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Briony Hudson

Briony Hudson

Honorary Lecturer - The Turner Collection

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Overview

As a freelance museum curator and pharmacy historian, the School draws on my professional expertise and that of fellow freelance curator Sarah Daly to look after the historical items in the Turner Collection and to make them more accessible to people inside and outside the School.

We also work with Phil Parkes, Senior Conservator, in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, to look after the collection.

As the School's historian, I researched and wrote an account of its first hundred years for its centenary in 2019, and helped to deliver a programme of events to celebrate this milestone. You can access the history here.

We would be really pleased to hear from you if you are interested in discussing how the collection or pharmacy history more generally would help you in your teaching, research or studies

Qualifications

  • MA (Cantab), MA, AMA
  • Level 5 Diploma in Management, Chartered Management Institute (2008)
  • MA (Hons) in Museum Studies, University of Leicester, Distinction (1998)
  • BA (Hons) in History, University of Cambridge, Class I (1996)

Biography

I studied History at Clare College, University of Cambridge, and Museums Studies at the University of Leicester.  Having worked for short periods at museums as diverse as the Hereford Cider Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, I became Assistant Keeper of Social History for Wakefield Museums and Arts, during which time I co-wrote Liquorice (WMDC, 2003).

I was Keeper of the Museum Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society from 2002 until 2011, where I headed the team responsible for collections of around 45,000 objects.  During my time at the Society, I became author and editor of English Delftware Drug Jars: The collection of the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (Pharmaceutical Press, 2006), co-author of Popular Medicines: An Illustrated History (Pharmaceutical Press, 2008), and co-author of Jacob Bell, A useful and honourable life (Friends of Woodbury Park Cemetery, 2010), alongside a wide range of articles on many aspects of pharmacy history.

As a freelance curator and historian since 2009, my projects in addition to my role at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, have included:

  • transcription of 19th century nursing records for the Florence Nightingale Museum
  • work on the Victor Hoffbrand Collection of pharmaceutical delftware at the Royal College of Physicians Heritage Centre
  • various projects for the UCL School of Pharmacy including research for the centenary of FIP in 2012, and authoring The School of Pharmacy, University of London: Medicines, Science and Society 1842-2012 (Elsevier, 2013)
  • an online research guide for the RPS Museum
  • curator for the War, Art and Surgery exhibition at The Hunterian Museum, October 2014-February 2015
  • museum appraisal and options report for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 2015
  • curator for the "this vexed question": 500 years of women in medicine exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians Museum in 2017/18
  • curator for the Women at the Heart of General Practice exhibition at the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2019/22
  • author of a commemorative publication for the centenary of Sunderland School of Pharmacy in 2021
  • author of Medicine: a magnificently illustrated history'(Big Picture Press, 2022)

I am also an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society (2014-), and since July 2022, I have been the Director of Amersham Museum.

Honours and awards

British representative, International Academy for the History of Pharmacy (2017-present)

Professional memberships

  • Museums Association, 1998-present;
    Associate Member (AMA), 2001-present;
    Mentor, Diversify scheme, 2008-2010

Committees and reviewing

  • Social History Curators Group, 2005-present;
    Seminars and Conference Organiser, 2001-2005;
    Chair, 2005-2007;
    firstBASE editorial committee, 2006-present

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