William Oliver MD - BRLSI - Bath, Somerset
Posted by: SMacB
N 51° 22.999 W 002° 21.845
30U E 544252 N 5692643
Site of the residence of William Oliver MD, one of the founders of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Bath.
Waymark Code: WMWJME
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/12/2017
Views: 0
Site of the residence of William Oliver MD, one of the founders of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Bath.
The plaque reads -
On this site
stood the residence of
WILLIAM OLIVER MD
one of the founders of the
Royal Mineral Water Hospital
B.1695 D.1764"William Oliver (14 August [O.S. 4 August] 1695 – 17 March 1764) was an English physician and philanthropist, and inventor of the Bath Oliver. He was born at Ludgvan, Cornwall, and baptised on 27 August 1695, described as the son of John Oliver the owner of the Trevarno Estate. His family, originally seated at Trevarnoe in Sithney, resided afterwards in Ludgvan, and the estate of Treneere in Madron, which belonged to him, was sold in 1768 after his death. When he decided to erect a monument in Sithney churchyard to the memory of his parents, Alexander Pope wrote the epitaph and drew the design of the pillar. He was admitted a pensioner of Pembroke College, Cambridge on 17 September 1714, graduated M.B. in 1720, and M.D. in 1725, and to complete his medical training, entered at Leiden University on 15 November 1720. On 8 July 1756 he was incorporated at Oxford, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 22 January 1729–30
Oliver is said to have invented the Bath bun (
visit link) , however it proved too fattening for his rheumatic patients, and so he invented the ‘Bath Oliver’ biscuit (
visit link) , and shortly before his death confided the recipe to his coachman Atkins, giving him at the same time £100 in money and ten sacks of the finest wheat-flour. The fortunate recipient opened a shop in Green Street, and soon acquired a large fortune. The ‘Bath Oliver’ is still a well-known brand."
SOURCE - (
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