This article is based on V. Tochinov’s book Island without Treasures. This investigation may not be relevant to Stevenson’s intended meaning, but it is interesting to read. There may also be historical inaccuracies.

Spoiler: At that moment in Britain, there was a Jacobite uprising under the leadership of Charles Stuart. Livesey is his trusted person and scout. Under the guise of a rural doctor, he can move around all the areas around Bristol without arousing suspicion and meet people from different classes and ranks. Therefore, Trelawney accepts him as his own, and this “doctor” has incredible skills – a shooter, a fencer, a gentleman, and a capable commander.

As we remember, Dr. Livesey is a guy of many talents, a magnificent fencer, an excellent shooter, an opponent of John Silver, and generally a nice fellow. Stevenson’s narrative has several layers, all logical and understandable to his contemporaries, but for us, they pass by, as it’s been 300 years now. Let’s look at Dr. Livesey:

1. Gentleman
   • By many signs, Livesey belongs to the “gentry”—that is, the untitled minor nobility: He has aristocratic manners, holds a judge’s position, and is on familiar terms with the wealthy landowner Trelawney. Finally, he visits his patients on horseback—something commoners were not entitled to; a plebeian doctor would, at best, travel in a cart.
   • Strangely, Livesey works as a doctor, i.e., he treats people for money. For the gentry of that time, this was unacceptable. English nobles of the eighteenth century chose military, judicial, or spiritual careers… The profession of a medic was not respected among them. As a hobby, as a passion – why not? A rural noble as a healer is unaware of the era’s realities.
   • Later, in Victorian times, the situation would change: the doctor’s profession would gain honor and respect, and people with academic degrees would be considered gentry. Another character from Stevenson’s work – Dr. Jekyll – has high social status. Still, during the reign of the first three Georges, a doctor was something between a barber and a farrier.
2. Military
   • Livesey has excellent military training:
     • He fences excellently (he is trusted with the most dangerous section in the fight for the blockhouse without question).
     • He shoots magnificently (only the hunter Trelawney shoots better than him).
     • He commands confidently and quickly and accurately assesses the situation on land (Smollett handed over command to him and volunteered to load the guns because he was useless on land. A wise move from a man who soberly assesses himself).
   • And the doctor himself says that he is not unaccustomed to violent death; he served under the Duke of Cumberland and was wounded myself at Fontenoy.
   • But doctors of those times did not fight; they were far in the rear and worked in field hospitals. For context, the first evacuation of the wounded during battle – “Flying Ambulances” – appeared in Napoleon’s army in 1792. Triage and work on the battlefield (the closest to the battlefield being a sorting point, a hospital for the lightly wounded further away, and one for the severely injured far away) was invented by Pirogov during the Crimean War of 1853. Back then, white people fought each other gentlemanly and did not shoot doctors under any circumstances, nor were they considered soldiers. Doctors had no need to fence or shoot, so the chances of a real doctor getting wounded in battle were one in a million.
3. Doctor
   • But is he really a doctor?
     • The reader will tell me, “He’s definitely a doctor. He carries a doctor’s bag with medical instruments and treats patients.”
   • As I’ve already said, the path of a doctor was not one that nobles took.
   • Improbably, might he be a doctor by vocation?
     • He got wounded and decided to become a medic against all odds. For context, this is like, in our time, the son of a very wealthy parent left a top manager position to become a rural doctor in a backwater village. It happens, but more often in fairy tales…
   • However, let’s check – vocation!
     • Vocation is a driving force, a style of behavior. Let’s see how the “doctor” behaved during the encounter with pirates while moving to the blockhouse. Livesey’s direct speech:
   • A shot from the bushes, the doctor’s companion falls. What does the “doctor” do?
     • He reloads his gun! He does not rush to the wounded, which a doctor by vocation would do. He reloads his gun. Moreover, he’s loading an 18th-century musket, which takes time, while at his feet lies someone in urgent need of help.
   • This is not the action of a medic but of a soldier! It’s habit, ingrained in the subconscious!
     • Doctors will take care of the fallen, but a soldier must guard against another attack.
     • The ones who rushed to the fallen were those more empathetic – Captain Smollett and Gray.
   • No, there’s no vocation here; Livesey is clearly not a “doctor by calling” in behaviors; he is 100% a soldier.
4. Justice of the Peace
   • Yes, Livesey is a Justice of the Peace. That seems like a significant position.
   • However, back then, anyone could become a Justice of the Peace.
     • Many did it to gain weight in society and have a nice business card.
     • There were over 100 Justices of the Peace in a county. You could become one just by getting a paper from the county constable.
   • There were only three conditions:
     1. Age over 21.
     2. Property qualification: The candidate must own property in the county, yielding an annual income of at least 100 pounds. Since Livesey is a judge, he must have had such property in the county.
     3. The applicant had to live in that area or within 15 miles of where he planned to be a judge.
   • Hence, we can conclude that Livesey is quite wealthy if he has property that brings in a steady annual sum. However, he somehow languishes in the backwoods near Bristol and treats for money!
   • He doesn’t become Trelawney’s house doctor but travels to rural patients (Jim mentioned that one trip to a patient took a day).
   • Moreover, his “practice” does not bring in money, as he couldn’t find a replacement for himself for a long time before leaving; Jim mentions this. It seems easy to find someone for a lucrative medical practice. However, Livesey’s clearly isn’t lucrative, as he took so long to find a replacement.
   • Everything gets stranger and stranger…

Now, let’s look at what was happening in England at that time:

• This was an extremely tense period in British history.
• Besides the external war – for the Austrian Succession (simultaneously in India, Europe, and America) – there was a civil war – in August 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, also known as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed in Scotland with a few followers. He was a young and charismatic leader of the Jacobites. An uprising immediately broke out – the local population had long supported the deposed Stuart dynasty, being Scottish by blood.
  • Highland regiments flocked to the prince from all sides, and soon he was at the head of a real army, capturing Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, in September, and then defeating the government army at the Battle of Prestonpans.
• The other troops of King George were scattered across distant fronts, in different countries and even continents. By late autumn, Prince Charlie crossed the Anglo-Scottish border and moved towards London. The march was unopposed but not triumphant. The widespread uprisings the Jacobites had hoped for did not ignite. Over thirty years, people had grown accustomed to the foreign Hanoverian dynasty.
• There were many supporters of the Stuarts, especially on the national fringes, in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. But only Scotland rose openly. Among influential English Tory landowners, there were also opponents of King George, sympathizing with the Stuarts. But they took a wait-and-see approach. Prince Charlie’s army reached Derby, with just over a hundred miles to London… Panic reigned in the capital, and George II considered fleeing to his native Hanover.
• However, the Jacobites halted their advance. They did not dare march on London without clear popular support. Moreover, troops of the Duke of Cumberland were hastily brought over from Europe…
• The prince’s army returned to Scotland and settled into winter quarters, planning to resume the campaign in spring. The prince’s emissaries were busy between Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and regions of England traditionally supportive of the Stuarts. They were persuading, convincing, and bribing…

Now let’s conclude:

During the Stuart uprising, in the vicinity of Bristol, a strategically important city – the gateway to England for the New World – a high-class nobleman, a former military man, appears, taking up the role of a rural doctor – which allows him to travel easily around the area and interact with people of all classes without arousing suspicion. He is well-educated, expensively dressed, and financially secure, and the prominent local landowner easily admits this rural doctor into his home and treats him as an equal…

So, who is Dr. Livesey? The equation isn’t hard to solve! “Dr.” Livesey is a scout and emissary of Charles Stuart, a sort of James Bond of his time. He inspects fortifications, conducts espionage, recruits supporters. He pretends to be a doctor to have the freedom to travel around the district and easily communicate with people from all layers of society. He went after the treasure because wars always need money.

Upon Livesey’s return from his travels, Charles Stuart suffered a crushing defeat, the Scots were defeated, and the coup failed. A huge reward was offered for the Young Pretender’s head, all his escape routes were blocked, and a naval blockade was established on the coast with France. Yet, Charles Stuart somehow managed to navigate through all obstacles and arrived in France, safe and sound. I would guess that someone had a very large sum of money to pay the soldiers more than the king had promised.

Remember, in the last paragraph of the book, Jim writes, that everyone received a part of the treasure. Some disposed of their wealth wisely, others foolishly, according to their temperament. Then the fates of all participants are listed, including Ben Gunn, but there’s not a word about Dr. Livesey.

But I think I have one person in mind: someone with firm life principles, intelligent and brave enough to bring a significant sum of personal money to the Young Pretender and manage to evacuate him to the continent.