SCHOMBERG, MEYER LÖW:

English physician; born at Fetzburg, Germany, 1690; died in London March 4, 1761. He was the eldest son of a Jewish practitioner of medicine whose original name was Löw, which he changed to Schomberg. Schomberg obtained the degree of M.D. from the University of Giessen on Dec. 21, 1710, having entered the university on Dec. 13, 1706. Obtaining a license, he began to practise at Schweinburg and later removed to Blankenstein. After 1710 he practised at Metz, and went to England about 1720.

Schomberg was admitted as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians March 19, 1721(2). At that time he was in very reduced circumstances, and the college considerately accepted his bond for the future payment of his admission fees. Cultivating an intimacy with the Jews of Duke's place, he obtained introductions to some of the leading merchants, and soon became the foremost physician of the city, being in receipt of a professional income of 4,000 guineas ($21,000) a year. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1726, and was a strong supporter of the action of his son, Isaac Schomberg, against the Royal College of Physicians.

Bibliography:
  • Munk, Roll of Royal College of Physicians of London, ii. 72-73;
  • Carmoly, Les Médecins Juifs, p. 200.
J. G. L.
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