The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity (212808) 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.
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The origins of the College go back 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 of England 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.
The original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) include:
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. The title {Mr} only applied to Fellows, not Members with the diploma MRCS. In fact members of the College (holding a MRCS) are referred to as Mr and the College addresses them as such.
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
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.
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 and the natural history collections of Richard Owen. The museum displays thousands of anatomical specimens, including the Evelyn tables and the skeleton of the "Irish giant" Charles Byrne, and many surgical instruments
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.[3]
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 oration was founded in 1813 by the executors of John Hunter's will, his nephew Dr Matthew Baillie and his brother-in-law Sir Everard Home, who made a gift to the College to provide an annual oration and a dinner for Members of the Court of Assistants and others. In 1853 the oration and dinner became biennial and is held on alternate years in rotation with the Bradshaw Lecture. It is delivered by a Fellow or Member of the college on Feb 14th, Hunter's birthday, "such oration to be expressive of the merits in comparative anatomy, physiology, and surgery, not only of John Hunter, but also of all persons, as should be from time to time deceased, whose labours have contributed to the improvement or extension of surgical science". The RCS Oration is not to be confused with the Hunterian Society Oration given at the Hunterian Society.
| Name | Presidential term |
|---|---|
| John Black | 2008-11[36] |
| Bernard Ribeiro | 2005-08[37] |
| Hugh Phillips | 2004–05[38] |
| Professor Sir Peter Morris | 2001-04[39] |
| Barry Jackson | 1998-2001 |
| Rodney Sweetnam | 1995-98 |
| Professor Sir Norman Browse | 1992-95 |
| Terence English | 1989-92 |
| Ian Todd | 1986-89 |
| Geoffrey Slaney | 1982-86 |
| Alan Parks | 1980-82 |
| Reginald Murley | 1977-80 |
| Rodney 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[40] |
| James Patterson Ross | 1957-60 |
| Harry Platt | 1954-57 |
| Cecil Wakeley | 1949-54 |
| Alfred Webb Johnson | 1941-48 |
| Hugh Lett | 1938-40 |
| Cuthbert Wallace | 1935-37 |
| Holburt Jaconb Waring | 1932-34 |
| Berkeley Moynihan | 1926-31 |
| 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 |
| Henry Morris | 1906-08 |
| John Tweedy | 1903-05 |
| Henry Greenaway 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 Erichson | 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 | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Holburt Jaconb Waring 1932-34 should be Holburt Jacob Waring 1932-34