page_title: Thomas Phaer
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Phaer / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial to Thomas Phaer of Cilgerran This memorial in the church is a modern one that commemorates an important C16 resident of the village, the first writer in English to publish a book on paediatrics, "The Boke of Chyldren", in 1545. See http://www.neonatology.org/classics/phaire/index.html Thomas Phaer, as well as practising medicine, was a lawyer, a translator of Virgil's Aeneid and MP for Cardigan from 1555 to 1559. He lived at Fforest in Cilgerran, where he was constable of the castle, and died there leaving 3 daughters. He was described by the C16 local historian George Owen as "a man honoured for his learninge, commended for his governmente,and beloved for his pleasante natural conceiptes; he chose Pembrokeshire for his earthly place, where he lived worshipfully, and ended his days to the greaffe of all good men at the Forest of Cilgerran."
context_page_description: Thomas Phaer was an English lawyer, pediatrician, and author. He is best known as the author of The Boke of Chyldren, published in 1545, which was the first book on pediatrics written in the English language.
context_section_description: It is thought that Phaer was born in Norwich. His father, also Thomas, was of Flemish descent. Phaer was educated at Oxford University. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and became Solicitor in the Court of the Welsh Marches; on his appointment he settled at the Welsh town of Cilgerran near Cardigan, where he lived until he died.
  He was Member of Parliament for Carmarthen Boroughs in 1547 and for Cardigan for (1555–1559).
  He applied to Oxford University for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in February 1558, stating that he practised for twenty years. He was granted his Bachelor's, and then a Doctorate of Medicine, later that year.
  Phaer died in Cilgerran, leaving his wife, Ann, and three daughters, Eleanor, Mary, and Elizabeth. He was buried in the local parish church. He is commemorated as one of the supporters in the coat of arms of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The other supporter is June Lloyd.
caption: Memorial to Thomas Phaer of Cilgerran at the Church of St Llawddog, Cilgerran
exif: {}