Benjamin WRIGHT MRCS, Westbury area, c1936 - 1945 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 19:05 (4199 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks Slowhands.
Apologies for wasting your time, I have just found this RCS site myself and was about to edit my post accordingly when I found yours, sorry. Perhaps appropriately my pc's been full of a virus lately and is still struggling !

It seems that contrary to my expectations which I thought were reasonable, it seems there is no "simple" searchable database of their members. Even their website is less than clear, eg

"1. we may not necessarily come up with much information unless the ancestor was a Fellow of the College (FRCS)
2. If your ancestor was solely a member (MRCS), it is unlikely that we will hold any detailed information. See clarification of the difference between 'MRCS' and 'FRCS' in a historical context"

I had assumed this statement would be followed by a link or somesuch to this clarification, probably within their website, but it seems not !??.

Anyhow, I guess there is a database, but not a public one. Either way in this instance it's irrelevant as clearly the RCS route isn't appropriate for Benjamin. It appears the RCS prefer to continue to charge individual research fees rather than signup their Archives to one of the big FH websites, which is fine. It's also good they indicate in advance they don't hold Members records, and don't charge excessive search fees either. However I still feel their website could be clearer, as shown by the rather more FH-friendly approach of their "equivalents" in Scotland.
http://www.library.rcsed.ac.uk/content/content.aspx?ID=10

This pdf booklet from the Royal College of Physicians gives many helpful links for those researching ancestors within Medicine; it also serves as a reminder that this complex area has many different facets each with their own proud traditions and histories.
http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/default/files/family_history_research_guide_1.pdf

Thanks anyhow S for helping with a search which is harder than I'd anticipated, and for adding the BT references too which are a great help.
If nowt else we never stop learning about interesting new things with this hobby, do we ?, which can't be bad and is often very good. I've just been reading about the continuing problems at the Westbury Practice, ridiculous in this day and age. I will write to them via the Newnham office but I suspect they've far more pressing matters to attend to.
http://www.newnham-westburysurgeries.nhs.uk/info.aspx?p=2