| Description | Papers relating to the Medical Act (1858) and related medical legislation collected or created by Dominic Corrigan. The Medical Act of 1858 passed after 18 years of parliamentary debate, it regulated medical education in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and created the General Medical Council to ensure that standards were meet. Corrigan was active in the campaign to ensure better standard of Medical education, and was a member of the General Medical Council for 21 years. In the three decades following the passing of the Medical Bill a series of amendment acts were brought before parliament, again Corrigan was vocal in the expression of his opinions especially in relation to the General Medical Council which he saw as unrepresentative of the 'great mass of the profession ... which pays all its expenses'. It was not until six years after Corrigan's death that an amendment bill was finally passed, which incorporated many of his suggestions. The papers in this section are mainly Corrigan's annotated copies of proposed medical bills, petitions and suggestions for legislation from various interested parties and two notebooks containing Corrigan's own notes on the subject. |