Biography

Skinner was probably the son of Nicholas Skinner, who was educated at Bishops Stortford and was admitted sizar

Sizar

At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....

 of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 29 May 1646, at the age of sixteen. He proceeded doctor of medicine from St. John's College, Oxford, on 17 July 1672, and is described as sometime of Cambridge University. Skinner practised at Colchester, and is stated to have been "physician to [George Monck] Duke of Albemarle, when residing at New Hall in Essex", He was buried at St. Mary's, Colchester, on 8 Augusst 1679.