Fred makes his move
Hospital governors thought Frederick Salmon was a pain in the backside when he resigned in protest at attempts to reinstate a system where surgical jobs were given to candidates with money and family connections rather than on medical merit.
The irony wouldn’t have been lost on the founder of St Mark’s Hospital whose specialism was treating problems associated with the rectum.
The resignation of Salmon and several of his colleagues caused a scandal in 1833 but allowed the surgeon to break free from the cronyism of the medical establishment.
He opened his own seven bed institution - The Infirmary for the Relief of the Poor Afflicted with Fistula and other Diseases of the Rectum - two year later.
It was the foundation of what would later grow into St Mark’s Hospital.