Royal College of Surgeons

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The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations are now also responsible for training surgeons and setting their examinations.

Contents

History

The earliest form of the Royal College of Surgeons was the "Guild of Surgeons Within the City of London" founded in the 14th century. [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] The Guild of Barbers of Dublin received a Royal Charter of Henry VI in 1446, making it the earliest Royal Medical incorporation in Britain or Ireland. This was followed in 1505 by the incorporation of the Barber Surgeons of Edinburgh as a Craft Guild of Edinburgh. This body was granted a royal charter in 1506 by King James IV of Scotland. It was followed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, granted a charter by King by James VI in 1599, as the Glasgow Faculty.

The union in London was formalised further in 1540 by King 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. In 2010 Professor Eilis McGovern became president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and thereby the first female president of any Royal College of Surgeons in the world. [3] [4]

Organisations

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worshipful Company of Barbers</span> Livery company of the City of London

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Surgeons of England</span> Professional body in England, United Kingdom

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barber surgeon</span> Type of surgeon recruited as barbers

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland</span> Irish medical professional training body and higher education institution

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Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons. The initials may be used as post-nominal letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh</span> Scottish medical association

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surgeons' Hall</span> HQ of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

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Gilbert Primrose was a Scottish surgeon who became Surgeon to King James VI of Scots and moved with the court to London as Serjeant-Surgeon to King James VI and I on the Union of the Crowns. He was Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh on three occasions.

Christopher Irvine of Bonshaw was a Scottish physician and surgeon who was the first medically qualified member of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh. A prolific author, he became historiographer to King Charles II and to King James II and VII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh</span> Trade and craft bodies of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland

The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh are the trade and craft bodies of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, in much the same way as the Livery companies are in The City of London, but on a much smaller scale. The Incorporations are not "guilds", that term being properly reserved in Scotland for the merchant bodies in the various burghs. The Incorporations have never referred to themselves as guilds; indeed they came into existence, mostly in the latter part of the fifteenth century, in order to counter the growing power of the merchant guild, known as the Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh.

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. Louis Kuo Tai Fu (2000)The origins of surgery. 2: From barbers to surgeons Annals of the College of Surgeons Hong Kong 4 (1), 35–49. doi : 10.1046/j.1442-2034.2000.00029.x
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-10-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), page 118
  3. "Irish doctor becomes first female president of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland". 3 June 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2018 via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  4. "Prof Eilis McGovern". UCD School of Medicine & Medical Science. Retrieved 11 April 2018.