London Hospital Medical College

London Hospital Medical College

The London Hospital Medical College (bottom) on a wood engraving of 1877
Type	Medical and dental school
Active	1785–1995
Founder	William Blizard James Maddocks
Parent institution	University of London
Location	Whitechapel, London, England
Affiliations	United Hospitals

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, which in 2022 became known as the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

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.

By 1854 the existing buildings were proving inadequate and new buildings were opened on Turner Street, which are still in use today, now known as the Garrod Building after Archibald Garrod.

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.

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. 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, known from 2022 as the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

Notable people

Notable alumni

• John Abernethy (surgeon)
• Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet
• Dorothy Stuart Russell
• Robert D. Acland
• Henry Bedson
• Alfred Broughton
• Bruce Bruce-Porter
• James Calder
• William Carr
• Mark Caulfield
• Jo Martin (pathologist)
• Gordon King
• Mark Pallen
• Hudson Taylor