When barbers were surgeons

The barber’s chair and the surgeon’s instruments once belonged to a much more closely connected world.

The history of London’s Barbers’ Company reaches back to a recorded mention in 1308. Its story offers a glimpse of a time when the boundaries between crafts were very different from those we know today.

A shared company, separate roles

In 1540, an Act of Parliament created the Company of Barbers and Surgeons of London. It also distinguished their work: surgeons were not to carry out barbering, and barbers were not to practise surgery. Both could continue extracting teeth.

A painting by Hans Holbein the Younger commemorates that union. It remains part of the Company’s historical collection.

The professions part ways

The arrangement lasted until 1745, when the surgeons left to form a separate company. That body eventually became the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

For Barber Alchemist, this history is a reminder that familiar everyday crafts have complicated roots. The modern barber’s work belongs to its own skilled tradition.