Royal College of Surgeons of England

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Royal College of Surgeons of England, Lincoln's Inn Fields

The Royal College of Surgeons of England, often referred to simply as the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales. The College is located at Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. It publishes multiple medical journals including the Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Faculty Dental Journal, and the Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

History

Royal College of Surgeons, Court of Examiners (1894) by Henry Jamyn Brooks

The origins of the College date to the fourteenth century with the foundation of the 'Guild of Surgeons Within the City of London'.[1] Certain sources date this as occurring in 1368. There was ongoing dispute between the surgeons and barber surgeons until an agreement was signed between them in 1493, giving the fellowship of surgeons the power of incorporation.[2] This union was formalised further in 1540 by Henry VIII between the Worshipful Company of Barbers (incorporated 1462) and the Guild of Surgeons to form the Company of Barber-Surgeons. In 1745 the surgeons broke away from the barbers to form the Company of Surgeons. In 1800 the Company was granted a Royal Charter to become the Royal College of Surgeons in London. A further charter in 1843 granted it the present title of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Fellows

The correct way to address a member or fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons is to use the title Mr, Miss, Mrs, or Ms (not Dr). This system (which applies only to surgeons, not physicians) has its origins in the 16th century, when surgeons were barber-surgeons and did not have a medical degree (or indeed any formal qualification), unlike physicians, who held a University medical degree. When the College of Surgeons received its royal charter, the Royal College of Physicians insisted that candidates must have a medical degree first.[citation needed] Therefore, an aspiring surgeon had to study medicine first and received the title Doctor. Thereafter, having obtained the diploma of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons he would revert to the title "Mr" as a snub to the RCP. Nowadays the title "Mr" is used by Members of the College who have passed the diploma MRCS examination and the College addresses Members as "Mr" or "Ms".

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, the distinction is made in the following conversation:

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"Come, come, we are not so far wrong after all," said Holmes. "And now, Dr. James Mortimer--"

"Mister, sir, Mister--a humble M.R.C.S."

Despite Mortimer's correction, he is referred to as "Dr. Mortimer" throughout the story.

A biographical register of fellows is available on Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online

The main exhibit room, Hunterian Museum, woodblock engraving by T.H.Shepperd & E.Radclyffe, London, 1853 (Dr. Nuno Carvalho de Sousa collection, Lisbon)

Buildings

The Company of Surgeons moved from Surgeon's Hall in Old Bailey to a site at 41 Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1797. Construction of the first College building, to a design by George Dance the Younger, and James Lewis, took from 1805 to 1813. In 1833 Sir Charles Barry won the public competition to design a replacement. The library and portico of this building are all that remain today after a German incendiary bomb hit the College in 1941.[citation needed]

The exterior of the building was one of the filming location of Agatha Christie's Poirot episode The Mystery of the Spanish Chest.[3]

Hunterian Museum

The skeleton of the seven and a half foot (231cm) tall "Irish Giant" is visible in the middle of this image.

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In 1799 the government purchased the collection of John Hunter which they presented to the College. This formed the basis of the Hunterian Collection, which has since been supplemented by others including an Odontological Collection (curated by A E W Miles until the early 1990s) and the natural history collections of Richard Owen.

The Hunterian Museum displays thousands of anatomical specimens, including the Evelyn tables and the skeleton of the "Irish giant" Charles Byrne, surgical instruments, and paintings and sculptures about medical individuals and medicine.[4]

Faculties

Medals, Awards and Lectures

The Cheselden Medal was instituted in 2009 in honour of William Cheselden "to recognise unique achievements in, and exceptional contributions to, the advancement of surgery". The award is made at irregular intervals to reflect the outstanding qualities required of recipients and is deemed one of the College’s highest professional honours.[5]

The Royal Colleges' Bronze Medal was instituted in 1957 and is awarded jointly with the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. It is awarded annually "on the nomination of the Medical Group of the Royal Photographic Society for the outstanding example of photography in the service of medicine and surgery".

The Wood Jones Medal was instituted in 1975 to commemorate Frederic Wood Jones (Sir William Collins Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy and Conservator of the Anatomy Museum 1945-52). It is awarded occasionally (triennially until 1994) by a Committee "for contributions to anatomical knowledge or the teaching of anatomy in the tradition of Frederic Wood Jones".

The Clement-Price Award was founded in 1958 with a gift of 1,000 guineas from members of the staff of the Westminster Hospital in honour of Sir Clement Price Thomas. It is awarded triennially, or at such other interval as the President may decide, by the Council on the recommendation of the Fellowship Election and Prize Committee, "in recognition of meritorious contributions to surgery in its widest sense, without restriction of candidature".

The Lister Medal has been awarded since 1924 (mostly on a triennial basis), after the College was entrusted in 1920 with administrating the Lister Memorial Fund, in memory of pioneering British surgeon Joseph Lister. The award is decided in conjunction with the Royal Society, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow. In addition to being presented with a medal, the recipient delivers the Lister Oration at the College.

The Honorary Gold Medal was instituted in 1802 and is awarded at irregular intervals "for liberal acts or distinguished labours, researches and discoveries eminently conducive to the improvement of natural knowledge and of the healing art". Recipients to date include Sir Victor Negus, Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Sir Stanford Cade (all three in 1969), Professor Harold Ellis (1998), Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (2002) and Dr Barry J. Marshall (2005).

The Bradshaw Lecture was founded in 1875 under the will of Mrs Sally Hall Bradshaw in memory of her husband, Dr William Wood Bradshaw. It is a biennial (annual until 1993) lecture on surgery, customarily given by a senior member of the Council on or about the day preceding the second Thursday of December. (Given in alternate years, with the Hunterian Oration given in the intervening years). Not to be confused with the corresponding Bradshaw Lectures delivered to the Royal College of Physicians. See Bradshaw Lecture for list of past lectures and lecturers.

The Hunterian Oration was founded in 1853 when a bequest was made by the executors of John Hunter's will, to provide for an annual dinner and oration in memory of the famous surgeon. It is now delivered biennially.

Current and past Presidents

Name Presidential term
Clare Marx July 2014 on[6]
Norman Stanley Williams 2011–2014[7]
John Black 2008-11[8]
Bernard Ribeiro 2005-08[9]
Hugh Phillips 2004–05[10]
Sir Peter Morris 2001-04[11]
Barry Jackson 1998-2001
Sir Rodney Sweetnam 1995-98
Sir Norman Browse 1992-95
Sir Terence English 1989-92
Sir Ian Todd 1986-89
Geoffrey Slaney 1982-86
Sir Alan Parks 1980-82
Sir Reginald Murley 1977-80
Rodney Smith, Baron Smith 1973-77
Edward Muir 1972
Thomas Holmes Sellors 1969-72
Hedley Atkins 1966-69
Russell Brock, Baron Brock 1963-66
Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt 1960-63[12]
James Paterson Ross 1957-60
Harry Platt 1954-57
Cecil Wakeley 1949-54
Sir Alfred Webb-Johnson 1941-48
Hugh Lett 1938-40
Cuthbert Sidney Wallace 1935-37
Holburt Jacob Waring 1932-34
Berkeley Moynihan 1926-31
Sir John Bland-Sutton 1923-23
Anthony Alfred Bowlby 1920-22
George Henry Makins 1917-19
Sir William Watson Cheyne 1914-16
Rickman Godlee 1911–1913
Henry Trentham Butlin 1909-11
Sir Henry Morris, 1st Baronet 1906-08
John Tweedy 1903-05
Sir Henry Howse 1901-02
William MacCormac 1896–1900
Christopher Heath 1895
John Whitaker Hulke 1893-94
Thomas Bryant 1890-92
Jonathan Hutchinson 1889
Sir William Scovell Savory 1885-88
John Cooper Forster 1884
John Marshall 1883
Thomas Spencer Wells 1882
William James Erasmus Wilson 1881
John Eric Erichsen 1880
Luther Holden 1879
John Simon 1878
John Birkett 1877
Prescott Gardner Hewett 1876
James Paget 1875
Frederick Le Gros Clark 1874
Thomas Blizard Curling 1873
Henry Hancock 1872
George Busk 1871
William Fergusson 1870
Edward Cock 1869
Richard Quain 1868
John Hilton 1867
Richard Partridge 1866
Thomas Wormald 1865
Joseph Hodgson 1864
Frederic Carpenter Skey 1863
James Luke 1862
Caesar Henry Hawkins 1861
John Flint South 1860
James Moncrieff Arnott 1859
Joseph Henry Green 1858
Edward Stanley 1857
Benjamin Travers 1856
William Lawrence 1855
George James Guthrie 1854
James Luke 1853
Caesar Hawkins 1852
John Flint South 1851
James Moncrieff Arnott 1850
Joseph Henry Green 1849
Edward Stanley 1848
Benjamin Travers 1847
William Lawrence 1846
Samuel Cooper 1845
Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet 1844
John Goldwyer Andrews 1843
Anthony White 1842
George James Guthrie 1841
John Painter Vincent 1840
Robert Keate 1839
Honoratus Leigh Thomas 1838
Sir Anthony Carlisle 1837
Astley Paston Cooper 1836
John Goldwyer Andrews 1835
Anthony White 1834
George James Guthrie 1833
John Painter Vincent 1832
Robert Keate 1831
Richard Clement Headington 1830
Honoratus Leigh Thomas 1829
Sir Anthony Carlisle 1828
Astley Paston Cooper 1827
John Abernethy 1826
William Lynn 1825
William Norris 1824
Henry Cline 1823
William Blizard 1822
Everard Home 1821-22

Past Masters - Royal College of Surgeons

Name Magisterial term
Thompson Foster 1820
Sir David Dundas 1819
Thomas Keate 1818
George Chandler 1817
Sir James Earle 1817
William Norris 1816
Henry Cline 1815
William Blizard 1814
Everard Home 1813
Thompson Foster 1812
David Dundas 1811
Sir Charles Blicke 1810
Thomas Keate 1809
George Chandler 1808
Sir James Earle 1807
Charles Hawkins 1806
Thompson Forster 1805
David Dundas 1804
Sir Charles Blicke 1803
Thomas Keate 1802
George Chandler 1801
William Long 1800

Past Masters - Company of Surgeons

Name Magisterial term
Charles Hawkins 1799–1800
James Earle 1798
John Gunning 1797
Isaac Minors 1796
William Cooper 1795
William Walker 1794
John Wyatt 1793
Samuel Howard 1792
William Lucas 1791
Charles Hawkins 1790
John Gunning 1789
Henry Watson 1788
Edmund Pitts 1787
Isaac Minors 1786
Henry Watson 1785
Joseph Warner 1784
Richard Grindall 1782-3
Peter Triquet 1781
Joseph Warner 1780
Fleming Pinkstan 1779
Pennell Hawkins 1778
Robert Young 1776-77
Richard Grindall 1775
Matthew Spray 1774
Joseph Warner 1773
John Pyle 1772
Wentworth Gregory 1770-71
William Bromfield 1769
Benjamin Cowell 1768
Robert Adair 1767
Stafford Crane 1766
Percivall Pott 1765
Robert Young 1764
John Blagden 1763
John Townsend 1762
David Middleton 1761
Edward Nourse 1760
Christopher Fullagar 1759
Mark Hawkins 1758
William Singleton 1757
John Westbrook 1756
Noah Roul 1755
James Hickes 1754
Legard Sparham 1753
John Ranby 1751-52
Peter Sainthill 1749-50
Caesar Hawkins 1748
John Freke 1747
William Cheselden 1746
John Ranby 1745

See also

References

  1. Louis Kuo Tai Fu (2000)The origins of surgery. 2: From barbers to surgeons Annals of the College of Surgeons Hong Kong 4 (1), 35–49. doi:10.1046/j.1442-2034.2000.00029.x
  2. http://www.hom.ucalgary.ca/Dayspapers2003.pdf, page 118
  3. [1]
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External links

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