FORDYCE, SIR WILLIAM, F.R.S., a distinguished
physician, was a younger brother of David and James Fordyce, whose lives
have already been recorded, and was born in the year 1724. Like his
brethren, he was educated at the Marischal college, of which he died lord
rector. At the age of eighteen, he finished his academic studies, in which
he had distinguished himself, particularly by his proficiency in Greek and
mathematics, the most solid as well as the most ornamental parts of academic
knowledge. Having studied physic and surgery under a native practitioner, he
joined the army as a volunteer, and afterwards served as surgeon to the
brigade of guards on the coast of France, and in all the military
transactions which took place in Germany. The warm support of his military
friends co-operated with his own merit in early recommending him to
distinguished practice in London. His publications, particularly his
treatise on fevers and ulcerated sore throat, greatly extended his fame; and
he was sent for to greater distances, and received larger fees, than almost
any physician of his time. The wealth which he thus acquired he liberally
expended in benevolent actions, and was thus the means of doing much good,
as well as some harm. Having patronized his brother Alexander, who was a
banker in London, he enabled that individual to enter upon an unusually
extensive series of transactions, which, though sound in themselves, exposed
him to a malevolent combination of his brethren in trade, and hence the
great bankruptcy of Fordyce and Co., which may be termed one of the most
important domestic events in Britain during the latter part of the
eighteenth century. Besides the losses which Sir William Fordyce thus
incurred, he soon after became engaged for ten thousand pounds more, which
was lost by his brother in the project of a manufacture which totally
failed; and had it not been for the generosity of the Messrs Drummond,
bankers, who advanced him the necessary sum, he must have submitted to a
loss of personal liberty. Notwithstanding these severe shocks to his
fortune,
Sir William continued to maintain two poor families, whom
he had taken under his patronage, and who had no other resource. It is also
to be mentioned, to the honour of this excellent man, that, besides his own
losses by Alexander, he repaid those incurred by his brother James,
amounting to several thousand pounds. The benevolence of Sir William Fordyce
was a kind of enthusiasm. When he heard of a friend being ill, he would run
to give him his advice, and take no fee for his trouble. His house was open
to all kinds of meritorious persons in distressed circumstances, and he
hardly ever wanted company of this kind. He was also indefatigable in his
good offices towards young Scotsmen who had come to London in search of
employment. His address had much of the courtly suavity of a past age, and
his conversation, while unassuming, was replete with elegant anecdote and
solid information. His eye beamed gentleness and humanity, ennobled by
penetration and spirit. Although originally of a delicate constitution, by
temperance and exercise he preserved his health for many years, but suffered
at last a long and severe illness, which ended in his death, December 4,
1792. Sir William, who had been knighted about 1787, wrote a treatise on the
Venereal Disease, another, as already mentioned, on Fevers, and a third on
Ulcerated Sore Throat; besides which, he published, immediately before his
death, a pamphlet on the "Great Importance and Proper Method of Cultivating
Rhubarb in Britain for medicinal uses."
