Laws, list of officers for the year 1870-71, and of the honorary members and members : to which is added a report of the annual meeting ... July 13th, 1870 / Poor-Law Medical Officers' Association.
- Date:
- [1870]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Laws, list of officers for the year 1870-71, and of the honorary members and members : to which is added a report of the annual meeting ... July 13th, 1870 / Poor-Law Medical Officers' Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![After a brief interval the company to the number of seventy, and in- cluding all the Members of Parliament previously named, sat down to a sumptuous DINNER, which was served in the Crown banqucttiug room. The cloth having been removed, the Chairman, amid laughter and cheers, proposed the loyal toasts conjointly, saying that Her Majesty would never desire to be separated from her children. This toast, and the patriotic toasts, were received with the warmest expi-essions. Captain Jones-Parry, M.P., acknowledged the toast of the Army, Navy, and Volunteers, and said that there were only two instances re- corded of the British forces having been conquered—one instance being when Julius Ctesar came to these islands, the other when William the First made his descent; but in both those instances the forces were not organised, while now they formed a body who were heart and soul ready for defence. [Cheers.] The Chairman said the next toast he had the honour of proposing was one which the members of the Association would receive with the greatest pleasure, for it was the House of Commons; and that House, of which nine members were present that evening [cheers] had shown a great desire to consider the claims of the medical profession. A tenth member of Parliament was expected in Mr. Corrance, but a letter had been received from him pleading indisposition as a reason for his absence. The present House of Commons favourably contrasted from a medical point of view with any preceding House, not only because it had a greater number of gentlemen in it associated with scientific pursuits than at any other time, but because there were several members of the profession itself. [Cheers.] As now the Irish Land question was passing away by legisla- tion to the same condition as the Irish Church question, and the Educa- tion question was also becoming a question of the past, a clear stage would be presented for trotting out such questions as those in which the medical profession were vitally interested. He did hope that the sanitary laws, the amendment of the Poor Laws, and the matter of Medical Poor Belief would receive consideration among other questions, and he was sure that dealing with them fairly and fully would redound to the credit of the conj^unity at large and to the honour of the country. There were pre- sent Members of Parliament who were also members of the profession, but others had shown interest in the medical profession, and had given assistance. To the Right Hon. E. 8. Gordon, the late Lord Advocate of Scotland, the Association was deeply indebted for his speech on the Superannuation Bill; and he, with Dr. John Brady, had given an impetus to a motion which could not now stop but must go on. [Cheers.] He coupled the toast with the names of the llight Hon. Edw. S. Grordon, M.P. and Sir John Gray, M.P. The toast was drunk with all the honours. Mr. Gordon, after thanking the company for the manner in which the toast had been responded to, said he could not conceal from himself the fact that among his constituents were great numbers of the medical pro- fession, and he could not but be obliged to this Association for the recog- nition they had accorded to his services, and the service of other Mem- bers of Parliament in their endeavour to help those oppressed members of a noble profession—the Poor Law Medical Officers. [Cheers.] He believed the feeling of the House of Commons was that justice must be done to the medical profession. [Hear, hear.] They would give him credit for knowing something about the questions connected with the medical profe.ssiou for he was a member of that body in Scotland which was analogous with the Poor Law Board of England; and he was](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21920606_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
