Jacob de Castro Sarmento

Jacob (Henrique) de Castro Sarmento was born in Braganza (Portugal) to a New Christian family; his parents were arrested by the Inquisition in 1708. Sarmento studied classics and philosophy at the University of Évora and undertook medical studies in Coimbra, beginning to practice as a physician in 1717. By 1721, he had settled in London, where he established a medical practice and was recognized for his scientific and medical knowledge. Sarmento also helped to establish a Jewish lying-in hospital. However, his relationship with the Jewish community was uneasy and he finally cut ties with it, writing a public letter in 1758 resigning from membership in the synagogue, and converted to the Anglican faith. He wrote sermons, poems, and numerous medical and scientific tractates in Portuguese, Latin, and English. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1730 and was awarded a medical degree by the University of Aberdeen in 1739. Following two marriages to Jewish women, in 1759 he married his longtime Christian partner, with whom he had two sons.