#societies

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On July 1st 1505 a seal was granted by Edinburgh Town Council to the Incorporation of Barbers and Surgeons to practise their craft.

During early 16th century, barbers were more commonly associated with modern day GP’s, in addition to the more common practice of the “short back and sides”.

The name barber derives from a Richard le Barber who was the first to hold the office of “Master” within the Worshipful Company of Barbers as established at the beginning of the 14th century.  The then barbers learned medicine and surgery under the teachings of Monks and were eventually granted the power to oversee surgical practices by a rival factions known as the Guild of Surgeons.   Through their associations with the monasteries and the studious monks within, the barbers were also taught the art of distillation, a skill which granted them access to produce herbal remedies as tinctures, elixirs. Their ancient given right to "brew aqua vitae" under the terms of the Seal of Cause has long since ceased to be exercised.

During the 1600s, the Incorporation met in rooms in Dickson's Close, in St Giles and in other places. In 1697, their first purpose-built Surgeons' Hall was completed, by the architect James Smith. Their fine building contained a 'Great Hall', a library, a laboratory and an anatomy theatre (for which they were granted additional cadavers for teaching purposes). Public dissections were held there once a year.

By 1722 the Surgeons had completely separated from the Society of Barbers, and they  undertook the task of education and did much to establish Edinburgh's reputation as a centre of surgical teaching.

By the beginning of the 19th Century, the 1697 Surgeon's Hall had become inadequate, partly due to the need to provide suitable accommodation for a large collection of pathological specimens being presented to them by anatomist John Barclay. A site was acquired by the purchase of a riding school (The Royal Academy for Teaching Exercise) in Nicolson Street. William Henry Playfair, who designed the Dugald Stewart monument in my post earlier, he was the foremost Scottish architect of that era, was commissioned to design a building containing a Meeting Hall, Barclayan Hall, for the specimens (which included a full size elephant and rider), Lecture Room and Library. The College's new home was formally opened in July 1832 and in 1851 Queen Victoria granted a further charter giving the College its present title and establishing its independence from the City. This was the century of important initiatives in anesthesia and in antisepsis, through James Young Simpson and Joseph Lister, notable figures in the College's rich history.

In July 1905, the College marked its Quatercentenary by conferring Honorary Fellowship upon 36 of the world's most distinguished surgeons. These included Lord Lister, who famously initiated the antiseptic era, influenced profoundly by the work of Pasteur. Lister had become a Fellow of this College in 1855. 

The Society of Surgeons is still based at Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh