Charles Balguy

Charles Balguy
Charles' birthplace - now under the Derwent Dam
Born	1708[1] Derwent, Derbyshire
Died	1767[1] Peterborough
Education	Chesterfield Grammar School and St. John's College, Cambridge
Occupation	Physician
Parents	Henry Balguy[2]

Dr. Charles Balguy (1708 – 28 February 1767) was an English physician and translator.

Balguy was born at Derwent Hall, Derbyshire, and was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.B. in 1731, and M.D. in 1750.^[3] He practised at Peterborough, and was secretary of the literary club there. He contributed to the ' Philosophical Transactions ^[4], and in 1741 he published, anonymously, a translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. This was the best translation in English at the time and was reprinted several times. He wrote some medical essays, and particularly a treatise

• De Morbo Miliari ' (Lond. 1758)
• The Decameron, Or, Ten Days' Entertainment, of Boccaccio By Giovanni Boccaccio, Charles Balguy
• An Account of the Dead Bodies of a Man and Woman, Which Were Preserved 49 Years in the Moors in Derbyshire; ^[5]

He died at Peterborough and was buried in the chancel of St. John's Church, where there is a marble monument to his memory, describing him as ' a man of various and great learning.' The statement that he translated the ' Decameron ' is recorded by his school friend, Dr. Samuel Pegge, in the College of Arms, who expressly mentions the fact.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b}  "Balguy, Charles". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
2. ^ Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society By Derbyshire Archaeological Society, 1960 accessed 23 November 2007
3. ^ Charles Balguy in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
4. ^ Philosophical Transactions (No. 434, p. 1413)
5. ^ Part of a Letter from Dr. Charles Balguy of Peterborough, to Cromwell Mortimer, M. D. R. S. Sec. Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Volume 38, pp. 413-415
6. ^ [Pegge's Collections in the College of Arms, vol. vi. ; Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, vi. 11 ; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vi. 4, 74, 122.]

Persondata
Name	Balguy, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1708
Place of birth	Derwent, Derbyshire
Date of death	28 February 1767
Place of death	Peterborough