Richard Mead (1673–1754) was the son of a nonconformist minister. He became a famous physician after the publication of his paper 'Mechanical Account of Poisons', and he ran a very popular and prosperous practice, earning between £6,000–£7,000 a year. He became a fellow of the Royal Society and worked as physician to St Thomas’s Hospital, London. When George II became King, Mead worked as his physician-in-ordinary. Mead was a keen collector and owned thousands of books, medals, statues and other miscellany, which he allowed the public to view in his house on Great Ormond Street. He was also in correspondence with all the principal literary men of Europe, and it was Mead who persuaded the wealthy citizen Thomas Guy to bequeath his fortune to found the hospital which bears his name.