Thomas Kingsbury (abt. 1688 - 1747)

Born about 1688 in County Armagh, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Esther (Punter) Kingsbury — married 21 Oct 1725 in Dublin, Ireland

Descendants

Died 10 Apr 1747 at about age 59 in Dublin, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: William Ingram [send private message]

Biography

Thomas was born around 1688, the son of Thomas Kingsbury.

Though it is documented that Thomas Senior came from the Dorset Kingsbury family, his exact lineage is unconfirmed. However nothing else is known about the Thomas whose (first) wife Edith and daughter Margaret died in 1685, and it is certainly possible that he left Dorset for Ireland shortly afterwards.

As for his son, the younger Thomas entered Trinity College, Dublin aged twenty on 1st June 1708. The records also state that he attained a BA in 1712, an MB in 1719, and an MD in 1721.

An accomplished member of the medical profession, Thomas lived in Anglesey Street, Dublin. In 1744 he was President of the Royal College of Physicians.

His Dorset origins were alluded to in Burke's Armory:

"Confirmed by Hawkins, Ulster King- at Arms, 1742, to Dr. Thomas Kingsbury, Fellow of the King and Queen's College of Physicians, Ireland, son of Thomas Kingsbury, Esq., descended from County Dorset. "

Thomas's life is referenced in "A New Anatomy of Ireland: The Irish Protestants, 1649-1770" (Toby Barnard, Yale University Press, 2004):

"The wealth of a few spectacularly successful doctors was widely known...

Thomas Kingsbury, a popular Dublin physician, received a fee of £120 and all his expenses for attending Lord Charlemont at Kilkenny over twelve days in 1743. Kingsbury, unsurprisingly, lived well in Dublin. He kept a coach and a carriage and was a discerning judge of what was modish in architecture and interior design...

Thomas Kingsbury also studied with (Herman) Boerhaave at Leiden. Kingsbury, practising in George II's Dublin, typified the style and habits of a prosperous practitioner. He assembled a library, ran a spanking new equipage, and adopted the latest in dress, wigs, books and furnishings. Not indifierent to the plight of the poor in the harsh conditions early in the 1740s, he watched balefully the antics of ‘the mob'. As one of the prosperous and consciously cultivated, he defined himself, at least partly, in opposition to them. His world, essentially urban, was of the educated and genteel. The companions with whom be relaxed worked like him in the professions and administration of the capital. Yet Kingsbury, in common with many city-dwellers of his rank, was not ignorant of the rural hinterlands. He represented an acquaintance now removed to North Wales, as agent for interests concentrated in County Cork, and also journeyed into the provinces to treat important patients. In return, some of his country clients. such as Squire Edgeworth of Edgeworthstown, were admitted to his polite circle when in Dublin.

...Kingsbury’s death uncovered the sandy foundations of his impressive establishment. First his library was dispersed. and then his widow was badly embarrassed by the Dublin bank failures in the mid-1750s.

...Thomas Kingsbury combined fashionable practice as a Dublin physician with loose oversight of the Irish interests of an old acquaintance, Frank Price, from the 1730s living in North Wales. The Price portfolio then passed to Kingsbury's widow and on to her son, a barrister. The latter acted for family friends resident in Ireland itself, such as the Edgeworths"

Sources

• Biography of Dr. Thomas Kingsbury:

<https://rcpi-live-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/28-Thomas-Kingsbury.pdf>

• References collected at profile page on Geneanet.org:

<https://gw.geneanet.org/aurejac?n=kingsbury&oc=15&p=thomas>

• Irish Records Extraction Database:

<https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=gKr8658&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&indiv=1&dbid=3876&gsfn=thomas&gsln=kingsbury&gsfn_x=NP_NN&gsln_x=NP_NN&gskw=dublin&gskw_x=1&new=1&rank=1&redir=false&gss=angs-d&pcat=34&fh=0&h=49194&recoff=12%2013&ml_rpos=1>

• Pue's Occurences, dated April 14, 1747: "Friday last [10 April 1747] died of the gout in his stomach Thomas KINGSBURY Esq. a very eminent physician whose great compassion for the poor makes his death justly lamented." Abstracted: http://members.iinet.net.au/~nickred/newspaper/np_abst49.htm