Members of the Barbers' Company (which has been in existence since at least the early 14th century) at first practised both barbery and surgery without distinction of trade and without formal examination. Gradually, from the founding charter of the Barbers' Company of 1462 under Edward IV to the formation of the Company of Barbers and Surgeons of London by the Act of 1540 under Henry VIII, controls over examination and licence to practise of both barbers and surgeons were introduced. By the Act of 1745 the slow process of the separation of the two trades was completed and the surgeons left the Company to form what has since become The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Henry viii

Painting by Hans Holbein the Younger