Fitzpatrick Lecture
Established 1901
The Fitzpatrick Lecture is given annually at the Royal College of Physicians on a subject related to history of medicine . The lecturer, who must be a fellow of the college, is selected by the president and may be chosen to speak for two years successively. The lectures are supported by funds from the Fitzpatrick Trust which was established in 1901 by Agnes Letitia Fitzpatrick with a £2,000 donation in memory of her physician husband Thomas Fitzpatrick . Agnes was influenced by her husband's close friend, Sir Norman Moore , who persuaded her to choose history of medicine as a subject. Subsequently, Moore was credited with its idea and implementation.
The first two Fitzpatrick lectures were given by Joseph Frank Payne, whose request instigated history of medicine lectures at the Royal Society of Medicine and with whose support Sir William Osler established the History of Medicine Section . He was succeeded by Sir Norman Moore, Leonard Guthrie and Clifford Allbutt and Raymond Crawfurd.
Lecturers 1903-1920 Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 1903-1904 Joseph Frank Payne The Medicine of Anglo-Saxon Times Paid tribute to Thomas Fitzpatrick prior to first lecture, stating that Norman Moore, an intimate friend of Fitzpatrick, should have given the first lecture. 1905-1906 Sir Norman Moore The history of the study of medicine in the British Isles Moore spoke on Medical Study in London during the Middle Ages and Education of physicians in London in the 17th century . 1907-1908 Leonard Guthrie Contributions to the Study of Precocity in Children The History of Neurology After Guthrie's death, his work was privately printed in 1921, by his nephew, Eric G. Millar. 1909-1910 Clifford Allbutt Greek Medicine in Rome Allbutt dedicated the published lectures to Sir Norman Moore, president of the RCP. 1911-1912 Raymond Crawfurd The King's Evil Plague and Pestilence in Art and LiteratureCrawfurd further expanded these topics to produce books on the subjects. 1913 Charles Arthur Mercier Astrology in Medicine1914 Leper houses and mediaeval hospitals1915-1916 William Halse Rivers Medicine, Magic and Religion 1917 Arnold Chaplin Medicine in England during the reign of George III 1918 The early history of the Army Medical Service 1919-1920 Edward Granville Browne Arabian medicine
1921-1940 Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 1921-1922 Robert Oswald Moon The Post-Hippocratic Schools of Medicine Hippocrates and his Successors in Relation to the Philosophy of their Times Lectured on Hippocrates and his successors and interested in classics . He also wrote book on The Relation of Medicine to Philosophy . 1923-1924 Charles Singer History of Medicine The Evolution of Anatomy: a Short History of Anatomical and Physiological Discovery to Harvey 1925-1926 Arthur Shadwell Medicine in Ancient Egypt , Assyria , and Palestine 1927 Herbert R. Spencer The History of British Midwifery (1650-1800) 1928-1929 George Frederic Still The history of paediatrics 1930 No lecture 1931-1932 James Stansfield Collier The development of neurology from the commencement of the nineteenth century to the present time Collier died in 1935 before his lecture material could be published. Manuscript is now lost. 1933-1934 Humphry Davy Rolleston History of the endocrine organs 1935-1936 John Davy Rolleston The history of the acute exanthemata Demonstrated how current medical problems could be understood through studying the past. 1937-1938 Henry Harold Scott A History of Tropical Medicine 1939 Thomas Archibald Malloch Medical interchange between the British Isles and America before 1801 Lecture not delivered due to World War II and personal illness. Published by the Royal College of Physicians in 1946. 1940 Major Greenwood Medical Statistics from Graunt to Farr Lecture not delivered due to World War II . Greenwood retains status as nominal Lecturer from 1941 to 1943. The lecture was later published in 1948.
1941-1960 Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 1941-1942 John Alexander Nixon Lecture not delivered due to World War II . 1943 Major Greenwood Medical Statistics from Graunt to Farr Greenwood talked about 18th century English medical statistics. Later produced three papers and one book on the subject. 1944-1945 Reginald Cecil Bligh Wall The London Apothecaries: their Society and their Hall Postponed 1946-1947 Arthur S. MacNalty The History of State Medicine in England 1948-1949 William H. Wynn The Pestilences of War 1950-1951 William Brockbank The History of Some Therapeutic Procedures 1952-1953 Maurice Davidson Medicine in Oxford, a Historical Romance Davidson also authored a book on the history of the Royal Society of Medicine to cover the years 1905 to 1955. 1954-1955 C. E. Newman The Evolution of Medical Education in the Nineteenth Century Newman described the development of professional solidarity and societies of physicians and apothecaries, demonstrating similarities between apothecaries and attorneys. 1956-1957 C. F. T. East Some Aspects of the History of Cardiology 1958-1959 W. S. C. Copeman Medical Practice in the Tudor Period 1960 K. D. Keele Evolution of Clinical Methods in Medicine Published in a book reviewed by Lloyd G. Stevenson.
1961-1980 Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 1961 K. D. Keele Evolution of Clinical Methods in Medicine 1962-1963 A. H. T. Robb-Smith The Oxford Medical School and its Graduates 1964-1965 R. R. Trail The History of Popular Medicine in England: up to the 17th century 1966 Geoffrey L. Keynes John Woodall , Surgeon, 1556-1643. His place in medical history1967 P. E. Thompson Hancock Thomas Hodgkin , Physician and Philanthropist1968 C. E. Newman The History of the College Library 1969 A. N. T. Meneces The Influence of War on Medicine 1970 The Influence of Medicine on War 1971 Edgar Ashworth Underwood The Evolution of Haematology: The History of the Formed Elements of the Blood 1972 The Evolution of Haematology: The History of some Diseases of the Blood 1973 R. J. G. Morrison Dr Messenger Monsey , 1693-1788 .1975 W. C. Gibson A Canadian Trio of Internationalists – Banting , Bethune and Chisholm .1976 Gweneth Whitteridge Some Italian precursors of the Royal College of Physicians 1977 Edwin S. Clarke The Neutral Circulation: the role of analogy in medicine 1979 Christopher Booth Clinical Science in the age of Reason 1980 A. John Robertson Dinner with Laennec A. J. Robertson was the second medical editor of journal Thorax . His Fitzpatrick lecture was based on Läennec, and the physicians who contributed to the confusion about rales and rhonchi.
1981-2000 Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 1981 P. A. J. Ball Plants, their predators and the physician 1982 Arthur Hollman Thomas Lewis - Physiologist, Cardiologist and Clinical Scientist1983 Robert Manoah Kark Richard Bright 1984 Gordon Wolstenholme Governments may damage your health 1986 John Malins Provincial physicians in England 1700-1900 1987 Alex Sakula A history of asthma 1988 Abraham Goldberg Towards European medicine: an historical perspective 1989 P. Richards Leprosy : myth, melodrama and mediaevalism1993 A. Stuart Mason Hans Sloane and his friends1994 J. H. Baron Art in hospitals Given whilst Baron was an RCP councillor. 1995 David A. Pyke The great insanity: Hitler and the destruction of German science 1996 Robert Tattersall Frederick Pavy (1829–1911) - the last of the physician chemists
2001 onwards Years Name Lecture title Comments Image 2007 Jeffrey K Aronson Clinical pharmacology: a suitable case for treatment 2015 Timothy Peters King George III and the porphyria myth - causes, consequences and re-evaluation of his mental illness with computer diagnostics 2016 David Eedy Churchill's medical men2017 Gareth Williams Edward Jenner and John Hunter : the apprentice and his sorcerer2018 Nick Levell Daniel Turner Vs Thomas Dover - a story of rivals, slaves and pirates, dermatology and physicians2019 Richard Heron Good work to attract and retain global capability 2020 Ali Jawad Sir Harry Sinderson Pasha , royal physician extraordinaire 2021 Andrew J. Lees Soulful neurology 2022 David J. Gawkrodger Diseases and mortality in the armies of nineteenth century British India 2023 Helen Lachmann 2024 Anita K. Simonds
See also