BSHM crest

British Society for the History of Medicine

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


14th Poynter Lecture - 6.00 p.m. 24th March 2010

at The Wellcome Building Conference Centre, Euston Road, London

Promiscuous & Inattentive Proceedings
The ethics and etiquette of patient care in the Georgian era
By Dr Ruth Richardson
Visiting Professor to Hong Kong University in Humanities and an Affiliated Scholar, in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
See Poynter lecture page and Poynter poster (Word document)

2009 Web newsletter

Web newsletter for 2009 is available with Congress report, officers reports, and information from affiliated societies.

Congress in Guildford, 31st August to 3rd September 2011

At the University of Surrey.
See Congress page or Guilford congress poster (Word document)

Congress in Belfast, 2nd to 5th September 2009

The 23rd Congress was held at Stranmillis University College, Belfast Wed 2nd to Sat 5th September 2009; we have a report of this Belfast Congress with links to programme, abstracts of papers, and abstracts of posters.
We congratulate David Sawbridge of Edinburgh University on winning the prize for the best student presentation, and Tharu Tharakan of Imperial College London on winning the prize for the best student poster.

John Blair Trust

The John Blair Trust provides cash assistance for students' research in the history of medicine and allied fields. Such applications might include funding up to £50 for necessary travel, photocopying, research fees and any other incidental or enabling expenses.

Mary Langman Prize for essay about the Peckham Experiment of the Pioneer Health Foundation

The experiment was an enquiry into the nature of health, running from 1935 to 1950, studing the family unit in a community setting. There is an annual award of £500 for an essay that furthers the lessons learnt at the Pioneer Health Centre. See our Pioneer Health Foundation item under related societies/

Book review and notice

We have information on books - review of A History of The London Clinic, by Harvey White, and a review of George Guthrie - Soldier and Pioneer Surgeon, by Raymond Hurt


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).


Copyright 2002-2009 David Hawgood and the British Society for the History of Medicine

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 13 Dec 2009 Valid HTML 4.0!