{{Short description|British medical society}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} The '''Obstetrical Society of London''' was formed in 1858 and merged in 1907 with the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London to form the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM).<ref name=NationalArchives>{{cite web |title=Royal Society of Medicine Records |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/de419b2c-15cf-4d4e-b94b-cdcb11e54832 |access-date=24 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624111923/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/de419b2c-15cf-4d4e-b94b-cdcb11e54832 |archive-date=24 June 2023 |language=English |date=1907–1975}}</ref>

==History== The Society was set up in 1858, the successor to an Obstetric Society dating from 1825, and in the aftermath of the Medical Act 1858.<ref name="Wilson1996">{{cite book|author=Philip K. Wilson|title=Childbirth: The medicalization of obstetrics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHVyAo50fo8C&pg=PA38|year=1996|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8153-2231-3|pages=38–9}}</ref> The founding group included James Hobson Aveling,<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=58523|title=Aveling, James Hobson|first=Ornella|last=Moscucci}}</ref> Robert Barnes,<ref name="Barnes">{{cite DNB12|wstitle=Barnes, Robert|volume=1}}</ref> Graily Hewitt,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2171|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082840/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2171|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 August 2014|title=Munks Roll Details for William Morse Graily Hewitt|accessdate=17 August 2014}} </ref> Henry Oldham,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/3373|title=Munks Roll Details for Henry Oldham|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017020700/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/3373|url-status=dead}}</ref> Edward Rigby, William Tyler Smith, Thomas Hawkes Tanner,<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=26964|title=Tanner, Thomas Hawkes|first=Elizabeth|last=Baigent}}</ref> John Edward Tilt,<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Tilt, John Edward|volume=56}}</ref> Sir Charles Locock and Sir George Duncan Gibb.

Over its first 15 years the membership of the Society rose to about 600. The Act's proposals included regulation of medical practitioners, taken at the time to include midwifery; and the Society turned in time to certifying midwives.<ref name="Wilson1996"/> The diploma introduced in 1872 recognised the role of the midwife, in supervising "normal labour"<ref>{{cite book|author=Professor Margaret Stacey|title=The Sociology of Health and Healing: A Textbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jqIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|date=2 September 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-89793-3|page=92}}</ref> and commonly appeared in advertisements or curricula vitae as ''Cert., L.O.S.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Burdett's Official Nursing Directory |date=1898 |publisher=Sir Henry Burdett}}</ref>'' Training was provided at London hospitals such as City of London Lying-in Hospital.''<ref name=":0" />''

A dispute over ovariotomy, which other members opposed, led Barnes to leave and found the British Gynaecological Society in 1884.<ref name="Barnes"/> In the election for the presidency at the end of that year, matters came to a head when Alfred Meadows, supported by Aveling and Barnes, failed to be chosen by the Council.<ref name="Moscucci1993">{{cite book|author=Ornella Moscucci|title=The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=szmnVZs_ImsC&pg=PA171|date=22 July 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44795-9|page=171}}</ref> In 1907 both societies merged into the Royal Society of Medicine.<ref name="Barnes"/><ref name=NationalArchives/>

==Presidents== Presidents of the Society served a two-year term.<ref name="Trans1900">''Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London'' Vol. XLIX, (1900) p. ix; [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsobs01londgoog#page/n12/mode/2up archive.org.]</ref>

*1859 Edward Rigby<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1861 William Tyler Smith<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1863 Henry Oldham<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1865 Robert Barnes<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1867 John Hall Davis<ref name="Trans1900"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/1188|title=Munks Roll Details for John Hall Davis|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121824/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/1188|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1869 Graily Hewitt<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1871 John Braxton Hicks<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1873 Edward John Tilt<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1875 William Overend Priestley<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1877 Charles West<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1879 William Smoult Playfair<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1881 James Matthews Duncan<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1883 Henry Gervis<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1885 John Baptiste Potter<ref name="Trans1900"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/3619|title=Munks Roll Details for John Baptiste Potter|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133605/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/3619|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1887 John Williams<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1889 Alfred Lewis Galabin<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1891 James Watt Black<ref name="Trans1900"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/415|title=Munks Roll Details for James Watt Black|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121041/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/415|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1893 George Ernest Herman<ref name="Trans1900"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2159|title=Munks Roll Details for George Ernest Herman|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304132040/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2159|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1895 Francis Henry Champneys<ref name="Trans1900"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/810|title=Munks Roll Details for Sir Francis Henry Champneys|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017032036/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/810|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1897 Charles James Cullingworth<ref name="Trans1900"/> *1899 Alban Doran<ref>''Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London'' Vol. XLIX, (1900) p. v; [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsobs01londgoog#page/n8/mode/2up archive.org.]</ref> *1901 Peter Horrocks<ref>''Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London'', Vol. XLV, for the Year 1859-1907 (1904) p. ix; [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsobs11londgoog#page/n12/mode/2up archive.org]</ref> *1903 Edward Malins<ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2914|title=Munks Roll Details for Sir Edward Malins|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133341/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/2914|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1905 William Radford Dakin<ref>{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/1122|title=Munks Roll Details for William Radford Dakin|accessdate=17 August 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133348/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/1122|url-status=dead}}</ref> *1907 Herbert Ritchie Spencer, who became President of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine after the merger.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1941 |title=Herbert Spencer, M.D., LL.D., F.R.C.P. Consulting Obstetric Physician, University College Hospital |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20321096 |journal=The British Medical Journal |volume=2 |issue=4210 |pages=389–390 |issn=0007-1447}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist|2}}

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Category:Scientific societies based in the United Kingdom Category:Medical and health organisations based in London Category:1858 establishments in England Category:1907 disestablishments in England Category:Medical associations based in the United Kingdom Category:Scientific organizations established in 1858 Category:Science and technology in London Category:Obstetrics and gynaecology organizations Category:1858 in London Category:Midwifery in the United Kingdom Category:Nursing in the United Kingdom