Wellcome Museum of Medical Science

The Wellcome Museum of Medical Science (WMMS) was established by Andrew Balfour. The Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories (WTRL) in Khartoum included a museum of material which he had collected in the course of its work, and he had also undertaken medical exhibitions in Dresden and Ghent dealing with selected tropical diseases. In 1913 Balfour returned to London to direct the Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research (WBSR) and proposed the establishment of a Museum of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In 1914 the museum was established, reporting to the WBSR for administration and finance.

The exhibits came from the Dresden and Ghent exhibitions, supplemented by a variety of largely zoological material relating to tropical medicine collected by Balfour and his staff during their overseas travels. In 1919 Dr George Buchanan, who had worked in the laboratories in Khartoum, was appointed first full-time Curator. He was succeeded by Dr S H Daukes who had organised the visual teaching at the Leeds School of Army Hygiene. The Museum was chiefly concerned with the prophylaxis of tropical diseases, with special reference to their cause, transmission and methods of prevention.

In 1920 the Museum of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the WBSR expanded and moved to premises on the corner of Euston Road and Gordon Street. In 1923 the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was established and in 1924 the Museum of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene was re-named the Wellcome Museum of Medical Science (WMMS). In 1932 it relocated to the ground floor of the Wellcome Building at 183 Euston Road.

It was closed from 1939-1946 and re-opened after the war in a reduced size. Its activities dovetailed with the Wellcome Laboratories of Tropical Medicine which were established at this time as successors to the former WBSR. In 1985 the functions of the WMMS were taken over by the Wellcome Tropical Institute (WTI).

For further information see WA/MMS/PU/1.