The Royal College of Surgeons of England

In 1745 a split in the Company of Barber-Surgeons [est. 1540] led to the formation of The Company of Surgeons. The Company of Surgeons obtained a Royal Charter in 1800 and became the Royal College of Surgeons of London. A new charter in 1843 led to the current name The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The Company of Surgeons started by keeping the bylaws of the Barber-Surgeons, which mean that they elected a Court of Assistants consisting of twenty one members including a Master and two wardens. From the Court of Assistants was chosen a ten member Court of Examiners testing students at the end of their apprenticeship. Despite a change in the bylaws of Apr 1748 stipulating that the Court of Assistants should meet every month this did not happen and the Assistants rarely met and so until 1799 the Company was under the effective control of the Master, Wardens and Examiners. The Examiners remained in post for life. The examinations were well administered but the running of the Company was subject to much criticism without a proper lecture theatre, or library. A Royal Charter was obtained in 1800 changing the name of the Company but the administration was still basically the same. Proposed changes in the constitution were delayed by failure of the College to gain control of surgical education in the wake of the Apothecaries Act of 1815 and it was only in 1822, William IV agreed to allow amendments to the charter and from that time on the College was controlled by a President, two Vice Presidents and a Council.

The Council discussed all aspects of policy, membership and its members also sat on a number of committees to cover the main activities of the College relating to finance, examinations, library, museums, discipline, building projects etc.

The day to day running of the College was given to a Secretary - there have only been eight incumbents of this role since 1800. Two Assistant Secretaries were created after the Second World War- one of whom was in control of finance. The other principal employees were Conservator of the museums from 1800; Librarian from 1828 and Secretary to the Conjoint Examining Board from 1888 [to administer the examinations system which was jointly run with the Royal College of Physicians].

From 1931 the College supported a research institute called the Buckston Browne Research Farm at Darwin's former home at Downe in Kent and laboratories were also built in extensions to the College's buildings at Lincoln's Inn Fields between from 1937 until the 1950s. The title of the Conservator was changed in 1933 to include Conservator and Director of Research. These posts were separated in 1941 with the creation of the Bernhard Baron Research Professorship, and the following year chairs were created in anatomy and pathology - each chair had a well equipped laboratory and post graduate teaching was established as part of the Institute of Basic Medical Research [IBMS]. The IBMS was a constituent part of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation of the University of London and had its own committee of Management, Academic Board and Dean and received funding from the University of London. By 1959, there were six Scientific departments in the IBMS - anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, opthalmology, and biochemistry. Two other Research Departments, of Dental Surgery and Anaesthetics, were part of the corresponding Faculties of the College with more independence than the other departments. The Faculty of Anaesthetists broke away entirely in 1988 with the formation of a separate Royal College of Anaesthetists. In 1986 the IBMS was dissolved but many of the research departments continued under a newly created Hunterian Institute, funded entirely by the College. Work at the Buckston Browne Research Farm was also drastically reduced at this time, with a complete cessation of all research at Downe by 1989. A decision was taken in 1992 for the Hunterian Institute to come to an end, and an Education department was formed in 1993 to take over the post graduate training courses for surgeons, dental surgeons and general practitioners. In 1996, the last research department of the Hunterian Institute based at the College - the Pharmacology department - was closed.

In 1990, the structure of administration of the College was revised with the creation of five boards - External Affairs, Training, Finance, Academic and Internal Affairs - with several specialised committees e.g. Regional Training Committee reporting to the appropriate Board and the Boards themselves reporting the Council. Also created were a Presidential Board of Surgical Specialities and a Welsh Board. By 1992 the Academic Board had gone to be replaced by an Examinations Board, Research Board and an Education Board and in 1997 the Internal Affairs Board was abolished.

From 1746 the Company of Surgeons leased a site at the Old Bailey next to Newgate Prison and George Dance built them a hall between 1847 and 1851. The Company was not a guild and the connection with the city lessened and it was thought better to move further west and in 1797 number 41 Lincoln's Inn Fields was purchased followed by number 42 in 1802. At one time the College the owned numbers 35 to 49 Lincoln's Inn Fields but in 1967 numbers 47-49 were sold to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

Between 1886 and 1908 the conjoint MRCS examinations were run from a purpose built building on The Embankment, which was then sold to the Institute of Electrical Engineers. New premises were found at 8-11 Queen's Square, Bloomsbury until 1993 when examinations moved back to Lincoln's Inn Fields.