Discover life as a medical student in Victorian London with Caroline Rance.
As the 19th-century medical profession became increasingly regulated, medical schools tried to leave behind the stereotype of the dissolute, drunken student messing about in the dissecting room. But the image refused to die, and stories abounded of students duelling with severed limbs, tormenting the public with pranks and stumbling down the steps of the Cider Cellars. The more conscientious among them tried to defend their reputation, while navigating the isolation and temptations of the city, their teachers’ ‘decidedly improper’ jokes and the gruelling daily schedule of hospital visits, lectures and reading.
In this talk, Caroline Rance explores the highs and gruesome lows of student life at the London hospitals during this era of transformation. Hear about the cadaver that creaked its way upright, the student who clobbered his examiner, and the anatomy tutor whose corpses proved a nuisance to the neighbours. Using the diaries and memoirs of Victorian doctors, Caroline will show what students had to learn, how they spent their time, and how they faced up to the daunting prospect of a life-and-death career.
About Caroline Rance
Caroline Rance is an independent researcher who focuses on the history of medicine – especially health fraud and patent remedies - at thequackdoctor.com and thequackdoctor.substack.com. She regularly gives talks on this subject and has appeared on the BBC’s Great British Railway Journeys, A House Through Time, and Radio 4’s comedy panel show, Best Medicine. Caroline has an MA in Medicine, Science and Society: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives from Birkbeck, University of London. She has a passion for communicating historical research in an accessible and entertaining way.
London Month of The Dead
This event is organised by The London Month of the Dead, an annual festival of arts to inform, entertain and provoke on the subject of death and the city, is now now a decade old. This year's grand calendar boasts a haunting array of over 60 talks, walks, workshops, and performances, each meticulously curated to ensnare hearts and minds alike. Placed throughout the hidden crevices of this ancient metropolis, you will be entertained by an enigmatic cadre of writers, artists, historians, experts, academics, practitioners, and performers—bearers of secrets and whispers from the shadowy depths.