John Higgins of Montoge

Who is John Higgins of Montoge?

Sir John Higgins of Montoge was a descendent of the O'Higgins of Montiagh an Irish noble family who lost their lands in Sligo under the English Crown about 1649. His parents were a Dr. Patrick Higgins of Limerick City and his wife Mary Loftus of Annacotty. He was born in 1678, but after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 he left Ireland to live in exile with his family at the Court of James II at St. Germaine in France. In 1700, he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Montpellier and then undertook further studies in Paris and Holland. In 1703, he went to Spain where he served in action as medical officer to the combined French and Spanish forces.

In 1712, he married the daughter of John Baptiste de Courtiade, the town doctor of Bayonne. In 1714, Higgins worked unsparingly for the relief of the soldiers in the Siege of Barcelona. In 1717, he received the highest medical post in Spain, the office of Proto-médico de Camera. The following year he was elected President of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Seville.