, son of sir Thomas Shirley, ofWiston in Sussex, and related to the
, son of sir Thomas Shirley, ofWiston in Sussex, and related to the Shirleys the travellers, was
born in St. Margaret’s parish, Westminster, in 1638. He
lived with his father in Magdalen-college, Oxford, while
the city was garrisoned by the king’s forces, and was educated at the school adjoining the college. Afterwards he
studied physic abroad, and took his degrees in that faculty.
On his return he became a very eminent practitioner, and
was made physician in ordinary to Charles II. He was immediate heir to his ancestors’ estate of near 3000l. a year
at Wiston, which was seized during the rebellion; but although he applied to parliament, never was able to recover
it. This disappointment is thought to have hastened his
death, which took place April 5, 1678. Besides “Medicinal counsels,
” and “A Treatise of the Gout,
” from the
French of Mayerne, he published “A philosophical essay
of the productions of Stones in the earth, with relation to
the causes and cure of stones in the bladder, &c.
” Lond.
Cochlearia curiosa, or the curiosity of Scurvygrass,
” from the Latin of Molinbrochius of Leipsic. Both
these are noticed in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 81,
and No. 125.