Queen's College (University of Oxford)

Formal clinical instruction of medical students had begun at the General Hospital in Birmingham in 1779, but it was not until December 1825 when William Sands Cox, son of Edward Townsend Cox, surgeon to the town infirmary, began a course of 'anatomical lectures with physiological and surgical observations'. Sands Cox had been educated at the King Edward VI school in Birmingham and was then apprenticed to his father before studying at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals in London from 1821-1823, and at the Ecole de Medecine in Paris after being admitted Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. On his return to Birmingham, Sands Cox placed an advertisement in Birmingham newspapers, and gave the first course of lectures at his father's house, 24 Temple Row, Birmingham. In 1826 the Apothecaries Society officially recognised him as a teacher of anatomy, and he was also recognised by the Royal College of Surgeons. In April 1828 he arranged a meeting of physicians and surgeons in Birmingham and persuaded them to support his idea to form a School of Medicine and Surgery, similar to institutions already established in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. Courses of lectures were adapted to prepare students for examinations of the College of Surgeons and the Society of Apothecaries.

Classes at the new Birmingham School of Medicine started in October 1828, at Temple Row, but the institution moved to a new building in Snow Hill a year later, and then to premises at Paradise Street which were opened on 4 June 1834. At this point it appears that twelve trustees were appointed, and a sub-committee was appointed to draw up rules and regulations for the management of the institution. The school was instituted to give full instruction in all departments of medical science, delivered in the form of lectures required by the constituted medical and surgical authorities of London, Edinburgh and Dublin. The school was managed by the governors who would meet quarterly, and would also meet at other times on the summons of the honorary secretary. All property arising from donations towards the museum and library were were the control of the quarterly board of governors, and were vested in the trustees. A general meeting of the governors was to be held annually, at which a report on the financial situation of the school would be presented. Expenses were to be paid by the lecturers, and all donations and bequests were under control of the governors who were also responsible for appointing lecturers to vacant posts, after seeking the opinion of the lecturers. The lecturers were to keep attendance records to be presented to the committee at monthly meetings, but all other matters relating to the lecturers were to be regulated by themselves. The anatomical museum, natural history museum, and library were open to all qualified members of the medical profession in Birmingham and the local area. The Birmingham Medical Students Debating Society was inaugurated in 1835.

...