The History Books

I was introduced to the powerful story of Rosemary Kennedy by a chance recommendation from the YouTube algorithm. This certainly kindled my interest in the history of lobotomies and, to put them in their wider context, the shift between surgery to pharmacology and onwards.

Have you ever heard of the Westfield College? I doubt it, as in all material senses, it no longer exists. It was set up in 1888 and was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees.

For those unfamiliar with Whitechapel, it is likely that the name ignites imagery of glooming gas lit alleyways in a crime laden, poverty stricken, Victorian London.

The complex story of Dr James Barry was initially presented to me in an arguably oversimplified package. The first female doctor, forced undercover by a patriarchal and unaccepting society, to become an incredibly talented and highly esteemed military surgeon, all the while maintaining secrecy until the end.

What should it matter what a medical school is called? This is a question I’ve been forced to ask myself recently - in the face of the forced rebrand of our medical school - and I’ve had to conclude that ideally, it seems as if it shouldn’t matter.

Here’s a taster. The very first patient I had to examine the next year, resplendent in a white coat that didn’t smell of chip fat, (me, not the patient), seemed quite well, but I just couldn’t find a pulse and I had read the early parts of Hutchinson’s how to do everything. What sort of trainee doctor cannot take a pulse?