Richard Hale (1670–1728) was educated at Oxford University. After graduation he stayed in Oxford to practise medicine, but was forced to move to London because his reputation had begun ‘to sink upon account of his using opiat[e]s too much’. Despite this, Hale had a very successful career in London. He was physician at Bridewell and Bethlem, and St Bartholomew’s hospitals. At Bethlem he erected wards especially for ‘incurable lunatics’, where he established the practise of sedating patients with medication rather than with chains or bars. Hale was wealthy when he died, owning many houses and country estates. In his will he left £500 to the library of the Royal College of Physicians, where he held several offices, and £500 to the incurables of Bethlem Hospital.