A History of the Royal College of General Practitioners

John P. Horder, President, 1980-82 The first 30 years of the College have been an exciting experience for those most closely involved. Some have already passed on, but this account has been written soon enough for many of the actors to be historians. Future members of the College will be grateful to them for what they have written, as well as for what they did as a remarkably determined and harmonious team. Students of twentieth century medicine in this country will also be grateful for a first-hand account of the development of an institution which has been closely associated with, and partly responsible for, important changes in medical care and education. Those who read these pages may wonder how the builders of this young College could have found time to do much general practice. They did. The three editors of this history, which covers 25 years, and the general practitioner members of the Steering Committee all ran large practices, in which they worked very hard throughout that time. Most of their work for the College was done during off-duty hours, weekends and holidays. The College could not have developed as it did, had they not been personally concerned with the practical problems and needs of clinical medicine. This is also true of many of the contributors. It is impossible to mention everyone who deserves credit. The editors hope that they may be forgiven for any serious omissions.