Gilbert Primrose

Gilbert Primrose (c.1535 -18 April 1616) was a Scottish surgeon who became Surgeon to King James VI of Scots and moved with the court to London as Serjeant-Surgeon to King James VI and I on the Union of the Crowns. He was Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh on three occasions. Early life and education Gilbert Primrose was born c.1540, at Culross, Fife, Scotland. He was the son of Duncan Primrose and Helen Smyth, whose niece, Euphan Primrose, married Sir George Bruce, from whom the Earls of Rosebery are descended. On 6 June 1558 he was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh as apprentice to Robert Henrysoun, one of the founder members of the Incorporation. Career In 1558 Scotland was threatened by an invasion from "", the Edinburgh craft guilds were required to list those men who could be mustered in the event of an attack and Primrose was included. In September 1575 Regent Morton sent him to Coldingham to mend the broken leg of the messenger Ninian Cockburn. In March 1580 Primrose was one of a number of Edinburgh surgeons who examined and treated Robert Aslowane, the victim of an assault by James Douglas of Parkhead and his accomplices. When the surgeons declared that Aslowane was likely to recover, the burgh council released Parkhead and his followers.