Queen Square: A History of the National Hospital and its Institute of Neurology

As the first neurological hospital in the world, founded in 1859, the National Hospital, Queen Square, and its affiliated Institute of Neurology remain leading neurological centres providing exceptional clinical services, teaching and research. Illustrated by over 100 historical images and much unpublished archival material, this book provides a comprehensive history of the National Hospital, the Institute, and their staff. It relates the ups and downs of the Hospital and Institute in war and peacetime, their financial struggles, many personality conflicts, efforts to remain independent and to maintain neurological dominance, academic and clinical contributions, issues relating to specialisation and subspecialisation and relations between disciplines, and the changing roles of the Hospital and Institute. The history is told from varying perspectives against the backdrop of the evolution of British clinical neuroscience, the special position of London medicine, and the influence of world wars, and is set in the context of modern British social history.

    This book is a detailed reference work which interprets history from a number of medical and societal perspectives
    Provides a significant contribution to the modern history of neurology and related disciplines in Britain and to the British hospital system
    Contains more than 120 historical images and much previously unpublished material from the rich hospital archive and other archival sources
    Includes biographical detail and analyses of a series of key figures at the hospital and Institute, alongside shorter biographies of all the medical and surgical staff members

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Foundation and making of the National Hospital
2. Queen Square, the salmon pink and other hospital buildings
3. Queen Square and Neurology 1860–1902
4. National Hospital quadrumvirate
5. Roller-coaster ride and the National Hospital rubs along:
1902–45
6. Five dominant National Hospital physicians
7. NYS arrives and the hospital celebrates its centenary:
1946–65
8. Beyond the walls: British neurology outside Queen Square
9. Neurosurgery and war neurology at Queen Square
10. Other clinical specialties at Queen Square
11. Neuropathology, neuroradiology and neurophysiology at Queen Square
12. The Medical School and Institute of Neurology
13. The rise of academic neurology at Queen Square:
1962–97
14. Change and integration:
1962–97
Appendix 1. Medical and surgical appointees to the National Hospital and/or Institute of Neurology
Appendix 2. Senior administrative appointees at the National Hospital and/or Institute of Neurology
Appendix 3. Physicians – National Hospital Queen Square 1860–1997

Simon Shorvon is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Neurology at University College London, and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Shorvon has won national and international awards for his clinical and research work in the field of epilepsy. He has served Vice-President of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), as editor-in-chief of the journal Epilepsia. He was appointed to the post of Harveian Librarian of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and has held various other national and international professional positions. He has a long-standing interest in the history of neurology, has published books on the history of the ILAE and of the RCP marking its quincentenary

Alastair Compston is Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. He is a former president of the European Neurological Society and the Association of British Neurologists, and editor of Brain, a journal of neurology, founded in 1878. His research on the clinical science of human demyelinating disease has been recognised by several international prizes and his election to Fellowship of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine (USA). In retirement, he is expanding his interests in medical history with books on the library of the Royal College of Physicians (2018), and a bio-bibliography of Thomas Willis, the founder of British neurology (forthcoming).