Intended to be the first in a series of short publications dealing with alchemy and the alchemists this is the biography of Thomas Charnock (1524,6 - 1581). At an early age he was left destitute by the machinations of his uncle who none-the-less awoke his interest by leaving him a library of alchemical books. He lived in relative poverty, his hopes of gaining the Philosopher's Stone constantly frustrated and, despite an ill-fated attempt to gain royal recognition, died in obscurity in a Somerset backwater.