On some phases of the constitutional history of the College of Surgeons / by John Tweedy.

  • Tweedy, John, 1849-1924.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some phases of the constitutional history of the College of Surgeons / by John Tweedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ignorance, or indifference of tlie members of the Company, this usurpation was, in the year 1745, allowed to receive the sanction of Parliament by the Act (18 Geo. II., c. 15), which at once dissolved the union of the Companies of the Barbers and the Surgeons of London, and instituted the Corporation of Surgeons of London. The grievance did not, however, reach its culmination till the granting of the Charter of the year 1843 (7 Victoria), when the ancient right of eligibility to sit in the Council was, suddenly and without leave asked, taken away from all Members of the College who were not thereby created Fellows, or who should not subsequently become Fellows. This unnatural and enforced disability provoked the indig- nation of all other Members; and the present agitation, which began nearly five years ago, when the Council first sought to obtain certain alterations in the Charters, is only a late manifestation of an abiding resentment. No candid person, whether he sympathises or not with the aims of the Members to obtain a substantial share in the management of the College, can disregard these considerations. The pleas which have been urged in support of the claims of the Members are chiefly three in number: first, prudential and political; second, legal; and third, his- torical. The first of these has been fully and elaborately set forth in various writings, and in the discussions which have taken place at the College and elsewhere, and the second is about to be argued in fit form in a court of law.