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THOMAS VICARY, by virtue of his age and position, was leader of the band of surgeons who desired their calling advanced to a better position under the Tudor dynasty He seems to have gained his influence by his personality more than by his writings. In this respect he differed from Galc and Clowes, who were rough and pushing, from Halle, who was active as a satirist and persecutor o€ quacks ; from Banister, a polished gentleman , and from Read, who died too young to do more than lend the energy of youth to the movement in which all were interested.
The facts of Vicary's life are few, but they have been diligently gleaned by Dr. J. F. Furnivall and by Dr. Norman Moore.
He was probably born in Kent at some time between the years 1490 and 1500, as the first notice of him occurs in Manningham's Diary, where he is stated to have been " at first a meane practiser in Maidstone until the King advanced him for curing his sore legge."
I n London he was admitted to the Barbers' Company, where he rose rapidly until he became Master in 1530. I n 1540 the Company of Barbers was united with the Guild of Surgeons to form the United Company of Barber Surgeons. This union lasted until 1745, when it was dissolved, the Barbers' Company continuing, as it does to this day, on the original site in Monkwell Street, whilst the Surgeons built themselves a new Hall in the Old Bailey Vicary was nominated the first Master of the United Company, and he was re-elected to the Mastership in 1546, in 1548, and in 1557, a proof of the high esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries, for no one after hlm was ever chosen so often.
I n 1528 he was appointed surgeon to King Henry VIII, and two years later he was granted a reversion of the places, held by Marcellus de la More, of Serleant Surgeon and chief Surgeon to the King. The reversion fell in during the year 1535. Vicary retained the post until his death in 1561, and thus served under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth.
Like the Court servants of the time, but to a lesser degree, he was rewarded by grants of confiscated church property I n 1539 he obtained the beneficial lease for twenty-one years of the rectory house and tithes of the recently dissolved Boxley Abbey in Kent. The Abbey had been celebrated for its miraculous rood, with eyes stirring like a living thing, its body bowing, its forehead frowning, and its lower lip moving as if about to speak. I n 1541 he bought additional lands at Boxley from Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, and in 1542 he was appointed with h s son, William, a Bailiff of Boxley Manor, with an annuity of f10 a year. In 1557 he was rich enough to lend money t o the United Company when it had got into financial difficulties, and
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