| Goulstonian lecture | |
| Awarded For: | Prize lecture |
| Sponsor: | Royal College of Physicians |
| Date: | Started in |
| Location: | London |
| Holder Label: | Named after |
| Holder: | Theodore Goulston |
The Goulstonian Lectures are an annual lecture series given on behalf of the Royal College of Physicians in London. They began in 1639. The lectures are named for Theodore Goulston (or Gulston, died 1632), who founded them with a bequest. By his will, dated 26 April 1632, he left £200 to the College of Physicians of London to found a lectureship, to be held in each year by one of the four youngest doctors of the college. These lectures were annually delivered from 1639, and have continued for more than three centuries.[1] Up to the end of the 19th century, the spelling Gulstonian was often used. In many cases the lectures have been published.
Gulston's widow bequeathed the annual donation to the College of Physicians for them to arrange for one of the four youngest doctors to "read the lecture on some dead body (if it could be procured), to be dissected as the President and Elects should think necessary for the diseases to be treated of; the lecture to be read yearly, between Christmas and Easter, on three days together; and the reader to treat of three or more diseases, as the seniors of the College should direct; ten pounds to be paid to the doctor who should read, and two pounds to the dissector and for burying the body".