Thomas Morstede

Family Thomas Morstede was the son of Thomas and Alianora Morstede from Betchworth, Surrey. After the death of his first wife, Juliana, Morstede married Elizabeth Michell in 1431. She was the widow of his wealthy friend, William Fitzharry, and the daughter of John Michell. John Michell had been an alderman since 1413, a sheriff from 1414 to 1415 and a Lord Mayor in 1424–45. As well as this, he had been a Member of Parliament for London on six occasions and thus an influential father-in-law to Morstede.

Although he was married twice, the absence of children in Morstede's will has led R.R. James to assume he did not have any.

In 1423 and working under Henry VI, Morstede, along with physicians John Somerset and Gilbert Kymer, attempted to found a conjoint college of physicians and surgeons. The college was founded "for the better education and control of physicians and surgeons in the city and its liberties". Despite this, the college only lasted a year and collapsed in November 1424. By 1426 Morstede became known as "Master Thomas" and was sheriff in the city of London. has been attributed to Morstede. In the manuscript, Morstede states that surgeons should be skilled in both the theory and practice of surgery, and should conduct themselves graciously and show mercy to the poor.

S.J. Lang has questioned Morstede's authorship of the manuscript, as it has direct parallels with John Bradmore's Philomena. Such similarities include a description of an incident at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Here, Henry Prince of Wales was struck with an arrow in the left-hand side of his face. The arrowhead became lodged and an instrument illustrated in both Morstede and Bradmore's manuscripts was devised to remove it.