John Freke

Who was John Freke?

John Freke was an English surgeon. Together with Percival Pott he was instrumental in separating the profession of surgeon from that of barber.

Freke was the son of a rural minister from Ockford Fitzpaine, Dorset. At the age of 17 he was apprenticed to a prominent London surgeon, Richard Blundell.

He became an assistant surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1726, and one year later was put in charge of the anatomical and surgical preparations. In 1727 the Governors of Barts had decided that there was a requirement for some surgeons to be specialists, and Freke was appointed to deal with diseases of the eye, becoming the first ophthalmic surgeon.

He was a surgeon at Barts from 1729 to 1755 and was a Governor of the hospital from 1736 to 1756. He trained Edward Nourse who in turn trained Percival Pott. In 1745 he established the Company of Surgeons. He designed several medical instruments including an improved obstetric forceps. He was the first to record the genetic error that causes fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, and his 1748 Essay on the Art of Healing identified points of interest of breast cancer and referred to the danger of not removing infected lymphatic tissue.