Thomas Nurse

Physician Thomas Nurse was buried in the east cloister of Westminster Abbey on 12th June 1667, near the steps leading into the church. His gravestone has now worn away but the inscription was recorded as:

Here lies Thomas Nurse, M.D. Spectator, so judge of this spectacle, as you expect to be judged. Go your way and reflect. He died A.D. 1667 12 of June aged 69. Our Father is dead, nor was he in the sedition of Corah, which was fitted up against the Lord. Numbers xxvii.3 When Dathan and Abiran rebelled against the Lord. Chap.xxvi.9.

He came from Leicestershire and was educated at Oxford and became M.D. in 1641 and a member of the Royal College of Physicians. Thomas had a large medical practice in the city of Westminster. His wife Susan and son Walter proved his will and he left other children. Lands in Oatby in Leicester were bequeathed and he had his tombstone made in his lifetime, choosing the epitaph.