The Medical Society of London 1773-2003

The Medical Society of London is the oldest extant medical society in England and possibly in the world, the only one of numerous medical societies formed in the 18th century to survive. It was founded in 1773 by John Coakley Lettsom, a Quaker born on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, who came to England at the age of 6 for a Quaker education in Lancashire, where the preacher Samuel Fothergill became his guardian.

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Penelope Hunting

The Medical Society of London, £55 plus postage, pp 344 129 illustrations (30 in colour) Available from 11 Chandos Street, London W1G 9EB ISBN 0905082 35 00

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At the age of 22 Lettsom was taken on by Samuel's brother, Dr John Fothergill, a well established London physician. He studied at St Thomas' Hospital and in Edinburgh, and in 1769 he submitted his MD thesis at Leiden University. He was licensed to practise by the Royal College of Physicians in 1770 and elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1773. Lettsom also started the dispensary movement with the opening of the General Dispensary in 1770, and he founded the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital at Margate (1796-1996).

The purpose of the Medical Society of London was to provide a meeting place and forum for physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries to present papers and patients and to discuss matters of interest. The first premises 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 West-minster Medical Society. Finally, in 1873 the society acquired its present home in Chandos Street.

The society quickly reached prominence on the London medical scene. By 1789 there were 250 fellows with 50 overseas corresponding members from all over the world, including from St Petersburg, Jamaica, Milan, and Philadelphia. Two of the society's members signed the American Declaration of Independence.

The society has been involved with most of the advances and controversies in medicine over the past two centuries. Penelope Hunting has covered not only the chronological history of the society, with its trials and tribulations, but also the many contributions of its fellows. Of particular interest are the book's appendices, which list the society's presidents from 1773, the orators from 1774, the Fothergill medallists from 1787, and the Lettsomian lecturers from 1851. These include many of the most illustrious names in British medicine of the past 230 years.