The Leeds Medico-Chirurgical Society

The meeting began with supper in the Garland Gallery.
Apologies were noted.

The President then invited Mr Roger Peel, former Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the General Infirmary at Leeds to give his talk, entitled ‘In Honour of Anning'.

Mr Peel began by reminding the Society that Dr Stephen T Anning, former Consultant in Dermatology and well known historian of Medicine in Leeds, was born in 1908 and studied Medicine in Leeds. He was Secretary of the Society in 1952 and President in 1972. He published the history of the General Infirmary at Leeds in two volumes in 1963/66 and of the Leeds School of Medicine in 1980.

Mr Peel then gave a fascinating account of the development of Medicine in Leeds from the mid-18th C when, as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the cloth trade in particular, Leeds became a thriving city. In 1767, there were no proper hospitals in Leeds; Harrison's Hospital and Mrs Potter's Hospital were homes for indigent persons. The wealthy employers of labour realised the necessity of an institution that could treat the injuries of their employees and get them back to the mills and factories; on the 20th May, 1767 a meeting at which William Hey was present, was held at the New Inn to ‘consider the expediency of a General Infirmary'. It was proposed that the new Infirmary should be a General one and not limited to patients from the parish of Leeds and subscriptions were raised. Mr Andrew Wilson's house in Kirgate was chosen as a temporary site and John Carr was appointed as architect and in 1771, the New Infirmary was opened on a greenfield site next to the Clothworkers' Hall with 27 beds and 4 surgeons. Water had to be pumped from the River Aire to provide for 150 gallons of ale a day as well as for sanitary facilities, designed by the engineer John Smeaton. Operations were carried out by candlelight and it was not until 1853, that gas lighting was available.

In February 1860, the Medical Faculty resolved that a new building would be necessary and the present Sunny Bank site was chosen. In September 1862, the plans were submitted, and the architect, Mr Gilbert Scott was approved. Florence Nightingale's advice was sort on the design of the wards. The Foundation stone was laid on the 29th March, 1864 and the Infirmary was completed in May 1868 and a National Exhibition of Works of Art was held. At the opening ceremony, a concert took place under the direction of Mr Charles Halle with a mixed chorus of 200.

Mr Peel also touched on early postgraduate Medical Education in Leeds following the Apothecaries' Act in 1815. Mr William Hey and Mr Charles Thackeray gave anatomy lessons for apprentice surgeons. In 1865, the Foundation Stone of the new Medical School in Park Street was laid, but soon proved inadequate and the present one was built on Mount Pleasant site and opened in 1894.

In 1853, Mr J Ingham Ikin and Mr George Morley proposed a new Hospital for Women and Children and this opened a 28 East Parade. Mr Peel described the important event in 1908, when the house at 42 Hyde Terrace was presented to the Trustees and became the Leeds Hospital for Women in 1910 with 33 beds. Extensions for a new ante-natal and labour ward and 108 beds were started in 1923.

Mr Peel described the events surrounding the proposed rebuild of the General Infirmary and its associated hospitals, following a Government White Paper in 1962. In the same year, the University anticipating a rise in the number of medical students, asked the Board of Governors to participate in the building of a new integrated Medical School, but then built the Medical and Dental School separate from the Infirmary and established a new University Hospital at the St James's site. In the meantime, following extensive slum clearance around the area between the University and the LGI, plans were developed to rebuild a 1380 bed hospital at the LGI. A great deal of planning was undertaken, in which Mr Peel was heavily involved and after much alteration of the original plans, the building of the Clarendon Wing was finally undertaken in 1977 and was opened in 1984, linked to the LGI by an umbilical cord in the form of a tunnel. In 1993, the Jubilee Wing was conceived and opened in 1997 to house the new Regional Specialty Services in Neurosurgery and Cardio-thoracic Surgery.

Mr Peel's address was accompanied by many interesting historical photographs and was extremely well received. The President thanked Mr Peel and the meeting closed after a lively discussion.