Brocklesby, Richard (1722–1797)

English physician. As physician to the army he served in Germany during the Seven Years War (1756–63). In 1764 he published Oeconomical and Medical Observations...tending to the Improvement of Military Hospitals, considered the best book of the century on military sanitation. He settled in practice in London, England, and attained a considerable reputation. He was the physician and friend of Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, and John Wilkes.

Brocklesby was born in Minehead, Somerset, England. He received his medical education at Edinburgh, Leiden, Dublin, and Cambridge universities, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1756.