“The Poor Crocus Pluckt Up by the Root”: Writing the Self and Social Negotiation: The Case of James Rymer, Royal Navy Surgeon (1750–1829)

In this article, I explore how naval surgeons—poorly regarded within the medical hierarchy yet innovative, resourceful, and often socially mobile—used autobiographical narratives to assert authority and reshape their public image. My main source is the unusual 1779 pamphlet Transplantation: or The Poor Crocus Pluckt Up by the Root, in which Royal Navy surgeon James Rymer contests his forced transfer to another ship. Rymer deploys self-writing to defend his professional competence—recasting himself as a virtuous, enlightened, gentleman-practitioner—and to reposition himself within a competitive medical world that routinely marginalized naval surgeons. Rymer also draws on contemporary literary models, particularly Laurence Sterne, reflected in the pamphlet's digressive structure, its blend of irony and sentimentality, and the playfulness of its narrative voice. Rymer's case offers a striking example of how naval surgeons used literary experimentation to contest established hierarchies and negotiate new identities in the Enlightenment.