Sir Walter Farquhar, 1st Baronet

Sir Walter Farquhar, 1st Baronet (October 1738 – 30 March 1819) was a Scottish physician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, whose clientele included many of the leading figures of the day, including the Prince of Wales (later King George IV) and the Prime Minister William Pitt. Farquhar abandoned his medical studies at King's College, Aberdeen to join the British Army as a surgeon during the Seven Years' War. He later worked as an apothecary in London and qualified as a physician, becoming popular with royalty and politicians and receiving a baronetcy for his services.

Early life Farquhar was born in Garioch in 1738, the son of Robert Farquhar, the minister at Garioch. His mother was Katherine (née Turing), the daughter of another minister.

Career Farquhar took a degree at King's College, Aberdeen and began to study medicine under James Gregory. In 1760, however he abandoned his medical studies in Edinburgh and Glasgow and joined the 19th Regiment of Foot in the British Army as a surgeon. In 1761, the regiment was sent to Belle Île and subsequently to Gibraltar, where it remained at the end of the conflict. and was soon appointed physician-in-ordinary to the Prince of Wales. With his reputation secured, Farquhar ran a very successful business until his retirement in 1813 with health problems.

Farquhar died in London in March 1819 and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Westminster. His baronetcy passed to his eldest son, Sir Thomas Harvie Farquhar, 2nd Baronet, although it was his second son Robert Townsend Farquhar who was most successful, becoming the governor of Penang and Mauritius and, subsequently, a Member of Parliament. In 1821 he was awarded a baronetcy separate to that of his father. Although Sir Walter Farquhar was a very successful physician of his day, he did not publish or develop any medical knowledge and thus he had no lasting impact on British medicine.

Descendants Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of Sir Walter Farquhar, 3rd Baronet, High Sheriff of Surrey who married Lady Mary Octavia Somerset (daughter of Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort and Lady Charlotte Leveson-Gower). Through his second son Robert, he was a grandfather of Sir Walter Townsend-Farquhar, 2nd Baronet, MP for Hertford.

Through his daughter Charity, he was a grandfather of Walter Kerr Hamilton and Edward William Terrick Hamilton.