Our History

Southampton Medical Society has been said to be one of the oldest provincial medical societies in the country. It is not known exactly how how or when the Society was established but a clue recently uncovered states that in the 1840s there was in Southampton a Medical Reading Club with its own library. It may be possible to assume that the members of the Reading Club decided to broaden their interests and activities and established a ‘Medical Society’ with a book of Rules, Regulations and Objectives. The President’s badge of office is dated 1853 and this is now the accepted date for the Society’s foundation. In 1874 the Society presented its library and journals to the Hartley Institute in Southampton, the forerunner of Southampton University, thereby enabling a Medical Library with open access to be established.  

The Society’s rules declared an active interest in promoting medical education. To ‘promote social union’ and to deal with matters affecting the profession. It was also closely involved with local politics as far as they may affect medical affairs in the City, once drawing the attention of authorities to the increasing incidence of tuberculosis related to poor housing and thus helping to promote an urgent programme of new housing. It arbitrated in a contentious and libellous dispute between the Lancet and the Southampton Women’s Free Hospital, and also in quarrels among hospital staff. It brought to an end the activities of an unqualified medical practitioner who had been signing death certificates illegally.

The Society established a programme of regular medical and clinical meetings and discussion groups. Monthly medical meetings and lectures were established and these continue today. In due course speakers were invited from among leading members of the profession and it is interesting to note just how far some of these speakers travelled to speak. A roll call of the specialists and medical consultants, some now legendary, who came is impressive and it seems from the correspondence saved that the invitations were always welcomed and few were ever refused. In earlier days the lectures centre predominantly on ‘keeping up to date’ with ‘recent advances’ to the fore. Latterly the variety of subjects covered has extended to the arts, music, travel and exploration often with some very relevant medical interest.

In 1905 the Society proposed setting up ‘Refresher Courses’ for General Practitioners but this proved to be impractical at the time. Much later, in the 1960s Dr. John Revans and the Nuffield Provincial Hospital Trust proposed that a fully developed Post Graduate Centre for Wessex should be set up: funding was successful and the Post Graduate Centre was established at the General Hospital in Southampton. Initially it was hoped that the Medical Society would merge with the new project and be responsible for organising its affairs and courses and even to fund the running of the Centre. This promoted some intense and divisive discussion and the Medical Society eventually decided by a majority of its members that a merger was not in the best interest of the Society and they withdrew but not without making a substantial financial contribution to the new Centre. 

The Society is a registered charity: in 1945 it was the recipient of a generous legacy from Dr. Foote, a former Fleet Surgeon and lately a General Practitioner in the city, with which the Foote Memorial Scholarships were established. These are open, on application, to the Members and to Southampton University medical students (who happen to be Honorary Members) with the purpose of giving some financial support for approved research or clinical projects at home or abroad. The only condition is that recipients must in due course present the members with an account of this experience and for the medical students this has now become a regular annual event.  There is also an Annual Foote Memorial lecture usually given by a distinguished member of the Southampton Consultant staff.

Most of what has been mentioned here is recalled from the Society’s minute book. If it ever existed, a first minute book, possibly dating from 1853 or even earlier, is lost. The Society has three books dating from 1894 up to the present time and these, together with other documents, are now in the safe keeping of the Southampton City archives department where they are available for perusal. The Minutes book records not only the administrative details of the Society but in recent years have also included a precis of the evening’s lecture.

The Society continues to enjoy the respect in which it has always been held. It continues to flourish with a broad spectrum of members and its meetings attract a regular ‘full house’. Now, having passed its one hundred and sixty third anniversary, it is well on its way towards celebrating a bi-centenary.  

Tom Wade West