Medical Society of London

The archives of the Medical Society of London comprise constitutional records; minutes of Council, committee, general and ordinary meetings; membership records; financial and estate management records; records of books owned and lent by the society's library; Fothergillian Prize committee records and prize essays; and a small group of committee minutes, attendance books and other records generated by societies with which the Medical Society of London was associated (notably the Westminster Medical Society with which the society merged in 1850).

The majority of the records date from the early 19th century or later, although constitutional records, Council and ordinary meeting minutes, cash account books and library catalogues survive from the society's inception in 1773.

By section as follows:

A. Constitution

B. Council

C. Committees

D. Meetings

E. Membership

F. Finance

G. Estate Management

H. Library

J. Fothergillian Prize

K. Other Societies

The Medical Society of London was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthropist Dr John Coakley Lettsom (1744-1815) for physicians, surgeons and apothecaries who met to exchange medical news and confer about difficult cases. The first President was John Millar (1773-1775). As founder, president (1775-1776, 1784-1785, 1808-1811, 1813-1815), and benefactor Lettsom was the mainstay of the Society from 1773 until his death in 1815.

The first premises of the society were in Crane Court, off Fleet Street and close to the Royal Society. In 1787 Lettsom bought a house for the society in Bolt Court, opposite Samuel Johnson's house. In 1850 the society moved to Hanover Square after merger with the Westminster Medical Society. Finally, in 1873 the society acquired its present home in Chandos Street.

The Medical Society of London quickly reached prominence on the London medical scene. In July and August 1773, the society passed two laws which laid down that 'the Council of the Society shall consist of three physicians, three surgeons and three apothecaries, amd that the number of members of the Society shall be limited to thirty physicians, thirty surgeons and thirty apothecaries'. By 1789 there were 250 fellows with 50 overseas corresponding members from all over the world, including from St Petersburg, Jamaica, Milan, and Philadelphia.

A quarrel in 1805 caused some members of the Medical Society of London to leave and form the Medico-Chirurgical Society, but this did not divert the original society from its main purpose. Many other societies were formed in London on the Medical Society's model, for the study of special subjects, but none of these had a comparable influence.

When, in 1907, the Medico-Chirurgical Society joined with many other medical societies to form the Royal Society of Medicine, the Medical Society of London did not think it wise to join the new society but continued its original function: to provide a regular series of meetings, with discussions on every branch of medicine or surgery, for an audience of both general practitioners and specialists. Therefore, the society has been involved with most of the advances and controversies in medicine over the past two centuries.

The society meets fortnightly during the academic year, as it did in 1773. With the advance of medicine, so the nature of meetings has changed. Initially the emphasis was on current epidemics and the diseases of the poor; in the 19th century smallpox, cholera, and anaesthesia were popular topics; during the world wars of the 20th century Fellows were preoccupied by the medical challenges posed by war.

Not all meetings consisted of papers, discussions, and medical intelligence. Specimens, patients, and equipment (such as new instruments for military surgery or resuscitation apparatus from Paris) were also exhibited from time to time.

Since the 1990s lectures have diversified so as to appeal to an audience that includes guests and spouses as well as representatives of the many branches of the medical profession. Throughout, the society has been successful in organising meetings of interest to its broadly based membership.

The Medical Society of London retains a small collection of archives, mainly papers created by or relating to Dr John Coakley Lettsom:

Three Lettsom letterbooks:

3 fascicule boxes of Lettsom material (available on microfilm at the Wellcome Library, reference AMS/MF/4/17):

Manuscript volume entitled 'Medical Memoirs vol. 1' (papers read by MSL members and Fellows and sent by corresponding members, 1774-1794)

For queries regarding research access to this material, please contact: Commander Roger Ireland MBE ACIS, Registrar, Medical Society of London, 11 Chandos Street, London W1G 9EB, tel. 020 7580 1043, medicalsoclondon@btconnect.com.

A substantial part of the Medical Society of London's library (about 10,000 volumes) was transferred on deposit to the Wellcome Library in 1967. The sale of these books to the Wellcome was finally agreed in 1984. Much of what remained with the Society was sold in 1971 to Jason Hannah, founder of the Canadian insurance company Associated Medical Services. These books are now in the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto. Other books were sold at Sotheby's in 1970 and 1971. A few hundred are still held by the Society.

The Wellcome Library surveyed the records of the Medical Society of London in the 1990s as part of the Library's Medical Archives and Manuscripts Survey (click here for the survey reports). The following items were identified at the Medical Society of London during the survey but were not transferred to the Wellcome Library in 2009, and are presumed either to have gone missing since the survey or to have been mis-identified during the survey:

The Medical Society of London retains a small collection of archives, mainly papers created by or relating to Dr John Coakley Lettsom:

Three Lettsom letterbooks:

3 fascicule boxes of Lettsom material (available on microfilm at the Wellcome Library, reference AMS/MF/4/17):

Manuscript volume entitled 'Medical Memoirs vol. 1' (papers read by MSL members and Fellows and sent by corresponding members, 1774-1794)

For queries regarding research access to this material, please contact: Commander Roger Ireland MBE ACIS, Registrar, Medical Society of London, 11 Chandos Street, London W1G 9EB, tel. 020 7580 1043, medicalsoclondon@btconnect.com.