coat-armour is, In a field Gules, three Martlets, or, A Chief Vairy Argent of Azure. Having spent some time in Winchester School, that fruitful Seminary of Learning, he was in due time transplanted to New-Colledge in Oxford, where he gradually proceeded with good applause, till he arrived at the perfection of Doctor of Physick, which happened in the year 1618. By two Wives, the one a Quintin, the other a Hungerford, both comely Women; he had issue both Male and Female.

His eldest Son Walter, my intimate friend and acquaintance, he educated in the University, in Magdalen Hall in Oxford, but finding his genius not so much inclining him to Learning, though he was a great admirer of it, and had much respect for any Scholar that was truly so, and had Learning enough himself to render him facetious, and as good company as any man could wish; finding, I say, his genius not so much bent to study, he rather chose a gentile Education, and being very acceptable to all persons of Quality, especially the Gentry of Hampshire, in particular Sr. Richard Gifford of Sumburne, Henry Ludlow of Tadley Esquire, and many others, where he used to hunt and recreate with all the kindness imaginable; at last, on the death of his Father took to the Estate, and settled at Bathe in the same house the Doctor enjoy’d, where he lived plentifully many years and saw an end of all his Generation, till at length, for Death is the end as well of the good Companion as the Sot, of a lingring distemper, being much obstructed in the Mesentery and Urinary passages; he ended this life about the sixtieth year of his age on the 15 day of November, An. Dom. 1672, and is buried in the Abbey Church in Bathe.

Doctor Bayly is further remarkable in this, that he is the only man save one, of any Physician that lived here; that had a Son of his own Profession, which was Mr. Thomas Bayly, by his second wife Mrs. Hungerford, an Ingenious man, and good Physician, of whom his Brother would often speak with much affection and respect, who in the beginning of the wars, when no Acts were kept, was with many others, created Doctor An. Dom. 1642, and practising at Newbury in Berkshire, with good success and reputation, died of a high infection in the prime of his years, not long after. He was much encouraged to the Delivery of Women, being fitted for that service both by art and nature.

It is also further observable in Doctor Ralph Bayly, that although he had good practise, and prescribed to many Patients, yet such was his good Temper of Nature, and Temperance withal, that he never took any Physick himself, or made use of the Bath, being never sick in all his life, which fell the heavier on him, according to the vulgar observation, for going from his house at Bathe to another he had at Widcombe, a mile distant, he was suddenly taken with a great faintness, insomuch as he was constrained to call at a Neighbours house before he came to his own, to desire something to refresh him, using these words, as God shall mend me, which was his usual saying, I am ill, and presently departed, and was buried at Widcombe, Nov. 16, 1645.

He was a proper, comely person, charitable, and well read in the Ancient learning, witness a good Collection of old Authors, well markt with his own hand, now in my possession. And so much for Dr. Ralph Bayly, being the only man, I think, that ever liv’d and dy’d without pain.”

^[2]

He died in 1645.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Dr. Walter Bayley and his works, 1529-1592 by D'Arcy Power, p. 428
2. ↑ A century of observations; containing further discoveries of the nature of the Hot Waters at Bathe; with the Contents, Property, and Distinction of each Bath, in particular. Thomas Guidott, MB The Berkshire Archæological Journal - Volumes 37-38 - Page 185
3. ↑ Name: Mr Ralph Baylie [Mr Radolphus Baylie] Event Type: Burial Burial Date: 16 Nov 1645 Burial Place: Lyncombe and Widcombe, Somerset, England Source Citation Somerset Heritage Service; Taunton, Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; Reference Number: D\P\wid/2/1/12 Source Information Ancestry.com. Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Anglican Parish Registers. Somerset Archives & Local Studies, South West Heritage Trust, Taunton, England.