Cover image for
Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E004936 - Burt-White, Harold John (1901 - 1952)
Title:
Burt-White, Harold John (1901 - 1952)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E004936
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2014-02-03
Description:
Obituary for Burt-White, Harold John (1901 - 1952), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Burt-White, Harold John
Date of Birth:
1901
Date of Death:
20 October 1952
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS 14 February 1924

FRCS 11 February 1926

MB BS London 1924

MD 1927

LRCP 1924

MRCOG 1938
Details:
Born in 1901, son of R J Burt White, cotton goods buyer, of Crouch End, he was educated at Epsom College and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he won the Foster prize in anatomy and the Harvey prize in physiology. He was house surgeon to W McAdam Eccles and Girling Ball, and served as intern midwifery assistant. He qualified in 1924, and in that year hyphenated his name as Burt-White. He took the Fellowship in 1926, but turning to gynaecology he proceeded to the MD in 1927, being awarded a gold medal. He was Lawrence research scholar at St Bartholomew's in 1926-27, won the Bishop Harman prize of the British Medical Association in 1930, and the Nichols prize of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1931. He studied the bacteriology of puerperal sepsis, and published useful papers on the subject. He served as chief assistant in the gynaecology and obstetrics department at St Bartholomew's, and was elected to the staff of the City of London Maternity Hospital, the Soho Hospital for Women, and the Whipps Cross Hospital. Burt-White was removed from his Fellowship and Membership of the College on 6 April 1933, after the erasure of his name from the Medical Register by the General Medical Council, on a charge of improper association with a woman patient. Burt-White always denied the allegations. He was restored to the Membership and Fellowship on 4 January 1937. During the years when he could not practise Burt-White kept himself in touch with medical research and also studied law. War broke out within two years of his return to practice, and he served in the RAMC (1939-45) as gynaecological specialist to the women's forces in Northern Ireland. He was appointed in 1946 consulting gynaecologist to the Salisbury Infirmary and to the Salisbury hospitals group, but resigned the latter appointment in 1952. He was also gynaecologist to the National Temperance Hospital, and had consulting rooms at 98 Harley Street, while living at De Vaux House, Salisbury. He had a severe illness in 1950. Burt-White committed suicide at his home at Salisbury during the night of 20-21 October 1952, aged 51. He had been depressed for some months, believing that his surgical skill and speed were failing. He was buried at Putney Vale cemetery. His wife survived him. Publications: Contributions to the problem of puerperal sepsis, with R R Armstrong. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1928, 21, Obstetrics and gynaecology p. 28. Puerperal sepsis and sensitiveness to streptococcal toxins. *Brit med J* 1928, 1, 974. Problem of puerperal sepsis: bacteriology of the puerperium with R R Armstrong. *Brit med J* 1929, 1, 592. A study of cutaneous sensitiveness to scarlatinal toxin in pregnancy and the puerperium, with others. *Brit med J* 1930, 1, 240.
Sources:
*The Times* 22 October 1952 pp 3 G and 8 D, and 28 October p 3 B, 18 September 1953 p 10 E, will

*Brit med J* 1952, 2, 997, with appreciations by R C Lawrence and JM

*St Bart's Hosp J* 1952, 56, 584, by JM
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004900-E004999
Media Type:
Unknown