Family history resources in the
Wellcome Library
Christopher Hilton, Senior Archivist, Department of Archives &
Manuscripts
The Wellcome Library for the
History & Understanding of Medicine might not, at first glance,
seem an obvious source for the family historian. Its name seems to
suggest a concern with surgical techniques and pharmaceutical formulae
rather than individuals. Medicine, however, is not a science practised
in a vacuum, but one that touches everyone. Almost without exception we
will be born, live our lives and die with some degree of medical
attention that will leave a trace in medical records. In addition, of
course, many of us will have medical practitioners of one sort or
another in our family tree. For these reasons the Wellcome Library has
much to offer the family historian, whether the search relates to a
practitioner, a patient, or local historical background.
The Wellcome Library is one of
the activities of the Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest medical
research charity, and is located on the Euston Road in London. (Full
contact details are at the end of the article.) The Trust was endowed
by Sir Henry Wellcome out of the profits of the Wellcome
pharmaceuticals firm (now part of GlaxoSmithKline) and the Library,
which grew out of Sir Henry’s personal collection, is the country’s
leading centre for the study of medical history. Its holdings are
extremely diverse in subject: Wellcome saw the history of medicine
essentially as the history of humankind’s place in the physical
universe and so the holdings go beyond medicine into the general
history of science, into demography, public health and nutrition; into
religion and anthropology to explore the ‘scientific’ beliefs of
non-technological societies; into unorthodox medicine and quackery; the
list is endless. The types of material held are varied too:published
books and journals, archives, pictures, photographs and moving images.
This short description can do no more than provide a taste: a leaflet
giving a more exhaustive listing of family history sources can be
downloaded from the Library’s website and is available in hard copy on
application to the Library.
Usefully for the family historian, many
of the relevant published sources are concentrated in a special
Biography Room which brings together materials relating to the lives of
individuals. There are hundreds of biographies of medical practitioners
and in some cases of famous patients, plus a wide variety of
biographical dictionaries and directories. The Medical Directory,
published annually and giving the address and a career summary for
almost every doctor in the United Kingdom, is held in a continuous run
from 1855 to the present and may be the most valuable source; the
Register of Nurses (from 1930 onwards) and its predecessor publications
perform a similar role for the nursing profession. For the eighteenth
century an invaluable source is Eighteenth century medics by P.J. and
R.V. Wallis which records all known mentions of eighteenth century
personnel in subscriptions, licences, and apprenticeship papers. Other
useful directories include various specialised listings that bring
together, for example, army medical officers, members of the Indian
Medical Service and so forth; biographies of the Fellows of the Royal
Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons (by Munk and Plarr respectively,
and known as ‘Munk’s Roll’and Plarr’s Lives’); directories of alumni
of various universities and public schools; some trade directories for
various towns; and of course standard biographical reference works such
as Who’s Who and Who Was Who, Burke’s Peerage and Landed Gentry, the
Dictionary of National Biography and its analogues covering countries
such as Australia, the United States and various European nations.
Etching
by George Cruikshank of a short dentist extracting a tooth from an
extremely tall lady, 1821
Archive and manuscript sources
in the Library are every bit as varied as the published holdings,
stretching from the Dark Ages to the present and taking in illuminated
manuscripts, administrative records, personal correspondence, research
notes and a wide variety of other types of document. Most material
relevant to the family historian dates from before 1900 and forms part
of the collection of Western Manuscripts, the vast majority of which is
now catalogued onto a database that can be searched for names of
places, institutions or individuals. To make this vast array of
material more manageable, various sources leaflets have been produced
that summarise holdings relating to various themes:one on British local
history enables the reader to bring together all material anchored in a
particular area.
MS.7019:
‘Summons issued against the Rev. A.H. Drummond of Maidenhead for
contravening rabies precautions, 1878. Wellcome Library MS.7019/6.’
Key sources for the family
historian would include the case-books of local medical practitioners,
which generally list patients seen, their illness and what was
prescribed, and the doctor’s fee. Often the treatment recorded is
attendance at a birth. Books of this nature are held for various
localities. Doctors’ correspondence can also be useful, since details
of a consultation or even autopsy may be recorded cheek by jowl with
personal letters to the doctor’s family.
MS.2363:
‘Late 18th century household recipe book compiled in Berkshire.
Wellcome Library MS.2363.’
Hospital records are not common
at the Wellcome Library since, as a private charity, it is not a place
of deposit for public records - ruling out patient records from within
the NHS system. However, some private institutions are represented,
particularly mental hospitals; ranging from the extensive records of
Ticehurst House hospital in Sussex (late eighteenth century to early
twentieth century patient records are available; the records even
include, for a few years, lists of employees from the nurses down to
the gardeners and stable-boys) to occasional stray volumes from other
institutions. It should be noted that the Library’s visual holdings
contain illustrations of a great many hospitals which might be of
interest for background information.
Three other major archive
collections are worth highlighting for family history purposes. The
Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a state body and its administrative
archives accordingly are at the National Archives; however, the RAMC
also accumulated a collection of personal papers — diaries, memoirs,
photograph albums and so forth — from members of the RAMC and its
predecessor bodies, going back to the Peninsular War. That collection
is now deposited at the Wellcome Library and is a resource worth
exploring for anyone investigating a military medical figure. Still on
the military theme, the Library has a large collection of material
relating to Florence Nightingale, including hundreds of her letters:
one of these, to Colonel Lefroy (one of her allies in the fight for
reform of the army medical services), lists the nurses who served with
her in Crimea. Finally, and still on the subject of nursing, the
Queen’s Nursing Institute was founded to commemorate Queen Victoria’s
Golden Jubilee in 1887 (it still exists) to train and provide district
nurses. It kept records of the nurses on its books, inspecting them
regularly, and a long series of volumes record, for example, the
nurse’s training and posts held, her religious affiliation and marital
status (some volumes adding more information such as the nurse’s
previous occupation and her father’s job).
In addition to its own holdings
the Wellcome Library can offer access to information about sources at
other repositories. With the National Archives it hosts the Hospital
Records database, summarising known hospital archive holdings across
the country; it is also in the process of compiling a more general
Medical Archives and Manuscripts Survey to cover all medical sources
(so far 110+ repositories, mainly in London, have been covered). These
are available on-line via the Library website. Other electronic sources
can be consulted within the Library; these include the Business
Archives Council’s databases recording the location of records of the
pharmaceutical industry and of veterinary science, compiled recently
with Wellcome Trust funding.
Doctors, nurses, patients ...
for family historians searching for information on any of these, or
background on the medical milieu in which they worked, the Wellcome
Library is well worth a visit. This piece has done no more than scratch
the surface: readers are invited to come and find out more for
themselves.
The Wellcome Library for the History &
Understanding of Medicine is located in the Wellcome Building, 183
Euston Road, London NW1 2BE. Library hours are 9:45-5:15 Monday,
Wednesday & Friday, 9:45-7:15 Tuesday & Thursday and 9:45-1:00
Saturday. Some identification will be needed on your first visit. For
general enquiries ring 020 7611 8582 or email
<library@wellcome.ac.uk>; alternatively visit the Library website
at <http://library.wellcome.ac.uk>.
From the website there are links to the Library’s databases of
published and archive holdings.
with any
queries