The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is honouring the role of military surgeons by installing a new memorial bench and plaques at its site in Edinburgh.
The College has commissioned a steel decorated bench from David Ogilvie Engineering of Kilmarnock, to celebrate the role played by its Members and Fellows in military conflict. It will be flanked by two plaques made in bronze citing excerpts from the Letter of Exemption of 1567 written by Mary Queen of Scots.
In it, she indicates that surgeons would not have to act as combatants in warfare; this is the first time this was referred to in Scottish written vernacular and represents a new role for the surgical specialist. The bench design has been decorated to recognise those who gave their lives helping others and will be placed in the gardens at the College.