Royal College of Surgeons of England

The Royal College of Surgeons of England stands in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a quiet square in the City of Westminster. Its origins go back to the fourteenth century, when the Guild of Surgeons was founded in the City of London. The guild joined with the barbers in 1493, then split again in 1745 to become the Company of Surgeons. A royal charter in 1800 turned it into the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and another in 1843 gave it its present title. The college is worth the journey for the Hunterian Museum, which holds thousands of anatomical specimens collected by John Hunter. The museum also displays surgical instruments, paintings and sculptures about medicine. The college awards medals such as the Cheselden Medal, instituted in 2009, and the Lister Medal, given since 1924. The exterior of the building appeared in an episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Visitors find a Grade II* listed façade designed by Sir Charles Barry, with a restored library and new museum entrance on Portugal Street. The Hunterian Museum’s collection includes the Evelyn tables and the Odontological Collection curated by A. E. W. Miles. The college buildings expanded in stages from 1805 to the 1880s, then were rebuilt after wartime damage in the 1950s and 60s.