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==Biography==
===Childhood and university: 1687–1708===
Stukeley was born on 7 November 1669 at the family home in [[Holbeach]], [[Lincolnshire]],{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=27|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2pp=1, 30}} the eldest child in a family of four boys and one girl;{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=27}} it is possible that he was named after [[William III of England|William of Orange]], who soon after became [[King of England]].{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=31}}
In 1692, at the age of five, Stukeley began an education at Holbeach's Free School, where he learned to read and write.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=27|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=32}} By the age of thirteen, he was the top-rated pupil at his school.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=28|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=32}} As a schoolchild, he began collecting Roman coins after a hoard was found nearby and also developed interests in botany and medicine.{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=32}}
In 1700, he was taken out of school to work in his father's legal business.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=28|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=32}} With his father he travelled south to London on various occasions, where he purchased many books and scientific instruments. He was nevertheless bored by his law activities, and when he requested that he be allowed to study at university, his father agreed.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1pp=28–29|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2pp=32–33}}
He began studying at [[Cambridge University]] in November 1703 as a [[Commoner (academia)|pensioner]] at [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Bene't College]].{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=29|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=33}} Among the classes that he took during his studies were Classics, Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, Divinity, Mathematics and Philosophy.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=29}} In his spare time, he dissected animals and searched for fossils in the gravel pits outside the town;{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=39}} in 1708 he dissected a hanged man.{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=43}} Outside of term time, he travelled to London, there taking anatomy courses with [[George Rolf]] and becoming acquainted with the poet [[John Gay]].{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=40}} In February 1706 his father died, with his uncle passing away three weeks later. He returned home to sort out the family's financial affairs.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=30|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=42}} In 1707, his mother then died, leaving him in charge of his younger siblings; to pay off family debts, he sold off their furniture and let out their Holbeach home.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=30}} He also attracted local attention for dissecting a local who had committed suicide.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|pp=30–31}} In January 1709 he returned to Cambridge to defend his thesis, on the title of "Catamenia pendent a plethora".{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=43}} By this point he was taking a growing interest in architecture, producing careful pen-drawings of medieval buildings.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=31}} He considered embarking on the fashionable [[Grand Tour]] of continental Europe to see the ancient ruins of Greece and Italy, but likely decided against it on financial grounds.{{sfn|Haycock|2002|pp=109–110}}▼
He began studying at [[Cambridge University]] in November 1703 as a [[Commoner (academia)|pensioner]] at [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Benet College]] (now [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus Christi College]]).{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=29|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=33}} Among the classes that he took during his studies were Classics, Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, Divinity, Mathematics and Philosophy.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=29}} In his spare time, he dissected animals and searched for fossils in the gravel pits outside the town; in 1708, he dissected a hanged man.{{sfn|Haycock|2002|pp=39, 43}}
===Medical career: 1709–1716===▼
▲
▲===Medical career: 1709–1716===
[[File:Rollright Stones (part), Oxfordshire - geograph.org.uk - 605684.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Rollright Stones]] in [[Oxfordshire]], which Stukeley visited, describing it as "the greatest Antiquity we have yet seen... a very noble, rustic, sight" which could "strike an odd terror upon the spectators".{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=38}}]]
In August 1709, Stukeley moved to London to further pursue medicine under doctor [[Richard Mead]] at [[St Thomas' Hospital]].{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=32|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2pp=43–44}} In March 1710, he left the city to practise medicine in the countryside, establishing a practice in [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]], Lincolnshire.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=34|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=44}} He took with him a [[Black British people|black]] servant, which would have been a status symbol at the time.
His brother, Adlard, moved in with him, and, in Boston, was [[Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom|apprenticed]] to a local apothecary. From 1710 until 1725, Stukeley embarked on a horseback expedition through the countryside at least once a year, taking notes on the things that he observed.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=32|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=46}} In 1710, for example, he first visited the prehistoric ceremonial complex, the [[Rollright Stones]].{{sfn|Haycock|2002|p=129}} At the time, his interests were not purely antiquarian, for he also took notes on [[landscape gardens]] and other more recent constructions that he encountered.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=37}}
In 1712, Stukeley embarked on an extensive tour of western Britain, taking in [[Wales]] before returning to [[England]] to visit [[Grantham]], [[Derby]], [[Buxton]], [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]] and [[Manchester]]. He later published an account of these travels in Western Britain as ''Iter Cimbricum''.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|pp=38–39}}
Stukeley befriended the antiquary [[Maurice Johnson (antiquary)|Maurice Johnson]] and joined Johnson's [[learned society]], the [[Spalding Gentlemen's Society]], which is still based in [[Spalding, Lincolnshire|Spalding]], Lincolnshire.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=34|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=45}} A 1714 letter indicates that Johnson recommended several books on British history to Stukeley, apparently at the latter's request; the suggested titles included [[Julius Caesar]]'s ''[[De Bello Gallico]]'', [[John Milton]]'s ''[[The History of Britain (Milton)|The History of Britain]]'', [[Robert Brady (writer)|Robert Brady]]'s ''An Introduction to the Old English History'', [[Peter Heylin]]'s ''Help to English History'', and [[Richard Rowlands]]' ''A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities concerning the most noble and renowned English Nation''.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1985|1p=35|2a1=Haycock|2y=2002|2p=110}} Another letter to Johnson, this time from May 1714, reveals that Stukeley was assembling a series of chronological tables of all British kings since [[Brutus of Troy]]; following the medieval historian [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]], Stukeley believed that the legendary Brutus was a real historical figure.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=40}} In September 1716, he wrote an account of [[Richborough Castle]], a Roman [[Saxon Shore]] fort in Kent.{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=34}} That same year, he described having made a model of the Neolithic/Bronze Age stone circle of [[Stonehenge]].{{sfn|Piggott|1985|p=40}}
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