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The Bookshop opened in June 1993 at 78 Park Road, under the governance of the College Secretary. In September 2000 it became part of the Publications Department, then from April 2005 the Bookshop formed a separate department of its own right. It sells a comprehensive range of books and software for women's health professionals, College gifts, book tokens and stamps. It also distributes and markets the RCOG Press titles. In May 1999 it moved to premises within the College at 27 Sussex Place. It also operates an online store on the College website that went live in July 1997 which by June 2001 offered the full stock range and a 'shopping basket' purchasing system.

The Bookshop initially produced two catalogues: College publications and other publications for sale; in 1995 the two catalogues were combined. An additional separate catalogue for RCOG Press titles continued until 1999 when it too was incorporated into the RCOG Bookshop catalogue. The catalogue was discontinued after 2003 and replaced by Bookshop news updates which were expanded into bulletins in 2004. A new Publications catalogue featuring items from the RCOG Press was produced in 2005. The Bookshop also issues gift catalogues listing College regalia for sale.

An Accreditation Sub-Committee was established in 1970 to direct the accreditation of training and report to Council. The committee approved following procedure: - a member of the College should be eligible to apply for accreditation after three years further approved experience and training in obstetrics and gynaecology beyond the requirements of the MRCOG examination, of which two years were to be subsequent to admission to the membership of the RCOG and normally in a post of responsibility corresponding to that of a senior registrar in an NHS hospital; the administration of accreditation should be the responsibility of the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee. (Council minutes 26 Sept 1970; Archives reference: B13/1) Later known as the Accreditation Panel, and from 1973 as the Accreditation Committee, it became the Higher Training Committee (HTC) in 1984. Its role was to "oversee and regulate all matters pertaining to higher training" and was responsible for: inspecting and recognising higher training posts at registrar and senior registrar levels; agreeing higher training programmes for accreditation; monitoring the progress of trainees; recommending individuals to Council for accreditation; advising Council on the regulations for accreditation. In December 1985 a Subspecialty Board was established as a sub-committee of the Higher Training Committee; in July 1988 this Board became an independent standing committee. In 1998 the Higher Training Committee's functions relating to the recognition of specialist registrar posts was passed to the Hospital Recognition Committee (HRC). The Higher Training Committee continued to carry out its other functions under the new name of the Specialist Training Committee from 1999. The Specialist Training Committee was disbanded in July 2007 and was replaced by the Specialty Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). The function of the Committee is to be responsible for the content, structure and delivery of the Specialty Training Programme and to advise the eligibility of doctors for the award of the Certificate of Completion of Training. All the above committees were/are serviced by the College's Postgraduate Training Department (PGT) and reported to the Education Board.

The Publications Panel was set up in 1978 to consider the format, typesetting, binding and print runs of College scientific publications (ref: RCOG/B16/1, internal memo 22/1/85). It reported to the Finance and Executive Committee. In February 1985 the Panel was reformed to 'meet only when necessary to discuss printers quotations, publishers proposals, print quantities and handling charges to Fellows and Members' (ref: RCOG/B16/1, agenda Feb 1985). The Panel was chaired by the Honorary Treasurer.

In 1987 the Joint Planning Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Department of Health invited a submission from the RCOG on training grade numbers. Ad hoc meetings were held to formulate a response. This was followed by an occasional Manpower Working Party which met from 1988 to advise Council on these issues. The Working Party began to undertake annual censuses to identify numbers in training, career prospects and related areas of concern and also to hold annual meetings to update members of the profession in manpower issues and to allow sharing of views between the College, the Department of Health, purchasers and providers of health care. Special surveys and studies on specific issues were also undertaken. By 1990 the Working Party had gradually evolved into full committee but did not adopt a formal constitution and terms of reference until 1992, when it was decided that its role was 'to advise Council on all matters relating to manpower in obstetrics and gynaecology' and 'to keep Council informed of the census results and manpower and staffing trends which are identified.' In 1997 it was decided that the term 'manpower' was outdated and the committee was renamed the Medical Workforce Advisory Committee (MWAC).

This Committee was established to act as a channel of communication between trainees and the RCOG and as a forum for discussion of issues relevant to training in obstetrics and gynaecology. The idea for the committee originally arose in the early 1990s in response to health service reform, the reduction of working hours and changing working practices of junior doctors, the Calman reforms in medical education, and concerns about the retention and recruitment of trainees in obstetrics and gynaecology. It was to be a constituted as a democratically-elected standing committee of the RCOG, members being elected by other trainees, and would liaise with the College about examinations, accreditation and training issues in the light of the current health service reforms. This national committee was to be accompanied by regional committees that would liaise with Regional College Advisers, Postgraduate Deans and District Tutors about local matters. An Interim Trainees Committee was established in 1993, with Dr Susan Bewley as Chair. Elections were held early in 1994 and the National Trainees Committee proper held its first meeting in July 1994. In 1998 it became known as the Trainees Committee. In addition to giving them a voice within the RCOG, the committee organised a series of surveys of trainees, to ascertain their views on training in obstetrics and gynaecology, working patterns, remuneration and the effect of health service reforms.

The External Affairs Committee was set up on April 6th 1933 to deal with external matters not specifically the concern of any one College Committee, such as matters of public and national health, and with public enquiries. It was also known as the External Relations Committee. Its activities were gradually taken over by Finance and Executive Committee during the Second World War, and it is last mentioned as a functioning committee in Council and Finance and Executive Committee minutes in 1943. The last minutes surviving in the minute book (ref: RCOG/T4) date from 16 June 1939.

The Education Board was established in November 1992 on the recommendation of the Futures Working Party of the College. Its remit was 'to act as a forum to disseminate information and to act as required on particular items of educational interest in its widest sense' (Education Board: minutes of preliminary meeting, 20 Nov 1992, ref: B24M/1 p. 1). It took reports from the relevant standing committees and discussed those matters arising from their activities that would not normally have received an airing at Council. These included the Examinations, Higher Training, Hospital Recognition, Subspecialty, Continuing Professional Development, Manpower, and Meetings Committees. In 2000, the RCOG put in place a new board structure in order to free-up Council's time to concentrate on strategic and specialty wide issues. The Education Board became one of three boards (along with Standards and Services) that were given executive and decision-making authority and were able to ratify the decisions of reporting committees and groups. They were responsible directly to Council and met quarterly. The remit of the Education Board became: to facilitate the ongoing development of valid, fair and appropriate College examination processes; to promote and facilitate the development of the continuing professional development programme; to facilitate the initiation and development of the distance learning programme and related education initiatives; and to co-ordinate and facilitate the development of education in its widest sense (Finance and Executive Committee: minutes, 4 May 2000, ref: A3/30/4). At this date it had the following reporting committees: Examinations, Continuing Professional Development, Standing Joint RCOG/RCR, Meetings, CAL [Computer Assisted Learning] Editorial Board. In 2002, in order to forge closer ties between examinations and training, a revised Board structure was established and the reporting of the three training committees (Specialist Training, Subspecialty, Trainees) was diverted from the Standards Board to the Education Board. By 2008, the Education Board's remit was as follows: to co-ordinate postgraduate training, assessment and testing of training and accreditation of place of training; to facilitate the continuing development of valid, fair and appropriate College examination processes; to facilitate the initiation and development of distance learning programmes; to co-ordinate and facilitate the development of specialist education, training and assessment in the widest sense, in accordance with the College curricula.

The House Committee met on only a few occasions during 2003 with the following remit: to advise and make recommendations on all matters relating to the care of College buildings including maintenance, health and safety, environmental health and security; to oversee the maintenance of a register of assets and to review the condition of fixtures and fittings, including paintings, furniture and fabrics; to develop, monitor and evaluate space allocation and the use of the building; and to develop and regularly review the domestic and social functions of the College. It reported to the College's Services Board.

The Services Committee was established when Council decided to disband the Services Board in 2003. The new Services Committee took over a large proportion of what had been the Services Boards' responsibilities, and reported to Finance and Executive. Its remit was dated 24th March 2003; the main objective of the committee was to develop and co-ordinate services for Fellows and Members in the British Isles and Overseas. Its broadest terms of reference were to regularly develop and review a strategic plan, in relation to the provision of services by the Facilities Department, the Information Services Department, the Information Technology Department, the Membership Services Department and the Premises Department. More specifically, the Committee was to frame policies for access to, and storage of, rare books and manuscripts, instruments, personal papers and artefacts of historical interest for the benefit of Fellows, Members and suitably accredited visitors. It was also to keep abreast of, and advise upon, the development of computerised services within the College and to ensure that the services themselves were integrated with national developments. Additionally, it was to develop, monitor and evaluate the use of the RCOG website and to frame polices for the development of membership services. Finally, it was to advise and make recommendations concerning all matters relating to the care of the buildings and assets at 27 Sussex Place and 8 Kent Terrace. The Committee met on a quarterly basis from 2003 to 2005. Its existence was short-lived because in 2005 Council ratified the decision for the Services Committee to revert back to its former title and executive status as the Services Board.

The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire was first published in 1902. It was owned by the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire Publishing Company Limited. From 1933 the meetings of the board of directors of the Company took place in the College's premises. In 1950 the ownership of the Journal was acquired by the College and the Company was wound up. The Journal Committee was set up by the College following its acquisition of the Journal in 1950. In 1980 the Committee was reconstituted as a separate Journal Business Committee (renamed the Journal Management Board in 1988) to run the organisational and business aspects of the Journal, and an Editorial Committee to decide editorial policy and function. In 1992 these bodies were renamed the Journal Management Committee and Journal Editorial Board respectively and in 2000 they became BJOG Management Board and BJOG Editorial Board. The Journal has changed its name on several occasions since it was founded. It became The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Commonwealth, from 1975 it was published as British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and, in January 2002 BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The birth of the world's first baby conceived using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), in July 1978, and advances in fertilisation and embryology led to the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry in 1982. Chaired by Baroness Warnock, it was established 'against [a] background of public excitement and concern' about human fertilisation and embryology". The Committee reported in 1984 (the Warnock Report). It recommended the establishment of a new statutory licensing authority to regulate both research and infertility services. In March 1985 the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) founded the Voluntary Licensing Authority for Human in vitro Fertilisation and Embryology (VLA) as an interim measure to regulate work on human in vitro fertilisation until the introduction of government legislation. The authority was given two functions: to grant licences to those wishing to offer infertility treatment; and to grant licences to researchers wishing to work with human gametes (sperm and eggs) and embryos. Applications for licences, accompanied by specific research proposals, were made to the authority by centres involved in such work. A visit was normally then made to the centre by members of the authority, which then made a decision on whether to grant a licence. The Authority was based at the Medical Research Council premises in Park Crescent, London. In 1987, following a period of consultation, the Government published a White Paper, Human Fertilisation and Embryology: A Framework for Legislation. The legislation which subsequently came into being was the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (the HFE Act).

The first meeting of the Joint Standing Committee of the RCOG and RCM took place on 11 May 1988. The objectives of the Committee were to "consider and make recommendations on matters of common interest to parent bodies". It did not have an executive function and reported to the Councils of the RCM and RCOG; meetings took place at least twice a year.

A first RCOG report in 1994 on minimum standards of care in labour attempted to establish guidelines for staffing, equipment and general facilities on the labour ward. Following acceptance of the increased involvement of the consultant obstetrician in the labour ward, the Joint Working Group of the Royal College of Midwives and the RCOG aimed to produce guidance about the essential minimum midwife and medical staff numbers required to support women in labour. The final report was published in 1999 and acknowledged the value of multidisciplinary involvement, making recommendations to improve organisation, practice and result in safer childbirth.

This joint working party was established to explore key issues affecting students' clinical learning experiences and to identify strategies to address them. Their remit was to:

1. Review the clinical learning environment in maternity services with particular respect to the recruitment of doctors and midwives.
2. Gather national and international research and evidence pertaining to the development and support of a good clinical learning environment.
3. Identify and propagate examples of good practice relating to the clinical learning environment and recruitment.
4. Develop a collaborative strategy for the development of professional support within the clinical learning environment and enhanced recruitment.

The working party comprised a group of professionals with relevant expertise and experiences encompassing the academic, clinical, practical and organisational aspects of learning environments. The group met on five occasions, from January to September 2006.

The RCOG established this working party, representing the Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Midwives, Anaesthetists, Paediatrics and Child Health as well as other stakeholder organisations, to develop national standards for maternity care. It had the following remit:

1. To review current evidence-based published standards in the area of maternity practice.
   2. To derive from these documents agreed standards for maternity care, from prepregnancy through to the postnatal period.
   3. To complete the work within one year.
      The final report was published in June 2008.

An international liaison committee of professional organisations and national associations of gynaecologists and obstetricians, UPIGO was formed in 1955. Its objectives were:

• to study, represent and defend the ethical, professional and material interests of obstetricians and gynaecologists before all international authorities,
  • to study and to explain the ethical, legal, professional and social problems which occur in these disciplines, according to the particular interest they arouse,
  • to establish relations with any appropriate national or international organisation,
  • to provide exhaustive literature on the profession of gynaecologist-obstetrician to each member or delegation of members, in order to stimulate progress in the policy of each country in the fields of training of practitioners and the safety of women, as well as that of unborn children,
  • to promote the harmonisation of qualifications and conditions of practice for specialists in obstetrics and gynaecology, in order to justify professional migration within the framework of international regulations,
  • to promote products or services which will satisfy ethical considerations as well as the Association's expectations of quality.

In July 1988 the College established a working party 'to review current post-graduate activities of the College and to consider the need, feasibility and the format of assessment of the individual's maintenance of skills'. In 1991 this reported that the majority of consultants were not taking advantage of the existing educational opportunities offered by the College. It recommended that the College develop a programme of mandatory Continuing Medical Education (CME) for all its Fellows and Members in active specialist practice. This began in January 1994. The RCOG was the first of the UK Colleges to establish such a programme and also the first to offer it (from January 2000) to overseas members. The programme catered for consultants and other members of career grade staff not in training posts. The scheme was developed and overseen by the CME Committee, which held its first meeting in July 1992, and reported to the Education Board. It was administered by the Postgraduate Education Department. The first 5-year CME cycle was completed in December 1998. In 1998 CME became part of the wider sphere of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and in 1999 the CME Committee changed its name to the CPD Committee. In January 2002 the CME programme also changed its name to the CPD programme. At this date the programme was expanded to take into account not just the continuing medical education needs of obstetricians and gynaecologists, but also their broader professional development (i.e. non-clinical or non-specialist clinical activities). The Postgraduate Education Department was disbanded in October 2003 at which point the CPD Office was transferred to the Clinical Governance and Standards Department.

This area was traditionally the responsibility of the Director of Corporate Affairs. The College employed freelancers for occasional press work until 2000 when they decided to appoint a permanent Press Officer. In 2006 the College set up a Department for Communications and External Affairs, reporting to the Directorate of Corporate Affairs.

William Blair-Bell (1871-1936) was co-founder (with William Fletcher Shaw) of the College and its first President. The second son of William and Helen Bell, he was born in Wallasey in 1871 and educated at Rossall School, King's College London and King's College Hospital. In 1905 he left general practice in Wallasey and was appointed to the post of Assistant Consultant Gynaecologist to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. In 1918 he became senior surgeon and in 1921 was appointed to the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Liverpool University, a position he held until 1931. In 1929 he married his cousin, Florence.

Blair-Bell was President of the Obstetric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the North of England Gynaecological Society and the Liverpool Medical Institution. In 1911 he founded the Gynaecological Visiting Society (GVS). He was co-founder of the College in 1929 and presented the College with its first headquarters at 58 Queen Anne Street. He established the money for the William Blair-Bell memorial lectures and for other research projects. He was President of the College from its inception until 1935, the year before his death.

William Blair-Bell (1871-1936) was co-founder (with William Fletcher Shaw) of the College and its first President. The second son of William and Helen Bell, he was born in Wallasey in 1871 and educated at Rossall School, King's College London and King's College Hospital. In 1905 he left general practice in Wallasey and was appointed to the post of Assistant Consultant Gynaecologist to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. In 1918 he became senior surgeon and in 1921 was appointed to the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Liverpool University, a position he held until 1931. In 1929 he married his cousin, Florence.

Blair-Bell was President of the Obstetric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the North of England Gynaecological Society and the Liverpool Medical Institution. In 1911 he founded the Gynaecological Visiting Society (GVS). He was co-founder of the College in 1929 and presented the College with its first headquarters at 58 Queen Anne Street. He established the money for the William Blair-Bell memorial lectures and for other research projects. He was President of the College from its inception until 1935, the year before his death.

Morris Myer Datnow (1901-1962), MB, ChB (Liverpool) 1924, MD 1928, FRCS (Ed) 1932, FRCOG 1939, was born in South Africa and trained at Cape Town University. He completed his medical training in Liverpool, where he became a member of the Liverpool university staff in 1925. There he served successively as Ethel Boyce research fellow, Samuels memorial scholar, demonstrator and sub-curator of the museum and lecturer in clinical obstetrics and gynaecology. He was appointed to the staff of the Women's Hospital, Liverpool, the Liverpool Maternity Hospital and the Royal Southern Hospital. He was married with two children. Morris Datnow became closely associated with William Blair-Bell in the research work which was going on at that time in the department, and was one of the team undertaking basic research into the nature of cancer and the place of chemotherapy in its treatment. He was to become a close friend of Blair-Bell's and was elected to deliver the third Blair-Bell Memorial Lecture in 1940 at the RCOG.

John Martin Munro Kerr (1868-1960), Regius Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow from 1927-1934, was a Foundation Fellow of the College and its first Vice President from 1929-1932.

Bethel Solomons (1885-1965) MB, BCh, BAO (Dublin), MD, FRCP(I), FRCOG, Hon FACS was born in Dublin and spent most of his professional life there. He was master of the Rotunda Hospital and organised the first sterility clinic in Dublin. He was a founder fellow of this College and an honorary fellow of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1946. He died in 1965 of heart failure. The papers relate to Bethel's survey of pathology treatments of the fallopian tube. He delivered his findings at the 10th British Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Belfast, 1936, and published them in `The Conservative Treatment of Pathological Conditions of the Fallopian Tube', in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire, 43 (1936), pp 619-633.

At the inaugural meeting of the Obstetrical Society of London in December 1858 the Chairman and first President, Edward Rigby, stated that the meeting was for the purpose of inaugurating a society to be devoted to advancing the knowledge of obstetrics and of the diseases of women and children. Membership was open to all practitioners in London and the provinces. During its lifetime the Society published annual volumes of Transactions of its meetings. It met for the last time in July 1907, in which year it was absorbed into the Royal Society of Medicine.

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the Gynaecological Visiting Society (GVS) first met on 24th April 1911. It was the inspiration of William Blair-Bell, Assistant Physician at Liverpool Royal Infirmary. Its aims as set out in its first meeting (ref: S26/1/1) were:

The encouragement and demonstration of scientific research, and the study of methods employed in gynaecological duties.

Two centres to be visited each year in the Spring and Autumn.

A brief record of the meetings to be kept in a book belonging to the Society.

Although other gynaecological societies existed at this time, Blair-Bell felt there was a need for a peripatetic group that could discuss and disseminate information with fellow professionals. The annual visits allowed members to see other hospital departments and view at first hand their colleagues' research activities. With this cross-fertilisation of ideas it was hoped that the appalling statistics of maternal mortality could be tackled.

At a GVS meeting on the 2nd February 1925 several members of the society discussed the founding of a College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The College came into existence in 1929, with Blair-Bell as President. The GVS has continued to work closely with the College and today senior officers of the now Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology are also members of the GVS.

For further information see The Gynaecological Visiting Society 1911-1917 by John Peel, Dorset Press, 1992 (copy at S26/9/17).

John Harold Peel KCVO, MA, BM BCh (Oxon), FRCP, FRCS, Hon FRCOG, Hon DSc (Birm), Hon FRCS(C.), Hon FCOG (SA), Hon FACS, Hon FACOG, Hon NMSA, Hon DM (Soton), Hon SCh (Newcastle) served as the College's Honorary Treasurer from 1959-1966 and as President from 1966-1969. He was elevated to the honorary fellowship of the College in 1989. On retiring as President of the College in 1969, John Peel was asked by Council to undertake the task of preparing a history of the lives of the Fellows, along the same lines as volumes published by the two older Royal Colleges (the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England). The completed work was published in 1976 as The Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1969 (Whitefriars Press Ltd, 1976).

These rolls of lottery tickets were printed in Dublin in 1753-1754 to raise money for the building of a new hospital in Great Britain St, Dublin, for poor lying-in women. The lottery was later abandoned.

Alban Henry Griffith Doran (1849-1927), MRCS, FRCS, LSA received his medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he served as House Surgeon, House Physician and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy. He gave up teaching after a year to become, in 1873, Assistant in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. After his retirement from private practice in 1909 he devoted his energies largely to the compilation of the above catalogues.

Hugh Cameron McLaren (1913-1986) MD, FRCPGLAS, FRCSED, FRCOG graduated from Glasgow University in 1936. He specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology early in his career and in the years before the war he worked in Glasgow, Aberdeen and, for a short spell, Berlin. During his service with the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War Two, his surgical experience fitted him to work in an army field surgical unit, While campaigning in Germany he came upon the horrors of the concentration camps, including Sandbostel, which he entered in May 1945 as a surgical specialist, 10th (British) Casualty Clearing Station, British Liberation Army. After the war he became first assistant to Hilda Lloyd in Birmingham, succeeding her as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1952. He also served the RCOG as a member of the Scientific Advisory and Pathology Committee from 1950-1967, the Examination Committee from 1951-1955 and as a Fellows' representative on Council from 1969-1975. An inveterate traveller, he helped to found the gynaecological club The Travellors.

James Alexander Chalmers (known as Hamish) was born in Inverness in 1912 and qualified in medicine in Edinburgh in 1934. Following service in the Air Force Medical Branch during the Second World War and posts at Bath, Birmingham, Inverness and Edinburgh, he was senior consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Ronkswood Hospital, Worcester from 1951-1977. He obtained his MRCOG in 1940 and became an FRCOG in 1954.

Chalmers is best known for introducing the vacuum extractor (ventouse) to British obstetric practice, as an alternative to forceps. He was introduced to the method by Professor Snoeck during a visit to Belgium in 1957 and went on to undertake vacuum deliveries at Worcester and to become an advocate for the apparatus.

He also researched widely on the history, development and current use of the procedure and accumulated a collection of publications from around the world on the topic. He visited key practitioners abroad, including V Finderle in Yugoslavia and T Malmstrom in Sweden. In 1971 he published a key work on the technique: The Ventouse-The Obstetric Vacuum Extractor (London: Lloyd-Luke, 1971).

Chalmers died in 1998.

Solomon Bender MD, FRCS (Ed), FRCOG, wrote an article on this case for the British Medical Journal in 1965.

Alexander Simpson was born in Bathgate, Scotland in 1835. He was the nephew of Sir James Young Simpson, Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. Simpson studied at Bathgate Academy and later at the University of Edinburgh where in 1856 he received his M.D. He worked for seven years with his uncle in Edinburgh before moving to be a general practitioner in Glasgow. He succeeded to the Chair of Sir James Young Simpson following the latter's death in 1870. In 1872 he married a Miss Barbour. In 1905 he retired at the age of 70, and a year later he was knighted. He was killed in a road accident during a wartime blackout in 1916.

Alexander Gray McIntyre graduated as Bachelor of Medicine and Master in Surgery, Edinburgh, 1893; member of the Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh; Medical Officer, Glasgow Convalescence Home, Lenzie; Assistant Physician, Crichton Royal Institution, Dumfries; died [1939].

John Haighton was born, Lancashire, about 1755; pupil of Else at St Thomas's Hospital; Surgeon to the guards; Demonstrator of Anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, resigned, 1789; Lecturer in Physiology, [1788], and Midwifery with Dr Lowder, St Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals; conducted numerous physiological experiments; M D; Fellow, Royal Society; presided at meetings of the Physical Society at Guy's Hospital; joint editor of Medical Records and Researches, 1798; assisted Dr William Saunders in his Treatise on the Liver, 1793; silver medal of the Medical Society of London, 1790; his nephew, Dr James Blundell began to assist him in his lectures, 1814, and took the entire course from 1818; died, 1823.

Publications include: 'An Attempt to Ascertain the Powers concerned in the Act of Vomiting,' in Memoirs of the Medical Society of London (ii. 250) (1789); A syllabus of the Lectures on Midwifery delivered at Guy's Hospital and at Dr Lowder's and Dr Haighton's Theatre in ... Southwark (London, re-printed 1799); A case of Tic Douloureux ... successfully treated by a division of the affected nerve. An inquiry concerning the true and spurious Cæsarian Operation, etc (1813).

William Lowder graduated doctor of medicine, Aberdeen, 1775; licentiate of the College of Physicians, 1786; practised midwifery; lectured at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals; died, 1801.

Chelsea Hospital for Women was founded in 178 King's Road, 1871; moved to Fulham Road, 1883; moved to Dovehouse Street, 1916; in co-operation with Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital formed a combined postgraduate teaching school, 1946, this subsequently became the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Chelsea Hospital for Women was closed in 1988.

The Bristol Royal Infirmary was founded by Paul Fisher, a wealthy city merchant, 1735; in 1904, Sir George White saved the hospital from a major financial crisis; in 1948 it was acquired by the National Health Service.

The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (ACLEC) was established in 1991 under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. The Committee had the general duty of assisting in the maintenance and development of standards in the education, training and conduct of those offering legal services. In the field of legal education and training, its brief was as follows:

1. to keep under review the education and training of those who offer to provide legal services.
   2. to consider the need for continuing education and training for such persons and the form it should take.
   3. to consider the steps which professional and other bodies should take to ensure that their members benefit from such continuing education and training.

ACLEC was abolished by Statutory Instrument 1999 No.3296. Its functions were taken over by a new Legal Services Consultative Panel within the Lord Chancellor's Department.

The Committee of Inquiry was established in March 1993 "to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the policies and practices of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and the Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL). The creation of the Committee was partly in response to a large disparity in pass rates between black and ethnic minority students and white students on the Bar Vocational Course (BVC), uncovered by ethnic monitoring of the 1991/1992 intake, and partly in response to the large body of complaints about the course which had been lodged with the General Council of the Bar, and the CLE itself." (Final Report, Apr 1994, Introduction 3.1 p.8). The Inquiry was chaired by Dame Jocelyn Barrow (Deputy Chairman, Broadcasting Standards Council), from whom the short title "Barrow Inquiry" derives. Its members were Ruth Deech (Principal, St Anne's College Oxford), Jo Larbie (Director of Legal Education and Training of the Legal Resources Group), Rajeev Loomba (course leader for the Legal Practice Course, University of Northumbria) and David J Smith (Senior Fellow, Policy Studies Institute). The Inquiry's terms of reference were to identify the reasons for disparities in the level of performance of ethnic minorities on the BVC from 1991/92, to investigate allegations of racial discrimination and to investigate and make recommendations on teaching, assessment and pastoral care of students and for the further development of an equal opportunities policy by the CLE. The Inquiry employed a number of research methods as follows: 1. Statistical analysis, using as a starting point Dr Christopher Dewberry's 1991/1992 analysis of disparities between white and ethnic minority student pass rates; the Inquiry conducted further similar surveys and analyses; 2. Qualitative research, including oral hearings of evidence such as interviews with students, staff, assessors, CLE and General Council of the Bar members, written submissions from interested parties, and comments from students, followed by an analysis by Dr Robin Oakley; 3. Direct observation of teaching and assessment; 4. Collection and analysis of teaching materials relating to the BVC; 5. Following the Interim Report of September 1993, provision of a formal submission from the ICSL/CLE on teaching, assessment and pastoral care; 6. Consideration of the complaints of 29 individual students; 7. Comparison of the BVC with other jurisdictions, in the UK and abroad.

Publications: Equal Opportunities at the Inns of Court School of Law: the Final Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities on the Bar Vocational Course (April 1994).

The Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) was founded during the Fourth Commonwealth Law Conference in New Delhi in 1971. The idea was initiated by Indian lawyer Dr Laxmi Singhvi, CLEA's first chairman. The Association's objects were to foster high standards of legal education and research in Commonwealth countries, to build up contacts between interested individuals and organizations, and to disseminate information and literature concerning legal education and research. CLEA established its headquarters in the offices of the Legal Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in Marlborough House, London, and with the Legal Director as its Honorary Secretary and Treasurer. In 1973 it obtained a grant from the Commonwealth Foundation; this funding, plus subscriptions from members, enabled the CLEA to embark on the projects planned on its establishment. It has received further long term grants from the Commonwealth Foundation to continue its activities. CLEA's structure, objectives and functions are set out in its Constitution, adopted soon after its foundation. Membership is open to individuals, schools of law and other institutions concerned with legal education and research. Patrons are appointed from various Commonwealth countries. The affairs of the Association are managed by an Executive Committee, drawn from the Commonwealth regions, which meets annually; its actions are reviewed at 5 yearly General Meetings, the first of which was held in Edinburgh during the Fifth Commonwealth Law Conference in 1977. There is an Advisory Panel in the United Kingdom. The administration of the Association was carried out by a chairman and two secretaries, one in London and one abroad. In 1990 the office of chairman was replaced by a president and executive chairperson (since renamed vice president). The President may be elected from any part of the Commonwealth; the Vice President must be established in the UK. In 1994 a South Asian regional chapter was formed.

Working records of the Library were produced in the conduct of business. Gate signing-in books were created at a rate of about 1 per month from 1975 to 1998.

Directors of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 1947-1988, have been Sir David Hughes Parry MA, LLD, 1947-1959; Sir Norman D Anderson OBE, MA, LLD, 1960-1976; Professor A L Diamond LLM, 1976-1986; Sir Jack Jacob QC, LLD, Dr Juris, 1986-1988. The Director's functions are as follows: to lay down policy directions for IALS; to give academic leadership; to ensure efficient management; to represent IALS within the University and outside; and to participate on behalf of IALS in the direction and management of the School of Advanced Study.

This series originally comprised four account books dated 1947-1950, located and listed during the 1997 survey to find items of historical interest.

The files listed below comprise primarily the files of J A Boxhall, Secretary from 1971-1986, when he retired due to ill-health. He was replaced temporarily by H F Patterson. In 1987 a new Administrative Secretary, D E Phillips, was appointed.

The Records of Legal Education Project (RLEP), funded by the Leverhulme Trust, ran from October 1994 to May 1998. It was based at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), and its brief was to: investigate records of legal education housed in selected institutions, primarily in the Greater London area, and report on their availability, accessibility and significance; create a Guide to Records of Legal Education and Law Schools to enable researchers to trace the location of documents of relevance; publish and disseminate its findings to assist researchers in law, the humanities and the social sciences; exceptionally, collect, maintain and make available for research records of legal education where the creating/controlling agency was unable to make any alternative archival provision. This material was placed in a Records of Legal Education Archives located in the IALS Library. Research was concentrated on institutions and records in the Greater London area, since this is a) where the highest proportion of legal education material was to be found; b) where the project was physically located. The project's resources were too limited to go further afield. The project was co-ordinated by Clare Cowling, an Archivist employed on a part-time basis, under the direction of an Advisory Committee comprising Jules Winterton, the IALS Librarian, Avrom Sherr, Woolf Professor of Legal Education at IALS, David Sugarman, Professor of Law at the University of Lancaster and William Twining, Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London until 1998. The Project was based in the IALS Library and was granted use of its facilities.

Marian Henrietta Hewlett (1843-1915) decided to begin art and domestic science classes for girls in Harrow in 1887. Under the auspices of the Harrow Band of Mercy, premises were rented at no 102 High Street in 1888, and public funding (for technical education) was received from Middlesex County Council from 1890 (and from 1894 its Technical Education Committee). Boys were also admitted. Students were drawn from Harrow and the surrounding districts. A new building for Harrow Technical School opened at Greenhill, in Station Road, in 1902 (extended in 1907 and 1932). Teaching included art, photography, commercial and domestic subjects, particularly in evening classes. The School of Art was increasingly important. Many of the instructors were part-time. The name was changed to Harrow Technical College and School of Art in 1948. The first building on a 25-acre site at Northwick Park (acquired in 1936) was begun in 1954, completed in 1959 and formally opened in 1961. It housed the technical and commercial departments (Engineering, Science, Photography, Commerce, and Domestic Studies) - the School of Art did not move from Station Road until later. Following the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956 (Cmnd 9703) Harrow was designated an area college. From the 1960s alterations were made in Harrow courses and status under the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), with more degree-level courses and an increased number of full-time and part-time day students and staff. Links were formed with polytechnics including PCL (the Polytechnic of Central London, formerly Regent Street Polytechnic). Harrow specialisms included photography, fashion and ceramics. Additions were made to the buildings at Northwick Park in the 1970s. In 1978 the college was renamed Harrow College of Higher Education. In 1990 Harrow merged with PCL, which in 1992 became the University of Westminster. The Harrow campus was re-developed to house Harrow Business School, Harrow School of Computer Science, and the Schools of Communication and Design and Media (now the School of Communication and the Creative Industries). It was formally opened in 1995.

In 1885 Quintin Hogg (1845-1903), founder of the Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute (later Regent Street Polytechnic), announced the founding of a day school there, a response to the fact that so many rooms in its premises at no 309 Regent Street were left empty during the day (much of the teaching and activities taking place in the evenings). The school opened in 1886 with 130 boys, aiming to provide professional, commercial (including Civil Service) and industrial secondary education at moderate fees. It was run by the Polytechnic President, Director of Education, and Governing Body, with its own Headmaster. It catered for boys aged 7 to 17 and soon had over 500 pupils; there was also, from 1888, a school for girls in Langham Place, which may have survived into the 1930s. Hogg himself undertook some teaching. The school used the Polytechnic sports and laboratory facilities. It pioneered educational trips abroad with a visit to Belgium and Switzerland in 1888. A club, the 'Old Quintinians', was formed in 1891 for former pupils to keep in touch with the Polytechnic after leaving the school, and a supplement added to the Polytechnic's magazine for them. The school was known variously as the Polytechnic (Boys') Day School, the Polytechnic Middle Class School, and the Polytechnic Intermediate Day School. Due to growing numbers of students, the Technical School (originally the Industrial Division) and Commercial School (which included the Professional Division) were divided in 1892. They came to operate largely as separate schools, despite occupying the same building. 'Aided' status under the London County Council was attained in 1911. The Commercial Day School and the Technical Day School were reunited as the Polytechnic Secondary School in 1919. Conditions in Regent Street were cramped owing to the expansion of the adult Polytechnic. The school was evacuated to Minehead in 1939. On the return to London it was again apparent that the Regent Street Polytechnic building was overcrowded and lacked facilities such as a playground. A proposed alternative site near Regent's Park was bombed, and other proposals also proved abortive. Boys who had returned to London were taught in St Katherine's House, Albany Street, and additional space was found at the LCC Institute for Distributive Trades in Charing Cross Road. Most of the classrooms in Regent Street were in use by the Polytechnic, although some school laboratories remained in the Great Portland Street extension (Little Titchfield Street). This accommodation was unsuitable for the bulk of the pupils returning from evacuation in 1945 and the Pulteney School (originally an elementary board school, founded in 1881) in Peter Street, Soho, provided further premises. Under the Education Act (1944) fees were abolished. The school moved from aided status to become a voluntary controlled school, under closer control by the London County Council. Renamed the Quintin School in 1948, when it became a grammar and instituted its own governing body, the school continued to operate on the split site until 1956, when it moved to new accommodation in St John's Wood, designed by Edward D Mills & Partners and opened in 1957, neighbouring the newly-relocated Kynaston Technical School (formerly Paddington Secondary Technical School). The two schools merged in 1969 to form Quintin Kynaston School, a boys' comprehensive, which became co-educational in 1976. For further information see L C B Seaman, The Quintin School 1886-1956: a brief history (London, 1957).

Wilfred Goddard Bryant was born in September 1872, the son of John (a schoolmaster) and Hope Bryant. In 1901 they were residing in St Marks Buildings Polytechnic Annexe School. Hope died in June 1901. Wilfred had two brothers and two sisters, and married in 1910 to a lady whom he met on a trip to Switzerland. In the 1891 census he is shown as a bankers clerk and in 1901 as a Clerk-Bank of England. Subsequent enquiries at the Bank of England confirmed that Wilfred Goddard Bryant was employed at the Bank's Branch Office from November 1890 until August 1937, reaching the position of cashier.