The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London (RMCS), created in 1805 as the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, was a learned society of physicians and surgeons, that received a Royal charter in 1834, and a supplement charter in 1907 to create the newly merged Royal Society of Medicine.[1][2]
The RMCS was founded in 1805 as the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, by 26 medical men who left the Medical Society of London (founded 1773) in reaction to the autocratic style of its president, James Sims.[3] Among its founders there were William Saunders (1743–1817), its first president; John Yelloly (1774–1842), Sir Astley Cooper (1768–1841), the first treasurer; Alexander Marcet (1770–1822) and Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869).[1]
According to its charter, the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London was founded "for the purpose of conversation on professional subjects, for the reception of communications and for the formation of a library" and served "several branches of the medical profession".[1] It first met on 22 May 1805 at Freemasons' Tavern on Great Queen Street.[1]
In 1907 several specialist medical societies merged with the RMCS.[2] On 12 June 1907, a supplement charter was granted by King Edward VII and the new amalgamation became the RSM.[2] The 17 societies which merged with the Medical and Chirurgical Society to form the RSM were:[4][a]
Honorary Fellows of the society included Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Edward Jenner and Sigmund Freud. Other presidents of note were the "three great from Guy's Hospital", Richard Bright (1837); Thomas Addison (1849) and Sir James Paget (1875), as well as Joseph Hodgson (1851) and Frederick William Pavy (1900).[citation needed]
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