Book Review: The Company of Barbers and Surgeons
Authors: Harold Ellis
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2001)

The Worshipful Company of Barbers, whose splendid new Hall stands in Monkwell Square alongside part of the old London Wall, has a long, distinguished and fascinating history. As with many other City Guilds, the Guild of Barbers first had a religious character, banding together its members for services, funerals and occasional feasts. Perhaps the first written reference to the Company was when Richard le Barber was presented before the Court of Aldermen of the City in 1308. He is thus the first recorded Master of the Company. In addition to the obvious duties of barbery, which included the tonsuring of priests, the Barbers practised minor surgery, such as bleeding, cupping, tooth extraction and the lancing of abscesses. Surgeons were few and far between, and there was a good deal of rivalry between the two related professions.

It was Thomas Vicary, surgeon to Henry VIII, who urged his master to introduce the proper regulation of surgeons practising in the City of London, and in 1540 the Company of Barber Surgeons was founded. A fine painting of the granting of the charter is a prized possession of the Company, and its cartoon graces the Great Hall of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The Act of 1540 also allowed the bodies of four executed criminals to be anatomized annually at public demonstrations, and the teaching of anatomy became an important function of the Company. An anatomy theatre was designed for the Company by Inigo Jones in 1636.

In 1745 the Barbers and the Surgeons went their separate ways. The Barbers retained the Hall, the silver and much of the treasure; the surgeons founded the Company of Surgeons, forerunner of the Royal College, and kept the eponymous lectures and scholarships. The Barbers' Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, rebuilt, and destroyed again by bombs in 1940. A new Barber Surgeons' Hall was opened in 1969. Although today the Company has long lost its direct connection with the Barbers' trade, it flourishes and has important charitable aims. These include support of the teaching of anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons, aid to impoverished members of the medical profession and barbers' trade, grants to medical and dental students and support of schools in the City.

To mark the Millennium, the Company instigated this splendid collection of essays. It includes chapters on the early history of the Company, its collection of Royal charters and seals, its finances and charities, the practice of barbery in early times, the teaching of anatomy, the Company's fine library, the story of the Serjeant surgeons (many of whom were or are distinguished members of the Company), the role of the livery companies in the City, the naval connections of the Company, its pageantry, its Hall, its civic connections and its ethos. This book is beautifully illustrated, produced and written. It will give great pleasure to surgeons, medical historians and anyone with an interest in the City of London and its story. I must confess my personal fascination by this book; my father was a very skilful barber.