Founding the College
A small group of physicians led by the scholar Thomas Linacre petitioned King Henry VIII to establish the College in 1518. They wanted the power to grant licenses to those qualified to practice medicine and to punish unqualified practitioners and those engaging in malpractice.
As the founding charter decreed, the College would: “curb the audacity of those wicked men who shall profess medicine more for the sake of their avarice than from the assurance of any good conscience, whereby many inconveniences may ensue to the rude and credulous populace.” In 1523 an Act of Parliament extended the College's licensing powers from London to the whole of England.
Linacre wanted to found an academic body for physicians rather than a trade guild of the kind which regulated surgeons and apothecaries. Physicians were seen as the educated elite of the medical world: a degree was required to gain a College’s license. Candidates for Fellowship underwent an oral examination to demonstrate that they were “groundedly learned” (classically educated) in addition to their medical knowledge.
A turbulent history
From the start the College was involved in battles with other medical bodies in the struggle to control medical licensing in London. Until the 19th Century there were usually fewer than 60 College Fellows at any one time and under 100 licentiates. It is not surprising that the more numerous surgeons and apothecaries felt they had a strong mandate to treat the rapidly expanding population of London without restrictions from physicians. The College did not always grasp opportunities to lead the broader medical profession and critics saw it as a conservative and protectionist body.
In 1767 a bitter dispute with its own licentiates was caused by the College’s refusal to admit candidates from non-Oxbridge universities. The affair famously resulted in angry licentiates storming the College during a committee meeting, but it was not until 1835 that candidates from other universities were finally admitted.
Women were excluded from entry to the College until 1909. After further delays, Dr Helen Mackay became the first female Fellow in 1934.
College achievements
The College’s concern for public health and preventive medicine has been in evidence since its earliest days. A report on the hazards of industrial work was published in 1627 and another on the dangers of excessive gin-drinking in 1726. The College opened the first public dispensary in England in 1698, providing medicine free of charge to the poor (although this move was controversial amongst the College’s own members).
The College also made important contributions to medical literature. In addition to issuing advice on threats such as plague and cholera, the publication of the London Pharmacopoeia in 1618 created the first standard list of medicines and their ingredients published in England, regulating the composition of medicines until 1864. The 1869 publication Nomenclature of Diseases created the international standard for the classification of diseases which was to last until the 20th Century.
In the 19th Century College expertise was drawn upon by successive Governments as long-overdue medical reforms were introduced, most importantly the Medical Act of 1858. In recent times College support was crucial to the establishment of the National Health Service in 1945. The landmark report Smoking and Health of 1962 was a turning point in post-war health policy and heralded a new era of public engagement for the College.