Edward Stone (The Aspirin Man)

click Stone for other members in this family

INTRODUCTION by Joan West

The earliest clue our local history group had was when Dennis Claydon discovered a marriage in 1616 of a couple living in Lacey Green.   It was their great grandson, Edward, who was to become known as 'The Aspirin Man'.   Although born at what must have been a farmhouse, for the village of Lacey Green had not yet been developed, Thomas married well and left the area.   By 1863 the house had been enlarged enough to be called a ‘Mansion’, known as 'Grymsdyke'.

Edward Stone born 1702 was the son of Edward Stone and Elizabeth, nee Reynolds of Monks Risborough at a property at Lacey Green later known as 'Grymsdyke'. Edwards mother died in 1702/3. His father remarried.

Edward became a cleric and by 1730 was a Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. He married Elizabeth Grubb in 1741 thus having, as required, to resign his fellowship of Wadham College. He was Rector of Horsenden. He later lived at Chipping Norton.

On his house in Chipping Norton there is a Blue Plaque on his house commemorating his work identifying salicylic acid in willow, which was to became the main ingredient of Aspirin. He wrote an account of his discovery in 1763 which was presented to the Royal Society in London.

On July 1731 Mortgage. Mr Edward Stone to John Darvill of Darvills Hill for £100. see Darvills Hill Farm Deeds, modern parlance

Land in Lacey Green and Loosley Row.

In Lacey Green he leased from the Manor of Princes Risborough a close (field) called 'Wades Grove' containing 8 acres. Also two closes of arable land - 'Lower Close' adjoining Smallridge Wood and 'Crooks' containing 5 acres. These he bequeathed to his son, Edward Stone born 1743.

Edward Stone born 1743 married Sarah Witts, Oxon, born 1745. Edward became the Reverend Edward Stone. He was a Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford for 35 years, Perpetual Curate of Princes Risborough for 42 years and Rector of Horsenden. The three closes inherited from his father he left to his daughter Sarah Lillie Stone born circa 1769.

Sarah Lillie Stone born married at Bradenham in1787 with Charles Shard of Winkfield, Berks.

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Research by Dennis Claydon

Revd. Edward Stone 'The Aspirin Man'

For two and a half centuries the Stone family quietly prospered as yeoman in Lacey Green, due largely to careful husbandry and a series of wise marriages. The birth of a son, Edward, born to Edward and Elizabeth Stone on the 5" November 1702, therefore occasioned much rejoicing.

Edward’s Mother sadly died while he was still an infant, but his Father remarried, a daughter of John Grubb, Lord of the Manor of Princes Risborough. In 1716 Edward Senior purchased the Manor of Owlswick, in the Parish of Monks Risborough and thereafter styled himself ‘‘Gent’’. By this time the family were living in Princes Risborough.

Young Edward was intelligent, and in 1720 entered Wadham College, Oxford, graduating Master of Arts in 1727. He became ordained, serving a curacy at Saunderton. Returning to Wadham as a Fellow in 1730, he filled, in rotation, most of the College’s posts. In 1738 he was appointed Rector of Horsenden, a Living which he retained for the rest of his life.

He married, resigned his Fellowship in 1741, and was inducted as Rector of Drayton, near Banbury. He built a house for himself overlooking Chipping Norton, where he lived with his son after the death of his wife in 1751. He became active in local affairs as a Justice of the Peace. He died in 1768 and at his own request was buried at Horsenden.

For many years Edward Stone suffered from intermittent fevers, for which he sought relief in herbal remedies. He believed that the remedy for his disorder would be found in proximity to its cause; if his fevers were induced by damp, then the cure would be found nearby. He experimented with the powdered dried bark of the willow tree and discovered that this produced dramatic results. In 1763 he wrote an account of his discovery, which was later published. Little notice of this publication was taken at the time, but in fact, Edward Stone had stumbled upon salicylic acid, the basis of our modern aspirin. We now recognise that the boy born in Lacey Green had set up a major landmark in medical history.