The London Hospital Medical College was a medical and later dental school based at the London Hospital (later Royal London Hospital) in Whitechapel, London. Founded in 1785, it was the first purpose-built medical college in England. It merged with the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1995 to form Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
History
From the 1740s onwards, permission had been given to members of the staff at the London Hospital to give lectures on the hospital's premises, and in 1873 two members, William Blizard and James Maddocks, proposed to the committee that a medical school be established, organised along the lines of a university. Although the hospital made no fincancial contributions, the committee did allocate a plot of land to the east of the hospital on which to build a lecture theatre and museum, which opened in October 1785.[1]
By 1854 the existing buildings were proving inadequate and new buildings were opened on Turner Street, which are still in use today.[2]
The school functioned as an unincorporated general medical school of the University of London (which it joined in 1900) until it was formally incorporated as the London Hospital Medical College on 30 March 1949.[3]
In 1968 the Royal Commission on Medical Education concluded that the number of medical schools in London at the time (12) was too many, and that the existing schools be paired to produce six medical schools.[4] As a result, an association was developed between the college and the nearby Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, along with the then Queen Mary College, and in 1989 pre-clinical teaching at the two colleges was merged at the Queen Mary campus in Mile End. In 1995 the two colleges, along with Queen Mary and Westfield College (now Queen Mary University of London), merged to form Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Notable people
Notable alumni
- Robert D. Acland
- Henry Bedson
- Alfred Broughton
- Bruce Bruce-Porter
- James Calder
- William Carr
- Mark Caulfield
- Gordon King
- Mark Pallen
- Hudson Taylor
References
- ^ "THE LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE". The National Archives. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "The London Hospital Medical College". Queen Mary University of London. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "Queen Mary and Westfield College Act 1995". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "MEDICAL EDUCATION: THE TODD REPORT". Hansard. Retrieved 28 January 2024.