Hunterian Oration
lecture of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Hunterian Oration is a lecture of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, named in honour of pioneering surgeon John Hunter and held on his birthday, 14 February, each year.
History
The oration was founded in 1813 by the executors of the will of surgeon John Hunter, his nephew Dr Matthew Baillie, and his brother-in-law Sir Everard Home, who made a gift to the Royal College of Surgeons of England to provide an annual oration and a dinner for Members of the Court of Assistants and others.
In 1853, the oration and dinner became biennial; it is held on alternate years in rotation with the Bradshaw Lecture. Delivered by a Fellow or Member of the college on 14 February, Hunter's birthday, "such oration to be expressive of the merits in comparative anatomy, physiology, and surgery, not only of John Hunter, but also of all persons, as should be from time to time deceased, whose labours have contributed to the improvement or extension of surgical science".
The RCS Oration is not to be confused with the Hunterian Society Oration given at the Hunterian Society.
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