John Pringle - Legacy

Legacy

There is a monument to Pringle in Westminster Abbey, executed by Nollekens. At Sir John's death his baronetcy became extinct.

For 223 years the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh acted as custodian for Pringle's unique historical archive of medical papers which has remained hidden on the instructions of the physician who donated this material to the College. The 10 volume collection, considered to be one of the most valuable manuscript sources of historical information on the practice of medicine in 18th century Europe, belonged to the renowned Scottish physician Sir John Pringle1 who donated his personal collection to the College on the condition that his papers would never be printed, quoted in print nor taken out of the College. While the College has honoured these conditions since 1782, this has created problems in that researchers have been unable to quote or publish extracts from these important manuscripts. In order to enable researchers to document this important period of history more accurately, and to provide wider public access to this important collection, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh funded legal action intended to allow the College to change the restrictive terms of the Pringle donation. This case was heard on 24 September 2004 by Lady Paton, a Lord of Council and Session, and the College was granted its wish to open the collection to the public. The collection is now available to the public.