Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events

Stories

  • Article

The ancient doctors who refused payment

The NHS might only be 70 years old, but the idea of free healthcare goes back to Ancient Greece, when devout doctors provided their services without charge.

  • Book extract

Permission to recover

When it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Gavin Francis argues why being given permission to recover is so important.

  • Article

Black pepper to fuel fiery fights and cure haemorrhoids

This common condiment was once very valuable and, until surprisingly recently, used as a versatile medicine.

  • Article

How writing helps me manage schizophrenia

For Erica Crompton, writing is much more than a career. It’s an essential component of her mental health toolkit.

All stories (14)

Images

  • Authorization of payment of medical bills; Dymock workhouse.
  • Doctor Saltinbanco, a medicine vendor, attacking one of his clients for non-payment. Coloured etching.
  • A greedy medical practitioner demanding a leg of bacon for payment from a poor family. Mezzotint.
  • A doctor exacting payment for a house-call from a disgruntled patient. Lithograph after H.W. Bunbury.
  • A generous physician refusing payment from a sick patient's wife. Stipple engraving by J. Baldrey, 1784, after E. Penny.
  • A young women sweeping the street holds a broom in one hand and holds out the other hand for payment. Etching by Jean Duplessi-Bertaux.
  • A woman tea vendor is waiting for payment for the drink the man has bought for his female companion. Coloured lithograph by J.J. Chalon.
  • A greedy medical practitioner demanding a section of bread or cake (?) for payment from a poor family. Stipple engraving by J. Baldrey, 1784, after E. Penny.
  • A greedy medical practitioner demanding a section of bread or cake (?) for payment from a poor family. Stipple engraving by J. Baldrey, 1784, after E. Penny.
  • A woman dying in the arms of her family, an unhappy doctor leaves the room realising that it is his final payment. Aquatint by T. Rowlandson, 1786.
All images (74)

Catalogue

All works (2K)