Our last seminar was held at the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.   The Society have had archivist Dr Sharon Messenger on loan for a day each week for the last year from the Royal College of General Practitioners to mark the Society’s 400th anniversary.

We learned a great deal about the Society, including that Agatha Christie trained as an apothecary’s assistant there (that explains her knowledge of poison, then!).

Staff and volunteers were on hand to show us the building as well as some of the wonderful exhibits on display, including the examination certificate of Elizabeth Garret Anderson (1836-1917), the first woman in this country to qualify as a physician and surgeon.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s entry in the examination book – the pro-forma ‘Mr’ required correcting!

For those of us with a penchant for the gruesome, the favourite exhibit was a bladder stone the size of a large grapefruit and the weight of a small bowling ball which seemingly went undetected for several years!:

Many thanks to all the staff and volunteers at the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries for such an interesting evening, and for making AfL so welcome.

At our next seminar  Frank James will be talking about Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution. The seminar  will take place at the London Metropolitan Archives after a very short AGM on Thursday 7th December at London Metropolitan Archives.  Please join us – there will be mince pies…