Papers of Robert Barnes

These research notebooks and papers were compiled by Robert Barnes, an obstetrician and general surgeon in London (1817-1907). They contain newspaper clippings, journal articles, drawings, woodcuts, pamphlets, case notes, charts, notes on the works of predecessors and contemporaries, and the personal medical notes and opinions of Barnes. This rich and varied collection pertains to many aspects of women's physical and mental health as well as containing statistical and demographic information. The collection contains sixty notebooks, two case books, six quarterly reports, and one annual report from Barnes' time as the Medical Officer of Health, Shoreditch.

Robert Barnes was born in Norwich on September 4, 1817, the second son of an architect. After being educated in Bruges and tutored by George Borrow, he attended University College and undertook medical studies at Windmill Street School and St. George's Hospital. He received his MRCS in 1842 and began a practice in Notting Hill. In the following years, he taught at the Hunterian School and Dermott's School, and received his MD in 1848. He served as Obstetrician to the Western General Dispensary, was elected in 1859 to be Assistant Obstetric Physician, and then became Obstetric Physician to the London Hospital in 1863. Within a year he had moved to St. Thomas's Hospital, and in 1875 he was made Obstetric Physician to St. George's Hospital. He was elected FRCS in 1883 and retired around the age of 70 before dying of apoplexy in 1907 at Eastbourne. He was widely respected and recognized as an expert in the field of obstetrics and among his several publications, the best-known was 'A System of Obstetric Medicine and Surgery' published in 1884 with the help of his son, Dr. R.S. Fancourt Barnes. He is known for his advocacy of surgery by obstetricians, his expertise in forensic medicine, placenta praevia, and uterine hemorrhage, and the term 'ectopic gestation'. Barnes was active in the Royal Maternity Charity, and was a founding member of the Obstetrical Society of London and its fourth president. He also formed the British Gynaecological Society in 1885. The source for this biographical information can be found at 'Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online', http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E000766b.htm

Open to researchers by appointment, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. mailto: archives@rcog.org.uk

Reproductions are available at the discretion of the College Archivist.