Epidemiological Society of London

The Epidemiological Society of London was founded in London in 1850 with the objective of investigating the causes and conditions which influence the origin, propagation, mitigation, and prevention of epidemic disease. The society became a part of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1907.^[1]

Following a severe outbreak of cholera in England in 1831-32 a London physician, J.H.Tucker, proposed in a letter to the Lancet that a society should be formed to specifically study epidemics. The first meeting of the Epidemiological Society of London took place on 6 May 1850 in Hanover Square, London. At a follow up meeting in July, chaired by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a constitution was agreed and officers appointed. Dr. Benjamin Guy Babington, a Guy's Hospital physician, was elected as the first President of the society, whose agreed objectives were:

to institute rigid examination into the causes and conditions which influence the origin, propagation, mitigation, and prevention of epidemic diseases
to institute...original and comprehensive researches into the nature and laws of disease
to communicate with government and legislature on matters connected with the prevention of epidemic diseases.^[1]

The seal of the society included the Latin words, venienti occurrite morbo (confront disease at its onset).^[1]

For the first ten years of its existence the society's activities were reported in the Lancet, the British Medical Journal, the Medical Times and the Sanitary Review. Thereafter the proceedings were reported in Transactions of the Epidemiological Society of London. The society held regular meetings at which papers were presented. In 1900 the society held its final Commemoration Dinner. In 1907 it became the Epidemiology and State Medicine section of the Royal Society of Medicine.^[2]

Awards

The Edward Jenner medal was instituted by the society in 1896 to commemorate the centenary of Edward Jenner’s first vaccination of a boy against smallpox. It features on one side the head of Jenner and on the other the globe emblem of the Epidemiological Society. It was first presented in 1898 to Sir William Henry Power.^[3]

Past Presidents

1903–1904 Benjamin Arthur Whitelegge
1902–1903 William Henry Corfield
1900–1902 Sir Patrick Manson
1898–1900 H Franklin Parsons
1896–1898 John Lane Notter
1894–1896 Sir Shirley Forster Murphy
1892–1894 Joseph Frank Payne
1890–1892 Sir Joseph Ewart
1889–1890 Sir Thomas Crawford
1887–1889 Sir Richard Thorne Thorne
1885–1887 Walter Dickson
1883–1885 Norman Chevers
1881–1883 George Buchanan
1879–1881 Sir Joseph Fayrer
1877–1879 John Murray
1875–1877 John Netten Radcliffe
1873–1875 Sir William Smart
1871–1873 Robert Lawson
1868-1871
1866–1868 Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet
1864–1866 Gavin Milroy
1850–1864 Benjamin Guy Babington

References

1 2 3 "Origin of London Epidemiological Society". UCLA. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
↑ "The influence of the London Epidemiological Society". Yale Journal of Biology and Medicide. 46 (1): 29–31. PMC 2591793 .
↑ "The Epidemiological Society of Great Britain Medal". Archives Hub. Retrieved 2012-10-22.

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