RCPE launch website on Victorian Highlands and Islands medicine

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh has launched a new web resource, Remote & Rural Remedies. You can find it here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/remoteandruralremedies

Its core is a digitised and transcribed collection of surveys which were carried out by the College between 1850 and 1852. These surveys gathered information on the number of medical practitioners in the parishes and the conditions faced by those accessing and providing medical care.  The surveys provide a stark account of what it was like to need medical attention in remote and rural Scotland. You can browse the full list of surveys, search the collection or browse by People or Places listed within the surveys.

 

The online resource also includes a map with clickable locations highlighting some of the stories found in the surveys as well as school activities, videos, blogs, interviews with medical practitioners, a timeline of medicine in the Highlands and Islands and online exhibitions.

 

We will also be hosting a free online event on Wednesday 12th May at 6pm in which Dr Patricia Whatley will share the context of this collection – exploring the role of the GP and care for the sick poor in the Scottish Highlands from 1843 to 1913. You can find out more about this event on our website: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/caring-poor-highlands-role-gp