Nestled in the heart of Leeds, West Yorkshire, the Thackray Museum of Medicine is one of the UK’s most distinctive and compelling museums. Housed in a former Victorian workhouse beside St. James’s University Hospital, it is a place where the boundaries between science, history, and humanity blur. Through immersive exhibitions, extensive collections, and cutting-edge educational resources, the Thackray Museum offers a deep and engaging exploration of the development of medicine, public health, surgery, and the human experience of illness and care.
Originally founded in 1997 and extensively refurbished in 2021, the museum has grown to become a major destination for school visits, healthcare professionals, families, and tourists alike. Its powerful exhibits—ranging from grimy 19th-century streets to high-tech modern surgical rooms—trace the evolution of medical knowledge and health practices over centuries.
A Historic Setting: From Workhouse to Museum
The museum occupies a Grade II listed building originally constructed in 1861 as the Leeds Union Workhouse, a place that once housed the poor and infirm under Victorian poor law regulations. With austere architecture and institutional grandeur, the building itself is a poignant reminder of the links between poverty, health, and social care.
During the 20th century, the workhouse evolved into St. James’s Hospital, one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. The transformation of part of the site into a museum reflects an enduring commitment to public education and the human story of medicine.
The Origins of the Museum
The Thackray Museum takes its name from Charles Frederick Thackray, a pharmacist and instrument maker who established a medical supply business in Leeds in 1902. His company, Thackray Medical Supply Co., gained prominence for its surgical instruments and was eventually associated with figures like Sir Harold Gillies, a pioneer in reconstructive surgery.
The museum grew out of a private collection of medical equipment and records, initially amassed by the Thackray family and expanded by healthcare professionals and historians. It opened its doors to the public in 1997 with a mission: to preserve and present the story of medicine in all its complexity, from ancient remedies to cutting-edge research.
Galleries and Exhibitions
The Thackray Museum is arranged around a series of permanent and temporary exhibitions, many of which are designed to be interactive and immersive, allowing visitors to step into the past or imagine the future of healthcare.
1. Disease Street: Life in Victorian Leeds
One of the museum’s most talked-about features is Disease Street, a faithful recreation of a 19th-century Leeds street. Dimly lit, dirty, and lined with grimy shops, it plunges visitors into the reality of life in an industrial city where cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis were rampant. Visitors encounter the sounds, smells, and sights of the time and learn how poor sanitation, overcrowding, and poverty contributed to disease.
Each building tells a story: the apothecary selling dubious cures, the barber-surgeon wielding crude tools, and the gravedigger ready to bury the victims. It’s an unforgettable lesson in the roots of public health reform.
2. Pain, Pus, and Blood: The Story of Surgery
This gallery charts the harrowing development of surgery through the ages—from early amputations performed without anaesthesia to the emergence of antiseptic techniques and sterile operating rooms. A mixture of actual surgical tools, mannequins, multimedia, and reconstructed scenes helps visitors understand the challenges surgeons once faced—and how far we’ve come.
Interactive displays let you try your hand at surgical knot-tying or see how doctors made diagnoses with very limited equipment.
3. Having a Baby
Covering the history of childbirth, this exhibit explores how maternal care has changed—from home births and herbal midwifery to the hospitalisation of childbirth in the 20th century. It includes vintage maternity wear, obstetric tools, and interviews with midwives and mothers across generations.
4. On Call: The Life of a Doctor
This exhibit is dedicated to the personal and professional journeys of medical practitioners, featuring real-life stories from doctors, nurses, and carers. It highlights the changing role of healthcare workers over time and the emotional demands of medical careers.
5. Global Health and Future Medicine
In more recent years, the museum has begun to address modern healthcare challenges, including COVID-19, vaccine development, antibiotic resistance, mental health, and health inequalities. The “Global Health” exhibition connects local medical history to global public health efforts, while the “Future of Medicine” gallery explores what lies ahead in AI, genetics, and biotechnology.
Collections and Artefacts
The Thackray Museum holds over 47,000 objects, including:
- Surgical Instruments from the 17th to the 20th century
- Prosthetics and Orthopaedic Devices
- Pharmaceutical Containers and drug paraphernalia
- Historic Medical Textbooks and journals
- X-rays and Diagnostic Devices
- Herbal Remedies and Quack Medicine
- Personal Items from patients and healthcare workers
The collection is constantly being updated and digitised, providing researchers and the public with unique insights into how healthcare has evolved.
Learning and Education
Education is a core pillar of the museum’s mission. Its programmes cater to school groups, university students, and healthcare professionals, using the past to inspire learning about ethics, empathy, and innovation.
Features include:
- Workshops on anatomy, surgery, public health, and medical ethics
- CPD Courses for nurses, doctors, and care staff
- Learning labs for hands-on STEM activities
- School outreach programmes bringing history to classrooms
- Talks and lectures from leading medical historians and practitioners
The museum also addresses sensitive topics such as disability, mental illness, colonialism in medicine, and gender health disparities, helping learners think critically about medical history and social justice.
Accessibility and Visitor Experience
The Thackray Museum is committed to inclusion and accessibility. The galleries are wheelchair accessible, with lifts and adapted toilets. Exhibits include visual aids, audio guides, BSL interpretation, and tactile elements for those with sensory needs.
Visitors often highlight the friendly staff, hands-on experiences, and family-friendly atmosphere. There are play zones for children, quiet spaces for neurodivergent visitors, and a gift shop with books, quirky medical memorabilia, and science toys.
The Café Thérapia serves locally sourced food and drinks in a calming setting—ideal for a break during your exploration.
Response to COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum played a crucial role in educating the public about viruses, vaccination, and health measures. It curated temporary exhibitions on pandemic history and contributed to national conversations on health misinformation, resilience, and the role of science in public life.
A Beacon for Medical Humanities
The Thackray Museum doesn’t just tell the story of medicine—it tells the human story behind medicine. Its exhibitions are deeply rooted in personal narratives: of patients who suffered and survived, of doctors who made breakthroughs or struggled with failures, and of communities shaped by disease, healing, and reform.
This emphasis on storytelling makes the museum a key institution in the growing field of medical humanities, bridging the gap between science and society, fact and feeling.
Conclusion: More Than a Museum
The Thackray Museum of Medicine is more than a repository of objects or a gallery of exhibits. It is a dynamic, living institution that encourages us to reflect on how we treat our bodies, how we care for one another, and what kind of future we want for healthcare.
Whether you’re a history buff, a healthcare professional, a student, or simply a curious visitor, the museum offers an experience that is equal parts educational, emotional, and inspiring.
By preserving the past and shaping public understanding of medicine, the Thackray Museum of Medicine stands as a beacon of knowledge, compassion, and progress—in Leeds, in Yorkshire, and far beyond.
