Guy's Hospital Medical College

Guy's Hospital was founded in 1721 by Thomas Guy, a bookseller and publisher in London who made a large fortune from his business. As required by his will, an Act of Parliament was passed in 1725 establishing the Corporation of Governors for Guy's Hospital. The Governors administered the estates acquired by the hospital and managed the hospital through a committee (the Court of Committees) of twenty-one men named by Guy, including four doctors. Meetings of the General Court were short and occupied by formal business. The management of the two hospitals was at first closely associated, with Guy's seen as an annexe to Thomas's. All the arrangements and procedures at St Thomas's were adopted by Guy's, and there were some joint Governors and they had the same Treasurer until 1839.

Before 1925 there was no formal constitution in existence for the Medical School. The two principal committees of the Medical School were the School Meeting, which dealt with School policy, and the Staff Meeting, which recommended staff appointments to the General Court or the Court of Committee. Important matters of policy and finance and all recommendations for appointments to the visiting staff of the hospital were discussed at Staff Meetings, which were called as the need arose. Originally attended by clinical staff, all senior members of staff were later called to attend. The annual School Meeting, presided over by the Treasurer, was attended by all the teachers in the School. At these meetings the Treasurer made a brief statement of the financial position and announced the value of the 'share' for the preceding year. The 'share' was the method of renumeration of the clinical staff until 1925, when it was replaced by a nominal salary. The Dental Council dealt with student entry and the general business of the Dental School, and the Medical Council dealt with student entry relating to the Medical School. Financial matters were overseen and regulated by the Finance Committee. The Medical Examining Council was established in 1846 to select which students should become dressers, clinical clerks, assistants and resident obstetric clerks. It became known as the Medical Council from 1866.

Under a new Scheme of Management, which became operative in October 1925, the constitution of the Medical School was reorganised and placed on a formal footing. A Board of Governors was created and made responsible directly to the Court. A School Council was established (taking the responsibilities of the School Meeting) to take responsibility for the administration of the school and policy, including appointing officers and teachers, subject to the powers of the Governors. All university professors and readers, heads of non-clinical departments were members, and representatives of the Medical Committee were elected to the Council. The School Council later became known as the Academic Board. The School buildings continued to legally owned by the Hospital Governors

In 1941 the school set up a Post-war Planning Committee, which later amalgamated with a similar committee set up by the Governors of the Hospital. The School Governors became known as the Council of Governors from 1947, and on the foundation of the National Health Service in 1948 the Medical School became a separate legal entity from the Hospital.

The Medical Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals reunited as the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals (UMDS) in 1982. The new institution was then enlarged by the amalgamation of the Royal Dental Hospital of London School of Dental Surgery with Guy's Dental School on 1 August 1983 and the addition on the Institute of Dermatology on 1 August 1985. In 1990 King's College London began discussions with the United Schools and, following formal agreement to merge in 1992 and the King's College London Act 1997, the formal merger with UMDS took place on 1 August 1998. The merger created three new schools: the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Schools of Medicine, of Dentistry and of Biomedical Sciences, and reconfigured part of the former School of Life, Basic Medical & Health Sciences as the new School of Health & Life Sciences.

The Evelina Children's Hospital was founded by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1869, in memory of his wife Evelina. The hospital became closely associated with Guy's Hospital, and was closed in 1975.