Charles Lucas

This half-length portrait shows Lucas dressed in a wig, black robe and bands (a type of formal neckware associated with clergy, lawyers and academics) and holding his doctoral thesis. The latter is lettered "Dissertatio medica inauguralis de Gangren[a] et sphacelo..." ("An inaugural dissertation on gangrene and sphacelus..."] and was presented to the University of Leiden in 1752.

Lucas was an Irish apothecary, physician and reformer who represented Dublin City in Parliament. His radical views forced him to leave Ireland in 1749 and earned him the nickname, the "Irish Wilkes," a reference to English radical journalist and politician John Wilkes (1725-1797). Lucas was forced to move abroad for several years, using this time to earn a medical degree at Leiden and to investigate the mineral composition of waters at well known spas. After returning to England in 1753 he published "An Essay on Waters. In three Parts," which was favorably reviewed by Dr. Johnson but not accepted by the medical establishment at Bath. The text earned Lucas a high reputation and helped gain him admittance to the College of Physicians of London in 1759, after which he established a successful medical practice.