Genealogy Chat

I've got hold of a death certificate from one of my ancestors signed by a doctor, and just for fun, I thought I'd try checking the good doctor in the 1881 census and found him with quite a collection of letters after his name! I was just wondering what they all mean and how I could find out where he would have studied, what he specilised in, etc. Is there any website that decifers all these letters into plain English? I have : L.R.C.P. of L.M. (Ed) L.F.P.S. (GLAS) 1880 Sounds pretty impressive, but I bet it isn't! Any thoughts? Am I right in thinking that the 'GLAS' probably indicates he studied in Glasgow somewhere? Michael

Ed is Edinburgh and GLAS is Glasgow. Other than that, I have no idea lol

Found a site.... http://www.medicalpioneers.*com/colonial.htm Has all of them on :)

LRCP - Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians Awarded - London, Edinburgh LM - Licence in Midwifery Awarded - Glasgow, Dublin LFPS - Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons Awarded - Glasgow Sounds like a Gynacologist (sp?) to me.

L.RC.P. Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons.. So others must be on simular lines, Kay.

Thanks guys. I hope he's wasn't a gynacologist - my relative was male! I imagine they did a bit of everything back then though. Michael

Just in case anyone is wondering, a Physician treats illnesses, a Surgeon does operations. A Physician will always be called 'Dr', regardless of rank, a Surgeon will be 'Mr' when he has reached sufficient seniority to operate unsupervised. I would have thought the above example, having studied Medicine, Surgery and had a bit of Midwifery, would be going into General Practice. Only my opinion though. I hope this helps. Liz x

'I hope he's wasn't a gynacologist ' Why? Most Gynacologists are male In my opinion there should be more male midwives, it would be nice to have a choice, and I know which I would choose.

In a recent person search i did ,i ended up in New Zealand looking for the President of the Australian and New zealand Gynaecology and Obstetrics Council,who had Their own practice too- that was a male .

To clarify my 'I hope he wasn't a gynacologist' statement above, I was merely pointing out that the doctor concerned complete with all his letters of qualification had signed the death certificate of a MALE relative of mine and the irony that he would not have been especially well qualified to do this if he specialised in gynacology on WOMEN. As someone else has already pointed out, since he held three different positions as Surgeon, Physician and Midwife he was most likely an ordinary G.P. Any fool knows that most gynacologists are men anyway (certainly all those I've come across), so I don't see what you're getting at? You're seeing sexism where it doesn't exist. Michael

Michael, Its ok, just a misunderstanding I think! I also read your phrase 'I hope he's wasn't a gynacologist - my relative was male!', and having forgotten the initial question, assumed your male relative was the doctor, not the patient. That is how I read it, and apparently others too. Purely a misunderstanding. Sorry! Liz x