British Society for the History of Medicine, Belfast Meeting Report

British Society for the History of Medicine
Report of Belfast Congress 2009

The 23rd Congress of the British Society for the History of Medicine was held at Stranmillis College, Belfast, from September 2nd-5th, 2009. Hosts were The Ulster Society for the History of Medicine(USHM) with the support and cooperation of the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland(CHOMI), medical historians at the University of Ulster, which is a partnership with University College Dublin. Organisers from USHM were Dr Ethna O'Gorman and Dr Robert Montgomery. From CHOMI, Professa Greta Jones organised the submission of abstracts, and Dr Susan Kelly organised the poster session. Secretary to the Congress was Jayne Keilty.

Stranmillis College Belfast - Conference venue

Congress Report by Barbara and David Hawgood

The Congress was a most interesting and enjoyable occasion. The sessions on Irish medical history provided a fascinating insight into the rise of various aspects of medical care and the organisation and approaches taken before and after the partition of Ireland. Medical professionals, academics and students gave well-presnted papers.

Stranmillis University College is a college of Queen's University Belfast. Stranmillis was founded in 1922 to provide state funded teacher training but now provides other courses and a conference centre. Although the college is spread out in pleasant parkland with many mature trees, the accommodation, meals, lectures and poster displays were all within a compact area. The conference was well organised, and kept to time, with minor adjustments handled smoothly.

On the first evening there was a meeting of BSHM officers and representatives of affiliated societies. Reports from officers had mainly been circulated in advance. We heard details of the 2010 Poynter Lecture, and plans for the 2011 Congess to be held in Guildford. On two evenings there were receptions, with a harpist playing for us. One preceded the excellent and convivial conference dinner. The final session of the Congress was the biennial general meeting of BSHM. Mrs Sue Weir became president for the next two years, succeeding David Wright.

On one afternoon we visited Killyleagh, birthplace of Sir Hans Sloane, with visits to the castle and church. More details and photos below.

Some delegates from outside Ireland took the opportunity to become tourists or to visit friends and old haunts. The authors of this report visited Waterford and Dublin, then spent a few days sightseeing around Belfast before the Congress.

Congress programme

Delegates to the Conference enjoyed a full and varied programme. There were were two sessions on Irish Medical History (Thursday & Saturday mornings), one on Pharmacy, Medical Education and Medical Biography (Thursday afternoon ), with a Free-standing Papers session on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, we visited Killyleagh, birthplace of Sir Hans Sloane. We toured the castle where he received some of his education, saw the church where he was baptised, the graves of his parents, the site of the house where he was born, and his statue.

A few examples of the range of subjects presented during the Conference are as follows:

Topics relating to Irish medical history include the Irish National Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Royal College of Physicians & the regulation of Irish Midwives, the Irish Apothecaries Act of 1791, the Mater Infirmorum Hospital & the NHS, Partition & its impact on Irish Medical History, and Dracula's Asylum & Sir William Thornley Stokes.
The movement of medicines between India & Britain 1857-1947, One hundred years of secret remedies, and the trials & tribulations of the treatment of TB will feature in the Pharmacy & Education programme.
Medical Biography included talks on Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown, Sir William Osler, and Dr James Y. Simpson.
On the Friday morning heard about digital skiagraphy, plague prevention in the Ionian Islands, and the history of anatomy from the Renaissance to the present day.
There were a number of presentations by medical students.
At the morning session on Thursday morning, a Keynote Lecture was given by Professor Tom Baskett on 'Frank Pantridge and the origins of pre-hospital coronary care'.

The schedule of talks is available as Belfast programme (Word document) and Belfast programme (Web page). We also have Abstracts of most talks (Word document).

Student oral presentation prize

This prize was awarded to David Sawbridge MA (Cantab), a medical student at the University of Edinburgh for his talk: 'Lazy, slothful and indolent': Medical and social perceptions of obesity to the eighteenth cemtury: A thematic approach.

Keynote lecture - Professor Thomas Baskett on 'Frank Pantridge and the origins of pre-hospital coronary care'

The keynote lecture by Professor Thomas Baskett provided a personal and informal account of the life of Frank Pantridge. At the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast he developmed the portable defibrillator and organised its rapid deployment. This has transformed emergency medicine and paramedic services world-wide. Tom Baskett trained at the Royal Victoria Hospital and had personal memories of Frank Pantridge, who had high standards and enforced them on others. The talk covered Pantridge's wartime experiences in Singapore and as a prisoner of war on the Burma railway. We were privileged to have in the audience John Geddes. As an SHO he collaborated with Pantridge in the development, and he took part in the discussion after the talk. We heard that the initial team sent out in an ambulance needed a doctor, a nurse - and a hefty medical student to lug the hefty defibrillator to the patient, sometimes up many flights of stairs. Later a truly portable defibrillator was developed. The portrait of Pantridge in the Great Hall of Queen's University Belfast includes a defibrillator. The reports of the success of the portable defibrillator were picked up first in the United States. At first there were problems in getting the equipment and doctor to the patient in time. Belfast had the advantage of being fairly compact, and having relatively light traffic compared with cities like New York. But in America this was solved by training paramedics to use the defibrillator, and also by building sensors into the portable equipment to determine whether the heart had stopped before applying the shock.

Poster session, with student poster prize

There was an exhibition of posters on topics relating to the History of Medicine (HoM). We have Abstracts of posters.

There was a prize for the best poster from a student. The prize was open to students of History enrolled in an Irish or UK University, or medical students who have completed a Module /Student Selected Component in the HoM at an UK University. In addition History of Medicine students who have not yet completed a PHD were eligible for the prize. The prize was awarded to Tharu Tharakan, a medical student from Imperial College London, for his poster:
Politics, Pilots and Potatoes. The experience of R.A.F. Prisoners of War in Germany during World War 2.

Visit to Killyleagh

Killyleagh is the birthplace of Sir Hans Sloane, the eminent 17th Century physician whose collections were the start of the British Museum. Part of his land in Chelsea became the Chelsea Physic garden. As a boy his studies were encouraged and helped by the Hamilton family who had owned Killyleagh Castle since 1606 - and who still own it. The castle is not normally open to the public but hosts events including weddings, and some group tours. We were privileged to be shown around by the owner Gawn Rowan Hamilton. He recounted the history of his family and the castle, showed us the extensive garden, and took us around the castle which is his family home. We ended up on the roof of the tower with extensive views over the countryside and sea. Our tour of Killyleagh continued with a guide from the local history society. We were shown the site of the Sloane birthplace; an inscribed stone from the house is set into a wall. We continued to the church where Hans Sloane was christened, and saw the gravestones of his parents. This was followed by a cream tea in the banqueting hall of Dufferin Coaching Inn. Here the eminent local resident Sir John Gorman talked to us about Sir Hans Sloane. Our tour finished with a visit to the statue of Sir Hand Sloane in Killyleagh.

Killyleagh Castle

Gawn Rowan Hamilton, our guide to his castle,

Congress delegates at the statue of Sir Hans Sloane

Tea at Dufferin Coaching Inn, Killyleagh