Royal College of Surgeons of England

Coordinates: 51°30′55″N 0°6′57″W / 51.51528°N 0.11583°W / 51.51528; -0.11583

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

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.

History

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]. There was 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.

Fellows

The original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) include:

• John Abernethy (1764–1831)
• John Badley (1783–1870)
• Robert Keate (1777–1857)
• Richard Partridge (1805–1873)

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 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. Before long, a survey by Sir John Soane uncovered structural defects. 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.

Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England

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

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

Faculties

• Faculty of Dental Surgery
• Faculty of General Dental Practice

Presidents

See also

• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Association of Surgeons in Training
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
• Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills: [1]

External links

• Official website
• Hunterian Museum and Wellcome Museum website

References