Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

For almost 250 years the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was staffed with resident physicians and surgeons. This paper traces the history and the traditions of the Residency Mess, its inhabitants’ lives, duties and leisure activities and how these have changed over the years.

Keywords Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Old Residents’ Club, Residency Mess, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

Declarat ion of Interests No conflict of interests declared.

Henry Matthew was appointed a consultant in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1955, by which time he was a highly regarded general physician with an interest in cardiology. In 1964 he agreed, almost certainly reluctantly, to head the recently designated Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre, which he did until his retirement ten years later. Matthew quickly established himself as an authority in clinical toxicology, mainly from an unrivalled experience of treating poisoned patients, day-in and day-out, but also by publishing original research, letters and books.