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History of the RSM - August 2009


Extract of the list of those invited to the Centenary banquet Extract of the list of those invited to the Centenary banquet
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The Centenary dinner to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Medical & Chirurgical Society was held on May 22nd 1905.

The Committee formed to discuss invitations to the dinner first met on 9th March 1904 and resolved to invite, among other distinguished guests, the politician and writer, John Morley (1838 - 1923), playwright and novelist, J.M. Barrie (1860 - 1937), and the writer Robert Service (1874 - 1958).

Neither Barrie nor Service was able to attend and so a replacement had to be found. At the Committee meeting held on 11th April 1905 it was proposed that Arthur Conan Doyle, the novelist, physician, and creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, be invited to speak. He accepted and spoke in answer to Dr Pye-Smith's proposed toast to Literature and Science.

A typewritten document in the Society's archive lists those invited to the Centenary banquet with handwritten notes confirming their acceptance of the invitation; a "Yes" in red ink is inscribed next to Conan Doyle's name.

An exhibition at the Royal Society of Medicine entitled Conan Doyle and the Real Sherlock Holmes is scheduled to run from 1st September 2009 until 30th January 2010.


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