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Constance Lytton was born in 1869, the daughter of Robert, the first Earl of Lytton and Viceroy of India, and Edith Villiers. She was educated at home, in India and then in Europe where the family returned in 1880. In the 1890s Constance Lytton's attachment to a young man of a lower social class was ended by her mother while her sister Elizabeth married Gerald Balfour. Balfour and his sisters, Frances and Emily, were deeply involved in the women's suffrage movement, and influenced their new sister-in-law, but it was not until 1909 after Lytton had made contact with Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Annie Kenney that she joined a suffrage group: the Women's Social and Political Union. The following year, in 1910, Lytton took part in a demonstration at the House of Commons where she was arrested. Her imprisonment was made easier, however, when her identity and her poor health were discovered and she was sent to spend her sentence in the prison infirmary. Consequently, at later demonstrations she took a false name and was arrested as Jane Warton, a London seamstress. She was sentenced to fourteen days, went on hunger strike, and was forced fed eight times until her identity was again uncovered and she was immediately released. In 1910 she was appointed a paid WSPU organiser and in 1911 she was arrested once again for breaking a post office window after the failure of the Conciliation Bill, but the trial was delayed when she suffered a heart attack in custody. She was released when the poor state of her health became clear and her fine was paid anonymously. Soon afterward Lytton suffered a stroke which left her partly paralysed. Her activities from now on were concentrated on writing propaganda for the WSPU. She published a series of pamphlets and articles and a book on her experiences and those of fellow inmates with the title, 'Prisons and Prisoners'. After the cessation of militant activity at the outbreak of the First World War, Lytton began to work with Marie Stopes in the campaign to establish birth-control clinics in Britain but spent much of her time as an invalid cared for by her family. She died in 1923.

Born, London 1788; Sir Francis Ronalds was the son of a London merchant. His father died when he was nineteen and he became responsible for the family business although Ronalds was more interested in carrying out chemical experiments which he conducted at home. 1814 he met the Swiss natural philosopher Jean-Andre De Luc who was engaged on experiments with dry piles of gilt paper and laminated zinc; Ronalds constructed a dry column of 1,000 pairs of elements to which he added a ratchet and pawl arrangement by which the pile produced rotation of a pointer round a dial. 1816 he demonstrated his electric telegraph; he offered it to the Government but it was rejected by the Admiralty. Ronalds published a booklet describing the telegraph, 1823; a single-wire telegraph operated by frictional electricity, it was practical but never tried out on a commercial scale; travelled to Europe and the Near East, 1816-1823. On a sketching tour of Sicily with Sir Frederick Henniker he realised the need for mechanical sketching instruments. Ronalds devoted himself to designing perspective instruments, 1824-1828; he took out a patent for 'Apparatus for tracing from Nature', 1825; published 'Mechanical Persepctive', 1828. Ronalds was asked to exhibit at the Polytechnic Institution in London; these exhibits indicate the scope of Ronalds' inventions: a new fore-bed carriage, a semi-transparent sundial showing mean time, perspective instruments and a fire alarm. Appointed first Honorary Director and Superintendent of the British Association's Meteorological Observatory at Kew, 1843; he improved the apparatus and methods of measurement relating to atmospheric electricity and also devised a system of applying photography to self-registration of meteorological and magnetic observations. Similar apparatus were installed in observatories at Toronto, Madrid and Oxford. In 1852 left Kew and spent a number of years abroad mainly in France and Italy, compiling a bibliography of electricity and magnetism and collecting books and pamphlets on these subjects; knighted, 1870. This honour came at the end of a protracted campaign by his friends to secure some credit for Ronalds for his pioneering work in relation to the development of the electric telegraph. Died, 1873, Battle, Sussex.

Born 1851, York, to a Quaker family. His father was a schoolmaster at Bootham School; Thompson attended his father's classes before moving on to the Flounders Institute, a training school for teachers at Ackworth, where he took the London BA degree in 1869. Appointed science master at Bootham 1870-1875; gained a scholarship to the London School of Mines and took the London BSc degree in 1875. Went to Heidelberg where he attended lectures by Robert Bunsen and Georg Hermann Quincke 1876; appointed to the Chair of Physics at University College Bristol 1876-1885. Married Jane S Henderson of Glasgow 1881; published 'Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism', 1881; selected a Member of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians 1882; published 'Dynamo-Electric Machinery: a Manual for Students of Electrotechnics' 1884; Principal and Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering in the City and Guilds of London Technical College 1885 -1916; elected a member of the Royal Insitution 1886; delivered the Cantor Lectures to the Society of Arts on the subject of the electromagnet and electromagnetic mechanisms 1890 and again on the subject of the Arc Light 1895; honorary Vice Presidents of the Electrical Exhibition in Frankfurt 1891; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1891; member of the British Delegation to the Electrical Congress in Chicago 1893; first President of the Rontgen Society 1897; President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1899; elected to the Senate of London University 1900; gave the first Kelvin Lecture at the Institution of Electrical Engineers on the life of Lord Kelvin 1908; delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on Sound 1910-1911; honorary Vice President of the Electrotechnical Congress at Turin 1911; wrote a paper on the development of compass cards for the Proceedings of the British Academy 1914; Thompson was one of the pioneers of ocean telephony and his ideas attracted world wide attention. He is also famous for designing rotatory (now rotary ) converters. Wrote biographies of Michael Faraday and Lord Kelvin and was interested in optics, musical harmony and harmonic analysis. He was convinced of the need for the closest co-operation between science and industry. He was also a keen advocate of technical education and apprenticeship teaching at the City and Guilds of London Technical College. He was an accomplished artist and had some of his paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy. Died 13 June 1916.

Born Camden Town, London, 18 May 1850, the youngest of four sons to Thomas Heaviside and his wife Rachel West, whose sister Emma had married Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1847. Thomas Heaviside was a wood engraver and his wife was a governess and had taught the Spottiswoode family, including Sir William Spottiswoode who became President of the Royal Society. However, the family were very poor and the poverty of those early years had a lasting influence on Oliver. His education began at a girls' school run by his mother, but when this failed he was taught by Mr F R Cheshire at the Camden House School. He did not go to university but became a telegraph clerk for the Anglo Danish Telegraph Company, later the Great Northern Telegraph Company, in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1868. He retired from work due to increasing deafness in 1874. He then began work on a series of problems in telegraphy and signal transmission using experimentation, mathematics and vector analysis. He worked on James Clerk Maxwell's equations concerning the electromagnetic theory of light. He predicted the existence of an ionised reflective layer in the atmosphere which would bounce radio signals back to earth - the ionosphere - which is known as the Heaviside layer in his honour, and also predicted the existence of sub-atomic particles and the idea that the mass of an electric charge increases with its velocity. Heaviside was a difficult and eccentric man, partly caused by his deafness, who cared nothing for the opinions of other scientists, but was convinced of the correctness of his workings using mathematical notation (vector algebra) which was almost impossible to understand by his contemporaries but which forms the basis of important areas of electrical engineering theory to this day. He had long and famous disagreements with Sir William Henry Preece over the introduction of inductance to long distance communication cables to improve the transmission of signals, and with Lord Kelvin over the process by which electricity travelled down wires, leading to the production of Heaviside's transmission line equations, and over Kelvin's use of heat diffusion theory to calculate the age of the earth; however, they remained life-long friends. Heaviside moved to Paignton in Devon with his parents to live near his brother Charles and his family. His parents died in 1894 and 1896 and in 1897 Heaviside moved to Newton Abbott where he lived until 1908 when he moved in with his sister in law's sister, Miss Mary Way in Torquay. He lived there until his death on 3 February 1925. He was awarded the Faraday Medal by the IEE and was an Honorary Member of the AIEE. His published works include numerous papers and articles, Electromagnetic Waves (1889), Electrical Papers (1892) and Electromagnetic Theory (3 vols 1893-1912).

Sir William Fothergill Cooke was born in Ealing in 1806. He was educated at Durham and Edinburgh Unviersity and then served in the Indian Army 1826-1831. Resumed his studies at Paris and Heidelberg, where he saw Professor Moncke's demonstration of the electric telegraph. He returned to England and began experiments on its application to alarm systems and railway signalling in 1836. His electrical knowledge was, however, lacking and he had almost given up his ideas on the telegraph when he met Charles Wheatstone, who had the necessary scientific knowledge and skill. The two men entered into partnership and took out a joint patent for an alarm system in May 1837. Cooke persuaded the London and Birmingham Railway Company and the Great Western Railway company to sanction experiments along their lines and he and Wheatstone further developed their telegraph, Wheatstone providing the technical expertise and Cooke the business prowess and practical knowledge. The partnership was however, an uneasy one. The issue of priority of invention came to dominate their relationship and was taken to arbitration in 1841 before Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and Professor John Frederic Daniell, who decided that Cooke and Wheatstone were equally and jointly responsible for it. However, the dispute resurfaced in 1845 and in 1846 Cooke formed the Electric Telegraph Company which bought their joint patents. Cooke was knighted in 1868, and died at Farnham, Surrey on 25 June 1879.

Nursing Notes Ltd was set up in 1929 by Dame Rosalind to produce the journal Nursing Notes, more recently called Midwives, which she had begun in 1887 for nurses and midwives. She personally funded the publication and was involved in its administration and production. Other members of the Paget family subsequently became involved, notably Kathleen and Guy Paget. The offices of the journal served as the focal point for the administration of the journal, and also a Trust Fund which Dame Rosalind established in 1919. She was a trained nurse and midwife and a prominent member in the movement to raise the status of midwives and nurses, and to improve the standards in these professions. The records in this collection reflect just a part of her activities, which also included the development of the Midwives Institute, now the Royal College of Midwives, and she also helped set up the Queen's Nursing Institute. She was also an active member of the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics which became the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Not given.

Tyler Dispensing Chemists were based in Abingdon Road, London W12.

Jaques Frederic Alexandre Schupbach was born in London on 11 July 1906, the son of Alexandre Schupbach, a Swiss working for the Credit Lyonnais in London, and Marguerite nee Ulliac, a member of a Breton family removed to Neuchatel. He was educated at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire, a vegetarian establishment. In the 1930s he worked for various government organisations. The stages in the development of his medical interests and practice are unknown. He was a member of the Astrological Lodge, the Theosophical Society, the British Phrenological Society, the British Dowsing Society, and the Fraternite Blanche Universalle. He was a member of several orchestras in which he played the violin and the viola. He lived in Church Road, Barnes, from the 1940s to his death in June 1989. At his death, his large library of books on social psychology, occult sciences etc was dispersed: the bulk of the medical books are now in the Wellcome Library. These papers form a small selection, made virtually at random, from a vast collection of letters, notes, etc, of which the remainder were destroyed. Some of the case-notes revealed that he had treated certain patients over many years.

Sir Arthur Salusbury MacNalty, KCB, MD, FRCP, FRCS born 1880; long career in public health: Medical Inspector HM Local Government Board 1913-1919; Medical Officer and Senior Medical Officer Ministry of Health 1919-1935; Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health 1935-1941. Secretary of the Tuberculosis Committee of the Medical Research Council 1920-1932. Editor in Chief for the Official Medical History of the Last War since 1941. A medical historian, author of several books on history of state medicine, diseases of the central nervous system and Tudor Kings and Queens. Died 1969. There is a brief biographical note at GC/119/B.4.

KGK Syndicate was the name of the partnership between Peter Maurice Koch de Gooreynd and Arthur Kingston, under a deed of partnership dated 20 March 1934, joined by Alexander Koch Worsthone under a further deed, dated 31 December 1936. This partnership was dissolved in Febraury 1938, and in August 1944 Kingston's solicitors were disputing claims made in a BBC radio broadcast and in a special overseas edition of 'The British Optician' that Koch de Gooreynd was the inventor of the plastic optical lens manufactured by Combined Optical Industries, Ltd.

John Simons, OBE, MRCS, LRCP, JP (1900-1971) studied medicine at Guy's Hospital, London, after being invalided out of the Regular Army during the First World War. He qualified in 1925 and spent several years in the Sudan Medical Service,during which time he was Chief Medical Officer, Kordofan Province, retiring in 1931. His subsequent career as an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon, first at the London ENT Hospital and from 1936 at Crowborough Hospital in Kent, was interrupted by distinguished service in the Second World War, with the Phantom reconnaissance unit and later as senior medical officer, 1 Tank Brigade, and Commanding Officer, 220 Field Ambulance, in North Africa, Italy and Germany. Died 1971.

Adrian Durham Stokes (1902-1972), painter and writer, was analysed by Melanie Klein for seven years during the 1930s and again for a brief period 1946-1947. He applied her psychoanalytic ideas to aesthetic theory in a number of influential works published during the 1950s and 1960s.

Born in Deptford, 1797; taught perspective by his father (a drawing master) and Samuel Prout; exhibited two drawings at the Royal Academy aged thirteen; became a water-colour painter and was awarded a silver medal by the Society of Arts aged eighteen; exhibited with the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1818, and continued to exhibit there regularly; became a member of the Society, 1821; adopted lithography as a way of providing examples for the use of students, publishing a number of well received lithographic works, notably Sketches at Home and Abroad, 1836, The Park and the Forest, 1841, and Picturesque Selections, 1861; died in Barnes, 1863.
Publications: Views of Pompeii drawn on stone by J D Harding; after drawings by W Light (London, 1828); Pugin's Gothic Ornaments, selected from various buildings in England and France, drawn on stone by J D Harding (London, [1831]); The Costumes of the French Pyrenees, drawn on stone by J D Harding, from original sketches, by J Johnson (London, 1832);Elementary Art, or the Use of the Lead Pencil (London, 1834); Sketches at Home and Abroad (London, 1836); J D H's Drawing Book (London, 1838); H's Sketches at home and abroad (London, [1839]); The Park and the Forest (London, 1841); Principles and Practices of Art (London, 1845); Lessons on Art (London, 1849); Lessons on Trees (London, 1850); Drawing Models and their Uses (London, 1854); The Early Drawing Book (London, [1856]); The Guide and Companion to the "Lessons on Art" (London, [1858]); Picturesque Selections: drawn on stone (London, [1861]).

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) was founded in 1929 following collaboration between William Blair-Bell, who became the first president, and William Fletcher Shaw, the first honorary secretary. Prior to 1929 England had two distinguished medical Royal colleges, the Royal College of Physicians of London (founded 1518) and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (founded 1800). The three Scottish medical royal colleges had all been founded by the end of the seventeenth century. The RCOG was the first to represent a speciality other than medicine and surgery. It was followed in due course by the establishment of the Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, Radiologists, Pathologists, Psychiatrists, Ophthalmologists, Anaesthetists and Paediatricians.

The College is a professional membership association with charitable status and is concerned with all matters relating to the science and practice of obstetrics and gynaecology. The main purpose is to act as the examination body for doctors wanting to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology and then as a membership organisation to those who pass the examination. It is a self-funded and independent body. The College operates through a system of committees, serviced by the College departments.

The position of Deputy College Secretary was established in the late 1970s. The Deputy College Secretary is the head of the College's Administration Department and also provides secretarial and administrative support for all the Honorary Officers. The Deputy College Secretary is responsible for: management and supervision of the department, editorial, production and circulation of all major printing requirements for the College, the RCOG website, public relations, the Fellows & Members database and Admission ceremonies, RCOG publications and the Bookshop, travel for College business, international meetings and congresses, representatives on outside bodies, attendance at Committee meetings, special projects given by Officers. The department services the Consumers' Forum, the Ethics Committee, the Services Board, Joint Standing Committees with other Medical Colleges and associations and related sub-committees, and working parties. The Annual Report, Register of Fellows and Members and The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist are compiled within this department, as are proceedings of study groups and reports of working parties. The department is additionally responsible for the issue of press releases, press conferences and all media contacts. The College has an appointed Honorary Public Relations Officer who is a Fellow of the College.

In 1967 a bill to legalise the medical termination of pregnancy in certain circumstances was introduced to parliament by the MP David Steel. The College was closely involved with and monitored the provisions of the bill during its progress through Parliament until its enactment.

The joint working party to consider a proposed Faculty of Family Planning arose out of discussions between the National Association of Family Planning Doctors and the Joint Committee on Contraception of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)(normally referred to as the Joint Committee on Contraception). The first meeting was held in November 1987. Initially it was expected that a joint RCOG/RCGP Faculty would be established; in 1991, however, the RCGP withdrew and the RCOG finally set up a Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care (FFPRHC) within the College in 1993. In 1998 the FFPRHC withdrew from the College to its own premises.

In July 1975 it was agreed that a Conference of Royal Colleges and their Faculties of Medicine in the UK should be formed. Sir Rodney Smith was proposed as the first chairman. Membership was to include one representative from each constituent member. It was envisaged that, in addition to the UK Conference, the Scottish Colleges and perhaps those in England and Wales would need to meet separately from time to time. In October 1976 the name was changed to the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges.

An Executive Committee was established as a standing committee of the RCOG in 1926. By June 1930 it had combined with another standing committee, the Finance and Establishment Committee, to form the Finance and Executive Committee (F & E). The office of Honorary Treasurer was created by Council under the 1929 bye-laws of the College (ref: A1/9/1 p. 48), which state that the Honorary Treasurer's duties were to be as follows:- to pay all monies received by him on behalf of the College into a College account; to keep accounts of all monies received and expended and report monthly to the Finance and Executive Committee; to prepare quarterly reports to Council; to maintain an Income and Expenditure account and balance sheet. At an Executive Committee meeting in October 1929 it was decided that the Treasurer be given authority to arrange with the Auditors for one of their clerks to keep the necessary financial books of the College for £50 per annum. The President and Honorary secretary were also authorised to obtain any clerical assistance found necessary (Executive Committee meeting B1, 10 Oct 1929; Archives reference: A3M/1 p. 2). From this beginning the Accounts Department, renamed the Finance Department in 1999, developed. The Department, now headed by a Chief Accountant, offers financial support for the activities of the Honorary Treasurer and is responsible for the following functions:- banking all income which includes subscriptions, examination and course fees and sales from publications; paying all the College's purchase invoices; co-ordinating the budgeting process; preparing the annual statutory accounts.

On 26 April 1973, at a meeting of the RCOG Committee on Contraception and Family Planning, it was decided that the committee should be renamed the Joint Committee on Contraception of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of General Practitioners, normally abbreviated as the Joint Committee on Contraception (JCC). In December 1974 the RCOG agreed to take over the secretarial and accounts work for the JCC. In 1993 the JCC was superseded by the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care (FFPRHC); from this time the Faculty began to operate independently of the College. In 1998 the FFPRHC quitted its premises in the College.

In 1971 the College established a Family Planning Sub-committee to discuss proposals for the RCOG, together with the Royal College of General Practitioners, to issue a joint certificate of training in family planning based on assessment in family planning clinics. It was agreed that those doctors already recognised by the Family Planning Association (FPA) should be accepted under the new scheme, and that the FPA should be represented on the committee. The committee was superseded in 1972 by the RCOG/RCGP Committee on Contraception and Family Planning.

On 26 April 1973 it was decided that the committee should be renamed the Joint Committee on Contraception of the RCOG and RCGP, normally abbreviated as the Joint Committee on Contraception (JCC). The personnel of the committee remained unchanged, being dominated by representatives of the two eponymous royal colleges, with representatives from the FPA and the Society of Community Medicine. In December 1974 the RCOG agreed to take over the secretarial work for the JCC and office space was allotted for this purpose. In 1993 the JCC was superseded by the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care (FFPRHC).

Overseas doctors' training schemes (ODTS) were instituted by the Department of Health after the Second World War to arrange postgraduate training in the UK for overseas doctors. Under the schemes the Department arranged training posts for doctors from overseas, monitored training and negotiated with the Home Office over visas. During the 1970s the royal medical colleges were also developing their own procedures for assisting and advising overseas doctors wishing to train in the UK. In the late 1980s responsibility for developing their own training schemes, including sponsorship, was passed to the royal medical colleges.

In 1983 the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists decided to expand its existing arrangements, which had hitherto been confined to the placement of postgraduates financed by funds from overseas in unpaid supernumerary posts. Double sponsorship schemes were therefore initiated, the overseas sponsor normally being the national or regional representative committee of the College; in countries without such committees sponsorship by Fellows or Members, or, exceptionally, deans of medical schools was considered. Placement of sponsored trainees and their subsequent supervision was the responsibility of the College's Director of Postgraduate Studies. In 1986 a Sponsorship Officer (now the ODTF Officer) was appointed.

In 1994 the ODTS section within the College acquired a careers side, currently run by a Careers Officer, who produces careers advice and guidelines. ODTF (the section was renamed in 2001) also maintains records of overseas doctors who have passed the membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (MRCOG). The ODTF falls under the umbrella of the Postgraduate Training Department of the College.

This working party was set up at the request of Council to prepare the report listed below. The report, chaired by David Painton FRCOG, set out the current legal position in England, Scotland and Wales regarding termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality and made recommendations of relevance to obstetricians and gynaecologists who are prepared to carry out termination of pregnancy under these conditions.

The establishment of the Royal Commission on the National Health Service (NHS) was announced by the government in 1975. It was to consider the "best use and management of the financial and manpower resources of the NHS" (see the introduction to the minute book of the working party at M15M/1). The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) working party on evidence to the Royal Commission was set up on 16 June 1976, under the chairmanship of T L T Lewis, by the Finance and Executive Committee in order to submit evidence to the Commission on behalf of the College.

This committee was set up by Council in January 1961 under the chairmanship of H R MacLennan. Its report, Recommendations on the Principles and Organisation of General Practitioner Maternity Units and their relation to specialist Maternity Units, was published in January 1962.

At a meeting of the Finance and Executive Committee of the RCOG in November 1962 proposals were put forward for a survey "to ascertain facts appertaining to the discharge of normal maternity cases from hospital on the seventh day and to compare the findings with a control group discharged on the seventh day". The College hoped that the Ministry of Health would organise the survey, which would require the co-operation of the Central Midwives Board finance, Royal College of Midwives, the Association of Paediatricians and local health authorities. At a meeting of Council in January 1965 (A.249) it was noted the College had collected information concerning `early discharge' from some twenty or thirty hospitals in a pilot scheme. This information had been sent to the Ministry of Health for analysis with a view to launching a full-scale enquiry.

In 1967 the RCOG, in collaboration with the Simon Population Trust, carried out a survey among practising gynaecologists in order to determine their views and experience of the sterilisation of women, and the extent to which this operation was carried out in NHS hospitals. The results of the survey were subsequently written up in a report under the joint authorship of Sir John Peel, PRCOG, and Mr C P Blacker, Chairman of the Simon Population Trust. The report was published in the British Medical Journal in March 1969.

The hospital visiting working party was set up in January 1993 by Council under the chairmanship of the Honorary Secretary, Professor W Dunlop FRCOG. Its terms of reference were as follows: 1) to examine the implications of the rotation of registrars upon recognition of training posts; 2) to advise upon the abolition of the distinction between SHO training posts for DRCOG and MRCOG; 3) to assess the purpose of hospital visiting following the introduction of structured training; 4) to suggest appropriate revision of the current system of hospital visiting; 5) to report to Council via the Finance and executive Committee within three months (see terms of reference of the report, archives ref: M41/1).

Established by the Council of the RCOG in 1988, the working party's terms of reference were to review current postgraduate activities of the College, post general accreditation and to consider the need, feasibility and the format of assessment of the individual's maintenance of skills.

The working party was set up by order of the Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in March 1990. It met once and produced a paper on guidelines for private practice which was published in November.

The first College Archivist was appointed in 1985 at the instigation of the College Librarian and the Wellcome Institute to organise and list the archives of the College and deposits of private papers. The department is also responsible for records management and making recommendations on conservation needs; from 2008 it became involved in the electronic records management of the College. The College Archives originally came under the governance of the College Secretary's Office; in 2001 the Archives became part of a new Information Services department.

Declaration forms are signed by Members on admittance to the College. The declaration was instituted by William Blair Bell in 1929 as a formal acceptance to subscribe to the regulations of the College and lawful practice in obstetrics and gynaecology. Initially Members were notified by post, later they were required to sign their acceptance in a book at the admission ceremony. From the 1970's members were required to sign a form. The forms have been the responsibility of various College departments, including the Administration Department and the defunct Central Services Department; current responsibility sits with the Membership Services Department.

The governing body of the College is Council, which includes six Honorary Officers: the President, Senior Vice President, two Vice Presidents (who are elected by Council for a maximum of three years), the Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary (whose term of office is for a maximum of seven years). The Honorary Officers meet on a weekly basis and each take turn to raise any issues they would like to discuss and give feedback on meetings they have attended.

Until 1930 the College did not have a permanent Secretary, but in December 1930 the President recommended that the private secretary of Sir William Fletcher Shaw, Miss W E Mallon be appointed as permanent Secretary to the College. Initially the function of the Secretary was purely administrative, as the College grew in size the Secretary became the senior manager of the College, responsible for general management of the College and all its departments in direct liaison with the College Officers, Council and committee chairmen. As the College Secretary's responsibilities expanded, it became necessary to pass certain functions to other departments or officers (for example, in the 1980's responsibility for overseas affairs was passed to the Vice President). In 1999 a Personnel Officer was appointed, under the overall control of the College Secretary. The role involves:

Attendance of Council meetings, the Finance and Executive Committee and Council elections.
Control of special funds.
Operational and management responsibility for major projects.
Overseeing the production of educational resources for training and continuing professional development.
Providing general education development support and advice in a number of forums.
In 2005 the post was renamed as the Chief Executive/Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

The decision-making work of the College is carried out through a Committee system, with administrative support from the various internal departments. The committees below are or were standing committees of the College established to make policy in relation to particular functions and interests of the College.

The Examination Committee was established by Council in 1929 as a standing committee of the College. Its first chairman was Dr T Watts Eden and its members comprised representatives from Scotland, Ireland and the provinces, with the College president, treasurer and two honorary secretaries as ex-officio members. The Committee's function was to select candidates for Membership through an examination of applications and qualifications. Examinations were carried out by a panel selected by the Committee.

The Committee drafted the regulations for the Diploma and Membership examinations. The first membership (MRCOG) examination was held in the Summer of 1930 (see B1M/1 p.12); from this time it has been held twice yearly. The Membership examination is designed for doctors who wished to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology. In 1931 the Committee first agreed a fee should be levied on those taking the examination, although there was much wrangling over this issue. There was no formal decision to make candidates take a written examination, rather the process evolved from the initial examinations process of considering a candidates case history and qualifications. As the examination regulations evolved, the examination process became more analogous and less subjective. In 1970 it was decided to split the examination into two parts, known as the MRCOG Parts I and II (B1M/10 meeting C383); the first Part I examination was held in September 1970 and the first Part II examination the following year. The first Diploma in Obstetrics examination (DRCOG) was held on 2 March 1934 (ref: B1/3/2), primarily this examination has been intended for general practioners (GPs) who wish to include obstetrics and gynaecology as part of their service to patients. Organisation and administration of the examinations became the responsibility of the College's Examination Department.

Inspection and recognition (or otherwise) of hospitals was a regular part of the Committee's work from 1935 until 1944, when the Hospital Recognition Sub-committee was established. In 1947 this committee was recognised as a separate standing committee (see B4), removing the hospital recognition function from the Examination Committee. The process of managing the MRCOG and the DRCOG led to the establishment of the following sub-committees of the Examination Committee, to deal with specific issues:
1) Assessment
2) DRCOG
3) Part 1 MRCOG
4) Part 2 MRCOG EMQ's
5) Part 2 MRCOG essays
6) Part 2 MRCOG MCQ's
7) Part 2 MRCOG oral

By 2008 the functions of the Committee were listed as:
1) Responsible for establishing the content and recommending to the Education Board the format of College examinations.
2) Responsible for setting, marking and reviewing questions and question papers.
3) Ensuring the standard, validity and fairness of examinations and producing appropriate pass lists.
4) Overseeing the function of the Examination Department, including communication with candidates, the logistics of preparing for examinations and communications with overseas centres.
5) Recommending to the Education Board suitable individuals to become DRCOG and MRCOG examiners and suggesting suitable Members and Fellows to be Members of the various Sub-Committees of the Examination and Assessment Committee.
6) On a regular basis, reviewing relevant overseas examinations, in particular those where successful candidates gain exemption from the Part 1 MRCOG. Giving advice and help to overseas examinations and, from time to time, making recommendations with regard to suitable College representatives to be external examiners for these examinations.
7) Joint responsibility for the RCOG/London School of Tropical Medicine Diploma in Reproductive Health in Developing Countries.
8) Responsible for the examination for the Advanced Training Programme in Obstetric Ultrasound organised by the Standing Joint Committee of the RCOG/Royal College of Radiologists.

The College Museum was established in 1938 to collect and display pathological specimens and surgical and obstetrical instruments. From 1988, following the transfer of most specimens to other hospitals, the museum's role was confined to the displaying of instruments. The museum was disbanded in 1999. The Museum Committee was established in 1945 to administer the College Museum. In 1949 it changed its name to the Pathology Committee. The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) was set up in 1950. Its terms of reference were as follows:

• to examine suggestions put forward for research.
• to advise Council on methods by which items of particular research could be carried out and to nominate, if necessary, ad hoc committees for the purpose.
• to advise Council on priority of any particular items of research.

In the 1950's the membership of the Pathology Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee is listed in the annual reports as if they were co-extensive, and Pathology Committee meetings are noted in their minutes as taking place immediately after Scientific Advisory Committee meetings. In July 1966 the two committees were amalgamated, and henceforth were known as the Scientific Advisory and Pathology Committee (SAPC). The word Pathology was dropped from the committee title in April 1984. The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), as it is now known, is currently serviced by the College's Clinical Governance and Standards Department and reports to the Standards Board. Its broad remit encompasses both basic and clinical science, including health services research. In 2008 it was defined as follows:

• To 'Horizon scan' and debate relevant scientific issues, including future developments of relevance to the specialty.
• To produce regular news items and/or opinion papers for the membership.
• To contribute to College responses on national policies and direction.
  • To react to requests for scientific advice from Officers, committees, working parties and Fellows/Members of the College.
• To advise Officers and appropriate committees about future national and international scientific and clinical meetings and study groups.

The College's Rare Tumour Registry was established in 1951 by agreement between the College and the governors of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospitals. The Registry was to be located at the Chelsea Hospital for Women under the direction of the College's Pathology/Scientific Advisory Committee. A Registry for Diseases of the Trophoblast was established in 1961, and was administered as a subdivision of the Rare Tumour Registry. The word 'Rare' was dropped in 1964. In 1970 an Ovarian Tumour Panel was established and a renewed effort to register cases of hydatidiform mole was instituted. However, in 1973 the Tumour Registry was formally disbanded, except for the registration of cases of hydatidiform mole, which continued until circa 1988 (the Ovarian Tumour Panel was disbanded circa 1985). The registrar of the Tumour Registry was Magnus Haines (1909-1978). The registry for diseases of the trophoblast was organised by W W Parks and the prime mover on the Ovarian Tumour Panel was A D T Govan.

The Welsh Executive Committee was established by Council in 1972 as a standing committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to represent the views of the College to the Welsh Office during the reorganisation of health services in Wales. Its first meeting took place on 23 July 1972 with J R E James serving as Chairman; predominately meetings were held at Llandrindod Wells Hospital. In 2008 its remit was: to discuss and advise upon specialty related matters, particularly within the Principality of Wales. Minutes were kept by the Secretary and submitted to the Council of the RCOG for ratification, this practice continues presently.

A Subspecialty Board first met in December 1984 as a sub-committee of the Higher Training Committee. The Board was created to fulfil some of the recommendations of the Working Party on Further Specialisation within Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Sub-specialisation Advisory Group. In July 1988 the Board became a standing committee. Its present remit is to advise and keep under review the development of subspecialisation in four fields (gynaecological oncology, reproductive medicine, maternal and fetal medicine, and urogynaecology) including requirements and regulations for subspecialist training and accreditation. It is also responsible for establishing the criteria and procedures for approval of subspecialty trainees, training centres and training programmes, and for subspecialist accreditation on completion of training. The Committee:

• Ensures visits are arranged to assess prospective training centres and trainees in post.
  • Makes recommendations to the Education Board regarding the recognition of centres and programmes on the basis of advice provided in the visitors' reports.

• Makes recommendations to the Education Board regarding the award of certificates of Subspecialist Accreditation on the basis of advice provided in visitors' reports following trainee final review visits.

  • Provides feedback to programme directors on the progress of trainees based on information submitted in the visitors' reports following mid-term review visits.
  • Liaises with programme directors to ensure the syllabi, requirements for training and the various application and report forms are updated appropriately.
  • Keeps statistics on current and past trainees, including manpower and funding information, and the number of centres and programmes approved.

  The Committee reports to the Education Board, meeting four times a year and is serviced by the College's Postgraduate Training Department.

The Ethics (or Ethical) Committee was established in 1982 to consider the ethical aspects and legal implications of matters of concern affecting the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology. It has considered a wide range of issues such as abortion, assisted reproduction, sex selection, female genital mutilation, the use of fetuses for research, gene therapy, court-authorised obstetric intervention, patient consent, personal health information and critical care decisions.

The Academic Committee was established in 1996 under the chairmanship of Professor E M Symonds, to promote and safeguard all aspects of academic obstetrics and gynaecology including research and research training, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and academic jobs and training, particularly in relation to recruitment and retention, and to monitor academic staff and funding in obstetrics and gynaecology. It worked closely with the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the RCOG Scientific Advisory Committee.

The Clinical Effectiveness Standards Board (CESB) was established in 1999 with responsibility for strategy and policy in relation to the College's clinical effectiveness and governance programme. Its main objectives included: development of a co-ordinated and structured programme of audit and guideline activity; co-ordination of a clinical effectiveness programme among the clinical and scientific meetings of the College; co-ordination and development of the College's programme in relation to quality improvement, particularly risk management, accreditation of services and consumer issues. It included representatives from the Department of Health, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), the National Confidential Enquiries, the British Association of Medical Managers, other Royal Medical Colleges, and consumers. It took over co-ordination existing activities including clinical guidelines, Personal Assessment in Continuing Education (PACE) Reviews, and audits. It oversaw the work of the new Clinical Effectiveness Support Unit (CESU). The CESB held its last meeting in April 2000, when a new structure of governance was introduced, including a new Standards Board. From that date, the Guidelines and Audit Committee reported to the Standards Board, which also oversaw the work of CESU.

The Publications Management Committee was established in June 1993. Its remit was to be responsible for financial and management decisions relating to publications, including study group proceedings. It was to meet four times per annum, and report to the Finance and Executive Committee. It is serviced by, and oversees the functions of the Publications Department. Presently, the main functions of the Committee are:

• to oversee the financial management of titles published under the imprint of RCOG Press.
• to oversee the work of The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist Editorial Board and the StratOG Editorial Board.
• to receive and approve proposals for new publications to be published under the imprimatur of RCOG Press.
• to oversee the operation of the RCOG Bookshop.
• to receive and approve proposals for new regalia/gifts and to monitor their sales.
• to consider new ventures.
  From 1992 the Committee oversaw the work of The Diplomate Editorial Board, until publication was suspended in 1999.

The Committee held its first meeting in July 2001. It was established 'in response to the need for standards and benchmarks required by various external agencies as well as to assist Fellows and Members discharge their general clinical governance duties.' It had three key areas of responsibility: engagement with the National Health Service and review of national policy-making; developing, implementing and monitoring clinical and service standards to ensure patient safety; developing, implementing and monitoring professional standards for good medical practice. The Committee reported to the Standards Board. In May 2007 it was renamed the Professional and Clinical Standards Committee and a College Officer charged with responsibility for each of its three key areas. Its further activities included: developing service models in line with College recommendations; ensuring implementation of College policy on performance and service reviews; establishing and overseeing the reskilling/refresher training policy.

The development of international activities was a priority within the College's three-year strategy, 2004-2007. Initial focus was on collaborative work with other agencies to assist in reducing maternal mortality in developing countries and to raise the standard of reproductive healthcare worldwide. The first stage was to establish an International Executive Board under the Chairmanship of the Senior Vice President who had responsibility for international affairs. The Board met quarterly and reported to Council. It included representatives of other organisations including the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, FIGO, and the World Health Organisation. It had the following remit:

• To co-ordinate and promote an RCOG strategy on the improvement of reproductive healthcare worldwide to reduce maternal mortality.
• To establish and monitor progress of the RCOG Foundation.
• To consider income generation initiatives to ensure that there were sufficient funds available to sustain this area of work.
• To work in partnership with other UK and International Agencies to strengthen links, to facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach and to encourage dialogue.
• To co-ordinate the development of clinical standards and educational tools for under-resourced countries.
• To develop a framework for improvements in reproductive health in developing countries.
• To lobby governments, including the health ministers of commonwealth countries to influence and educate on the problems and solutions to maternal mortality.
• To assist in the exchange of skilled personnel and training programmes.
• To collaborate with RCOG international representative committees and to encourage dialogue at a national level in all countries.
  An International Advisory Group was also established in 2006 to support and advise the Board.

In 1947 a Standard Maternity Hospital Report Committee was set up by the College to encourage maternity hospitals and departments to publish annual medical reports in order to maintain a high standard of practice. In 1948 it published a standard form for them to adopt in order that comparisons might be made over time. This was widely adopted in the UK and Commonwealth and revised in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1973 the Committee changed its name to the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Statistics Committee, and in 1977 to the Statistics and Epidemiology Committee. In 1978 the Committee became a sub-committee of the Scientific Advisory and Pathology Committee. It reverted to a full committee in 1983. During these years the Committee took an active role in the advent of computerisation in relation to the collection and analysis of maternity data and also in disease definition, classification and coding systems. After the collection and analysis of data from Fellows and Members of the College about laparoscopy in 1978, other statistical studies on particular topics followed. In 1990 the Committee was renamed the Audit Committee as it was envisaged that audit was likely to be an increasingly large component of its work. An Audit Unit, funded by the Department of Health and based at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, was established in 1991 under the supervision of the Audit Committee. In 1999, despite the fact that some members felt that their original remit with regard to statistics and epidemiology would be sacrificed, both the Committee and Unit were wound up and their responsibilities transferred to the Guidelines and Audit Sub-committee and Clinical Effectiveness Support Unit.

Committees and Councils of the RCOG were set up internationally in various countries. The earliest were Reference Committees, which were set up and appointed to advise Council on local matters, such as the recognition of training posts and the training programmes of individual trainees, and to encourage local scientific meetings and social gatherings of Fellows and Members. The first reference committee was set up in Canada in 1932, closely followed by one in India and subsequently in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Gradually Regional Councils replaced Reference Committees in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia and New Zealand replaced their Councils with their own Royal Colleges of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1980 and 1982 respectively. Representative Committees were set up as the corporate body of College membership in a particular country or region and nominated and elected by the Fellows of that country or region. Functions were to bring together the collective advice of Fellows and Members and to undertake tasks on the College's behalf which were also in the interests of the country. In the 1980's the remaining Regional Councils were replaced by Representative Committees. The Dominions Committee was founded as a sub-committee of the RCOG in 1945 and became a full committee in 1952. It comprised representatives from the dominions (Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India) and met in London. The meetings were consequently infrequent and the Committee was disbanded in 1958. The Overseas Policy Committee based in England, met from 1960 to 1962 when it became known as the Overseas Committee. Its terms of reference were: to consider development and change in countries overseas, particularly within the Commonwealth, in so far as they affect the aims and objectives of the College; to consider with the regional councils and reference committees means of fostering a close relationship between Fellows and Members abroad; to help with the placing of recommended postgraduates in recognised training posts in England and abroad; to be concerned with arrangements for the reception, both professional and social, of visitors from overseas. By 1967 the Overseas Committee had been superseded by the appointment of an Adviser to Overseas Candidates and after 1967 there is no record of the Committee meeting again.

The Representative Committee was formed in 1943 at the invitation of the Minister for Health who asked the British Medical Association (BMA), in collaboration with the royal colleges, to form a committee representative of all branches of the medical profession to discuss with him the problems involved in establishing a comprehensive national health service. The following bodies were represented on the committee: Medical Planning Committee; BMA; Royal College of Surgeons of England; Royal College of Physicians; Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh; Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow; Society of Apothecaries; Society of Medical Officers of Health; Medical Women's Federation; Provincial Teaching Hospitals' Staffs' Association. The purpose of the committee was to explore the medical problems raised by the Beveridge Report and to promote the views of the majority of the medical professions. In 1944 the Representative Committee was restyled as the National Health Service Negotiating Committee; it was disbanded in December 1948 following the establishment of a Joint Committee of the Royal Colleges, the Royal Scottish Corporations and the Consultants and Specialists Committee (established by the BMA), which continued to represent consultants and specialists in negotiation with the Government in matters arising from the National Health Service Acts.