The Medical Act of 1858

Before 1858, 19 different bodies regulated medical practitioners in the United Kingdom, each with its own tests of competence; in theory even the Archbishop of Canterbury could license a doctor. Professional titles were mostly local, and estimates from the 1841 census suggest that a third of the doctors in England were unqualified.

An Act to regulate the Qualifications of Practitioners in Medicine and Surgery became law on 2 August 1858 and took effect on 1 October. Its preamble stated the aim: persons needing medical aid should be able to distinguish qualified from unqualified practitioners. It created the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, with 17 members chosen by the medical corporations and universities (the University of Edinburgh shared a seat with the two Aberdeen universities, and Glasgow with St Andrews), six nominated by the Crown, four for England, one for Scotland and one for Ireland, and a president chosen by the council. The council also took charge of publishing a pharmacopoeia.

Registration brought privileges. From 1 January 1859 only registered practitioners could recover fees in court, hold medical appointments in the army and navy, hospitals, dispensaries, asylums, prisons, workhouses and similar institutions, or sign certificates required by law, and in acts of Parliament a legally qualified medical practitioner now meant a registered one. Anyone who wilfully and falsely used the title of physician, surgeon or apothecary, or any title implying registration, faced a fine of up to £20 on summary conviction.

Compiling the first register was hard: thousands applied in the last days of 1858, and publication was delayed by six months. In 1860 Richard Organ became the first doctor removed from the register for being unqualified. The council is now called the General Medical Council.