Royal College of Surgeons of England
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
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. 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:
"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
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.
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
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
- Faculty of Dental Surgery
- Faculty of General Dental Practice
- Faculty of Anaesthetists - Until 1988, now the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
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
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
- Hunterian Oration
- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Association of Surgeons in Training
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills
References
- ↑ 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
- ↑ http://www.hom.ucalgary.ca/Dayspapers2003.pdf, page 118
- ↑
- ↑ "Collections". Hunterian Museum. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
- ↑ "Terms of reference for Fellowship, Election and Prize Committee". Royal College of Surgeons. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
- ↑ "First Female President Elected at the Royal College of Surgeons". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
- ↑ "New President for Royal College of Surgeons". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ↑ "New President for Royal College of Surgeons". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ↑ "New President for Royal College of Surgeons". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 14 July 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ↑ "Hugh Phillips". London: The Independent. 16 July 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ↑ "New President for Royal College of Surgeons". Royal College of Surgeons of England. 7 July 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
- ↑ G, H. H. (4 January 1994). "Lord Porritt". London: The Independent. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal College of Surgeons of England, London. |
- Official website
- Hunterian Museum and Wellcome Museum website
- Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online
- London Museums of Health and Medicine
Coordinates: 51°30′55″N 0°6′57″W / 51.51528°N 0.11583°W