Royal College of Surgeons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal College of Surgeons of England, one of the Royal Surgical Colleges is an independent professional body for to promoting the standards of surgical care (including dentistry) in England and Wales. It is situated at Lincoln's Inn Fields in London.
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[edit] History
The college originated in 1540, when Henry VIII of England joined the Worshipful Company of Barbers (incorporated 1462) and the Guild of Surgeons to form the Company of Barber-Surgeons. In 1745 the surgeons separated from the barbers to form the Company of Surgeons. In 1800 the Company was granted a Royal Charter as the Royal College of Surgeons in London; the name changed in 1843 to Royal College of Surgeons of England.
[edit] Buildings
The Company moved from Surgeon's Hall near the Old Bailey to a site at 41 Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1797. The first College building there was designed by George Dance the Younger and James Lewis; construction took from 1805 to 1813. A survey by Sir John Soane later found structural defects, and 1833 Sir Charles Barry won a public competition in 1833 for a replacement. Most of the building was destroyed by a German incendiary bomb in 1941; only the library and portico of this building remain.
[edit] Hunterian and Wellcome Museums
In 1799 the government purchased the collection of John Hunter and presented it to the College. This formed the basis of the Hunterian Collection, subsequently supplemented by others, such as that of Richard Owen. Many specimens were destroyed by the 1941 bomb. The College also houses the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology. The College museums reopened in February 2005 after a major renovation. The Hunterian Museum is open to the general public, the Wellcome Museum only to medical practitioners and students.
There is a larger institution called the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.
