Was Your Ancestor a Doctor?
Alex Glendinning

visitors since May 6 1997


This article has been written for those who have a Doctor in their family tree and wish to research their training and accomplishments. It was originally published (in a somewhat different form) in the Channel Islands Family History Journal and appears with permission.

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE PROCEEDING:

Unfortunately two people offering assistance here have now asked for their names to be removed as they found themselves having to handle too many general enquiries, not specific to the look ups they were offering. Please take care to read what is on offer before firing off enquiries. PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER: Neither the site provider or the look-up volunteers are experts in the field of medical genealogy. Please restrict your requests directed at volunteers to the look up items they are offering to investigate and read the information provided here before asking the site provider any questions.

Last updated May 20th 2004: Disclaimer above and German section.

Thanks to Dr. Graham McMahon, Frank Lake, Dennis Stoker, Carmel Reynolds, Kerrie Rafter, Arthur Teschler, John Hawkins, Kyle Betit, Dermot Dunne, Ivor Lee, Barbara Wanless, Margaret Lipscomb, Iain Kerr and Hugh Casement for their contributions - keep them coming!


Contents
Qualifications - Published Sources - Army Doctors - Navy Doctors - East India Company Doctors - The Colonial Office - Universities: England and Scotland - Universities in Ireland - Universities Abroad (France, Netherlands and Germany) Paris, Leiden and Giessen - Doctors in Australia - American Doctors - Licentiates of the Society of Apothecaries - The Oath of Association Roll of 1695 - Links - Other Messages
Qualifications

M.B. Bachelor of Medicine - normally accompanied by date and place of qualification.
M.D. Doctor of Medicine - as above.
M.R.C.S. and F.R.C.S. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons - should be accompanied by date and place of qualification (England sometimes being given as E.) and Fellow - accompanied by date of appointment.
L.R.C.P. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians - normally accompanied by date and place of qualification.
L.S.A. Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries - normally accompanied by date.

Here are the modern Colleges:
The Royal College of Physicians
has an extensive collection of historical material and specialise in medical biography and history of medicine, and welcome visitors. Their oldest western item is from c.1240 and much of the collection covers the 'Natural Philosophy' subjects that predominated in the 16th and 17th centuries. Non-medical subjects include alchemy and astrology as well as mathematics, chemistry, philosophy and canon & civil law | Royal College of Surgeons in England | Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh | The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh | The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland | Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland

Other qualifications are listed more or less in full: Licent. (Licensed) in Midwifery, Western Lying In Hospital, Dublin (or the equivalents in Edinburgh and London); Late Surgeon R.N. (Royal Navy) and Officier de Santé (Health), Paris, for example.


Published Sources

Munk's Rolls

Caroline Moss-Gibbons of The Royal College of Physicians reports: Munk's Roll (more correctly the "Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London", colloquially known as Munk's Roll after it's first editor - William Munk) is now available on the College Internet site. Either browse through the publications pages or go straight there. The current volume is online, previous volumes are available for sale from Publications Department or for reference (and copying) in the College Library. We (the Library) offer a charged-for photocopying service for people unable to visit in person. There is also a cumulative index covering the entirety of Munk's Roll, back to the founding fathers in 1518. This index tells you which volume the person you want appears in, and, particularly useful - it gives the person's dates, very helpful if there are more than one Dr Smith's.... It is intended that in time (resources and manpower are the limiting factors of course) that all of Munk's Roll will appear on the site. This will be many years down the line, but we are starting by 'cherry-picking' those physicians we get most enquiries about, eg William Harvey, Thomas Linacre, John Radcliffe, Richard Mead etc etc. The Royal College of Physicians of London, 11 St Andrew's Place, LONDON NW1 4LE Tel: +44(0)20 7935 1174 Fax: +44(0)20 7487 5218 e-mail: info@rcplondon.ac.uk

The printed volumes (at many large libraries) are: William Munk's 'Roll of the Royal College of Physicians' Vols. I-III 1518-1825, Vols IV-VII (posthumous) 1826-1983. There is a set at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Collection and the Society of Genealogists have Vols. I-IV.

Frank Lake put me on to this source after finding a reference to it at the WH Kellogg Health Sciences Library, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. For Canadians the shelf reference is: W22 Fa1 M96........Munk's Roll, London 1878. This is the Web Page where it was found - but it is not a transcript - you will still have to go there!

The Medical Directory (for London and the Provinces)

Began in 1845 and has appeared annually ever since. The earliest volumes are not often very informative, giving only name and address, but as time progressed more details appeared - qualifications, posts held (including Army and Navy) and publications. This was a commercial enterprise and a fee was payable, so some doctors are missing from its pages.

The Medical Register

Began in 1859 as a legal requirement of the Medical Act of that year, it often provides fuller coverage. It has also appeared annually ever since and contains the same information as above, more detailed in later editions and includes date of registration. It is worth noting that coverage in the first few includes those in practice prior to 1815, although these early entries mention little more than name and address.

Various institutions hold collections and will answer queries by mail.
The Royal College of Physicians | The Society of Genealogists | The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine | Guildhall Library | Mercer Library - who also hold the Irish Medical Directory 1852-1898.
Guildhall Library page about Sources for Tracing Apothecaries, Surgeons, Physicians and other Medical Practitioners

The Society of Genealogists list the following publications on microfiche:
M017: Medical directory 1847. 6 fiche - £4.10 (£3.49 exc. VAT)
M018: Medical register 1779. 3 fiche - £2.50 (£2.13 exc. VAT)
M019: List of apothecaries 1815-40. 3 fiche - £2.50 (£2.13 exc. VAT)

John Hawkins has now compiled a surname index to the 1779 Medical Register and submitted it to The Society of Genealogists assigning them the copyright. They have published it as a microfiche to complement the three fiche set of the register. The new fiche has the catalogue number SOG/8018A to encourage libraries to supplement their sets (SOG/18).

Much further information can be found in Susan Bourne and Andrew H. Chicken's self published book Records of the Medical Professions - A Practical Guide for the Family Historian available from the The Society of Genealogists or from the Family Tree Magazine mail order service.

Other Books and Authors: The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine | About Dr Roy Porter - the author of many medical social histories | Dr Roy Porter's Reviews in History | Reviews in History Main Page.

Kyle J. Betit reports: an important resource for doctors in Britain and Ireland is P. J. and R.V. Wallis, Eighteenth Century Medics (subscriptions, licenses, apprenticeships) 2nd Edition (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Project for Historical Bibliography, 1988). This index is largely to the information from subscription lists of books published in the eighteenth century including medical treatises and other works.

There is a copy of the above work at the Mercer Library who also list the following (in their free brochure) 'Tracing Medical Ancestors' - available from Mary O'Doherty, the Archivist at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland ,123 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.

1. History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Irish Schools of Medicine by C.A. Cameron (1916).
2. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and It's Medical School by JDH Widness (1984).
3. An Assembly of Irish Surgeons by JB Lyons (1984).
4. Brief Lives of Irish Doctors by J.B. Lyons (1978) - plus many others.


Army Doctors

The first place to look for an Army Doctor would be Commissioned Officers in the Medical Services of the British Army by Peterkin, Johnston and Drew (1968). There are two volumes 1660-1898 and 1898-1960. They can be borrowed through Inter-Library Loan. The information has been culled in part from the Army Lists. As each Regiment had its own medical personnel until 1855, when some shared facilities came into being (followed by the Army Medical Department, formalised in 1873), this is a much easier finding method.
 
The webmaster of RAMC Search Station holds a copy of Vol II (1898 - 1960) and would be happy to undertake look-ups - contact John here.

The movements of Regiments can be traced from Regimental Histories. Detailed histories have been produced by members of most British Regiments, often their Commanding Officers.
 
For those with an interest in WWI, Ivor Lee recommends Location of Hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations British Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 which was published by the Ministry of Pensions. Many of these can also be borrowed through Inter-Library Loan.
 
Army List availability: full sets from 1754 at The Public Record Office, Kew, London - part sets at the The Society of Genealogists. (From 1839 to 1915 Hart's Army List was published in addition to the official Army List).
RAMC
Royal Army Medical Corps History Site
The Unofficial Royal Army Medical Corps site - found thanks to Iain Kerr.
 
Royal Army Medical Corps Historical Museum, Keogh Barracks, Ash Vale, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 5RQ covers the medical care of British soldiers 1660-1898 (the formation of the RAMC) and onwards, including the Gulf and Falklands Wars.
 
These sites may be useful- Crimea Medical Officers | Regiments of the British Army Overview


Navy Doctors

The Navy List began in 1782 - full sets at The Public Record Office, part sets at the The Society of Genealogists. Here is the modern equivalent: The Navy List 1995.

For further reading try N.A.M. Rodger's Naval Records for Genealogists (1988) and W.R. O'Byrne's Navy Biographical Dictionary (1849) .

Having covered the available printed sources, reference to service registers in the The Public Record Office under ADM 104/12-30 and the index in ADM 104/11 can flesh out the details. Further information is available under ADM 22 (usually full-pay registers) and ADM 24 (usually half-pay registers). Medical Officers records of full-pay are found in ADM 24.


East India Company Doctors

Go to: Oriental and India Office Collections of the British Library.

A good starting point would be two books available there and at the main British Library:

An Alphabetical List of the Medical Officers of the Indian Army 1764-1838
by Edward Dodwell and James S. Miles (1839) - includes Prince of Wales Island (now Penang, Malaysia)
Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615-1930 by D.G. Crawford (1930)

There are two Directories which should also prove useful: The East India Register (1808-1844)
The Indian Army and Civil Service List (1870 onwards)

Here are other sites that may be of assistance: British Ancestors in India | A Brief History of the East India Company | More About The East India Company


The Colonial Office

The above leads to the thought that there may be Civil Service Registers for others in the Colonial Office Medical Service. Further advices to follow, but it might be worth investigating the collections at the School of Oriental and African Studies Library (London)


Universities: England and Scotland

Oxford and Cambridge both have published alumni lists. For doctors qualifying in England before 1832 this is where they will be found, as there were no other universities before this time.

The Alumni Oxonienses by Joseph Foster is in two volumes, covering 1500-1714 and 1715-1886. The more impressive Alumni Cantabrigienses by J. and J.A. Venn, also in two parts, covers 1261-1751 and 1752-1900.

The same addresses given for the Medical Register will also find these volumes.

Here are some examples of the contents (non-medical) -
http://www.essex.ac.uk/AMS/Stanier-ONS/alumni.Oxon.html
http://www.essex.ac.uk/AMS/Stanier-ONS/alumni.Cam.html

The University of Durham opened its doors in 1832 and the University of London in 1836 . There are four Scottish Universities to consider also; St Andrews, founded in 1411 -The Matriculation Roll of St. Andrews University 1747-1897 edited by J.M. Anderson has been published - Glasgow (1451), Aberdeen (1495) and Edinburgh (1583). Registers are available at the The Society of Genealogists and a check list has been produced by them.

Universities in Ireland

The Mercer Library holds the records of The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland their collection includes an index of the Kirkpatrick Archive of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland - a collection of newspaper cuttings and earlier material about Irish Doctors up to 1954.

Irish Medical Schools - compiled by Dr. Graham McMahon
University College Dublin Medical School
Trinity College Dublin Medical School
University College Galway
Queen's University Belfast
 
Link to the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland | The Irish Medical Directory 97/98

Universities Abroad

To locate an international Medical School or University Website try the MedWeb Regions Index.

France - Paris
After Napoleon had been defeated (1815) and the French monarchy restored, it was considered safe enough to study medicine in Paris, although there was still some unrest in the capital. Medical Students' dossiers can be found at the Archives Nationales, 60 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75614 Paris-Cedex 03.

Dissertations are preserved at the Bibliothèque Interunversitaire de Médecine, 12 Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, 75270 Paris-Cedex 06. I have not been able to find a web site for them. It is worth noting that copies are often also deposited in the British Library and the American Surgeon-General's catalogue.

Holland - Leiden
The archives are at Witte Singel 27 2nd Floor, Dousa Archives, Leiden, Netherlands. Archivist: Sylvia Vermetten.

Founded in 1575, this University admitted students from all over Europe, regardless of religion. In 1932 R.W. Innes-Smith extracted and published a list of all the English-speaking students from 1575-1875. Available at the British Library.

There is a second book, published by the List and Index Society in 1882 - "English Speaking Students who have graduated at Leiden University" by Edward Peacock. Despite the title, it just has their matriculation details, as not all the students necessarily graduated from there, choosing to complete their education elsewhere. Innes-Smith wrote his book as a biography, following students' later University education and careers. English speakers also included men born in America, the West Indies and India. Often towns of origin are mentioned, including London, Norwich and Liverpool, or at least the country - England, Scotland or Ireland. The language of the original records was Latin, the most common appellation being "Anglus".

The University itself published "Album Studiosorum Academiae Lugduno Bataviae" at its tercentenary in 1875, and it is from here that both English authors found their information. All matriculating students over the 300 years of the University's existence are listed; giving their names, country of birth, date of inscription, age and the faculty entered for study.

In addition to these printed works, the archives still have the original applications all the way back to the beginning. At the turn of the 20th Century the application format changed to a standard printed form and contained personal details (place of origin, address in Leiden, religion, education) and the course(s) entered; from the 1930s these include a photograph.

Germany - Giessen

I received the following message from Kerrie Rafter on May 8 1997 .... My ancestor was a doctor in Jersey. James William SYMONS was listed as having obtained a Doctorate in medicine and surgery from the University of Giessen in Germany in 1843. I haven't been able to locate any records to prove this but the information was given to me from the Medical Directory so I assume it was correct. .... and have since located the Website of the University of Justus-Liebig Giessen.

After posting an enquiry about this at the Newsgroup soc.genealogy.german - the following correspondence with Arthur Teschler ensued on May 9 1997 ... Giessen University received the title Justus-Liebig-Universitaet as late as 1957 after his famous professor Justus von Liebig who taught agricultural chemistry 1824-52. So Giessen University would be the correct name for 1843.

From the 'Dekanatsbuch der Med. Fakult"at, Giessen' (Sig Med C1 Bd 4) 3 January 1843: Symons, James William von der Insel Jersey, aus"ubender Wundarzt und Apotheker daselbst mit Befugnis zu einer inneren Praxis, schrieb Dissertation 'On Diseases of Urinary Organs', wurde in absentia promoviert in Med. Chir. und Geburtshilfe. Nota: Nur handschriftlich eingereicht. Translation: Symons, James William of Jersey Island, active surgeon and chemist there with the license for an office for internal medicine has written a thesis 'On Diseases of Urinary Organs' and was awarded a doctorate in Medical Surgery and Midwifery in his absence. Note: thesis submitted handwritten only.

According to our archivist Eva-Marie Felschow doing a thesis "in absence" was not uncommon for Giessen in the first half of the last century. Some "doctors" didn't even submit a thesis. Buying a title apparently was possible. This was not necessarily the case for J.W. Symons. It means that he was not a student in Giessen, but received his doctorate here.

Germany - Leipzig

The Faculty of Medicine is one of the oldest faculties of the University of Leipzig, which was founded in 1409 (see left).

They have a Website and the address of their Archives and Library is The Medical-Historic Collection of the University of Leipzig, Augustusplatz 10/11, 04109 Leipzig, GERMANY.

Germany - General
The matriculation registers (Matrikel) for several German universities have been published. The doctoral theses were in Latin, and included a page or two of curriculum vitæ at the front -- very useful for family historians.
 
Information in English at Campus Germany.
 
A few Dissertations are held in the Bavarian State Library.

I am still collecting information about other European Universities that may have trained English Doctors - if you know of any please contact me: glen@itl.net


Doctors in Australia

New South Wales
The records of the New South Wales Medical Board are widely available on microfilm in Australia and qualifications will be given. Their list of registered Medical Practitioners appears in the NSW Gazette from 1838. The catalogue of The State Library of New South Wales, Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000 AUSTRALIA, shows they hold 1838-1942 under reference number MDQ 328.6/1.
American Doctors
Something I picked up at the newsgroup soc.genealogy.misc on May 21 1997.
Jim & Mary Pat Young wrote in reply to an enquiry about doctors' records: check the library of a university near you which has a medical school for the following two volume book - Directory of deceased American physicians, 1804-1929: a genealogical guide to over 149,000 medical practitioners providing brief biographical sketches, published in 1993 by the American Medical Association. If you live in California, the libraries at University of California campuses at Davis, Los Angeles (UCLA), San Diego and San Francisco have this set. Also check the very large public libraries. There is now a searchable database at the University of California.

This came by e-mail on April 23 1998: Margaret Lipscomb reports that more information about the Directory of Deceased American Physicians 1804-1929 can be found here and that the USUHS - Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is worth investigating, especially their Resources for Medical History Papers pages.

Here is the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)- History of Medicine Division Website. Their collection includes dictionaries of medical biography, medical directories, and obituary indexes, primarily from the 19th century.

Margaret's message included this summary of useful reading material. There are seven 19th century biographical dictionaries of American physicians. The early ones; Thatcher, Williams, and Gross include relatively few individuals. But the ones from the end of the century are much more eclectic and depended heavily on who responded to requests to biographical information. The Kelly and Burrage describes more than 2,000 American physicians; mostly 19th century who in the words of Howard Kelly, "Have done the noteworthy".

James Thacher, American Medical Biography 1828 reprinted New York: Milford House,1967) | Stephen Williams, American Medical Biography, 1845 reprinted New York: Milford House, 1967) | Samuel D. Gross, ed., The Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons of the Nineteenth Century (1861) | Atkinson, William B. The Physicians And Surgeons Of The United States. Philadelphia, Robson, 1878. p. 788 | Stone, Richard F., editor. Biography Of Eminent American Physicians And Surgeons. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. Indianapolis, Hollenbeck, 1898. p. 857, (the first edition was briefer, published in 1894) | Watson, Irving A., editor. Physicians And Surgeons Of America...A Collection Of Biographical Sketches Of The Regular Medical Profession. Concord, New Hampshire, Republican Press Association, 1896. p. 843. | Kelly, Howard A., and Walter L. Burrage. Dictionary Of American Medical Biography; Lives Of Eminent Physicians Of The United States And Canada, From The Earliest Times. New York, Appleton, 1928. p. 1,364 | Over 17,000 American physicians are briefly listed in Holloway, Lisabeth M., Ernest N. Feind, and George N. Holloway. Medical Obituaries: American Physician's Biographical Notices In Selected Medical Journals Before 1907. New York, Garland, 1981. p. 513. | Directory Of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929: a genealogical guide to over 149,000 medical practitioners providing brief biographical sketches drawn from the American Medical Association's Deceased Physician Masterfile, 2 vols. Chicago, IL, AMA 1993).

Link to the Texas Medical Association List of Directories.


Licentiates of the Society of Apothecaries

The records of the Society are at the Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ and their forms are very detailed. A list of all apothaceries from 1715-1840 (on microfilm) has been published by the The Society of Genealogists - see Published Sources.

Marie Sampson has this List of Apothecaries (1815-1840) on fiche and is willing to consult it for enquirers. Please give her a reasonable amount of time to reply as she has to take the fiche to her local library in order to read it.

See also Guildhall Library page about Sources for Tracing Apothecaries, Surgeons, Physicians and other Medical Practitioners


The Oath of Association Roll of 1695

After the "Glorious Revolution" of 1689 William and Mary ascended the British throne, but their rule was always under threat from the Jacobites, supporters of the deposed Catholic King James. In 1695 an Act of Association was passed through Parliament calling for "all men of importance" to sign an Oath swearing alleigance to the Protestant Succession.

The Barber-Surgeons Company of London have their own Roll at The Public Record Office under reference number C213 171 17.


Miscellaneous Links

Joint PRO/Wellcome Institute searchable UK Hospital Records Database
Medical Links from Cyndi's List
Dr Paul Smith's Archaic Medical Expressions for Genealogy
Doctor Hugh Shiell: Establishing An Eighteenth Century Irish Origin by Gordon L. Remington, FUGA. Reprint of the article in Volume 3, Issue 4 of The Irish At Home and Abroad - at IHA OnLine.
The Olive Tree Genealogy pages include a Glossary of Old Diseases
An Apothecary in America (part of the Colonial Williamsburg site)
The Physician's Oath


Other Messages

From Carmel Reynolds: Some universities, e.g. Oxford, show their qualifications differently. Doctors are BM BCh, and the higher degree is DM. Dont' forget the Royal College of Physicians, one each in London and Edinburgh of which one can be a Member or Fellow (I worked as a secretary for someone who had all these qualifications).

Also, it will be elementary to you, but some people don't know the difference between a Ph.D. and a medical doctor. They all hold the same title. Also, judging from 19th century books which I read, not all medical doctors were called doctors. I don't know what the degrees in those times were, but they seemed to be very different from the 20th Century. May 7 1997.

From Dennis Stoker: I enjoyed your homepage on this subject, especially as I am a doctor myself. Obviously you can go on expanding the data ad infinitum, but I offer two points about the lesser diplomas. Firstly the LSA became the LMSSA (licenciate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries) before it disappeared sometime in the 1950s I think.

Also do not forget the one time registrable degree of DAH (Diploma of Apothecaries Hall, Dublin). This was considered an easy exam and was probably caricatured by Richard Gordon in one of his Doctor in the House books, where the exam was sat in a taxi as the examiner and the candidate were on their way to the station. May 14 1997.

From Dee Cook: further to Dennis Stoker's item on the LSA, this qualification was altered from LSA (Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries) to LMSSA (Licentiate in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery of the Society of Apothecaries) by virtue of the Apothecaries' Act of 1907. It is still awarded today (together with LRCP Lond, LRCS Eng, LRCP Edin, LRCS Edin and LRCPS Glas) after examination bythe United Examining Board. All the variants of the MB BS (current and recent) are shown in Annex 1 to the Medical Register and those for Europe are shown in Annex 2. 20 May 1999.


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