After my meal I headed to The Wallace Collection ... and here is what this is about, for those who haven't heard pf it ... although most of us vaguely know of Wellcome as a provider of medication, etc

Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936): Pharmacist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector.

Henry Wellcome had an early interest in medicine and marketing. The first product he advertised was 'invisible ink' (just lemon juice, in fact). In 1880, he joined his college friend Silas Burroughs in setting up a pharmaceutical company, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. They were one of the first to introduce medicine in tablet form under the 1884 trademark 'Tabloid' previously medicines had been sold as powders or liquids.

When Burroughs died in 1895, the company flourished under Sir Henry's leadership. He went on to establish world-class medical research laboratories and amassed the world' s most impressive collections relating to medicine and health through the ages.

Wellcome Collection is now housed in the original Wellcome Building (built to Sir Henry's specifications in 1932), which is next door to the headquarters of the Wellcome Trust, his philanthropic legacy. His vision was to create a space to house his collections, where professionals could come to learn more about the development of medicine and medical science.

Established under Sir Henry's will in 1936, Wellcome is a global charitable foundation, which aims to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. Politically and financially independent, Wellcome supports scientists and researchers to take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate.




A Buddhist medical cabinet

Anyone spot what's wrong ... it's an upsidedown skeleton!



This is part of King George III moustache, and apparently has a lot of arsenic in the dusting powder ... so may have been what caused, or aggrevated his madness.

To ward off evil spirits

The door hanging of a doctor, advertising his job!

A medical dissection doll dated about 1700

Those shoes are as worn by faquirs

Amputation instruments



Sir Henry's death mask!





I did go round the Bedlam display, but found most of it a bit vague, sadly.  I did like some of the work done by various "in-patients" trying to describe their symptoms ... but it's the sort of display you need to see a couple of times to get to grips with the feelings