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Sedbergh, Yorkshire, England. Further historical information.

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SEDBERGH

SEDBERGH, a market and parish-town, in the wapentake of Ewcross; 5 miles from Dent, 11 from Kendal and Kirby Lonsdale, (Westm.) 13 from Kirkby Stephen, (ditto) 14½ from Hawes, 22 from Askrigg, 25 from Lancaster, (Lanc.) 77 from York, 265 from London. Market, Wednesday. Fairs, March 20; October 29, for horned cattle, &c. Principal Inns, Kings Arms, and Old Black Bull. Pop. 2,022. The Church is a vicarage, dedicated to St. Andrew, in the deanry of Kirby Lonsdale, diocese of Chester, value, ~£12. 8s. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Sedbergh is pleasantly situated in a secluded vale, among rugged mountains, at the N.W. extremity of the county, upon on the small river Rother. The township of Sedbergh is divided into four parts, called hamlets, viz. Frostow and Soolbank, Marthwaite, Cautley and Dowbiggin, and Howgill and Bland.

The town of Sedbergh does not contain any thing of particular interest, except the Grammar School, founded by Edward III. of which the Masters and Fellows of St. Johns College, Cambridge, are Patrons, value, about £600. per annum; the present Master is the Rev. Henry Wilkinson. There are three Fellowships and eight Scholarships, at St. John's College, Cambridge, for students from this School. This is also one of the Schools which is entitled to send a candidate for Lady Elizabeth Hastings' Exhibitions. Among the many eminent men educated at this School, was Robert William, a physician of very considerable eminence, and born at The Hill, near the town, in 1757. He was educated in the principles of the Quakers, and received his scholastic tuition in the Grammar School, of the place of his nativity, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Bateman, and the celebrated Mr. Dawson. By his death in 1812, the profession was deprived of one of its brightest ornaments! the sick of a humane and discerning physician; and the world of an estimable and upright man.

The humane Dr. Anthony Fothergill, was born at Sedbergh, in 1732 3; and his medical studies were diligently pursued, first at Edinburgh, afterwards at Leyden, and finally at the Sorbonne at Paris. He obtained the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, in 1763, on his Thesis, "De Febre intermittente," and soon after he commenced practice at Northampton. In 1778, he was elected F.R.S. and in 1781, he removed to London; and in 1784, to Bath. In 1803, having acquired a fortune sufficient to enable him to relinquish the duties of his profession, he sailed for Philadelphia, where he resided till the political disputes between Great Britain and America assumed a warlike appearance, in 1812, when he returned to London. He died May 11, 1813. See Nichols' vol. IX. p.211, wherein is a detailed account of the various works he published, and of the humane acts be performed.
[Description(s) edited from various 19th century sources by Colin Hinson © 2013]