Lionel Lockyer
Quick Facts
Biography
Lionel Lockyer (c.1600 – 26 April 1672) was a 17th-century quack doctor who was famous in his time for his miracle pills that he claimed included sunbeams as ingredients. He was born in the Southwark area of London. He has a tomb in Southwark Cathedral. The epitaph reads:
Here Lockyer: lies interr'd enough: his name
Speakes one hath few competitors in fame:
A name soe Great, soe Generall't may scorne
Inscriptions whch doe vulgar tombs adorne.
A diminution 'tis to write in verse
His eulogies whch most mens mouths rehearse.
His virtues & his PILLS are soe well known..
That envy can't confine them vnder stone.
But they'll surviue his dust and not expire
Till all things else at th'universall fire.
This verse is lost, his PILL Embalmes him safe
To future times without an Epitaph
^ Lionel Lockyer on Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine
^ http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=577
^ http://www.southwark.anglican.org/cathedral/tour/lockyer.htm