Royal College of Physicians
| Royal College of Physicians | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1518 |
| President | Sir Richard Thompson KCVO |
| Location | St Andrew's Place, Regent's Park London, United Kingdom |
| Members | 28,000 (2013) |
| Website | Royal College of Physicians |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2009) |
The Royal College of Physicians of London is a British professional body of doctors ofgeneral medicine and its subspecialties.
It was originally founded as the College of Physicians. It received a royal charter in 1518 fromKing Henry VIII, affirmed by Act of Parliament in 1523.
It is a member of the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
It was the first medical institution in England to become a Royal College, and the first Royal College in the UK and Ireland for physicians; its charter followed that of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh which received its royal charter in 1506.
The college has been continuously active in improving practice medicine since then, primarily though training and qualifying new physicians.
The current President of the college is Sir Richard Thompson.
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[hide]History[edit]
A small group of distinguished physicians, led by the scholar and humanist Thomas Linacre, petitioned the King to be incorporated into a College similar to those found in a number of other European countries. The main functions of the College, as set down in the founding Charter, were to grant licenses to those qualified to practice and to punish unqualified practitioners and those engaging in malpractice. This includedapothecaries as well as physicians.
The College was based at three sites in the City of London near St Paul's Cathedral, before moving to Pall Mall East (overlooking Trafalgar Square), and finally on to its current location in Regent's Park.
The first Harveian Librarian was Christopher Merret.
Throughout its history the College has issued advice across the whole range of medical and health matters. College publications include the first ten editions of the London Pharmacopoeia (written in Latin, and used for regulating the composition of medicines from 1618 and, through the College's police the Censors, for enforcing the College's monopoly on medical science, then being challenged by the Society of Apothecaries), and the `Nomenclature of Diseases' in 1869. The latter created the international standard for the classification of diseases which was to last until the World Health Organisation's Manual of the international classification of diseases superseded it in the twentieth century.
The College became the licensing body for medical books in the late seventeenth century, and sought to set new standards in learning through its own system of examinations. The College's great tradition of examining continues to this day and it is still perhaps how the College is best known to the general public.
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity (212808) committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, inEngland and Wales. The College is located at Lincoln's Inn Fields in London.
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[hide]History[edit]
The origins of the College date to the fourteenth century with the foundation of the 'Guild of Surgeons Within the City of London'.[1] Certain sources date this as occurring in 1368. There was ongoing 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] This union was formalised further in 1540 by Henry VIII 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 aRoyal 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.
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited.
The influence of The Graphic within the art world was immense, its many admirers included Vincent Van Gogh, and Hubert von Herkomer.[1]
It continued to be published weekly under this title until 23 April 1932 and then changed title to The National Graphic between 28 April and 14 July 1932; it then ceased publication after 3,266 issues. From 1889 it also published The Daily Graphic.
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[hide]Background[edit]
The Graphic was founded by William Luson Thomas, a successful artist, wood engraver and social reformer. Earlier he, his brother and his brother-in-law had been persuaded to go to New York and assist in launching two newspapers, Picture Gallery and Republic. Thomas also had an engraving establishment of his own and, aided by a large staff, illustrated and engraved numerous standard works.[2] Exasperated, even angered, by the unsympathetic treatment of artists by the world's most successful illustrated paper, The Illustrated London News, and having a good business sense Luson Thomas resolved to set up an opposition. His illustrated paper, despite being more expensive that its competition, became an immediate success.[1]
Realization[edit]
When it began in 1869, the newspaper was printed in a rented house. By 1882, the company owned three buildings and twenty printing presses, and employed over 1,000 people. The first editor was Henry Sutherland Edwards. A successful artist himself, founder Thomas recruited gifted artists including Luke Fildes, Hubert von Herkomer, Frank Holl, and John Millais.
The Graphic was published on a Saturday and its original cover price was sixpence, while the Illustrated London News was fivepence.[1] In its first year, it described itself to advertisers as "a superior illustrated weekly newspaper, containing twenty-four pages imperial folio, printed on fine toned paper of beautiful quality, made expressly for the purpose and admirably adapted for the display of engravings".
In addition to its home market the paper had subscribers all around the British Empire and North America. The Graphic covered home news and news from around the Empire, and devoted much attention to literature, arts, sciences, the fashionable world, sport, music and opera. Royal occasions and national celebrations and ceremonials were also given prominent coverage.
Artists[edit]
Artists employed on The Graphic and The Daily Graphic at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century included Helen Allingham, Edmund Blampied, Alexander Boyd, Frank Brangwyn, Randolph Caldecott, James H. Dowd, Harry Furniss, Phil May, Ernest Prater,Leonard Raven-Hill, Sidney Sime, Snaffles (Charles Johnson Payne), George Stampa, Edmund Sullivan, Bert Thomas and F. H. Townsend,Luke Fildes and Henry Woods.
Writers[edit]
Writers for the paper included George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, H. Rider Haggard and Anthony Trollope. [1] Malcolm Charles Salaman was employed there from 1890 to 1899. Beatrice Grimshaw travelled the South Pacific reporting on her experiences for the "Daily Graphic".[3]
Weekly topics[edit]
- Topics of the Week: 12 paragraphs of news coverage.
- Amusements: A roundup of activities for the week, for the middle-class reader.
- Our illustrations: a summary of all the illustrations in the edition.
- Home: a summary of the news in Britain.
- Church news
- Legal: Trials and Cases of interest to the target reader.
- A weekly serial written by popular authors of the time, such as William Black (although this seemed to appear in the 1880s).
- Book reviews
- A summary of the new developments in science.
- Rural notes: information about the season and tips about crops, and other news concerning the rampant unrest of the farm labourers.
- New Music: Reviews of the latest music and musicals.
- Obituaries: of Church leaders, factory owners, European Royalty, musicians and noteworthy Victorians.
- Sport: coverage of football and cricket (with W.G. Grace)
- Motoring: c. 1903-1908 Dorothy Levitt, The Fastest Girl on Earth, wrote a column on motoring from the point of view of 'A woman's right to motor'. A collection of her articles formed the basis of the book The Woman and the Car: A chatty little handbook for all women who motor or who want to motor in 1907/9.
There were at least three pages dedicated to advertising and it is interesting to see the obsession with hygiene, with countless adverts for toothpaste and soap products (and 'miracle-cure' pills).
Innovations[edit]
The Graphic was designed to compete with the famous Illustrated London News (established in 1842), and became its most successful rival. Earlier rivals such as the Illustrated Times and the Pictorial Times had either failed to compete or been merged with the ILN. It appealed to the same middle-class readership, but The Graphic, as its name suggests, was intended to use images in a more vivid and striking way than the rather staid ILN. To this end it employed some of the most important artists of the day, making an immediate splash in 1869 with Houseless and Hungry, Luke Fildes' dramatic image of the shivering London poor seeking shelter in a workhouse.
It is much more difficult to produce and print illustrations than type. Improvements in process work and machinery at the end of the 1880s allowed Luson Thomas to realize a long cherished project, a daily illustrated paper.[2]
The Daily Graphic[edit]
In 1889, Luson Thomas's company H. R. Baines and Co. commenced publication of the first daily illustrated newspaper in England, which was called The Daily Graphic. This is not to be confused with its American precursor of the same name, which was the first American daily illustrated newspaper, founded in 1873.
Demise[edit]
Luson Thomas's seventh son George Holt Thomas was a director of the newspaper company and became general manager. Holt Thomas founded The Bystander and later Empire Illustrated before abandoning newspapers in 1906 and making a greater name for himself in the aviation industry.[4]
On August 15, 1932 Time Magazine reported the name change to The National Graphic and editor William Comyns Beaumont of The Bystander took over, replacing Alan John Bott.[5]