St Mary's is the youngest of the constituent schools of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, founded in 1854 as part of the new hospital in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

. During its existence in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the most popular medical school in the country, with an application to place ratio of 27:1 in 1996. St Mary's continued comparatively unmoved by the other nomadic medical schools in the area, until its merger with

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1988, and the foundation of

Imperial College School of Medicine Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) is the undergraduate medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals. It is part of the college's Faculty of Medicine and was formed by the merger of several hist ...

in 1997 by the merger with

Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School existed as a legal entity for 13 years, as the midpoint of a series of mergers which strategically consolidated the many small medical schools in west London into one large institution under the aegis ...

''Doctors to Be''

Doctors to Be ''Doctors to Be'' is a biographical documentary series that was first broadcast on BBC Two by BBC Television and is also the name of a book, published by BBC Books, that accompanies the series. The television series follows 10 medical students wh ...

'', a biographical documentary series first broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

, followed 10 medical students who enrolled at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in the 1985 intake. It started with admission interviews in November 1984, then followed their lives as medical students for five or six years, and ended with their first experiences of working as busy junior hospital doctors in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. A sequel '' Doctors to Be: 20 Years On'' was first broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

in 2007 and provided an update on the careers and lives of the same people after they had qualified.

Student life

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Tru ...

was traditionally regarded as the refuge of sons of Welsh farmers and miners arriving by train from nearby

Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...

. St Mary's Hospital Medical School thus developed a reputation for sporting prowess, with the rugby club actually predating the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

. The sporting traditions of Mary's are reflected with its alumni, such as the Welsh rugby captain JPR Williams (commemorated in the annual ICSM vs. Imperial Varsity Rugby match, the JPR Williams Cup); and

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres an ...

(commemorated in the annual ICSM vs. Imperial Varsit
athletics meet
, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. The first woman to graduate from St Mary's Hospital was Jean Ginsburg in 1952. St Mary's Hospital has an equally rich history in the arts. The dramatic society staged performances of operettas at

Wilson House, London Imperial College London's student accommodation comprises 23 halls of residence around West London, primarily South Kensington and North Acton. Accommodation is primarily for first-year undergraduates, although some halls exist for returning stud ...

, which on occasion were graced with a royal visit and a performance from Princess Margaret. This royal association continued until recent times with the Queen Mother being the patron of the soirée – the post opera comedy night – until her death in 2002 (the post has remained unfilled following its failure to be won in the post-soirée raffle of the same year). The student clubs of the hospital had many

United Hospitals United Hospitals is the historical collective name of the medical schools of London. They are all part of the University of London (UL) with the exception of Imperial College School of Medicine which left in 2007. The original United Hospitals ref ...

victories.

St Mary's Swimming Pool

The swimming pool in the basement of the Medical school building was built in 1932. It was opened by the Queen Mother who was the royal patron of the pool and was often spotted having a dip. Sir Alexander Fleming became familiar with the water polo team's commendable sportsmanship, which influenced his decision to come to St Mary's from Scotland.

Clubs and Societies

St Mary's Hospital RFC Imperial Medicals Rugby Club ("Imperial Medics") is the name given to the rugby union team of Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union, a modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having ...

*St Mary's Water Polo Club

Alumni

Graduates of St Mary's Hospital Medical School can join the St Mary's Association.

Notable alumni

– First man to run a four-minute mile, professor of neurology *Air Vice-Marshal John Cooke - senior RAF officer and Dean of Air Force Medicine *Sir

Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of what ...

- Nobel Laureate, Physiology and Medicine, known for his discovery of penicillin at the hospital in 1928. The room in which the discovery took place is currently a museum at the hospital, open to the public. * Jean Ginsburg - reproductive endocrinologist *

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Frederick Charles Hurrell Air Vice Marshal Frederick "Freddie" Charles Hurrell, (24 April 1928 – 3 October 2008) was a senior medical officer in the Royal Air Force who spent his 35-year military career in aviation medicine and served as Director-General of the RAF Med ...

- Director-General of the

RAF Medical Services The Royal Air Force Medical Services is the branch of the Royal Air Force that provides health care at home and on deployed operations to RAF service personnel. Medical officers are the doctors of the RAF and have specialist expertise in avia ...

from 1986 to 1988 *

Harry Keen Harry Keen CBE (3 September 1925 – 5 April 2013) was an English diabetologist and a professor of human metabolism at Guy's Hospital. He was the first to identify microalbuminuria as a predictor of kidney disease in diabetics, and was an internat ...

- diabetes expert *

Tommy Kemp Tommy Kemp (12 August 191526 November 2004) was a rugby union international who represented England from 1937 to 1948. He also captained his country. Early life Tommy Kemp was born on 12 August 1915 in Bolton. Rugby union career Kemp made hi ...

- International rugby player *Major General Frederick Mayes - Director General Army Medical Services from 1993 to 1996 * Doris Odlum - early psychiatrist *

Tuppy Owen-Smith Harold Geoffrey Owen Owen-Smith (18 February 1909 – 28 February 1990), known as Tuppy Smith, was a South African cricketer who played Test cricket for South Africa and a rugby player who played for and captained the England rugby union team. ...

– International rugby player and cricketer * Augustus Rowe - Canadian physician and politician; Health Minister of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

(1972-1975). *

Andrew Wakefield Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born September 3, 1956) is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in ''The Lancet'' MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that ...

– instigator of the

MMR vaccine controversy Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism fraud ...

In the news: Andrew Wakefield – Times Higher Education
/ref> * JPR Williams – International rugby player * Richard Tecwyn Williams - First Chair of Biochemistry at the medical school *

Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran Charles McMoran Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, MC, PRCP (10 November 1882 – 12 April 1977) was personal doctor to Winston Churchill from 1940 until the latter's death in 1965. His book ''The Struggle for Survival'' revealed much about Churchill's ...

- later college Dean and personal physician to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

References

External links

Imperial College Healthcare NHS TrustSt Mary's Hospital Medical School student lists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Hospital Medical School 1854 establishments in England Medical schools in London History of Imperial College London United Hospitals Educational institutions established in 1854 Imperial College School of Medicine