Clappen trained in nursing at King's College Hospital. She worked in France, and later at the Lady Harding Hospital in Delhi, India. Following the death of her first husband 1941, she remained in India and returned to nursing work. She remarried in 1958.
Clappen was a founding member of King's College Hospital Nurses' League.
The Medical Society of St Thomas's Hospital, later renamed the Medical and Physical Society, met to hear and discuss a dissertation and exchange medical news and cases. The society was open to physicians, surgeons and students.
William Miller Ord was born on 23 September 1834; the son of George Ord, FRCS, and his wife Harriet (nee Clark). He was educated at St Thomas's Hospital London. Awarded MD London; FRCP, FLS. Ord was Consulting Physician St Thomas's Hospital; Treasurer of the Clinical Society; Fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. He married firstly in 1859, Julia Rainbow (died 1864), and secondly Jane Youl. He died on 14 May 1902.
Publications: Influence of Colloids upon Crystalline Forms, 1879; edited the Works of Francis Sibson, 1881; various papers on "Myxodema" (including the Bradshawe Lecture, 1898); Neurotic Dystrophies; Notes on Comparative Anatomy, 1871; papers on Neurotic Origin of Gout; The Relations of Arthritis; Lettsomian Oration; A Doctor's Holiday (oration to Medical Society, 1894); an edition of Nomenclature of Diseases, 1884; and many others.
William Wallis Ord was born in 1869, the son of William Miller Ord and his wife Julie nee Rainbow. He was a student at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, 1883-1887. Awarded MA, MD BCh Oxon, MRCP London, OBE.
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952) was Professor-Superintenden of the Brown Institution, which specialised in research into diseases of domestic animals. The Institute was situated in Wandsworth Road, South West London and was destroyed by bombing in 1944. Sherrington was later Professor of Pathology, University of London, and Lecturer on Physiology at St Thomas's Hospital.
Born, London, 1750; educated, Merchant Taylors' School; apprenticed to Mr. Thomas Smith, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, 1767; frequently lectured for Joseph Else, then lecturer on anatomy; diploma from Surgeons' Hall, 1774; attended a course of John Hunter's lectures, and was much influenced by them, 1774; lecturer on anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1781-1811; Surgeon, St Thomas's Hospital, 1784-1811; examiner at the College of Surgeons, 1810; Master of the College of Surgeons, 1815; delivered the Hunterian oration, 1816, 1824; President of the College of Surgeons, 1823; died, 1827.
Publications: On the Form of Animals (Bulmer & Co, London, 1805).
William Cribb was a dresser to George Martin, Surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital, 1778.
Joseph Else was Surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, London from 1768 to 1780. He was appointed Lecturer in Anatomy and Surgery in 1768 on the unification of the medical schools of St Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals.
Publications: An essay on the cure of the hydrocele of the tunica vaginalis testis (London, 1770); The works of ... J. E., ... containing a treatise on the hydrocele, and other papers on different subjects in surgery. To which is added, an appendix, containing some cases of hydrocele ... by G Vaux (London, 1782); [An account of a successful method of treating sore legs.] Méthode avantageuse de traiter les ulcères des jambes in [Surgical tracts, containing a treatise upon ulcers of the legs.] Traité sur les ulcères des jambes, etc by Michael Underwood MD pp 217-228 (1744 [1784]).
George William Davies entered St Thomas's Hospital as a pupil on 28 January 1808.
Astley Paston Cooper was born at Brooke Hall near Norwich, 1768; educated at home; apprenticed to his uncle, William Cooper, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, 1784; soon after transferred to Henry Cline, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital; Edinburgh Medical School, 1787-1788; Demonstrator of anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1789; joint lecturer with Cline in anatomy and surgery, 1791; lectured on anatomy at the College of Surgeons, 1793-1796; Surgeon, Guy's Hospital, 1800-1825; private practice rapidly increased; Fellow, Royal Society, 1802; made post-mortem examinations wherever possible, and was often in contact with 'resurrectionists'; a founder and first treasurer, 1805, President, 1819-1820, Medical and Chirurgical Society of London; Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, 1813; lectured, 1814-1815; performed a small operation on George IV, 1820; by the bestowal of a baronetcy; examiner at the College of Surgeons, 1822; published his 'Dislocations and Fractures of the Joints', 1822; resigned his lectureship at St. Thomas's, 1825; instigator of the founding of a separate medical school at Guy's Hospital; Consulting Surgeon to Guy's Hospital; President, College of Surgeons, 1827, 1836; Sergeant-Surgeon to King William IV, 1828; Vice-President, Royal Society, 1830; died, 1841.
Publications include: The Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Inguinal and Congenital Hernia (Crural and Umbilical Hernia) (printed for T Cox; sold by Messrs Johnson, etc, London, 1804); A Treatise on Dislocations, and on Fractures of the Joints (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown; E Cox & Son, London, 1822); The Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart., F.R.S. ... on the Principles and Practice of Surgery: with additional notes and cases, by Frederick Tyrrell 3 volumes (Thomas & George Underwood, London, 1824-1827); Illustrations of the Diseases of the Breast ... In two parts (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green: London, 1829; Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery Second edition (F C Westley, London, 1830); Observations on the Structure and Diseases of the Testis (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green; Highley & Underwood, London, 1830); The Anatomy of the Thymus Gland (Longman, Rees, Orme, Green & Brown, London, 1832).
George Fordyce: born, Aberdeen, 1736; educated, school at Fouran, University of Aberdeen; trained with his uncle, Dr John Fordyce of Uppingham, physician, [1751-1755]; medical student, University of Edinburgh; MD, 1758; studied anatomy at Leyden under Albinus, 1759; began a course of lectures on chemistry in London, 1759; added courses on materia medica and the practice of physic, 1764, and continued to teach for nearly thirty years; licentiate of the College of Physicians, 1765; Physician, St Thomas's Hospital, 1770-1802; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1776; 'speciali gratia' fellow of the College of Physicians, 1787; assisted in the compilation of the new Pharmacopeia Londinensis, issued 1788; assisted in forming a Society for the Improvement of Medical and Chirurgical Knowledge, 1793; died, 1802.
Publications include: Elements of Agriculture and Vegetation [Edinburgh, 1765]; Elements of the Practice of Physic third edition (J Johnson, London, 1771); A Treatise on the digestion of food (London, 1791); A Dissertation on Simple Fever, or on fever consisting of one paroxysm only (J Johnson, London, 1794); A second dissertation on fever; containing the history and method of treatment of a regular tertian intermittent (London, 1795); A third dissertation on fever Containing the history and method of treatment of a regular continued fever, supposing it is left to pursue its ordinary course (London, 1798-1799); A Fourth Dissertation on Fever. Containing the history of, and remedies to be employed in irregular intermitting fevers (J. Johnson, London, 1802); A fifth dissertation on fever, containing the history of, and remedies to be employed in, irregular continued fevers Edited by W C Wells (J Johnson, London, 1803).
Ellen V Gatter is thought to have been a nurse at St Thomas' Hospital.
Born, London, 1791; studied in Germany, [1806-1809]; apprenticed at the College of Surgeons to his uncle, Henry Cline; pupil at St Thomas's Hospital; demonstrator of anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1813; diploma of the College of Surgeons, 1815; private surgical practice in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1815-1836; private course in philosophy in Berlin, 1817; Lecturer on anatomy and later surgery, St Thomas's Hospital, 1818-[1852]; Surgeon, St Thomas's Hospital, 1820-1852; Professor of Anatomy, College of Surgeons, 1824; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1825; Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy, 1825-1852; Professor of Surgery, King's College, 1830-1837; close friend and was literary executor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1834, becoming interested in systematising, developing, and establishing the doctrines of Coleridgean philosophy; life member, 1835, examiner, 1846, President, 1849-1850, 1858-1859, College of Surgeons; Hunterian orator, 1841, 1847; DCL, Oxford, 1853; College of Surgeons representative on the General Medical Council, 1858; president, General Medical Council, 1860-1863; died, 1863.
Publications include: A letter to Sir Astley Cooper ... on certain proceedings connected with the establishment of an anatomical and surgical school at Guy's Hospital (London, 1825); The dissector's manual (printed for the Author, London, 1820); Distinction without separation. A letter to the President of the College of Surgeons on the present state of the profession (London, 1831); An address delivered in King's College, London, at the commencement of the medical session, Octr. 1832 (London, 1832); Suggestions respecting the intended plan of medical reform (London, 1834); A Manual of Modern Surgery, founded upon the principles and practice lately taught by Sir Astley Cooper Bart. ... and Joseph Henry Green edited by T Castle, fifth edition (W Rushton & Co, Calcutta, 1839); The principles and practice of Ophthalmic Surgery: comprising the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the eye, with the treatment of its diseases by B Travers and J H Green, edited by Alexander Cooper Lee (London, 1839); Vital dynamics. The Hunterian oration (W Pickering: London, 1840); The touchstone of medical reform; in three letters addressed to Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Bart (London, 1841); Mental Dynamics, or Groundwork of a professional education. The Hunterian Oration (London, 1847); Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, and some miscellaneous pieces, etc [With an introduction by Joseph H Green] Samuel Taylor Coleridge (William Pickering: London, 1849); Spiritual philosophy 2 volumes (London, Cambridge,1865).
Born, Basford, near Nottingham, 1790; educated by the Rev J Blanchard of Nottingham; placed with a chemist at Newark, 1804, and studied chemistry and anatomy; medical student at Edinburgh University, 1809; Senior President, Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, 1811; graduated M D, 1812; resident house physician, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1812; gave a course of lectures on diagnosis, 1813; visited the medical schools of Paris, Göttingen, and Berlin, 1814-1815; practiced at Bridgewater, 1816; settled and practiced in Nottingham, 1817; published his work on 'Diagnosis'; Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1818; Physician, Nottingham General Hospital, 1825; moved to London and set up practice, 1826; studied circulation of the blood in the minute vessels, and read several papers to the Royal Society in 1831; Fellow, Royal Society, 1832; lectured at the Aldersgate Street School, 1834-1836; Webb Street School and Sydenham College, 1836-1838; worked on the theory of reflex action, later denounced as the propagator of 'absurd and idle theories' and his papers read before the Royal Society in 1837 and 1847 refused publication; helped found the British Medical Association, and delivered the oration on medical reform, 1840; Fellow, Royal Society of Physicians, 1841; lectured on nervous diseases, St Thomas's Hospital, 1842-1846; delivered the Gulstonian lectures, 1842 and Croonian lectures, 1850-1852; retired from practice, 1853; studied restoration of persons apparently drowned and devised a system and rules adopted by the National Lifeboat Institution; continued to publish his research in the Lancet; died, 1857.
Publications include: On Diagnosis, in four parts ... The phænomena of health and disease. ... The diagnosis of the diseases of Adults. ... Of local diseases. ... Of the diseases of Children 2 volumes (London, Nottingham [printed], 1817); A description, diagnostic and practical essay on disorders of the digestive organs and general health, and particularly on their numerous forms and complications, contrasted with some acute and insidious diseases (London, Nottingham [printed], 1820); Cases of a serious morbid affection, chiefly occurring after delivery, miscarriage ... from various causes of irritation and exhaustion; and of a similar affection unconnected with the puerperal state (London, Nottingham [printed], 1820); Medical essays ... on the effects of intestinal irritation ... On some effects of loss of blood ... On exhaustion and sinking from various causes (London, [Nottingham printed,] 1825); Commentaries on some of the more important of the diseases of females (London, 1827); On a morbid affection of infancy arising from circumstances of exhaustion, but resembling hydrencephalus (London, Thames Ditton [printed], 1829); Introductory Lecture to a course of lectures on the practice of physic, etc (J Mallett, London, [1830?]); An Essay on the Circulation of the Blood; especially as observed in the minute and capillary vessels of the Batrachia and of Fishes (London, Thames Ditton [printed], 1831); Lectures on the nervous system and its diseases (London, 1836); Observations on bloodletting, founded upon researches on the morbid and curative effects on the loss of blood (London, 1836); Principles of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, including a third edition of the Author's work upon Diagnosis (London, 1837); Memoirs on the Nervous System (Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, London, 1837); Medicine, its divisions, its rewards and its reforms: being the annual oration delivered at the British Medical Association, Oct 8th 1840 second edition (London, [1840]); On the diseases and derangements of the Nervous System (London, 1841); Practical observations and suggestions in medicine (London, 1845); On the Threatenings of Apoplexy and Paralysis, etc. (London, 1851); Prone and postural respiration in Drowning, and other forms of Apn?a, or suspended respiration edited by his son M Hall (London, 1857); contributed many articles to the Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine.
R J Horton-Smith was born in London on 16 Mar 1873, the son of Richard Horton-Smith and his wife Marilla nee Baily. He was educated at Reading and Marlborough College, Wiltshire, St John's College Cambridge, University of London (Wainwright Prizeman) and St Thomas' Hospital Medical School. He was awarded MA, MB, BC, MRCS, LRCP. He died of tuberculosis on 8 Oct 1899, at Davos, Switzerland, aged 27.
The Raymond Horton-Smith Prize I the University of Cambridge was founded in his honour in 1900.
Lowndes was born in Staffordshire, 1892. His first job was as a Laboratory Assistant in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Stafford Technical School. In 1909, he moved to Canada where he worked with Prof R B Macallum in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto. On the outbreak of war, he joined the 1st Canadian Expeditionary Force, after being taken prisoner at Ypres, 1915, he spent three years as a prisoner of war in Germay. After his release in 1918, he studied Chemistry in Delft, Holland, under Jan Boesekin. He married C A V Broydon. Lowndes was for some time Science Master at Rugeley Grammar School, Staffordshire, before taking up a position in 1921 as Research Assistant to Huia Onslow. In 1923, he was appointed Demonstrator in the Department of Chemistry at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, subsequently becoming the Senior Lecturer in Chemistry. He retired in 1957.
William MacCormac was born in Belfast, 17 January 1836, the son of Henry MacCormac, MD and his wife Mary Newsham. He was educated at the Belfast Royal Academical Institution, Queen's College, Belfast where he graduated BA, 1855, MA, 1858, MD, MCh, 1879 and DSc, 1882, winning the gold medal of the university. He also became MRCS (England) 1857, and FRCS (Ireland) 1864. After graduation MacCormac studied surgery in Berlin.
He practised as a surgeon in Belfast from 1864 to 1870, becoming successively surgeon, lecturer on clinical surgery, and consulting surgeon to the Royal Hospital. In 1870 at the outbreak of the Franco-German war, MacCormac volunteered for service. Appointed to hospital duties at Metz, he was treated on his arrival as a spy and returned to Paris, where he joined the Anglo-American association for the care of the wounded. Returning to London at the end of the Franco-German war, he became Assistant Surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, which had just moved to the Albert Embankment. He was made full surgeon in 1873 following the resignation of Frederick le Gros Clark (1811-1892), and he was for twenty years lecturer on surgery in the medical school. He was elected consulting surgeon to the hospital and emeritus lecturer on clinical surgery in the medical school on retiring from active work in 1893.
As honorary general secretary, he contributed largely to the success of the seventh International Medical Congress in London in 1881, the Transactions' of which he edited; he was knighted on 7 Dec. for these services. He was president of the Medical Society of London in 1880 and of the metropolitan counties branch of the British Medical Association in 1890. MacCormac was also surgeon to the French, the Italian, Queen Charlotte's, and the British lying-in hospitals. He was an examiner in surgery at the University of London and for Her Majesty's Naval, Army, and Indian Medical Services. In 1897 he was created a baronet and was appointed surgeon in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII; on 27 Sept. 1898 he was appointed K.C.V.O. in recognition of professional services rendered to the Prince when he injured his knee. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England, MacCormac was elected a member of the council in 1883, and in 1887 of the court of examiners. He delivered the Bradshaw lecture in 1893, taking as the subjectSir Astley Cooper and his Surgical Work,' and he was Hunterian orator in 1899. He was elected president in 1896, and enjoyed the unique honour of re-election on four subsequent occasions, during the last of which he presided over the centenary meeting held on 26 July 1900. His war service was still further extended, and his great practical knowledge was utilised in the South African campaign of 1899-1900, when he was appointed `government consulting surgeon to the field force.' In this capacity he visited all the hospitals in Natal and Cape Colony, and went to the front on four occasions. In 1901 he became K.C.B. for his work in South Africa, and an honorary serjeant-surgeon to King Edward VII.
He married in 1861 Katharine Maria Charters of Belfast. He died at Bath on 4 December 1901.
Publications: Notes and Recollections of an Ambulance Surgeon, being an Account of Work done under the Red Cross during the Campaign of 1870, London 1871; Surgical Operations, part 1, 1885, part 2, 1889, Smith, Elder & Co.: London; An Address to the Students of St. Thomas's Hospital ... October 1st, 1874, J W Kolckmann: London, 1874; On Abdominal Section for the Treatment of Intraperitoneal Injury, 1887; Antiseptic Surgery: an address delivered at St. Thomas's Hospital, with the subsequent debate, Smith, Elder & Co.: London, 1880; The Hunterian Oration. Delivered ... February 14, 1899, Smith, Elder & Co.: London, 1899; An Address of Welcome on the Occasion of the Centenary Festival of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1900; with biographical accounts, often with portraits, of the sixty-one masters or presidents.; Transactions of the International Medical Congress. Seventh session held in London ... 1881. Prepared for publication under the direction of the Executive Committee by Sir William Mac Cormac ... assisted by George Henry Makins ... and the secretaries of the sections, J W Kolckmann: London, 1881.
George Henry Makins was born 3 November 1853, and was the son of G H Makins. He was educated at Gloucester; St Thomas's Hospital; and Halle, Vienna.
During his career he served as Consulting Surgeon South African Field Force, 1899-1900; served European War, 1914-1918; Chairman of Committee of Inquiry into Standard of Comfort and Accommodation in the Hospitals of British Troops in India, 1918; late Under-Secretary, International Medical Congress, London, 1881, and Treasurer, 1913; Lecturer on Surgery and Anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School; President and Member of the Court of Examiners, Royal College of Surgeons, England; Examiner for the Army and Indian Medical Services; President of the Board of Examiners for the Naval Medical Service, and Member of the Consultative Committee, Queen Alexandra Military Hospital.
He was Consulting Surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital and to Evelina Hospital for Sick Children; Hon. Major General, Army Medical Services; Member of Council British Red Cross Society; Treasurer Imperial Cancer Research Fund. He was awarded GCMG, 1918; KCMG, 1915; CB 1900; LLD Cambridge. and Aberdeen; FRCS.
In 1885 he married Margaret Augusta nee Kirkland, (died 1931), widow of General Fellowes. Makins died on 2 November 1933.
Publications: Surgical Experiences in South Africa 1899-1900, Being mainly a clinical study of the nature and effects of injuries produced by bullets of small calibre Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1901; On Gunshot Injuries to the Blood-vessels, Founded on experience gained in France during the Great War, 1914-1918. J. Wright & Sons, Bristol, 1919; Gunshot Injuries of the Arteries, etc. (The Bradshaw Lecture.) Henry Frowde; Hodder & Stoughton: London, 1914; and papers on various medical subjects.
George Fletcher, was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, 29 Feb 1848, the son of Dr Fletcher and his wife Annie Stodgon. He was educated at Bromsgrove School, and Clare College Cambridge. Awarded MA, MD (Cantab), MRCS, LSA. He worked as a surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital, London.
Publications: The Life & Career of Dr. William Palmer of Rugeley, etc, T. Fisher Unwin: London, 1925); The Management of Athletics in Public Schools, a paper, H. K. Lewis: London, 1886.
Robert Cory, member of the medical staff of St Thomas's Hospital, 1875-1896.
Publications: Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Vaccination, Bailliere, Tindall & Cox: London, 1898; On the Relation of Cow-Pox and Horse-Pox to Smallpox. A thesis ... Reprinted from vol. IX. of the St. Thomas's Hospital Reports, J. E. Adlard: London, 1885
Charles Oxley was a medical student at St Thomas Hospital in 1725-1726.
Norman Rupert Barrett was born in Adelaide, Australia, on 16 May 1903, the son of Alfred Barrett, Sussex. Returning to Britain for his education, he attended Eton College, Trinity College, Cambridge (1st class Hons Natural Science Tripos, 1925, MA 1930); and St Thomas' Hospital, University of London (MB 1928, MChir 1931), becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1930. He also held a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship, 1935.
He held positions as Lecturer in Surgery, University of London, 1935-1970; Surgeon to King Edward VII Sanatorium, Midhurst, Sussex, 1938-1970; Consulting Thoracic Surgeon to the Royal Navy and to the Ministry of Social Security, 1944-1970. He was appointed Visiting Professor of Surgery at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, 1963, and the Cleveland Metropolitan General. Hospital, USA. He was also Examiner in Surgery at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, London, and Khartoum.
Barrett was also President of the Thoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, 1962; The Thoracic Society, 1963, a Fellow, Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1962-1974, and its Vice-President in 1972, as well as being a member of the Tuberculosis Assoc of America and the Association for Thoracic Surgery. He edited Thorax, 1946-1971.
In 1931 he married Elizabeth Warington Smyth. In 1969 he was awarded CBE. He retired in 1970, and died 8 January 1979.
Publications: Many papers on surgical and historical subjects; contributions to many textbooks of surgery.
Robert Percy Smith entered St Thomas's Hospital in 1874. He graduated MD MB (University Scholar and Gold Medal winner, with Honours in Medicine and Obstetric Medicine), BS and FRCP. He was onsultant Physician for Psychological Disorders at St Thomas's Hospital [1905-1919], and Visiting Physician at Otto House, Fenstanton and Clarence Lodge Asylum.
Born, Büdingen, Germany, 1829; met the chemist Julius Liebig in 1847; medical student, University of Giessen, 1847; worked in Liebig's laboratory, developing a keen interest in biological chemistry; emigrated to London, 1853, during the war between Prussia and Denmark; physician at St Pancras Dispensary, 1856; practiced medicine throughout his life as an otologist and rhinologist; invented a nasal speculum; lecturer in chemistry at the Grosvenor Place School of Medicine, 1858; later director of a pathological and chemical laboratory; published his first book on the analysis of urine, 1858; Lecturer on Pathological Chemistry at St Thomas's Hospital, 1865; chemist to the medical department of the Privy Council, 1866; began to investigate the effects of cholera on the brain and research into his major original work on the chemical constitution of the brain; discovered hematoporphyria, the brain cephalius, galactose, glucose, lactic acid, cerebranic sulfatides and many other chemicals, conducted research in his private laboratory from 1871; published the first English edition of Treatise on the chemical constitution of the brain, 1884; a controversial figure and many colleagues disputed his findings; considered to be the founder of neurochemistry; died, London, 1901.
Publications: Treatise on the chemical constitution of the brain (Baillière, Tindall and Cox, London, 1884); The progress of Medical Chemistry. comprising its application to: Physiology, pathology and the practice of medicine (Bailliere, Tindall and Cox., 1896); some 80 major scientific publications.
John Newton Tomkins was a medical student at St Thomas's Hospital in 1831-1834.
Jonathan Toogood was a surgeon, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and one of the founders of the Bridgewater Infirmary in 1813. He retired to Torquay in the 1860s and died in 1869.
Publications include: Hints to Mothers and other persons interested in the management of females at the age of puberty (London, 1845); Illustrations of the Fraud and Folly of Homeopathy (London, 1848); Medical Toogoodism and Homeopathy. Extracted from the British Journal of Homeopathy (London, 1849); Reminiscences of a Medical Life, with cases and practical illustrations (Taunton, 1853).
Thomas S Basnett, entered as a pupil at St Thomas's Hospital, 29 Sep 1775. He appears to have practiced as a surgeon in Nottingham.
Joseph Else was Surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, London from 1768 to 1780. He was appointed Lecturer in Anatomy and Surgery in 1768 on the unification of the medical schools of St Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals.
Publications: An essay on the cure of the hydrocele of the tunica vaginalis testis (London, 1770); The works of ... J. E., ... containing a treatise on the hydrocele, and other papers on different subjects in surgery. To which is added, an appendix, containing some cases of hydrocele ... by G Vaux (London, 1782); [An account of a successful method of treating sore legs.] Méthode avantageuse de traiter les ulcères des jambes in [Surgical tracts, containing a treatise upon ulcers of the legs.] Traité sur les ulcères des jambes, etc by Michael Underwood M D pp 217-228 (1744 [1784]).
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:
- To review current evidence-based published standards in the area of maternity practice.
- To derive from these documents agreed standards for maternity care, from prepregnancy through to the postnatal period.
- To complete the work within one year.
The final report was published in June 2008.
The first meeting of the Joint RCOG/Royal College of Radiologists Ultrasound Group was held on 27 February 1986. Its brief was to 'draw up a training programme for obstetric ultrasound for medical practitioners' (minutes, ref. C9/M/1). At its second meeting the group proposed that a Standing Joint Committee be established between the two Colleges. The Ultrasound Group produced a final report on its recommendations for a training programme and was dissolved on 10 November 1986 after four meetings. The Standing Joint Committee of the RCOG/RCR convened on 18 May 1987, having been established in response to the recommendations of the report of the Ultrasound Group. Its remit was 'to oversee the training in obstetric ultrasound in accordance with the Group's report' (minutes, ref. C9/M/1). The Committee was to promote and maintain standards in obstetric ultrasound generally, and to regulate and monitor training arrangements. It was also responsible for assessing and recommending approval of practical training centres, theoretical courses and trainees' log books. By 2008, the remit and objectives of the Committee remained the same; it reported to the Education Board of the RCOG and the RCR Council. The function of the Committee was to organise and supervise basic ultrasound training in obstetric ultrasound (MRCOG Logbook) and the Joint College Diploma. This included: recommending training standards; accrediting and monitoring practical training centres; organising the theoretical course; supervising other means of assessment such as logbooks and OSCE; responding with advice on issues raised by either College Council relating to Obstetric Ultrasound; raising with either College Council issues in obstetric ultrasound which the Committee felt should be considered more broadly.
The College acts as a pressure group and as an advisory body for the Department of Health, its predecessors and various government agencies, on particular issues relating to obstetrics and gynaecology. It also liaises on these issues with private and international organisations concerned with womens' health and the medical profession.
The National Health Service Act 1946 established a Central Health Services Council to advise the Minister of Health and this included, ex-officio, the presidents of the medical Royal Colleges. It also empowered him to constitute standing advisory committees to provide guidance on particular services. Initially, nine such committees were appointed, a Maternity and Midwifery Advisory Committee being one. In 1967 this considered the future of the domiciliary midwifery service and bed needs for maternity patients in the context of an increasing hospital confinement rate, a shorter length of hospital stay and a falling birth rate. It established a subcommittee to examine the issue. This held its first meeting in September 1967. Sir John Peel was elected Chairman. It met thirteen times and took evidence from a range of organisations and individuals. Its 1970 report, known as the Peel Report, was subsequently controversial for its recommendation that 'sufficient facilities shuld be provoided to allow for 100% hospital delivery' and that 'the greater safety of hospital confinement for mother and child justifies this objective.'
In 1968, the Ministry of Health was dissolved and its functions transferred (along with those of the similarly dissolved Ministry of Social Security) to the newly created Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS). (Twenty years later, these functions were split back into two government departments, forming the Department of Social Security (DSS) and the current Department of Health.)
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.
The working party was set up by the Council of the RCOG in 1989, under the chairmanship of Professor E M Symonds FRCOG, with the following terms of reference: "to review the current activities of the RCOG, to consider future strategy and to report through the Finance and Executive Committee to Council. All aspects of the work of the College and details of its present structure and function should be considered." (terms of reference of the working party, ref M50/1). The working party made its final report in 1991. The College Secretary's Office provided the secretariat for the working party.
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.
Florence May Peever enrolled with the Central Midwife's Board, 12 Dec 1925, she practised in Lancashire and West Yorkshire.
Stanley G Clayton was born on 13 September 1911. He was educated at King's College and King's College Hospital medical School, University of London. From 1947-1963 he was obstetrical and gynaecological surgeon at King's College Hospital, Queen Charlotte's Hospital and the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of London from 1963-1976, and from 1977 Emeritus Professor. He was editor of the College's Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 1969-1973, Vice President of the College from 1970-1973 and its President from 1973-1975.
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.
Eardley Lancelot Holland (1879-1967), kt, MD, Hon LLD, FRCP(Lond), FRCS(Eng), FRCS(Ed), Hon MMSA, was educated at Murchison Castle and King's College Hospital, where he became obstetric registrar and tutor in 1907. In 1916 he took up an appointment at the London Hospital, where he embarked on a programme of research into the causes of stillbirth at the request of the Ministry of Health. He served as an adviser in obstetrics to the Ministry of Health between 1937-1940 and on the outbreak of war in 1939 was responsible for organising the evacuation of pregnant women from London to the country. He played an important role in organising material for a report by the College to the Ministry on a national maternity service (see A5/4/3). He married twice and had three daughters.
Eardley Holland was a founder member of the Gynaecological Visiting Society and a Foundation Fellow of the RCOG. From 1929-1939 he held the position of Honorary Treasurer and he was for a time editor of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire. In 1946 he became President of the College.
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.
The bulk of the material comprises copies of papers produced by the College for circulation to Fellows and Members. The records have been retained here because they have not survived in the College's official papers.
John Bateman Lawson (1922-1997) MA, MB, Bchir, FRCS(Glasgow), FRCOG, has been a member of several committees of the College, including the Fellowship Selection Committee 1971-1976 and 1987-1989, Scientific Advisory and Pathology Committee 1972-1974, Postgraduate Committee 1978-1987, Examination Committee 1980-1987, Accreditation Committee 1981-1984, Council 1981-1983 and 1985-1989, Hospital Recognition Committee 1981-1987 and Higher Training Committee 1984-1987. He was Director of Postgraduate Studies 1981-1987 and Vice President from 1987-1989. He was also a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Ibadan, Nigeria, and was renowned for his work in African countries.
William Fletcher Shaw (1878-1961) was born near Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College (later the Victoria University of Manchester). In 1920 he was appointed Professor of systematic obstetrics and gynaecology in the University of Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1943. He was married twice, with three sons by his first marriage. He was knighted in 1942.
Fletcher Shaw was a gynaecologist of considerable distinction, with particular interests in conditions of the uterus and the use of analgesics in labour. He was an active member of medical societies, including the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, Gynaecological Travellers and the Gynaecological Visiting Society. He was the joint founder, with William Blair-Bell, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, its first Honorary Secretary, from 1929-1938, and President from 1938-1943. He was also the author of the first history of the College, Twenty-five years: the Story of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1954 (J & A Churchill Ltd, London, 1954).
It would appear that Fletcher Shaw kept in his personal custody much of his correspondence and other papers relating to the foundation of the College and to his terms of office as president and honorary secretary. He preserved them for their historical value and when he ceased to be president in 1943 he returned to an earlier plan to compose a history of the foundation of the College. In November 1950 the College's Council approved a proposal that it would pay for the publication of the history. Simultaneously, however, Fletcher Shaw appears to have wished to record for a distant posterity memories, judgements, and documents that he must have recognised could not be published during the lifetimes of his own contemporaries and the following generation. In 1953 the then President A A Gemmell suggested that the history should be extended beyond the foundation years to cover the entire period up to the present and that it should be published as part of the College's silver jubilee celebrations in 1954.
Fletcher Shaw resumed work with increased energy but his text aroused opposition, partly because of its account of the role of Victor Bonney in the College's formation, and partly because of its frankness. The publishers thought it actionable. After G F Gibberd (honorary secretary 1938-1947) had declined to revise the text Fletcher Shaw contacted a former student, Harvey Flack, who, with an assistant, prepared the text for publication. It was published as Twenty-five Years: The story of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1954 (hereafter cited as Twenty-five Years). (See e.g S34/73/3, S34/85/6, S34/70/7, S34/101. See also A4/4/15, A4/4/21a-b.) In his preface Fletcher Shaw praised Flack's skilful editing. Nevertheless it would appear that he felt that while compromise was necessary to ensure publication in 1954 it resulted in an incomplete account of events. It was apparently for this reason that he continued to revise and augment his different drafts and directed that after his death all his papers should be sent to the College. These papers therefore preserve all Fletcher Shaw's drafts together with supporting documentation, research notes, and specially prepared extracts from Council, and Finance and Executive Committee minutes, and from his personal diary. In the list below no serious attempt has been made to identify the relationship of the different drafts to the published text in Twenty-five Years.
One of Fletcher Shaw's motives in writing his accounts of the history of the College was to record his own recollections and perceptions of events in contradistinction to William Blair-Bell's. Fletcher Shaw knew that Blair-Bell had composed his own account of the early years of the College and he was concerned that this account might be unduly informed by Blair-Bell's own bitterness and regrets. (See in particular S34/3, S34/69/9). It is unlikely that Fletcher Shaw ever saw Blair-Bell's history as it remained in the custody of the latter's executors until 1970 when it came into the College's possession (it is now S33/1-2 - there is some correspondence between Blair-Bell and Fletcher Shaw in A4/4/22-24 on their respective plans).
In order to assist him in his composition the College Secretary W E Mallon sent Fletcher Shaw various papers and documents. Many of these are to be found among these papers. He also corresponded with some of his contemporaries and colleagues in order to make use of their recollections.
Bibliography: Sir John Peel, The Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1929-1969, Whitefriars Press Ltd, 1975, pp 38-40.
Thomas Norman Arthur Jeffcoate (1907-1992) specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology after qualifying with First Class Honours from Liverpool University in 1929. From 1930 until his retirement in 1972 he served on the teaching staff of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Liverpool. By 1933 he had been appointed Honorary Consultant at the Women's Hospital, Liverpool Maternity Hospital and the David Lewis Northern Hospital. In 1945 he became the University's first full-time Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He was President of the RCOG from 1969-1972 and was knighted in 1970.
William Gilliatt (1884-1956), KCVO, MD, MS, FRCP(Lond), Hon MMSA, was the son of a pharmacist. He graduated from the Middlesex Hospital in 1908 and held various posts there. In 1916 he was appointed assistant obstetric and gynaecological surgeon at King's College Hospital, becoming full surgeon in 1925. He remained at King's until his retirement in 1946. He also held the posts of obstetric surgeon to Queen Charlotte's Hospital and consulting surgeon to Bromley Cottage Hospital, the Maudsley Hospital and St Saviour's Hospital. He served for more than 20 years as gynaecologist to the Royal Family, attending the births of Prince Charles and Princess Anne. As a result of his relationship with the Royal family, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother accepted the office of patron of the College and the Honorary Fellowship. He was married with one daughter, and was knighted in 1948. He was killed in a car accident on 27 September 1956.
Gilliatt was a foundation fellow of the RCOG, and served on the Council from 1932 until his death. He was Honorary Secretary from 1942-1945 and became President in 1946 (bibliography: Sir John Peel, Lives of the Fellows, pp 169-172).
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.
Peter Chamberlen the elder (d.1631) was a surgeon and celebrated accoucheur, attending the queens of James I and Charles I. His name is connected with the short midwifery forceps, which he was probably the first of his family to use. His younger brother Peter (1572-1626), and grand nephew Peter (1601-1683) were also surgeons who employed and developed the Chamberlen instruments, but Peter the elder is usually credited with being their first user (Dictionary of National Biography Vol IV, OUP, 1917, pp 13-14).
James Young Simpson graduated from Edinburgh University in 1832. He was made President of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh in 1835 and became Professor of Midwifery there in 1839. He was especially famous for his advocacy and use of chloroform in obstetric practice, but was also renowned for his work in gynaecology and obsterics, particularly in the use of forceps and for various methods of ovariotomy.
The 'Charity for Attending and Delivering poor Married Women in their Lying in at their Respective Habitations', later known as the 'Lying-in Charity for Delivering Poor Married Women at their Own Habitations' and finally as the 'Royal Maternity Charity for Delivering Poor Married Women in their Own Habitations', was established in March 1757. Its main instigator was James Le Cour, an 'eminent jeweller' of Huguenot descent.
The Charity offered a service to 'sober and industrious' married women 'destitute of help in time of labour'. It supplied them with medicines, provided midwives for 'common cases' and surgeon accouchers or physicians for more 'difficult cases', allowing them to give birth more safely and comfortably in their own homes.
Those paying a yearly subscription became 'Governors' of the Charity, able to recommend a certain number of cases for every guinea donated. Initially, general meetings or 'courts' of Governors were held every quarter 'to receive the report of the Committee and regulate the affairs of the Charity'. A smaller Committee and Officers were elected annually to oversee day-to-day management. By the mid nineteenth century a pattern of Annual General Meetings and General Committee meetings was supplemented by those of a Medical Sub-committee, chaired by one of the Physicians, and other sub-committees, such as a Finance Committee.
Early meetings were held in various coffee houses and taverns in the City of London, mainly Will's Coffee House in Cornhill and the Bank Coffee House, Threadneedle Street. From the 1840s the Charity had its own premises in Finsbury Square, in 1918 moving to offices in John Street, and subsequently to 46 Bedford Row.
By the late nineteenth century the Charity employed the voluntary services of 'Visiting Ladies', 'for the purpose of lending material assistance in addition to medical, in cases of great necessity and destitution'. These ladies visited cases and handed out relief from the Charity's Samaritan Fund. In 1905 a further venture was a 'Training School for Midwives', preparing them for the new CMB examination. This was based at the house of the then Head Midwife in Paddington, with lectures being delivered by one of the Charity's Physicians.
By the mid twentieth century there were several other agencies providing a similar service, and the Charity was advised by the Ministry of Health to affiliate with another organisation. Its investments were transferred to the official trustee of charitable funds, and were used for grants to the Central Council for District Nursing in London. The Charity wound up its affairs in 1949.
Robert Barnes was born, 1817; apprentice to Dr Richard Griffin, Norwich, 1832; studied at University College London, and St George's Hospital; member of the Royal College of Surgeons; year in Paris; taught at the Hunterian School of Medicine and in the discipline of forensic medicine at the Dermott's School on Windmill Street; obstetrician at the Western General Dispensary; Doctor of Medicine, 1848; Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, 1848; obstetrical assistant, 1859; obstetrician in chief, (Royal) London Hospital, 1863; obstetrician in chief, St Thomas' Hospital, 1865; obstetrician in chief, St George's Hospital, 1875; consulting obstetrician, St George's Hospital, 1885; actively involved at The Seamen's Hospital, the East London Hospital for Children and the Royal Maternity Charity; one of the founding members of the Obstetrical Society of London, 1858; President of the Obstetrical Society of London, 1865-1866; founded the British Gynaecological Society, 1884, of which he was Honorary Chairman until his death; died, 1907.
John Preston Maxwell was born on 5 Dec 1871 in Birmingham, where his father, Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell, practised medicine.
He attended University College School, Hampstead and University College London, before taking his clinical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital, from which he emerged with a gold medal in obstetrics and went on to work as a resident at St Bartholomew's.
Then, following his devout Presbyterian faith, Maxwell became a Medical missionary for the English Presbyterian Church and, in about 1898, went to Yungchun Hospital at Fujian in China, where he spent the majority of his professional life. He specialised in obstetrics and was a leading authority on foetal osteomalacia. He became a Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Peking Union Medical College (a teaching hospital funded by the Rockefeller Foundation), President of the Chinese Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and worked as secretary to the medical committee of the Lord Mayor's Fund for the Relief of Distress in China. He was awarded the Army and Navy Medal by the Chinese Republic and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1929.
Maxwell returned to England at some point after 1935 (possibly as a result of the invasion of Beijing by the Japanese in 1937) and lived at Brinkley in Cambridgeshire. He was elected consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the nearby Newmarket General Hospital. He married and had one daughter; his wife, Lilly (who, as a proficient artist, illustrated some of her husband's research papers), predeceased him. John Preston Maxwell died suddenly near his home on 25 Jul 1961, at the age of 89.