Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Last updated

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
AbbreviationRCPE
Established1681;343 years ago (1681)
Type Medical royal colleges
Location
Coordinates 55°57′18″N3°11′47″W / 55.9550°N 3.1965°W / 55.9550; -3.1965
Membership (2023)
14,000
President
Andrew Elder
Affiliations
Website www.rcpe.ac.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
The facade of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. The facade of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinbrugh, 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland.JPG
The façade of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. [1] It was established by Royal charter in 1681. The college has over 14,000 fellows and members worldwide, who are given the honor of using the post-nominal FRCPE, F.R.C.P.E, or F.R.C.P.(Edin). [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

The RCPE was formed by a royal charter, granted in 1681, with Sir Robert Sibbald recognised as playing a key part in the negotiations. [5] Three applications preceded this and had been unsuccessful. [6] :49 There were 21 original Fellows, eleven of whom were graduates or students of the University of Leiden. [5] :652 The Universities (Scotland) Act 1858 resulted in several items from the college's charter becoming obsolete, and they obtained a further charter on 31 October 1861. [6] :50 In 1920 the college enacted changes that allowed women to be admitted on the same terms as men. [6] :50 The charter was amended on 7 May 2005. [7]

Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia

In 1699 the college first published a medical guide with standardised recipes Pharmacopoea Colegi Regii Medicorum Edimburgensium; [8] thirteen editions of this Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia were published until 1841 when it was replaced by a British Pharmacopoeia. [5] :653

Buildings

In 1704 the college acquired a house and grounds on Fountain Close, on the Cowgate, in the Old Town. [9]

On 27 November 1775 William Cullen laid the foundation stone for a new hall and library in George Street in the New Town. Architect James Craig, had ideas about expansion but the builders of neighbouring properties found favour instead. [10] :16 The hall was not fully completed until 1830. [6] :50 Unfortunately the great cost of the hall's exterior exhausted the college's finances leaving no money to finish the interior of a building. The college's debt was so much that there was talk of selling the Hall before it was even occupied. The Hall was sold to the Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1841 and was demolished. [5] [11] [12]

Between 1843 and 1846 the college did not own a meeting place, instead renting a premises at 119 George Street. [6] :50

The Great Hall in the RCPE building RCPE Great Hall.jpg
The Great Hall in the RCPE building

The foundation stone of a new Hall at 9 Queen Street was laid on 8 August 1844. [6] The new Queen Street Hall was designed by Thomas Hamilton. [13] The Queen Street Hall was completed in 1846. [14]

An adjacent building, Number 8 Queen Street was designed by Robert Adam as a house for Robert Ord and built between 1770 and 1771, one of the earliest New Town constructions. [15] In 1868 it was purchased by the college, who then leased it to other organisations until 1957. [15] A restoration project began in 1990 and lasted seven years. [16]

Numbers 11 and 12 were built around 1780. [17] They were purchased by the college in the 20th century. The space behind 11 was used for the Conference Centre and 12 contains flexible meeting rooms and office space.

In 1984 the college put Richard Dadd's painting of Alexander Morison up for sale, to raise money to treat dry rot. [18]

Sibbald Library

The New Library in the RCPE building Sibbald Library.JPG
The New Library in the RCPE building
Fingask Follies at The New Library FingaskFolliesatRoyalMedicalSociety2007.jpg
Fingask Follies at The New Library

In 1682, Robert Sibbald donated around one hundred books to the college. [19] At the end of the 18th century, the library was located at the Royal Infirmary. [6] :50 The college's library in Queen Street bears Sibbald's name in commemoration. [19] [20] The library also has artefacts, such as a medicine chest that belonged to Stuart Threipland, physician to Bonnie Prince Charlie. [21] In the 1960s, the information held by the library was modern. [22] From the sixties onward, medical information became more available and college's library became more known for its historical works. [19]

In 2015, a project with the University of Glasgow digitised a collection of 5,000 letters of William Cullen from the mid-1750s to 1790, making them available online. [23]

As of 2016, the college has catalogued more than 30,000 records that are in its archives. [24]

Laboratory

In 1888 the college took the decision to establish its own research laboratory and initially rented a house in Lauriston Lane, near the Royal Infirmary. [25] A three-storey building on Forest Road was acquired and in 1896 was formally opened as the college's new laboratory. It had areas equipped and fitted for a range of disciplines: Bacteriological, Chemical, and Histological and Experimental. [25] With the creation of the NHS, the laboratory could not depend upon income from their reporting service and it closed in 1950. [5] :654

Publications

Depiction of the College from Historical Sketches and Laws of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from its Institution to 1891 Historical Sketch and Laws of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 1681-1891 x1350.png
Depiction of the College from Historical Sketches and Laws of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from its Institution to 1891

The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (JRCPE) is a peer reviewed medical journal published quarterly by the college. It was established in 1971 as Chronicle, [26] renamed in 1988 to Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, [27] and obtained its current title in 2002. [28]

Membership

Following successful completion of the MRCP(UK) or MRCPCH examinations, doctors are eligible to become Members of the college. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Sibbald</span> Scottish physician and antiquary (1641–1722)

Sir Robert Sibbald was a Scottish physician and antiquary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Christison</span> British toxicologist and physician (1797–1882)

Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and as president of the British Medical Association (1875). He was the first person to describe renal anaemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Edinburgh Hospital</span> Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Royal Edinburgh Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Morningside Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Douglas Maclagan</span> Scottish surgeon (1812–1900)

Sir Andrew Douglas MaclaganPRSE FRCPE FRCSE FCS FRSSA was a Scottish surgeon, toxicologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. He served as president of 5 learned societies: the Royal Medical Society (1832), the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (1859–61), the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1884–87), the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1890–5), and the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1900).

Sir Andrew Balfour was a Scottish doctor, botanist, antiquary and book collector, the youngest brother of the antiquarian Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Grainger Stewart</span> Scottish physician (1837–1900)

Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart was an eminent Scottish physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1889–1891), president of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, president of the medicine section of the British Medical Association, and Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen for Scotland. He was perhaps best known for describing the condition known as multiple neuritis as well as directing scientific attention in Great Britain to the deep reflexes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Goldberg</span> British medical professor

Sir Abraham Goldberg was a British physician who was a Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Duncan (physician, born 1744)</span> British physician and founder of Royal Edinburgh Hospital

Andrew Duncan, the elder FRSE FRCPE FSA (Scot) was a British physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh. He was joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. As first proposer of an asylum in Edinburgh he gives his name to the Andrew Duncan Clinic which forms part of the Edinburgh City Hospital.

Alexander Wiseman MacAra, also known as Sandy MacAra, was a Scottish professor of epidemiology at Bristol University and chairman of British Medical Association (BMA) from 1993 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byrom Bramwell</span> British physician and medical author

Sir Byrom BramwellFRSEFRCPE was a British physician and medical author. He was a general physician, but became known for his work in neurology, diseases of the heart and blood, and disorders of the endocrine organs. He was president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert William Philip</span> Scottish physician

Sir Robert William Philip was a Scottish physician and pioneer in the treatment and control of tuberculosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Keiller (physician)</span> Scottish physician and gynaecologist

Alexander Keiller FRSE LLD was a Scottish physician and gynaecologist who served as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 1875–77.

<i>Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia</i> Medical guide

The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia was a medical guide consisting of recipes and methods for making medicine. It was first published by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1699 as the Pharmacopoea Collegii Regii Medicorum Edimburgensium. The Edinburgh Pharmacopeia merged with the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeia's in 1864 creating the British Pharmacopoeia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women</span>

The Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women was established by Elsie Inglis and her father John Inglis. Elsie Inglis went on to become a leader in the suffrage movement and found the Scottish Women's Hospital organisation in World War I, but when she jointly founded the college she was still a medical student. Her father, John Inglis, had been a senior civil servant in India, where he had championed the cause of education for women. On his return to Edinburgh he became a supporter of medical education for women and used his influence to help establish the college. The college was founded in 1889 at a time when women were not admitted to university medical schools in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Russell (physician)</span> Scottish pathologist and physician

Dr William RussellFRCPE LLD, was a Scottish pathologist and physician who became Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was the first to describe the cellular inclusion particles known as Russell bodies. He was an early supporter of medical education for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Sibbald</span>

Sir John Sibbald FRSE FBSE was a 19th-century Scottish physician and amateur botanist. In 1855/56, aged 22, he served as president of the Royal Medical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Foote Robertson</span> Scottish physician

Ronald Foote Robertson PRCPE was a 20th-century Scottish physician who served as president of the British Medical Association 1983/4 and president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for the period 1976 to 1979. He was official Physician in Scotland to Queen Elizabeth II. He was affectionately known as Ronnie Robertson.

Sir Neil James Douglas was a medical doctor and was president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) 2004–2010 and chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) 2009–2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Threipland</span> Scottish physician

Stuart Threipland MD, FRCPE was a Scottish physician. He was the son of Sir David Threipland, the second baronet of Fingask and, like his father, was an active Jacobite. After qualifying MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1742 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) two years later. In 1745 he joined Prince Charles Edward Stuart in the Jacobite rising. He became physician-in-chief to the prince and stayed with the army throughout the campaign. After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in April 1746 he went into exile in France but was able to return to Scotland under the Indemnity Act 1747. When his father died in 1746 he succeeded to become de jure the third baronet of Fingask but was technically unable to use the title which had been forfeited by his father because of his support for the Jacobite cause. He practised as a physician in Edinburgh and was elected president of the RCPE in 1766. In 1783 he was able to buy back most of the family estates in Fingask and Kinnaird which had been confiscated from his father in 1715.

Extramural medical education in Edinburgh began over 200 years before the university medical faculty was founded in 1726 and extramural teaching continued thereafter for a further 200 years. Extramural is academic education which is conducted outside a university. In the early 16th century it was under the auspices of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and continued after the Faculty of Medicine was established by the University of Edinburgh in 1726. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries the demand for extramural medical teaching increased as Edinburgh's reputation as a centre for medical education grew. Instruction was carried out by individual teachers, by groups of teachers and, by the end of the 19th century, by private medical schools in the city. Together these comprised the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine. From 1896 many of the schools were incorporated into the Medical School of the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh under the aegis of the RCSEd and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) and based at Surgeons' Hall. Extramural undergraduate medical education in Edinburgh stopped in 1948 with the closure of the Royal Colleges' Medical School following the Goodenough Report which recommended that all undergraduate medical education in the UK should be carried out by universities.

References

  1. "About us". www.jrcptb.org.uk. Joint Royal College Postgraduate Training Board. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  2. "Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". www.rcpe.ac.uk. Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  3. Encyclopaedia Medica. Vol. 1. 1915.
  4. Transactions. Vol. 25. 1900.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Girdwood, Ronald (5 September 1981). "Three hundred years of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition). 283 (6292): 651–654. doi:10.1136/bmj.283.6292.651. PMC   1506788 . PMID   6790117.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kaufman, Matthew H (2005). "Early History of The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". Res Medica. 268 (2): 49–53. doi: 10.2218/resmedica.v268i2.1029 .
  7. "RCPE Royal Charter" (PDF). Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. Cowen, David L. (April 1957). "The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia". Medical History . 1 (2): 123–139. doi:10.1017/s0025727300021049. PMC   1034260 . PMID   13417895.
  9. Historic Environment Scotland. "Edinburgh, 24, 26 And 28 High Street, Fountain Close (115458)". Canmore . Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  10. Lewis, Anthony. "The Builders of Edinburgh New Town" (PDF). Garden History. 43 (supplement 1): 12–23.
  11. "Basic Site Details: Physicians' Hall". www.scottisharchitects.org.uk. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  12. Historic Environment Scotland. "Edinburgh, 14 George Street, Physicians' Hall (113439)". Canmore . Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  13. "Basic Site Details: Royal College of Physicians". www.scottisharchitects.org.uk. Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  14. Historic Environment Scotland. "Edinburgh, 9-10 Queen Street, Royal College Of Physicians (114105)". Canmore . Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Leisure & commercial: Royal College of Physicians". www.simpsonandbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  16. "Project Sheet: The Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh" (PDF). www.simpsonandbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  17. Historic Environment Scotland. "11-13 (inclusive nos) Queen Street with front walls and railings (LB29536)" . Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  18. Hendry, Clare (30 July 1984). "Scotland's heritage goes up for sale again". The Glasgow Herald . p. 4. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  19. 1 2 3 "A Visit to the Royal College of Physicians". www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  20. "A visit to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Library". Lothian Health Services Archive. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  21. Kmietowicz, Zosia (5 November 2008). "Treasure chest of medicine past" (PDF). The BMJ. 337: 1072. doi:10.1136/bmj.a2415. S2CID   72203479.
  22. Milne, Iain (12 October 2013). "Obituary: Joan Primrose Scott Ferguson MBE, librarian". The Scotsman. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  23. Bugler, Tim (11 May 2015). "Letters sent to legendary Scots doctor go online". The Scotsman. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  24. Buchan, Lizzy (13 February 2016). "Weird and wonderful Scottish treatments of the past revealed". The Scotsman. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  25. 1 2 "The New Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". British Medical Journal. 2 (1872): 1455–1457. 14 November 1896. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.1872.1455. PMC   2510996 . PMID   20756591.
  26. "Chronicle : proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". NLM Catalog. United States National Library of Medicine . Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  27. "Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". NLM Catalog. United States National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  28. "The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". NLM Catalog. United States National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  29. "Membership". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.

Further reading