History of the RSM
Feature of the month - June
How the RSM came to be Number One in Wimpole Street
A search of the Society’s archives reveals that in October 1911 John MacAlister, Secretary of the Royal Society of Medicine, sent out several letters to local residents and businesses asking their permission to apply to the London County Council to have “the new building we are erecting at the corner of Wimpole Street and Henrietta Street” designated No. 1 Wimpole Street with the adjacent houses being renumbered 1a, 1b, and 1c.
A diplomatic but determined MacAlister offered Walters the Newsagents the added incentive of promising to “order all our daily and weekly periodicals from you, and probably should arrange to begin this at once, if we got this matter settled”
He also met the objections of a Miss Cole of the Cavendish Square Association by pointing out that “even as it is there are three distinct doors, each known as ‘No. 1’ causing considerable inconvenience, and it is quite certain that sooner or later, whether we like it or not, the County Council will, - as it has done in other places – re-number the street for the sake of public convenience, and without any regard to the feelings of tenants…”
The Society came to a settlement with Miss Cole by agreeing to meet the costs of her having new stationery printed. Bluthner, the pianoforte manufacturers, and B. Davies and Son, Dairy Experts, were happy to consent to MacAlister’s proposal, as were residents Mary Day and R.E. Andrews, and so the Royal Society of Medicine gained the prestigious address it has to this day.