Life

He was the younger brother of John Barwick

John Barwick

John Barwick was an English royalist churchman and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral.-Early life:He was born at Witherslack, in Westmorland. John was the third of five sons, and he and his brother Peter Barwick were the ones given an education. After time at local grammar schools John was sent to...

, and like him was educated at Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...

, and St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, where he was a foundation scholar. He was appointed by Bishop Matthew Wren

Matthew Wren

"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...

 to the fellowship at St John's, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely

Bishop of Ely

The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...

, but could not be admitted because of the troubled times. He was driven from Cambridge by the First English Civil War

First English Civil War

The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...

.

Barwick became tutor to Ferdinando Sacheverell, of Old Hayes in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

. He returned to Cambridge in 1647 to take his M.A. degree, and studied omedicine. In 1651 he was at Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

, meeting with Charles II of England

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, and receiving tokens of his favour; and like his brother he was a royalist supporter. In 1655 he received his M.D. degree, and in 1657 took a house in St. Paul's Churchyard. Here he was joined by his brother John, who daily read the proscribed service of the Church of England in the presence of a few royalists. About this time Peter married a Mrs. Sayon, a merchant's widow and a kinswoman of Archbishop William Laud

William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

. He was elected fellow of the College of Physicians 26 June 1655.

At the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 he was made one of the king's physicians in ordinary, and was known in his profession particularly for his treatment of smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 and all sorts of fevers. In 1661, Gilbert Sheldon

Gilbert Sheldon

Gilbert Sheldon was an English Archbishop of Canterbury.-Early life:He was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 July 1598, the youngest son of Roger Sheldon; his father worked for Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford; he...

, bishop of London, and the other bishops, deans, and archdeacons, met at his house, and proceeded to St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...

 to open the first session of convocation for the revising of the Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...

. When the Great Plague of London

Great Plague of London

The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...

 broke out in 1665, he was one of the few physicians who stayed; and he is mentioned by Nathaniel Hodges

Nathaniel Hodges

Nathaniel Hodges M.D. was an English physician, known for his work during the Great Plague of London and his written account Loimologia of it.-Early life:...

 in his account of the plague Loimologia

Loimologia

Loimologia, or, an historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665, With precautionary Directions against the like Contagion is a treatise by Dr...

for his services in London, while attending the daily service at the cathedral and working with the clergy there.

Though the plague could not drive him from his home, the Great Fire of London

Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...

 did in 1666: his house was burned down with St Paul's, and he moved to the neighbourhood of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

. Here he lived for many years, on good terms with his neighbour Richard Busby

Richard Busby

The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...

, doing charity work and writing. He was censor of the College of Physicians in 1674, 1684, 1687, and ‘elect’ from 26 March 1685 to 6 November 1691. In 1694 his eyesight entirely failed him, and he gave up his practice; but he lived on for eleven years and died 4 September 1705.

Works

He supported William Harvey

William Harvey

William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...

's discovery of the circulation of the blood, and he is said to have written one of the best contemporary treatises on the subject. Barwick is now remembered for his life of his brother John, the dean. He began it in 1671, writing it in Latin, chiefly, it is said, for the sake of inserting the Latin disputation which his brother wrote for his D.D. degree. To the ‘Life’ he added an appendix vindicating the royal authorship of Eikon Basilike

Eikon Basilike

The Eikon Basilike , The Pourtrature of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings, was a purported spiritual autobiography attributed to King Charles I of England...

. The ‘Vita Joannis Barwick’ was published in 1721 by Hilkiah Bedford

Hilkiah Bedford

Hilkiah Bedford was an English clergyman, a nonjuror and writer, imprisoned as the author of a book really by George Harbin.-Life:He was born in Hosier Lane, near West Smithfield, London, where his father was a mathematical instrument maker...

, who also wrote an English translation of the work published in 1724, with notes. The manuscript of the life, with papers used in it, was deposited in the library of St John's College, Cambridge.