Sloane, Hans, Sir, Baronet, of Chelsea (1660 -1753)

Sir Hans Sloane was the seventh son of Alexander Sloane, Receiver General of Taxes, and Sarah, daughter of the Reverend Doctor Hicks, Chaplain to Archbishop Laud. He studied physic at Paris and Montpelier, and took his Doctorate in Medicine at the University of Orange in July 1683. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society 21 January 1685, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians 12 April 1687, and went to the West Indies as physician to the Duke of Albermarle in 1687, returning in 1689 with 800 species of plants that he had collected. On his return he set up in general practice in Bloomsbury Square. On 30 November 1693 he became Secretary to the Royal Society, an office he held until 1712. He married, in 1695, Elizabeth, daughter of John Langley, Alderman of London, and widow of Fulk Rose of Jamaica. Sloane was Physician in chief to George I, created M.D. by Oxford University in 1701, a Baronet 3 April 1716, President of the College of Physicians in 1719, and on the death of Sir Isaac Newton, President of the Royal Society in 1727, a post he held until 1744. He bequeathed his natural history collections, antiquities, manuscripts and printed books to the nation, on condition of a payment of £20,000 to his family. The offer was accepted and they form part of the foundation collections of the British Museum. The stamp was made for the British Library to mark Sloane MSS that have been rebound.

Stamp(s) Stamp Information
Sloane, Hans, Sir, Baronet, of Chelsea (1660 - 1753) (Stamp 1) Title: Sloane, Hans, Sir, Baronet, of Chelsea (1660 - 1753) (Stamp 1)
Arms: A sword in pale point downwards between two boars heads couped at the shoulder on a chief ermine a lion passant between two mascles on a canton the hand of Ulster
Dimensions (height x width): 76mm x 61mm
Heraldic Charges: boars heads (2), Heraldic Charges: chief, on a, Heraldic Charges: hand of Ulster, Heraldic Charges: lion passant gardant, Heraldic Charges: mascles (2), Heraldic Charges: sword