ABSTRACT
Anthony Todd Thomson was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1800 and became instrumental in founding the Chelsea, Brompton and Belgrave Dispensaries. Thomson worked tirelessly for the publication house to become the voice of the Association of Apothecaries and the Surgeon-Apothecaries, personally contributing many articles on apothecary, medicine and therapeutics. Thomson believed general practitioners had the unique opportunity of understanding patients holistically, which was one of the main reasons that he often spent hours in clinic consulting a wide spectrum of patients. Thomson was a keen academic and believed general practitioners should take an active role in different medical societies in order to improve collaborative work and understanding of rarer diseases. Thomson’s engaging lectures on botany at the Pharmaceutical Society and in the gardens of the Royal Botanical Society were popular amongst medical students due to his pleasant nature as well as arranging for students to use the Royal Botanical Gardens in Regent’s Park.
