Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine


The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine was a London centre for the study and teaching of medical history. It consisted of the Wellcome Library and an Academic Unit. The former was and is a world-class library collection owned and managed by the Wellcome Trust and staffed by librarians including academic librarians who held honorary lectureships at University College London. The Academic Unit was a group of university staff appointed at University College London that conducted a programme of university teaching, thesis supervision, seminars, conferences and publications.

Directors of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine

  • 1913–1936 Henry S. Wellcome, LLD, DSc, FRS
  • 1913–1925 C. J. S. Thompson, MBE
  • 1925–1934 L. W. G. Malcolm, MSc, PhD, FRSE
  • 1934–1947 Captain Peter J. Johnston-Saint, MA, FRSE
  • 1941–1945 , OBE, MD
  • 1946–1964 Edgar Ashworth Underwood, MD, FRCP
  • 1964–1973 F. Noël L. Poynter, BA, PhD, Hon MD, FLA
  • 1973–1979 Edwin Sisterton Clarke, MD, FRCP
  • 1980–1981 Prof. Alfred Rupert Hall, MA, LittD, FBA
  • 1981–1983 Peter O. Williams, MB, FRCP
  • 1983–1987 Prof. Sir William Paton, CBE, DM, FRCP, FRS

    Librarians

  • 1900–1913 C. J. S. Thompson
  • 1913–1918 T. W. Huck, FLA
  • 1919–1921 C. C. Barnard, MLA
  • 1921–1925 W. R. B. Prideaux, BA, FLA
  • 1925–1931 C. R. Hewitt, FLA
  • 1932–1946 S. A. J. Moorat, MA, DipLib
  • 1946–1953 W. J. Bishop, FLA
  • 1954–1964 F. Noël L. Poynter, BA, PhD, Hon MD, FLA
  • 1964–1973 E. Gaskell, BA, ALA
  • 1973–1996 Eric J. Freeman, BA, ALA
  • 1996–2004 David Pearson
In 1999 the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine was terminated, and in its place two new organisations were created: The Wellcome Library and the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. Prof. Harold Cook was appointed Director of the Wellcome Centre at UCL from 2000 to 2009, while the following persons succeeded David Pearson as Librarians of the Wellcome Library.