Author: Ring, John
Biography:
RING, John (1752-1821: ODNB)
John Ring was the second child and eldest son of Richard Ring and his wife, Mary, of Wincanton, Somerset. He was received into the Church of England (not baptized) at St Peter and St Paul, Wincanton, on 21 Aug. 1752; he was baptized there on 16 Aug. 1782. He gained his early education at Winchester School, from 1765 to 1768. He then attended the London medical lectures of Percivall Pott, John Hunter, and William Hunter. The Surgeon Company granted him its diploma on 1 Sept 1774. Soon thereafter he opened a practice in London, in Swallow Street, and was employed as surgeon at St Thomas’s Hospital. A passionate advocate of vaccination, he worked closely with Edward Jenner. He was a member of the Royal Jennerian Society and in 1816 published a polemic against “Vaccine Swindlers and Imposters” (1816). Jenner attempted, but failed, to have him appointed principal vaccinator and inspector of stations for the government-sanctioned National Vaccine Establishment. In 1804, John Murray published his A Translation of Anstey’s Ode to Jenner: To Which is Added, A Compendium of Vaccination. In 1806, he published another polemic, this time against literary critics, The Beauties of the “Edinburgh Review”, alias the Stinkpot of Literature.” A contributor to CR wrote, “The haut-gout of the above title so powerfully affected our nose that we instantly laid down the book in order to get rid of the smell.” His translation of Virgil, published by Longman in 1820, received positive reviews. Hitherto unnoticed is his marriage to widow Ann Beamon, 23 May 1812, St George, Hanover Square. In the preface to his The Commemoration of Handel, he mentions a witness to the marriage, Ann’s brother the Rev. Edward Eastcott. She married her first husband, London linen draper Thomas Beamon (d 1811), in 1801. In her will (probated 7 May 1850), she refers to her first husband by name and identifies her second husband by name and profession. Their only child, Ann Harriett (1814-1891), married Edward Edwardes in 1836. Ring died age 69 on 7 Dec. 1821 at his house, 75 New Street, Hanover Square. He was buried five days later at St George’s, Hanover Square. He should not be confused with his surgeon nephew, John Ring junior. (ODNB 12 Feb. 2024; ancestry.com 12 Feb. 2024; PROB 11/1657; PROB 11/2113; CR 11 [1806], 446; Boyle’s Court and Country Guide [1817], 92) JC