this occasion with an apology, but it was deemed insufficient. He then demanded (2 Feb. 1749–50) his examination as a right, on the ground that he was a doctor of medicine of Cambridge University. The examination was allowed, and his fitness for the profession was established; but at the Comitia majora next ensuing his admission to the college was negatived by fifteen votes to two, and the interdict on his practice remained in force. He was naturalised in 1750, and made repeated applications for admission to the college, but they were all refused.
Dr. Battie was one of Schomberg's principal opponents at the college, and was consequently satirised in the ‘Battiad,’ which is said to have been the joint composition of Moses Mendez, Paul Whitehead, and Schomberg. Two cantos were published (London, 1750), and reprinted in Isaac Reed's ‘Repository’ (i. 233–46).
Schomberg's next step was to appeal for justice to the visitors of the college, and the case came before the lord chancellor and others on 29 Nov. 1751. After several hearings it was determined on 25 July 1753, when the court decided that it had no jurisdiction in the matter. He then applied for examination by the college as a favour; but, on account of the heavy expense of the protracted litigation, the application was refused. On 23 Dec. 1765 he was admitted a licentiate, and as his conduct in the profession had proved satisfactory, and many of his strongest opponents were dead, he was admitted a fellow on 30 Sept. 1771. In 1773 and 1778 he was a censor at the college.
Schomberg gained an influential position among the physicians of London. His acumen and his generosity of character won him many friends, and a short poem by Samuel Bishop on his death lauds his ‘warm benignity of soul’ (BISHOP, Poems, ii. 149).
He was called in, after several other doctors had been in attendance, at the last illness of Garrick, when the patient, rousing himself from his lethargy, shook the doctor by the hand and exclaimed ‘Though last not least in love’ (Knight, Garrick, p. 289). Hogarth used to give him first impressions of all his engravings, and he was a legatee in Hogarth's will. He died, unmarried, at Conduit Street, London, on 4 March 1780, and was buried at St. George's, Hanover Square, London. His portrait, by Hudson, was engraved by Sherlock.
[Gent. Mag. 1751 p. 569, 1753 p. 342, 1780 p. 154; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, iii. 26–27, iv. 606, ix. 135; Munk's Coll. of Phys. (2nd edit.) ii. 81–2, 295–7; Robinson's Merchant Taylors' School Reg. ii. 67; Minutes of Proceedings of College of Physicians, 1747–53; Cushing's Anonyms; information from Mr. Arthur Schomberg of Seend, Melksham.]
SCHOMBERG, ISAAC (1753–1813), captain in the navy, naval commissioner, and author, eldest surviving son of Raphael or Ralph Schomberg [q. v.], was born at Great Yarmouth on 27 March 1753, and baptised on 8 April 1753. Isaac Schomberg (1714–1780) [q. v.] and Sir Alexander Schomberg [q. v.] were his uncles. He entered the navy in 1770 on board the Royal Charlotte yacht with Sir Peter Denis [q. v.] He was afterwards for a few months in the Prudent, with his uncle Alexander; for three years in the Trident, flagship of Sir Peter Denis, in the Mediterranean, and for nearly two years in the Romney, flagship of Vice-admiral John Montagu [q. v.] at Newfoundland. He passed his examination on 21 Nov. 1776, and on 21 Aug. 1777 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Next year he was commanding the Labrador schooner on the Newfoundland station, and in February 1779 joined the Canada, at first with Captain Dalrymple, and afterwards with Sir George Collier [q. v.], at the relief of Gibraltar by Darby, and at the capture of the Spanish frigate Leocadia. In the summer of 1781 Collier was superseded by Captain (afterwards Sir William) Cornwallis [q. v.], under whom the Canada went out to North America, and thence with Hood to the West Indies, where she had a distinguished part in the operations at St. Kitt's and in the battle of Dominica. Schomberg at this time was her first lieutenant, and so he remained during her dangerous passage to England, and till she paid off.
On 10 April 1786 the Pegasus frigate was commissioned by Prince William [see William IV], and Schomberg was appointed first lieutenant. Schomberg understood that, as an old and experienced officer, he was to act as the prince's ‘dry nurse.’ The prince, however, had a strong idea of being his own captain, and the difference of opinion led to disagreement. When the ship arrived in the West Indies, the prince gave orders as to the discipline of the ship, which Schomberg conceived himself authorised to waive, and when the prince reprimanded him for what he termed disobedience and neglect of duty, Schomberg applied for a court-martial, 23 Jan. 1787. Nelson, to whom, as senior officer on the station, his letter was addressed, replied by placing him under arrest, and acquainting him that a court-martial should be ordered as soon as possible. But no court-martial could be assembled; and
