British Society for the History of Medicine

Poynter lecture - Congresses - Officers - International Society - Affiliated societies - Constitution
Newsletters - John Blair Trust - Links and information

Congress in Belfast, 2nd to 5th September 2009

The 23rd Congress will be held at Stranmillis University College, Belfast Wed 2nd to Sat 5th September 2009; more details added February 2008 with call for abstracts is on our Congresses page

International Congress, Mexico, September 7th to 12th 2008

For more information added 2 Feb 2008 including detail of abstract submissions, See our International page.

Journal of Medical Biography - free trial of online version

The Royal Society of Medicine has made the Journal of Medical Biography online version available free without logging on for four weeks from 24th April 2008.

Rose Prize for research into the history of general practice

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in association with the Royal College of General Practioners have announced this prize. Deadline for submissions is 7 Jan 2009. See our Advance notices

Web newsletter now available

The annual printed newsletter has been replaced by a web newsletter, and the 2007 newsletter is now available. It includes an account of the 2007 Congress in Dundee.

Book review and notice

We have information on books - a review of Health and Healing from the Medieval Garden edited by Peter Dendle and Alain Touwaide, the result of a conference held in 2003 hosted by the Center for Medieval Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Also a review of MEDICAL DOCTORS IN LITERATURE, heroes, villains or fools. by Trudy Trimbos-Kemper - with chapters on Dr Lydgate from George Eliot's Middlemarch, Dr Andrew Mason from AJ Cronin's The Citadel, Dr Slop in Sterne's Tristram Shandy, A Country Doctor by Sarah Orme Jewett, and Egg Dancing by Liz Jensen.

History of midwifery

There is a new endeavour which seeks to establish a forum for the sharing of knowledge about the history of midwifery in the UK and Ireland. There will be meetings in February to June 2008 in Dublin, Manchester, Swansea and Edinburgh. See our Links and information page. The last one is on 6th June in Edinburgh.

John Blair Trust

The John Blair Trust provides cash assistance and prizes for students' research in the history of medicine and allied fields.

The British Society for the History of Medicine was formed in 1965, by representatives of the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, The Scottish Society for the History of Medicine and the Osler Club of London. It now has a number of other Affiliated societies. Its objectives are to hold a biennial congress, to arrange the biennial Poynter Lecture in alternate years with the congress, to represent the United Kingdom in the affairs of the International Society for the History of Medicine and to encourage study, teaching and research in medical history. The archives of the Society are held in the archives of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London; please contact the BSHM secretary if you wish to see them.

The Society has no direct individual membership, membership of an affiliated society automatically makes one a member. It is not necessary to be a member to attend the Poynter Lecture or Congress. It is governed by an Officers and Representatives Committee, which meets annually and is comprised of the officers and one representative of each affiliated society or two if its membership exceeds one hundred. The Society publishes the annual BSHM News, which provides a link between its affiliated societies and a forum for the exchange of ideas, a noticeboard for meetings and queries, and the occasional book review. From 2007 the BSHM News will be on this website.

The Society would be glad to have more affiliated societies - please contact the secretary for details of affiliation (see Officers for contact details).

Web pages up to 2002 were held at University of Birmingham Centre for the History of Medicine. Pages were then held at http://www.hawgood.co.uk/bshm/ but are now all on www.bshm.org.uk.

This page by David Hawgood was amended 2 June 2008