Westminster Hospital Medical School

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

• https://www.union.ic.ac.uk/medic/stfyd/history/

Coordinates: 51°30′01″N 0°07′45″W / 51.5003°N 0.1291°W