Regius Professor of Medicine (Aberdeen)

The Regius Professor of Medicine is a Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen , founded in 1497 by King James IV of Scotland . According to the University of Aberdeen, this will be the first professorship for medicine worldwide. In fact, there was no known Letters patent before 1858 . This was only awarded by Queen Victoria .

History of the professorship

1522 James Cumyne

1522 Robert Gray

1556 Gilbert Skeen

1619 Dr. Patrick Dun

1632 Dr. William Gordon

1640 vacant

1649 Dr. Andrew Moore

1672 Dr. Patrick Urquhart

1725 Dr. James Gregory (senior)

1732 Dr. James Gregory (junior)

1755 Dr. John Gregory

1766 Sir Alexander Gordon of Lesmore

1782 Dr. William Chalmers

1793 Sir Alexander Burnett Bannermann

1813 Dr. James Bannermann

1839 Dr. William Gregory

1844 Dr. Andrew Fyfe

List of professors after John D. Comrie. Gaps are likely.

The first professor

In 1494, Bishop William Elphinstone's efforts with the Pope and the King bore fruit, and he received permission to study Universale , a university in Aberdeen . In a papal bull dated February 24, 1491 (1495 according to today's interpretation of history), the Pope therefore transferred the usual rights of a university, namely to teach , study and award degrees in theology , canon law , civil law , medicine and the arts. The bishop raised his own funds and the then young James IV of Scotland also made a small allocation and on top of that ceded the benefits from St. Germains Hospital to the university.

With these funds, the College of St. Mary of the Nativity was established with 42 clerics and scholars . In 1500 this college was renamed King's College in memory of James IV. The Universities (Scotland) Act of 1858 created the University of Aberdeen from the merger of King's and Marischal College . The University of Aberdeen names 1497 as the beginning of medical teaching. John D. Comrie mentions 1522 when James Cumyne began working. According to Comries, Cumyne, who was trained at a university, had been active as a doctor in Aberdeen since 1503 at the instigation of the city council. From the files of the Krone it can be seen that payments were made to a professor at the same time for lectures in medicine.

The term “Regius Professur” was coined later. The fact that the king partially took over the professor's remuneration and the associated royal sanctions later led to the reputation that Regius mediate professorships. The Chair of Medicine in Aberdeen is considered the first and oldest Regius Professorship and the year 1497 is taken over by various well-known authors. However, there is no Letters patent or equivalent document about the establishment of the chair from this time.

Comrie's list

Skeene, born in 1522, attended school and King's College and was appointed professor at that college in 1556. During his activity he published "Ane Breve Descriptioun of the Pest" (1558 in Edinburgh), a script written in the local dialect instead of the medical Latin . In 1575 he moved to Edinburgh and in 1581 was appointed doctor to the king. He died in Edinburgh in 1599.

Born in Aberdeen, Patrik Dun had received his medical training at the University of Basel and taught at both King's and Marischal College. In addition to the professorship in medicine, he also taught logic at the Marischal , was rector of the college and headed it for various years.

William Gordon went to great lengths to get permission to teach human anatomy as well, for which he asked the city council to deliver the bodies of two men and two women a year for public dissection. The council complied with this request and instructed public officials to choose criminals for this purpose or, if this did not succeed, the bodies of the poor, people of little influence. Later professors showed less enthusiasm for teaching.

Regius Professors of Medicine

Only after the merger to form the University of Aberdeen, which came into force in 1860 and was enforced by the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1858, the professors are also referred to in historical sources as Regius Professor. Both Macrobin and Smith-Shand can be identified as professors of the Practice of Medicine . The address as Regius Professor was apparently denied them. David White Finlay was the first to be referred to as Regius Professor in official letters.

Surname	name suffix	from	to	annotation
John Macrobin		1860	1875	In Macrobin's appointment to the University Commission for Scottish Universities, he is not referred to as Regius Professor, but as Professor for the Practice of Medicine .
James WE Smith Shand		1875	1891
David White Finlay		1891	1912	Finlay was still referred to as the Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine . At the same time, John D. Comrie was the first to explicitly name him Regius Professor. After his retirement, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate (LL.D).
Ashley Watson MacIntosh		1912	1928
Stanley Patrick Davidson		1930	1938
Robert Stevenson Aitken		1939	1948	Born in New Zealand, Aitken led the professorship through the war years and left Aberdeen to return to New Zealand in 1949 as Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago.
Harold Williams Fullerton		1948	Sep 30 1970
Alexander Stuart Douglas		1970	March 31, 1985
Richard Himsworth		1985	1993
Andrew Jackson Rees		1994	2007	Andrew is a son of the well-known anesthetist Gordon Jackson Rees .
vacant		2007	2010
Michael Paul Frenneaux		2010	2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} International Center for Emergency Medicine ( Memento of the original dated May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on thefirstcall.com; accessed on May 4, 2016.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Report of the Commission for Visiting the Universities and Colleges of Scotland; University of Aberdeen . 1837. W. Clowes and Sons, Order XVI. P. 214.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y} John D. Comrie: Chapter 9: The Medical School of Aberdeen . (PDF) Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London.
4. ^ The University of Aberdeen on newadvent.org; accessed on May 15, 2016.
5. ↑ Universities (Scotland) Act 1858. legislation.gov.uk; accessed on May 11, 2016.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Press release from the University of Aberdeen dated February 24, 2010 on the appointment of Michael Frenneaux as Regius Professor of Medicine.
7. ↑ Richard J. Evans, On her Majesty's scholarly service ; Times Higher Education, February 7, 2013; Retrieved July 17, 2014.
8. ^ A regius rumble ; Times Higher Education, March 4, 1996; accessed on January 21, 2014.
9. ^ ^{A b} David White Finlay in the University of Glasgow Story on the University of Glasgow website; accessed on May 4, 2016.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Obituary to David White Finlay, BA, MA, LL.D., FRCP dated November 17, 1923
11. ^ ^{A b} Appointment of John Macrobin (PDF) as a member of the Scottish Universities Commission for five years. In: London Gazette , December 15, 1868.
12. ↑ Notice of the appointment of David White Finlay as Professor of Practice of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , September 8, 1891.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Communication on the appointment of Stanley Patrick Davidson as Regius Professor of Medcine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , May 2, 1930.
14. ↑ Ashley Watson MacIntosh on fochaberians.co.uk; accessed on May 4, 2016.
15. ^ John Venn: Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900 . Volume 2. Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 274.
16. ↑ Notice of the appointment of Robert Stevenson Aitken as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , October 25, 1938.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Notice on the appointment of Harold Williams Fullerton as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , September 10, 1948.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary for Sir Robert Aitken. In: The Independent , April 16, 1997.
19. ↑ ^{a b} Communication about the appointment of Alexander Stuart Douglas as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , March 24, 1970.
20. ↑ tender for the Regiup Professor of Medicine at the Secretary of State for Scotland. In: Glasgow Herald , September 3, 1969.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Notice on the appointment of Richard Himsworth as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , September 4, 1984.
22. ↑ ^{a b} Communication on the appointment of Andrew Jackson Rees as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , June 7, 1994.
23. ↑ Vita of Richard Himsworth ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the University of Cambridge's Girton College website; accessed on May 4, 2016. 
24. ↑ Gordon Jackson Rees . In: Life of Fellows , on the Royal College of Physicians website; accessed on May 4, 2016.
25. ↑ ^{a b} Communication on the appointment of Michael Paul Frenneaux as Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In: London Gazette , September 4, 2009.
26. ^ New Head of UEA Norwich Medical School announced . ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of East Anglia, January 19, 2015.