Dr John White

John White (1759-1821), surgeon, son of Rev. John White (1727-1780) and Barbara nee Freeman (1734-1802). Nephew of the naturalist Rev. Gilbert White of Selborne (1720-1793). His father was chaplain to the Gibraltar garrison; as a result, John lived with his uncle in Selborne for much of his boyhood.

In his will, proved in 1821, he stated: '...I hereby give devise & bequeath all//that my sixth part in a certain plantation Messuages Lands Tenements & Hereditaments in the Island of Monsuratt in the West Indies called Galways Plantation ...with the appurtenances thereto belonging & my sixth part of the Negroes & Stock thereon belonging to my very dear Wife Elizabeth White for her life & for her future disposal...'

He also left £20 to Mr and Mrs Digweed of Chawton, friends and neighbours of Jane Austen. White was consulted on Austen's health during the summer of 1815; Austen refers to the visit in one of her letters: 'I am nursing myself up now into as beautiful a state as I can, because I hear that Dr. White means to call on me before he leaves the country.'

It's not clear how he came by a part share in Galways.

Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen's Letters (Oxford, 2011) pp. 207, 335, 584.

Richard Mabey, Gilbert White: A Biography of the Author of The Natural History of Selborne (Charlottesville, Virginia, 2007) pp. 70, 131-132, 134-135, 189, 204, 217.

PROB 11/1646/108 Will of Doctor John White, Doctor of Medicine of Bath, Somerset.