Tag: UK

The Seal of King George V

A Royal Charter

The original roots of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) in the United Kingdom date back to the foundation of the Society of Trained Masseuses (STM) in 1894. In 1900, the Society was incorporated by the …

Gymnasium at King's College Hospital, London with female patients and staff. c1900.

Dr Koch’s Emasculation and the Birth of Physiotherapy

The formation of the Society of Trained Masseuses (STM) by four British nurses in 1894 is often opined as the beginning of the physiotherapy profession (Ottoson, 2015). In support, physiotherapy historian and critical thinker Dave …

Netball in the playground of William Street Girls School, London. c1908. Note the wastepaper baskets used as goals.

On the Origins of Netball

The international game of netball can trace its popularity and codification to a unique college of Swedish gymnastics in the United Kingdom at the turn of the nineteenth century. The all-female college was also at …

Rosalind Paget. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.

Rosalind Paget: An Historical Overview and Appreciation, Part 2

Rosalind Paget was one of the original four founders of the Society of Trained Masseuses which later became the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses,  in 1920 the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics and …

Rosalind Paget. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.

Rosalind Paget: An Historical Overview and Appreciation, Part 1

Rosalind Paget was one of the original four founders of the Society of Trained Masseuses which later became the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses, in 1920 the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics, and …

Pauline Paget (centre) surrounded by masseuses of the Almeric Paget Military Massage Corp.

Angel of Summerdown: Physiotherapy’s Forgotten Benefactor

This story begins with the unusually named Almeric Paget Massage Corps. Located in the United Kingdom, the Corps was formed to serve in the First World War. It was the forerunner of physiotherapy services for …

Training for Childbirth and After

The Birth of Women’s Health

In 1912, Dr John Shields Fairbairn, a leading consultant obstetrician at St Thomas Maternity Hospital, London, commenced a program to revolutionise the medical approach to child delivery. He aimed to replace the 19th century medical …

Bomb damage at St Thomas Hospital with Westminster, across the Thames River, in the background.

Bombed

Over 40,000 Londoners died in the bombing ‘blitz’ of World War II. Australian physiotherapist Barbara Thomas, aged 32, was amongst the first and her tragic death prematurely curtailed a remarkable career. Barbara Mortimer Thomas was …

The Value of Physical Treatment

The following Letter to the Editor, published in The Lancet in 1918 provides an extraordinary review of the growth of physiotherapy from the First World War. SIR,—The Prime Minister in his speech on Nov. 16th, …

Paralympic History

On the eve of the Paralympics Games Paris 2024 where more than 4,000 athletes, representing 169 nations, will compete over twelve days for 549 medals across 22 events it is instructing to consider its humble …

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