British Empire Article


The London School of Tropical Medicine


The London School of Tropical Medicine, along with the Liverpool and Edinburgh Schools, became responsibile for training medical officers en route to serve in the various British colonies.

The London School is the oldest school of public health in the world. The School's origins lie in the hulks at Greenwich, where seamen, many suffering from tropical diseases, were once treated. Patrick Manson, one of the great names in tropical medicine and a physician to the Seamen's Hospital Society, secured the enthusiastic support of Joseph Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary, in establishing The London School of Tropical Medicine adjacent to the Seamen's Hospital at Albert Dock. From its opening on 2 October 1899, doctors selected for colonial medical services attended a three month course at the School.

When the Ministry of Health was created as recently as 1919, a prime objective was a state institute of public health. Negotiations led, with Rockefeller Foundation support, to the establishment in 1929 of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in its Keppel Street premises.

Picture Courtesy of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine


The Colonial Service Training Courses Article



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