Hans Sloane

Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, was an Anglo-Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Museum, the British Library, and the Natural History Museum, London. He was elected to the Royal Society at the age of 24. Sloane travelled to the Caribbean in 1687 and documented his travels and findings with extensive publications years later. Sloane was a renowned medical doctor among the aristocracy, and was elected to the Royal College of Physicians at age 27. Though he is credited with the invention of chocolate milk, it is more likely that he learned the practice of adding milk to drinking chocolate while living and working in Jamaica. Streets and places were later named after him, including Hans Place, Hans Crescent, and Sloane Square in and around Chelsea, London – the area of his final residence – and also Sir Hans Sloane Square in Killyleagh, his birthplace in Ulster.

16 April 1660

Born on the same birth day (16 April): Christijan Albers • George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan • Joan Bakewell • Margreth Olin • Mike Zuke • Nate Diaz • Osman Achmatowicz • R. E. Foster • Sir James Corry, 1st Baronet • Spike Milligan

Born in the same month (April 1660): Johann Kuhnau