The West Hertfordshire and Watford medical society appears to have been founded in 1849. Unfortunately there are no minutes that record the functions of the Society until 1874, however the meeting on 18th April 1874 clearly records the date of the first meeting of the Society as occurring in St Albans on March 11th, 1849.
The name of the Society seems to have changed several times over the years, initially being known as “The West Herts Medical Society”, and then as “The Watford Medical Society” before finally on Friday 1st March 1968 being recorded as “The West Herts and Watford Medical Society”.
There are several descriptions of the “Rules of the Society”, the most recent ones being recorded in 1968. Interestingly the structure of the committee seems to have remained remarkably constant. The executive committee is described as being constituted as follows, a president, two vice presidents, an honorary secretary, an honorary treasurer and an honorary dinner secretary together with one additional committee member. At that time it was agreed that the annual subscription should be £1.00
Society has a long history of making appropriate donations to various charities. In particular, there is extensive correspondence about what the Society now knows as the Royal Medical Benevolent fund, (RMBF). This seems to have started as something called “The Society for the relief of distressed medical men and their windows, children, and orphans in the counties of Essex and Hartford”. Instituted in A.D. 1786…
The Society has a collection at the end of its annual dinner in December each year, the proceeds of which still go to the RMBF.
The purpose of the Society has changed to some extent over the years, but its current functions still embrace the ideals expressed in the “Rules of the Society” which are recorded on a number of occasions in the archives. For example on 24/4/1939….
The Rules of the Society over the years, also state that it shall meet regularly on the first Friday of every month from October to April… as stated in this earlier undated set of “Rules”..
The Society clearly enjoyed its social occasions as well, and there are numerous invoices for food and drink consumed by the Society’s members over the years, usually at one of its annual dinners.
The Society also seems to have had a role in suggesting appropriate fees for various medical services for example:-
The Society is also associated with the doctors of Novgorod in Russia, as is recorded in a later set of minutes.
Traditionally, the Committee asks a senior member of the Society to hold the position of President for a year, usually starting with the President’s inaugural address in early October each year. This is followed by a series of events during the year, and of course the Society’s Annual Dinner which is held on the first Wednesday in December each year. For many years, this has been held at the prestigious Moor Park Mansion, where typically 100 plus members and their guests gather to dine together each year.
More recently on 18th May 1984 the archives record the association of our medical society with that of the doctors of Nanterre in France.
The certificate of friendship is signed by the President that year, Dr. Peter Tomson.
The events staged by the Society, under the direction of the President and his or her committee, are varied, being sometimes of an educational flavour, or purely social. Each year there is typically a small trip undertaken by the President, and perhaps twenty to thirty of the Society’s members. There have been some very memorable trips over the years, for example, to India, South Africa, St Petersburg, Dubrovnik, and many others destinations.
