The Park Street School
Park Street:
Home of the Leeds School of Medicine 1865 to 1894
In the 1840s and 1850s the numbers of students varied between 26 and 43 and by 1860 over 60 students were enrolled and more space was required. A suitable site was found for a new building on Park Street and this opened in 1865. It was near the site of the new Infirmary which was to open in 1868.
 plan of the school, 1865 (click to enlarge) |
It was purpose built and could accommodate an annual intake of 40 students. Its architect was George Corson, who also designed the Municipal Building in Leeds, now housing the Central Library and Museum and also the Grand Theatre in Briggate.
The new School was opened on 3 October 1865 and in his opening address James Paget FRS spoke of the importance of acquiring the habit of accurate observation, of keeping full notes and reviewing them, of the educational value of examinations and of the viva in particular. The examinations were set by the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and of Physicians and students travelled to London to undertake these.
 Samuel Hey in the President's Chair, 1865 |
The President of the School at the opening was Mr Samuel Hey, a grandson of the founder of the General Infirmary, William Hey I. He had been present amongst the first students of the School at its opening in 1831.
Amongst the staff of the School in the Park Street era were Dr (later Sir) Clifford Allbutt, Dr Crichton Browne, Dr John Deakin Heaton and Dr Thomas Scattergood.
Teaching was largely at the Infirmary but students also attended teaching beyond the city, in particular the teachings of Dr Crichton Browne in mental diseases at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum at Wakefield. The West Riding Medical Reports produced by Browne and his co-authors were the origin of "Brain" of which Crichton Browne was the founding editor and which remains today the leading British neurological journal.
 John Deakin Heaton |
Dr Heaton, a former student of the School, and President in 1872-3, was the force behind the development of the Yorkshire College, the forerunner of the present University. He became the first Chairman of Council of the Yorkshire College on its founding in 1875 but it was not until 1884 that the School became part of the College. This transfer enabled the School to meet the new educational demands made upon it since the Medical Act of 1858 which had set up the General Medical Council and made recommendations, not at first binding, concerning the curriculum. A four year organised curriculum was recommended. By the 1870s the apprenticeship was dying out and nearly all students were now spending two years in hospital practice.
Between 1877 and 1879, Owens College, Manchester applied for university status, and to be known as Victoria University. The Victoria University of Manchester received its charter in 1880. In 1887, the Yorkshire College, of which the School of Medicine was now part, was admitted to the Victoria University.
Further curriculum changes followed, however students were still examined by the conjoint board of the Royal Colleges of Medicine and Surgery in London.
Of the surgeons at the Infirmary and of the School in the 1880s and 1890s, Fergusson McGill, Arthur Mayo-Robson and Berkeley Moynihan (the latter two former students of the School) were the most eminent.
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