Dark Medical History of London : Cholera, Doctors & Disease

2 hours Free cancellation

Medical London — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

Could you guess that before 1873 alcohol was prescribed by doctors? We know that you want a time-travelling machine now, we do too…

Highlights

Explore horrible anti-masturbation devices
See remains of the first hospital for orphans
Hear great stories about British medical reformers
Visit longest surviving medical society in England
Site of the first hospital created by Florence Nightingale

London was once known as a dirty place, site for epidemic distempers. On our tour we examine the highways of London’s medical past.

You will discover how health care trades transformed themselves into professions, see places where people used to seek treatment and hear stories about the greatest people in medicine.

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At a glance

Duration: 2 hours
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Up to 30 people
People per booking: 1–30
Guide: English
Operated by: Pigeon Tours

Ages: Adults (18–99 years)

What is included

Included

Included: Professional guide

Not included

Not included: Gratuities

Itinerary

The Foundling Museum

20 min

Perhaps you would have wished to have a time machine after you realize that before 1873 alcohol was prescribed by doctors.

Nowadays nearly everyone has an opportunity to visit a doctor and receive proper medical advice. While just 200 years ago, it was not like that. London was once known as a dirty place and site for epidemic distempers. On our tour you will examine the highways of London’s medical past. You will discover how health care trades transformed themselves into professions, hear stories about the greatest people in medicine and see the places where people sought treatment.

Meet your Guide at the statue of Thomas Coram who was a philanthropist and campaigner. Discover how the kind-hearted man saved abandoned infants. Walk towards the national hospital of neurology and hospital for infirm and incurable women and Hear stories about cholera outbreaks.
Stop 2

30 min

Discover how hysteria was treated by doctors and how it brought doctor Joseph Mortimer Granville, to the invention of the first vibrator. Walkthrough the London school of hygiene and tropical disease and discover how incurable diseases were brought to London in the past few Centuries. Pass by the Cardiovascular Society founded by was a Scottish cardiologist who was knighted by King George V before you arrive at the site of the Florence Nightingale’s first hospital. Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and the most important person in British nursing system in the 19th Century. Discover how Florence helped British soldiers in the Crimean war.

Pass by the oldest surviving medical society in England founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthropist Dr John Coakley Lettsom.

Finish your tour at The Royal Society of Medicine, the major provider of accredited postgraduate medical education in the United Kingdom.
Stop 3

10 min

Pass by the oldest surviving medical society in England founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthropist Dr John Coakley Lettsom.
Stop 4

10 min

Finish your tour at The Royal Society of Medicine, the major provider of accredited postgraduate medical education in the United Kingdom.