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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E005670 - Chamberlain, John (1938 - 2014)
Title:
Chamberlain, John (1938 - 2014)
Author:
Nigel Jones
Identifier:
RCS: E005670
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2014-07-18

2014-08-22
Description:
Obituary for Chamberlain, John (1938 - 2014), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Chamberlain, John
Date of Birth:
27 January 1938
Place of Birth:
Leicester
Date of Death:
1 June 2014
Titles/Qualifications:
MB ChB St Andrews 1963

FRCS Edin 1967

FRCS 1998
Details:
John Chamberlain was a consultant in general and vascular surgery to the Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals for 26 years. He was born in Leicester on 27 January 1938 to Jack and May Chamberlain. He was an only child. As a young boy John was fascinated by steam engines and was very proud of his grandfather, who drove steam trains from Leicester to London. John's father, who worked for Leicester City Transport maintaining buses, wanted his son to be an engineer, however influences at school awakened John's ambition to study medicine. John attended Medway Primary School in Leicester. In his own words: 'Due to superb teaching and encouragement at Medway, particularly from Misses Twiselton, Bak and Townsend, I was fortunate to continue my education at Wyggeston Grammar School for boys...' His inspirational biology teacher there, Horace Lacey, also taught the naturalist David Attenborough. John decided he wanted to be a doctor, and in 1957 he went up to St Andrews University as a medical student. In the first year he was the joint winner of the zoology medal. In November 1959 he met his future wife Mary at the students' union in Dundee, dancing a quick step to Chris Barber's 'When the saints go marching in'. Mary was a student teacher from Fife. In 1960 John moved for his clinical years to Queen's College, Dundee, which at that time was part of St Andrews University. During his student years John demonstrated the stamina needed to become a surgeon with his mode of transport: he travelled the 340 miles from Leicester to St Andrews on his Lambretta scooter. John graduated in 1963 and spent a happy year as a houseman at Maryfield Hospital in Dundee. In July 1964 John and Mary were married. John demonstrated anatomy for a year at St Andrews University. Their new home was a flat opposite the 18th hole of the Old Course, with wire netting on the windows to deflect stray golf balls. A further year of surgical training was gained in Leicester, before an appointment as a surgical registrar in Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy. In the autumn of 1966 he started at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as a registrar to Eric L Farquharson and Archie Macpherson. Farquharson's *Textbook of operative surgery* is well known to generations of surgeons, but his nickname 'the Elf' may not be! John gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1967 and began a long association with the Edinburgh College. He was soon promoted to senior registrar. John and Mary's sons Alasdair and Nicholas were born in Edinburgh. John was appointed as a general and vascular surgeon at Newcastle General Hospital in 1973 on a firm with Alf Petty. He also had sessions at the Royal Victoria Infirmary with the vascular team of Peter Dickinson and Ian McNeil. In 1977 his main base moved to the newly-built Freeman Hospital, where he enjoyed excellent facilities and great radiological and anaesthetic colleagues. John attracted several trainee surgeons from Australia who spent a year at the Freeman developing vascular surgical skills. With others, he helped set up the Northern Vascular Research Trust and raised monies to support many vascular research fellows to present, publish and gain higher degrees. Many current vascular surgeons in the Northern region worked for John. During his career at the Freeman Hospital, John made contributions to the development of thrombolysis, angioplasty and peripheral stenting. He was influential in setting up a dedicated operating theatre with fixed angiographic equipment, which allowed a significant aortic stenting programme to begin. He worked closely with the regional limb fitting service, which was on the Freeman site, improving wound healing after amputation and rehabilitation of amputees. He was involved in regional audits of carotid and aortic surgery. Excellent intra- and post-operative care of aortic surgical cases was developed with anaesthetic and ITU colleagues. When John retired there were six vascular surgical consultants in the vascular unit. John was keenly involved in surgical training. Nationally, from 1991 to 1996 he was a member of the specialist advisory committee in general surgery of the Joint Committee on Higher Surgical Training. Locally, he was chairman of the Northern Regional Surgical Training Committee from 1994 to 1999. In all his roles he was a fair leader, not given to extremes of behaviour, and only impatient for his next cup of tea. His ward sister, speaking at his funeral, described the obligatory pot of tea at the end of his ward rounds. The Friday afternoon vascular clinic also ended in the company of the red china teapot! John was a member of many professional associations, including the Vascular Surgical Society, of which he was a council member serving on the executive committee. He was a council member of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland from 1981 to 1984. Locally he was a strong supporter of the North of England Surgical Society, and was president from 1995 to 1996. His membership of the Moynihan Chirurgical Club from 1987 was a source of great friendship and interest for John and Mary. John was president in 1997 and he and Mary enjoyed many happy times with many surgeons and their spouses from all over the UK. John was an examiner in medical and dental undergraduate exams for the University of Newcastle. He was an examiner in surgery for the FRCS Edinburgh from 1978 to 2002 and also examined for the Glasgow and Irish Colleges part II exams in 1986. He was on the editorial board of the *Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh* from 1981 to 1984. John had 20 years' experience of medico-legal cases and served as a member of the Appeal Tribunal. John and Mary visited Australia three times in the late 1990s, initially to visit their son Nicholas who was working there. John was pleased to meet up with Australian surgeons who had worked with him in Newcastle. He enjoyed the music of Australian singers John Williamson and Slim Dusty. John's sense of humour made him a big fan of the Goon Show and he also collected the writings of Spike Milligan. In May 1998 John was awarded the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He retired from surgical practice in 1999. He continued with some medico-legal work and examining for a while. John was a member of the Rotary Club of Newcastle upon Tyne for many years and was president from July 1998 to June 1999. John had been troubled earlier in life by asthma and a degree of bronchiectasis with occasional chest infections. His retirement latterly was dogged by this. Rupture of a bulla of the lung caused a pneumothorax requiring a chest drain and pleurodesis. He bore these painful insults bravely, but his breathing was subsequently very difficult. He also suffered from Parkinson's disease after retirement. Mobility was limited for many months. Mary supported him through his limitations and was with him at home when he died on 1 June 2014, aged 76.
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/E005000-E005999/E005600-E005699
Media Type:
Unknown