Abstract
The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), 1 Wimpole Street, is a convenient home and starting point for short medical visits to central medical London. This Marylebone area includes Harley Street, Wimpole and Wigmore Streets, Cavendish Square, Chandos House, the Medical Society of London, the National Heart Hospital, King Edward VII Hospital, the London Clinic, the College of Nursing and many other medical facilities. No wonder the area has been dubbed Pill Island. The RSM was founded because of dispute among some members of the Medical Society of London, who left it to form the Medical and Chirurgical Society (in 1805) and the eventual amalgamation of diverse societies into one RSM in 1905/1906. The RSM bought Chandos House, on Queen Anne Street, in 1964 for £250,000 for a 99-year lease. It provided additional residential accommodation, a workplace for the Society's staff by day and a pleasant setting for medical functions and parties in the evening. It is now also a popular venue for weddings. It had a distinguished history as the Austro-Hungarian Embassy and as the residence of the Countess of Stafford, the Earl of Shaftesbury and Viscount Kemsley.
Chandos House is but a stone's throw from one of the oldest medical societies in the world, The Medical Society of London, which was founded in 1773 to bring together three groups of men treating the sick – physicians, surgeons and apothecaries. John Coakley Lettsom (1744–1815) took a leading part in its foundation and continuing success. It remains today a vigorous society with an active programme of lectures and conferences. It is very close to Cavendish Square named after Lady Henrietta Cavendish, wife of Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford. The statue in the centre of the Square is that of Lord William George Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (1802–1948). He was the fourth son of the Duke of Portland and enjoyed being a racehorse owner, Derby winner, hunter, in the Army (1819) and MP (1826). He was private secretary to his uncle George Canning. At the north side of the Square, No. 15, was the home of beloved Sir Jonathan Hutchinson (1828–1913), surgeon, physician, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, pathologist and prolific writer. Other residents of the Square included Princess Amelia, daughter of George II (at No. 16), HH Asquith (at No. 20), George Romney (at No. 32) and Lady Mary Wortley Montague (at No. 5). Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, married Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles in 1913; she owned Wimpole Hall near Cambridge. This betrothal provided further street names for the area.
Another stone's throw takes us to The London Clinic that was founded in 1932 by a group of Harley Street doctors, and proudly celebrated its 75th anniversary with a fine history in 2007. It is a private hospital with the most up-to-date technology, rivalling the National Health Service. It has a frontage to the north on Marylebone Road, to the east on 149 Harley Street and to the west on Devonshire Place. There is a frenzy of building activity alongside at present for the Clinic is building a new Cancer Centre in the Marylebone Road with underground access for patients to be transferred for treatment from one to the other. Beaumont Street is very nearby and houses the King Edward VII Hospital, established in 1899 for officers wounded in the Boer War, and supported by the patronage of Edward VII. Another stone's throw away in Westmoreland Street is the National Heart Hospital which is incorporated in the National Health Service and associated with University College Hospital. In nearby Weymouth Street stands The Harley Street Clinic, a popular well-equipped private hospital. Nearby in Great Portland Street is The Portland Hospital for women and children. Its outpatient facilities across the road are the premises of what was formerly the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.
The medical tourist is now at the stage of deciding whether he walks south to nearby Oxford Street or north to Regent's Park. He will choose southwards if it is time for lunch or tea, but northwards if he wishes to survey the three Medical Colleges now inviting attention in Regent's Park.