Centenary of the British Medical Association

Abstract

THE annual general meeting of the British Medical Association, which marks the official opening of the centenary meeting of the Association in London, will take place on July 23 at the Association's house in Tavistock Square, London. On July 24 a pilgrimage to Worcester has been arranged. In this city, in 1832, the project for an organised alliance of medical practitioners first took shape, under the guidance of Charles Hastings, who was born at Ludlow on Jan. 11, 1794. In the morning, Dr. W. G. Willoughby will unveil a plaque on a house in which Sir Charles Hastings formerly lived, the Mayor of Worcester assisting at the ceremony. An original portrait of Hastings (1839), by G. F. Faulkner, from the Board Room of the City Infirmary, will be handed over to the Association. From the house there will be a robed procession to the Cathedral to participate in a commemoration service, at which the sermon will be preached by Dr. E. W. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham. A memorial window will be unveiled by the Right Hon. Lord Dawson of Penn. Lord Dawson will deliver his presidential address on July 26, at Queen's Hall, Langham Place, London, W.1. Next day the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London will hold a civic reception at Guildhall. A centenary dinner will take place at the Albert Hall, on July 28 Lord Dawson will preside and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales will be the principal guest. The clinical and scientific work of the meeting will be divided among twenty-four sections. In that devoted to the history of medicine (president, Dr. Charles Singer), in a discussion on various aspects of British medicine during the past hundred years, Sir Edward Sharpey-Schafer, the veteran physiologist, will open a discussion on the physiology of the period, while Dr. P. H. Manson-Bahr will open another dealing with tropical medicine. Personal letters and relics of British pioneers of tropical medicine will be shown by Dr. Manson-Bahr. A large number of Dominion and foreign guests is attending the centenary meeting.