Medical education was a very important part of the curriculum in the early years of the University. John Anderson had left instructions in his will for the establishment of a College or Faculty of Medicine and this was instituted in 1800 with the appointment of John Burns as Professor of Surgery and Anatomy. The medical classes soon proved popular and, in 1828, the chair was separated into two separate chairs of Anatomy and Surgery and three new chairs (of Materia Medica, Midwifery and the Practice of Medicine) were also created. After that, the Faculty expanded rapidly and gained a very strong reputation. Students were attracted from all over Scotland as well as England and Ireland as this list of students in 1860-1861 shows.  One of the Faculty’s most famous alumni was David Livingstone, the missionary and explorer, who was a student from 1836 to 1839.

Handwritten document titled 'Catalogue of the students attending medical classes at the Andersonian University sessions 1860-1861'.

In 1887, following the restructuring of technical education in Glasgow, the Medical Faculty became an independent institution, called Anderson’s College Medical School. Two years later, the School moved to a new building on Dumbarton Road next to the Western Infirmary, designed by the architects, Honeyman and Keppie. In 1913, the School changed its name to the Anderson College of Medicine and, in 1947, it merged with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.


Archives reference: OB 9/2/5 List of students attending medical classes, 1860-1861