Westminster Hospital Medical School
| Type | Medical school |
|---|---|
| Established |
1834 (Westminster Hospital Medical School) 1984 (Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School) 1997 (Imperial College School of Medicine) |
| Location | London, England |
| Affiliations | Imperial College London |
The Westminster Hospital Medical School was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon – although students had been taken on at Westminster Hospital almost from the hospital's foundation in 1719 (the traditional name at the Westminster was "cubs").
The hospital and medical school moved to larger buildings several times in the decades that followed, leading to conflict among the staff on several occasions. Guthrie's forceful urgings on retaining the location of the hospital and school on one occasion resulted in an argument climaxing in a pistol duel between two surgeons (though each missed each other).
One early Westminster student was John Snow, later the founder of modern epidemiology.
In 1905, the teaching of pre-clinical subjects ended at Westminster, and moved to King's College. The school was taken over by the army in 1914 to train pathologists for the war effort. Student numbers and the school suffered as a result, and it was only after 1920 that numbers improved.
In 1984, Westminster Hospital Medical School merged with local rivals Charing Cross Hospital Medical School to form Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. This move was part of a general series of mergers in the London medical schools in the early 1980s. Westminster Hospital moved to the site of St Stephen's Hospital on Fulham Road in Chelsea in 1993, and changed its name to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. In 1997, CXWMS merged with the National Heart and Lung Institute at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and Imperial College London, whose medical department was St Mary's Hospital Medical School. The new institution was called Imperial College School of Medicine, and was at the time the largest medical school in the UK.
Shrove Tuesday Final Year Dinner
The Shrove Tuesday Dinner started in 1940 during the Blitz at the old Westminster Hospital. Students and house staff decided to have dinner to alleviate the oppressive mood. A senior member of staff was invited to address the assembled doctors and whilst he was talking a caricature was sketched on the tablecloth by one of his audience. It was cut out, passed round, signed and mounted and started the unbroken tradition that has evolved into the Shrove Tuesday Final Year Dinner.
The event is held in March every year and it is a chance to look back on the last six years before finalists put their heads down for finals revision. The dinner is specifically for the year but other doctors and friends are allowed to attend the after-dinner festivities. So the dinner is quite unique as it is very intimate with just final years and has very quirky traditions such as the caricature (all of which are displayed in the basement of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital), and more recently, the music video, in which the professors send up a popular song.
| Year | Speaker | Speciality |
| 2016 | Mr Martin Lupton | Head of Undergraduate School of Medicine |
| 2015 | Dr Helgi Johannsson | Consultant Anaesthetist |
| 2014 | Prof Tim Orchard | Professor of Gastroenterology |
| 2013 | Prof Karim Meeran | Professor of Endocrinology |
| 2012 | Dr Fey Probst | Consultant Emergency Physician |
| 2011 | Dr Mike Schachter | Pharmacology & Faculty Senior Tutor |
| 2010 | Prof Patrick Venables | Professor of Rheumatology |
| 2009 | Prof Geoffrey Pasvol | Professor of Infection and Tropical Medicine |
| 2008 | Mr Robin Touquet | Emergency Medicine |
| 2007 | Miss Jenny Higham | Obstetrician and Gynaecologist |
| 2006 | Prof John MacDermot | Head of Undergraduate Medicine |
| 2005 | Prof Averil Mansfield | Vascular Surgery |
| 2004 | Prof John F Laycock | Endocrine Physiology |
| 2003 | Mr Rosin | Consultant General Surgeon |
| 2002 | Dr C Bunker | Consultant Dermatologist |
| 2001 | Dr Iain Lindsay | Consultant Histopathologist |
| 2000 | Mr James Scott | Orthopaedic Surgeon |
| 1999 | Dr Neil Soni | Consultant Anaesthetist |
| 1998 | Prof Phillip J Steer | Obstetrician |
| 1997 | Dr J Collins | Physician |
| 1996 | Mr JM Thomas | Oncological Surgeon |
| 1995 | Dr Richard Straughton | Consultant Dermatologist |
| 1994 | Dr Ronald Zeegan | Physician & Sub-Dean |
| 1993 | Mr JEH Pendower | Dean |
| 1992 | Prof C Wastell | Surgeon |
| 1991 | CP Hugh-Jones | |
| 1990 | Dr AC Branfoot | Histopathologist |
| 1989 | TW Glenister | |
| 1988 | Dr BGazzard | Consultant Physician |
| 1987 | Dr Peter Fleming | Cardiologist |
| 1986 | Dr Bob Phillips | Radiotherapist |
| 1985 | Dr J Gleeson | Radiologist |
| 1984 | Dr P Emerson | Physician |
| 1983 | Dr Joe Connolly | Consultant Psychiatrist |
| 1982 | Dr FB Gibberd | Neurologist |
| 1981 | Mr David L Evans | Orthopaedic Surgeon |
| 1980 | Dr Lavinia W Loughridge | Consultant Renal Physician |
| 1979 | Dr Handley MT Coles | Consultant Paediatrician |
| 1978 | John Bernard Wyman | Dean, Anaesthetist |
| 1977 | Prof Harold Ellis | Surgeon |
| 1976 | Dr Ian M Anderson | Consultant Paediatrician |
| 1975 | Mr PD Trevor-Roper | Consultant Ophthalmologist |
| 1974 | Dr RIS Bayliss | Consultant Physician |
| 1973 | Prof Douglas H Mackenzie | Pathologist |
| 1972 | Dr JG Humble | Haematologist |
| 1971 | Dr CJ Gavey | Physician |
| 1970 | CE Drew ESQ | Thoracic Surgeon |
| 1969 | Prof Malcolm DMilne | Physician |
| 1968 | Prof B Lacey | Microbiologist |
| 1967 | Prof GSW Organe | Anaesthetist |
| 1966 | Mr F Dudley Hart | Physician |
| 1965 | Mr FA d\'Abreu | Surgeon |
| 1964 | Mr GH Macnab | Surgeon |
| 1963 | Mr D Walker Ashcroft | Otorhinolaryngologist |
| 1962 | Mr HE Harding | Orthopaedic Surgeon |
| 1961 | Mr R Cox | Surgeon |
| 1960 | Mr ES Lee | Surgeon |
| 1959 | Dr Robert Machray | Anaesthetist |
| 1958 | Prof NF Maclagan | Pathologist |
| 1957 | Dr SP Meadows | Physician |
| 1956 | Dr Peter J Kerley | Radiologist |
| 1955 | Dr JL Franklin | Dermatologist |
| 1954 | Mr EP Brockman | Orthopaedic Surgeon |
| 1953 | Dr FM Allchin | Radiotherapist |
| 1952 | Sir Clement Price Thomas | Surgeon |
| 1951 | Dr. Ivan Magill | Anaesthetist |
| 1950 | Dr WE Lloyd | Physician |
| 1949 | Mr A Goodwin | Obstetrician and Gynaecologist |
| 1948 | Mr AC Bell | Obstetrician and Gynaecologist |
| 1947 | Prof RJV Pulvertaft | Clinical Pathologist |
| 1946 | Dr HT Brown | Dermatologist |
| 1945 | Mr AF MacCallan | Ophthalmic Surgeon |
| 1944 | Sir Arnold Scott | Physician |
| 1943 | Sir Adolphe Abrahams | Physician |
| 1942 | Mr Gerald Thomas Mullaly | Surgeon |
| 1941 | Sir Ernest Rock Carling | Surgeon |
| 1940 | Sir Stanley Woodwark | Physician |
References
Coordinates: 51°30′01″N 0°07′45″W / 51.5003°N 0.1291°W
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1Now part of Imperial College School of Medicine 2Now part of King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry 3Now part of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry 4Now part of UCL Medical School  Category | |||||||