Charles Lucas 1713-1771

Charles LUCAS 1713-1771

Biographical Note

Son of Benjamin Lucas of Ballingaddy, co. Clare, a gentleman farmer. Around 1727 he was apprenticed to a Dublin apothecary, and he set up in that business there in the 1730s. He soon pursued a successful campaign to have apothecaries inspected by the Irish Royal College of Physicians, the beginning of a long career as a political reformer in Dublin which brought him both fame and some enmity, and he spent part of his life in England. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons in 1761. He also progressed from apothecary to physician, graduating as MD at the University of Leiden in 1752. He published many political and medical works, and died in Dublin.

Books

Lucas used two different bookplates (Franks 18852-3); the extent and disposition of his library is not known. He was not wealthy and his widow had to apply for a pension to support herself after his death.

Sources

• Charles Lucas, Royal College of Physicians.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.
• Murphy, Sean J. "Lucas, Charles (1713–1771), politician and physician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.