Members of the Antiquaries were able to visit the museum recently opened by Friends of Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI). Seventeen members accepted the invitation and were welcomed at 11.30am on Tuesday 23rd May 2023 by a volunteer guide from Friends of the GRI. We were informed of the 200 years history of the hospital which was designed by the Adams family and opened in 1794 in grounds adjacent to Glasgow Cathedral. It is the oldest hospital in Glasgow.
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| Members of the Antiquaries in the Museum of Glasgow Royal Infirmary. (© I.S.Ruddock) |
The museum exhibits the rich history of the GRI as a centre of scientific, medical and nursing innovation of which there are many examples on display, either as artefacts or as old photographs with explanatory captions. To cite but a few, there was information about Joseph Lister (antisepsis), William MacEwan (first to undertake brain surgery in Glasgow), Tom McIntyre (first to introduce X-rays as a diagnostic tool), Rebecca Strong who trained under Florence Nightingale (recognition of nursing as a profession and introduction of working practices that exist today), Ellen Orr (trained as the first female surgeon in Scotland), and the appointment of Jacqueline Taylor as the first female President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. And much more, including old photographs of the ‘chicken run’ – the glazed walkway between the GRI and the nurses’ home - as the group was invited to stroll the corridors of the ground floor which are lined by further exhibits, while in search of the atrium, the chapel and the cafeteria.
This was the third mini outing of the Society's 2022-23 programme - the first being to Glasgow City Chambers in Glasgow, the second to the Berkeley Street Gurdwara and the third to the GRI Museum. Further outings are possible in the 2023-24 session depending on feedback, including suggestions for possible places to visit, preferably limited to the city and its immediate surroundings.
David Graham
