Valentine Greatrakes

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Valentine Greatrakes (14 February 1628 - 28 November 1683), also known as 'Greatorex' or 'The Stroker', was an Irish faith healer who toured England in 1666, claiming to cure people by the laying on of hands.

1 Biography
2 Bibliography
3 In fiction
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Biography

He was born in Affane, County Waterford, Ireland. He was a farmer who served in Cromwell's army and was also registrar for transplantation. In 1662 he claimed he could cure the king's evil (scrofula) by 'stroking' or touching, but failed in a demonstration before Charles II. He resumed farming in 1668 on £1,000 a year.^[1] In 1670 Greatrakes was endorsed by the noted scientist, Robert Boyle, President of the Royal Society of London.

One of his more notable failures to cure was Anne Finch.

[edit] Bibliography

A Brief Account of Mr. Valentine Greatrakes and Divers of the Strange Cures by him lately performed. Written by himself in a letter Addressed to the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. 1666
Leonard Pitt, A Small Moment of Great Illumination: Searching for Valentine Greatrakes, The Master Healer, Shoemaker & Hoard, Emeryville, CA, 2006. ISBN 1-59376-126-0

[edit] In fiction

Greatrakes was mentioned briefly in Susannah Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. (pp 211)
A play by Jim Nolan on Valentine Greatrakes played at the Finborough Theatre, London, in March 2006.
An important character in William Carleton's The Evil Eye or, The Black Spectre.
Greatrakes (using the alternate spelling "Greatorex") features prominently in Iain Pears's "An Instance of the Fingerpost".