The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to as Munk's Roll, is a series of published works containing

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

entries of the fellows of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

. It was published in print in eleven volumes (1861 to 2004) with a twelfth

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

(2005 to present). The series is now titled Inspiring Physicians (from 2020). The series has been informally known as Munk’s Roll, after the original compiler, for over a century. However, the formal name for the series of volumes (1-11) in print, is Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

History

Munk's Roll was initially the work of the College's Harveian Librarian,

William Munk William MunkFRCP(September 1816 – 20 December 1898) was an English physician, now remembered for his work as a medical historian and "Munk's Roll", a biographical reference work on the Royal College of Physicians. Life The eldest son of Wi ...

. The first

published edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

(1861) was originally prepared as

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

in three large volumes, containing biographical information on all physicians who were connected with the College, with no thought to publication. Each volume of the manuscript was presented to the Colleg
library
upon its completion. The first volume covered the foundation of the College to 1600 (completed March 1855), the second covered 1601 to 1700 (completed December 1855), and the third volume 1701-1800 (completed in June 1856). The Council of the College, at the instigation of some influential Fellows, expressed the view in December 1860 that the work be published, and it was, in 1861. The first edition consisted of volumes one and two, containing fellows and

licentiates A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. The Licentiate (Pontifical Degree) is a post graduate degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universiti ...

from 1518 to 1800. In 1878, volume three was included in the second edition, overseen by Munk, with biographies to 1825. The work was set out in

chronological order Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of t ...

with an index. Subsequent editions, for biographies post 1825, were limited to fellows, which reflects the increasing numbers, qualifications and professionalism of physicians through the 19th century. They were titled ''Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London''.

Volumes

* Volume 1, 1518-1700 * Volume 2, 1701-1800 * Volume 3, 1801-1825 * Volume 4, 1826-1925 * Volume 5, 1926-1965 * Volume 6, 1966–1975, published 1982 (ed. Gordon Wolstenholme) * Volume 7, 1976–1983, published 1984 (ed. Gordon Wolstenholme) * Volume 8, 1984-1988 * Volume 9, 1989-1993 * Volume 10, 1994-1997 * Volume 11, 1998-2004 * Volume 12 (2005 onwards)

The Roll today

It has become an invaluable biographical resource for those interested in medical and

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

, and family historians. All the print volumes are available online as part of th
Inspiring Physicians
series, which is regularly updated with new biographies of deceased fellows.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Inspiring Physicians
– searchable database on th
history of medicine website
of the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians British biographical dictionaries Online databases