Life

Barker was educated at St. Thomas's Hospital, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...

, where he graduated B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1731, M.A. and B.M. in 1737, and D.M. in 1743. He practised medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 in Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

 for nearly ten years. In 1746, he was admitted a member of the College of Physicians, and, moving to London, became in that year physician to the Westminster Hospital

Westminster Hospital

Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded....

. In the following year he resigned this post on being appointed physician to his majesty's army in the Low Countries. He did not long survive his promotion, and was buried in St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen's Church

- Australia :* St. Stephen's Church, Penrith, New South Wales* St. Stephen's Uniting Church, Sydney, New South Wales* , Wynyard, Tasmania- Canada:* St. Stephen's Church, St. Stephen, New Brunswick* , Saanichton, BC-England:...

, Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, where there is a tablet to his memory.

Works

While at Salisbury he published in 1742 ‘An Inquiry into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Epidemic Fever of that and the two preceding years.’ In this treatise he objected to bleeding as a part of the treatment, and was consequently attacked by another Salisbury physician, a Mr. Hele, in a local newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

. Barker replied in a pamphlet

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

entitled ‘A Defence of a late Treatise &c.,’ 1743. He also published in 1748 in an octavo volume ‘An Essay on the Agreement between Ancient and Modern Physicians, or a Comparison between the Practice of Hippocrates, Galen, Sydenham, and Boerhaave.’