List of previous medical schools in the UK

List of previous medical schools in the UK

Some of the medical schools below no longer exist. Some exists as part of mergers (some merged more than once).

1. Charing Cross (London) – 1821-1984. In 1984, Westminster and Charing Cross merged to form the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. In 1997, Imperial College School of Medicine was formed by merging combined Charing Cross/Westminster with St Mary’s. Now part of Imperial.
2. Durham Medical School – 2001-2017. Founded on Teesside in 2001 as a partner with the Newcastle University Medical School to educate medical students in the first phase of their medical education (Years 1 and 2). On 1 August 2017 it was transferred to Newcastle University, becoming part of Newcastle’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, and relocated to Newcastle.
3. Edinburgh. Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women – 1889-1916. It merged with the School of Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh in 1916.
4. Edinburgh. Polish School of Medicine (Polish Medical Faculty) 1941-1949. This was part the University of Edinburgh. It operated in Edinburgh, originally to provide doctors for the Polish Army Corps which had been evacuated to Britain after the fall of France in World War II. At first it enabled medical students from the Polish universities, which had all been closed by the German administration, to complete their courses and qualify. Instruction and examination were mostly in Polish. As well as the University’s facilities, the Paderewski Hospital was set up on the Western General Hospital site. It was not feasible to move the school as a unit to Poland after the liberation. The school was both a faculty of the University of Edinburgh and a university authorised by the Polish government in exile (in London), and the Dean also had the powers of a Polish Rector Magnificus. Of 337 students enrolled, 227 graduated, 38 transferred to British universities and 71 discontinued their studies. The school awarded both British degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and a Polish Dyplom Lekarza on the same bilingual Latin-Polish certificate. Nineteen progressed to Doctor of Medicine (MD).
5. Edinburgh. Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women – 1886-1898. It was founded by Sophia Jex-Blake in Edinburgh, Scotland, in October 1886. It closed in 1898.
6. Exeter/Plymouth. Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry – 2000-2013. Split into Exeter and Plymouth medical schools in 2013. Plymouth still called Peninsula Medical School.
7. Glasgow. Anderson’s College Medical School – 1797-1947.
   • 1797: John Burns established a private medical school in College Street, near the University of Glasgow. Burns taught anatomy, midwifery, and surgery at his school.
   • 1796: Anderson’s College opened to compete with the University of Glasgow. This was the non degree-granting precursor of the University of Strathclyde. In 1887, the parent institution became part of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College.
   • 1799: The Medical Faculty of Anderson’s Institution, Glasgow was established.
   • 1828: The institution was renamed Anderson’s University.
   • 1877: The institution was renamed Anderson’s College because it lacked a royal warrant to be a university.
   • 1884: The Medical School became a separate institution called Anderson’s College Medical School
   • 1913: The school was renamed Anderson College of Medicine.
   • 1947: The school merged with the University of Glasgow Medical Faculty after the establishment of the National Health Service.
   • It prepared students for the Triple Qualification diploma (LRCPE, LRCSEd, LRFPSG) which was the Scottish equivalent of the English Conjoint examinations, but not for the University of Glasgow’s degrees. This school was attended by large numbers of Americans who were excluded from US East Coast schools by the Jewish quotas applied there before World War II: these included Arthur Sackler, Mortimer Sackler and Raymond Sackler. The building adjacent to the Western Infirmary remained in use for decades.
8. Glasgow. St Mungo’s College Medical School – 1876-1947. This was set up in 1888 by the medical teachers of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI), after the university had migrated westwards and set up the new Western Infirmary for clinical teaching. The College incorporated the Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Medicine which had been set up in 1876. At first their students could not take the university examinations. St Mungo’s College also had a non-university law school, which prepared accountants and law agents but not advocates. In 1947 it was absorbed into the University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Medicine, whose teaching departments remain based within GRI to the present day. The college buildings on the GRI campus remained in use until 1982, when the teaching departments moved into the-then new Queen Elizabeth Building – a multi-storey car park now stands on the site of St. Mungo’s College.
9. Guy’s (London) – 1726-1982. Merged with St Thomas’ in 1982 as United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS), and both merged with King’s in 1998. Now part of KCL.
10. King’s (London) – 1829-1998. Merged with the (merged) Guy’s/Thomas’ in 1998. Now part of KCL.
11. London. 1785-1992. In 1992, The Medical College of St Bartholomew’s and The London Hospital Medical College merge to become Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry (BLSMD). In 1995, Queen Mary and Westfield College merge with BLSMD, It is now part Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
12. Leicester/Warwick. 2000-2007. Split into Leicester and Warwick medical schools in 2007. Leicester was founded in 1976.
13. London School of Medicine for Women – 1874. First medical school for women in the UK. In 1877 the Royal Free Hospital accepted women students from LSMW to complete their clinical studies there, and by 1896 it had been renamed as the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women. In 1947 the school became co-educational and was renamed as the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. Now part of UCL.
14. Middlesex (London) – 1746-1987.
15. Merged with Middlesex in 1987, and as combined UCH/Middlesex (called University College and Middlesex School of Medicine), merged with Royal Free in 1998. Now part of UCL.
16. Royal Free (London) – 1896-1998. The Royal Free Hospital agreed to allow students from The London School of Medicine for Women in 1887 to complete their clinical studies there; and in 1896 was renamed The London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women. Merged with combined UCH/Middlesex in 1998. Now part of UCL.
17. St Bartholomews – 1843-1992. In 1992, the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s and The London Hospital Medical College merge to become Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry (BLSMD). In 1995, Queen Mary and Westfield College merge with BLSMD. It is now part Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
18. St Mary’s (London) – 1854-1997. In 1997, Imperial College School of Medicine was formed by merging St Mary’s with the combined Charing Cross/Westminster Medical Schools. Now part of Imperial.
19. St Thomas’ (London) – 1550-1982. Merged with Guy’s in 1982 as United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS), and both merged with King’s in 1998. Now part of KCL.
20. United Hospitals Medical School – 1768. In 1768 teaching at St Thomas’s (1550) and Guy’s hospitals (1726) in London was formalised with the foundation of the UHMS.
21. University College (London) – 1834-1987. Merged with Middlesex in 1987, and as combined UCH/Middlesex (called University College and Middlesex School of Medicine), merged with Royal Free in 1998. Now part of UCL.
22. Westminster (London) – 1834-1997. In 1984, Westminster and Charing Cross merged to form the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. In 1997, Imperial College School of Medicine was formed by merging combined Charing Cross/Westminster with St Mary’s. Now part of Imperial.