 Following a severe outbreak of cholera in England in 1831-32 a London physician, J.H.Tucker, proposed in a letter to the "Lancet" that a society should be formed to specifically study epidemics.The first meeting of the Epidemiological Society of London took place on 6 May 1850 in Hanover Square, London.At a follow up meeting in July, chaired by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a constitution was agreed and officers appointed.