Royal College of Surgeons of England - Fellows

Fellows

The original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) include:

• John Abernethy (1764–1831)
• John Badley (1783–1870)
• Robert Keate (1777–1857)
• Richard Partridge (1805–1873)

The correct way to address a member or fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons is to use the title Mr, Miss, Mrs, or Ms (not Dr). This system (which applies only to surgeons, not physicians) has its origins in the 16th century, when surgeons were barber-surgeons and did not have a medical degree (or indeed any formal qualification), unlike physicians, who held a University medical degree. When the College of Surgeons received its royal charter, the Royal College of Physicians insisted that candidates must have a medical degree first. Therefore an aspiring surgeon had to study medicine first and received the title Doctor. Thereafter, having obtained the diploma of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons he would revert to the title "Mr" as a snub to the RCP. The title "Mr" only applied to Fellows, not Members with the diploma MRCS. In fact members of the College (holding a MRCS) are referred to as Mr and the College addresses them as such.

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, the distinction is made in the following conversation:

"Come, come, we are not so far wrong after all," said Holmes. "And now, Dr. James Mortimer--"

Despite Mortimer's correction, he is referred to as "Dr. Mortimer" throughout the story.

A biographical register of fellows is available on Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online