Alexander Pennycuik

Alexander Pennycuik (or Pennecuick) (1605-1695) was a Scottish military surgeon who became Surgeon General of the Scots forces in Ireland during the English Civil War. He was elected Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh

Early life

Alexander Pennycuik was born in 1605, a member of a landowning family, which owned the estate of Penicuik, just south of Edinburgh. estate on the southern borders of Midlothian. In the minutes of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh he is often referred to as Alexander Pennycuik of New Hall.

Career

Like many Scots, he felt drawn to serve in the Thirty Years War. He was surgeon under General Johan Banér who led one of the armies of Queen Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus. He was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh in 1640 in consideration of his "literature and qualifications" and on the payment of the sum of £200 Scots. He spent much of his life as a military surgeon in Scotland and Ireland, becoming Surgeon General of the Scots forces in Ireland during the English Civil War. In 1650 he was placed in charge of the wounded left behind in Stirling castle. For these many years of service he claimed to have been paid a meagre £165 sterling.

Later years and family

Despite spending most of his working life as a surgeon in conflicts, he went on to live to about 90. In his later years he was cared for by his son Alexander Pennycuik (or Pennecuick) (1652–1722) who had qualified and practised as a physician but found fame as a poet and naturalist. His estate of New Hall was thought to be the setting for 'The Gentle Shepherd', Allan Ramsay's celebrated pastoral poem.

His son, in a fond posthumous tribute, described his father as:

"The oldest Aesculapian of his age… Who flattered not the rich nor scourged the poor

From old forebears much worth he did inherit A gentleman by birth but more by merit"

He was buried in the churchyard at Kirkurd/Newlands Parish Church near Peebles.