Charles Irving (surgeon)

[5] In 1768, while living in Pall Mall, London, he employed freedman Olaudah Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa) as a hairdresser from February to May.

[8] The following January, while Irving was junior surgeon on HMS Arrogant,[9] he demonstrated his apparatus to the Admiralty at Spithead.

[10] Although Irving's device was very similar to one proposed earlier by James Lind, the latter co-signed a certificate declaring the method to be both new and efficient.

[16] When naturalist Joseph Banks withdrew from the expedition, Irving visited Johann Reinhold Forster on 26 May 1772 and asked him whether he would like to go instead.

[17] During the journey, Forster investigated the efficiency of Irving's apparatus and commented at length in his journals about prior achievements of others, and also made some suggestions for improvement.

[33] After their arrival at Black River, the Morning Star was seized by Spanish guarda costa privateers.

Irving and Blair, having lost £3,723 (equivalent to £633,000 in 2023), petitioned the British government to have the ship returned but failed.

[37][38][35][39][40][35][41] Benjamin Moseley called him "the late Doctor Charles Irving" as early as 1787 and the 1791 Statistical Account of Scotland mentions him in the past tense.

[42][43][3] The website of the "Equiano's World" project at York University, directed by Paul Lovejoy, states "died 1780s".