Greatakes.

Greatakes. VALENTINE (sometimes called Greatorex and Greatarick), the 'touch doctor,' was born at Affane, near Lismore, in County Waterford, 14th February 1629. During the troubles of the Rebellion his mother fled in 1641 to England, and settled in Devonshire. From 1649 till 1656 he served as an officer in the Parliamentary army, and from 1656 till the Restoration he acted as a magistrate in his native place. About 1661 he began 'touching' for the King's evil, in obedience, he said, to a divine impulse, and ere long he touched or 'stroked' for ague and for all manner of disease. He was summoned to the king at Whitehall; multitudes flocked to him, and his cures were witnessed and attested by men so eminent as Robert Boyle, Ralph Cudworth, and Henry More. This predecessor of Mesmer did not profess to be always successful; but his claims provoked much controversy, and in 1666 he published in his own defence his Brief Account of himself and his cures. He died at Affane, 28th November 1683.