Hugh Chamberlen

Hugh Chamberlen the elder ( – 17 June 1728 ) was an English royal physician, obstetrician and writer on finance.

Life The eldest son of Peter Chamberlen the third by his marriage with Jane, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Myddelton, bart., he was born in the parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, between 1630 and 1634. He is styled Doctor of Medicine in the lists of the Royal Society.

In 1668 Chamberlen had a project for ridding London of the plague. He acquired a reputation in his profession, more especially as a man-midwife, and on the petition of his father he obtained, in February 1673, the reversion of Sir John Hinton's place as physician in ordinary to the king. The office fell to him the following October. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1681.

Chamberlen ultimately went to Amsterdam, where he practised for several years. He parted with the family secret of the midwifery forceps to the Dutch surgeon Hendrik van Roonhuisen. He was still alive in November 1720. This became for a standard text-book, in editions republished to 1765. In the preface are statements relating to the invention and use of the obstetric forceps by the Chamberlen family. It added little to the Manuale Medicum, but touched on preventive medicine with A Proposal for the better securing, of health, intended in the year 1689 and still ready to be humbly offered to the Consideration of the Honourable Houses of Parliament. He also published The Great Advantages of both Kingdoms of Scotland and England, by an Union. By a Friend to Britain (1702).