George SEWELL [19589]

  General Notes:

George Sewell was born in 1687 at Windsor and was the eldest son of John Sewell, treasurer and chapter clerk to the Dean and Canons of Windsor.
According to the Dictionary of National Biography they were descended from the ancient family of Sewell's of Great Henny, Essex. George attended Eton College from 1698 to 1705, and was admitted to Kings School Eton on the 7th August 1699 age 12. On the 25th June 1706 he was admitted as a sizar at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. A sizar is a student at Cambridge or Trinity College Dublin, paying reduced fees and formerly having certain menial duties. George was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1709/10. He then went to Leyden University, in the Netherlands to study medicine; later he was awarded a Medical Doctorate at Edinburgh in 1725 July.
His medical practice in London was rather unsuccessful, he had a little more success when he moved to Hampstead, until three other physicians came to the same place and ruined his practice. George then became a booksellers hack, and published numerous poems, translations, and political and other pamphlets. He was a prolific writer and his best-known literature production, was the 'Tragedy of Sir Walter Raleigh' which was produced at a theatre in Lincolns Inn. He also attached himself to the cause of Prime Minister Robert Walpole. George died of consumption at Hampstead on 8th February 1726 and was accorded a pauper's funeral on the 12th February 1726.
Ref: Diana Kennedy Sole Soc. http://www.sole.org.uk/eton.htm