School of Medicine

History of the School of Medicine


The School of Medicine admitted its first students in 1831, one of ten provincial medical schools founded 1824-1834. Their foundation reflected the growing needs and ambitions of industrial cities and their scientific elite.

The Worsley Building

Did you know that the first dialysis in Britain outside of London was performed in Leeds? Or that the inventions of the clinical thermometer and other pioneering medical and surgical advances have their origins here?

The School of Medicine developed on four sites (East Parade, Park Street, Thoresby Place and University campus), closely associated with the development of the LGI and St. James’ University Hospital.

Read more about...

a brief history of the school

people of achievement

Principal sources

(other sources are referred to on individual pages)

  • Anning ST and Walls WKJ. A History of The Leeds School of Medicine, One and a Half Centuries, 1831-1981, Leeds University Press, 1982.
  • Anning ST. The General Infirmary at Leeds, Volume II 1869-1965, E and J Livingstone, Edinburgh and London, 1966.
  • Anning ST. The History of Medicine in Leeds, WS Maney, Leeds 1980.
  • Parsons M. Yorkshire and the History of Medicine, William Sessions Ltd., York 2002.