Roualle, Henri Louis Marcel (1915 - 2007)
by
 
N Alan Green

Asset Name
E001259 - Roualle, Henri Louis Marcel (1915 - 2007)

Title
Roualle, Henri Louis Marcel (1915 - 2007)

Author
N Alan Green

Identifier
RCS: E001259

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2011-07-07

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Roualle, Henri Louis Marcel (1915 - 2007), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Roualle, Henri Louis Marcel

Date of Birth
19 May 1915

Place of Birth
Epsom, Surrey, UK

Date of Death
28 March 2007

Occupation
General surgeon

Titles/Qualifications
MRCS 1937
 
FRCS 1940
 
MB BS London 1937
 
MD 1940
 
LRCP 1937

Details
Henri Roualle was a consultant general surgeon in London serving at many hospitals at various stages of his career, including Connaught, Wanstead, Finchley Memorial, the National Temperance and Whipps Cross hospitals. He was also visiting surgeon to HM prison, Wormwood Scrubs. He was born on 19 May 1915 in Epsom, Surrey. His parents, Louis Francois Auguste Roualle and Marie Marguerite Caroline née Rolo, came from Normandy and settled in England, taking British nationality. Henri and his brother Jean were both educated at Epsom College, where their father was a language teacher in French and German. The Roualle brothers were brought up as bilingual speakers and enjoyed the privileged ambience of the school grounds, playing with the children of other masters. Henri entered the lower school in 1923 and moved into the main school, where he became a school prefect and head of Roseberry house. He switched from the classical side to science subjects in the sixth form. After a distinguished academic career in school, he gained a scholarship to study medicine at St Bartholomew's. During these years he developed acute appendicitis with peritonitis and poliomyelitis, the latter leaving him with a permanent limp. For his preclinical years he went to the medical college in Charterhouse Square and spent his clinical years at St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield. He contributed papers as a student to the *St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal* on a wide range of topics from 'Moliere and medicine' to 'carbuncle of the kidney'. On qualification he became a casualty house surgeon and then was attached to the obstetric and gynaecology unit. His unpublished memoirs describe his recollections of these years. He then took a job as a ship's doctor on a Blue Funnel steamer, the *Myrmidon*, sailing from Plymouth to Australia and back via Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. On the return journey, the Second World War broke out and Henri Roualle found himself in a convoy returning home via South Africa. In October 1939 he returned to Bart's as an anatomy demonstrator working with W J Hamilton, and ended this time in Cambridge with the evacuation of the preclinical school. The students were housed in Queen's College, Cambridge, and enjoyed the facilities of the university, including the lecture theatres and the anatomy dissecting room. Bart's students were segregated in a 'roped-off' area about one quarter the size of the larger portion used by the Cambridge undergraduates, who were to be seen there occasionally. Bart's students under the Hamilton were taught a lot of anatomy, almost to the exclusion of physiology and biochemistry. This state of affairs existed until Easter 1946, when the preclinical school returned to war-damaged Charterhouse Square in London. Henri Roualle then went to Queen Alexandra's Hospital, an EMS hospital at Cobham, as a 'junior' surgeon for a year and a half. Although he had a limp following poliomyelitis, he was accepted for military service as a medical officer in the RAF with the rank of flight lieutenant. He served in West Africa until 1942, then in France and was in Brussels on VE day. As part of the army of occupation he saw the horrors of Belsen, and describes these very vividly in his typewritten private memoirs. Brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, his wartime experiences turned him to agnosticism. He was, however, always committed to Christian moral principles. He returned to Bart's in 1946. During his postgraduate years he worked as a chief assistant to Sir James Paterson Ross on the surgical unit. Later his teaching skills were utilised as a surgical tutor, a post used to help students consolidate their knowledge and, in particular, to help those struggling with examinations. His further training took him to Barnet General Hospital. At the RCS he won the Jacksonian prize in 1948 and followed this as Hunterian Professor in 1950, when he delivered a lecture on 'malignant disease of the thyroid gland'. This was a survey of 100 cases and was published in the *Annals* of the Royal College of Surgeons (1950:7:67-86). In 1952 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon to Barnet Hospital, also working at the National Temperance and Finchley Memorial hospitals. Many Greek Cypriot patients attended the National Temperance Hospital, and Henri taught himself modern Greek in order to communicate with them. In the 1960s he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, almost certainly from a patient. This necessitated treatment in a sanatorium in Norfolk. Henri's final posts were at Whipps Cross and Connaught hospitals. He also served as surgeon at Wormwood Scrubs prison, where he had dealings with John Stonehouse MP and other notable figures. In 1946 he married Molly Walden, a nurse whom he had met at RAF Hospital, Ely. They were together for just over 60 years and had three children, Anne-Marie, Yvonne and Michael. Henri Roualle was a very hard working and conscientious surgeon who was perceived as such by his children. None of the children entered medicine, and perhaps got to know their father better in his retirement. The family recall their father as a proficient linguist who encouraged them, when holidaying abroad in their teens, to speak the native language. Linguaphone records were studied by the whole family, particularly in Spanish and Italian. The interest in languages rubbed off on the children. Anne-Marie taught Spanish and French at several schools, including Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls; her sister Yvonne teaches Italian at Sherborne Girls' School. Their brother, Michael, went to Epsom College and entered farming and then banking. Henri Roualle's last few years were dogged by indifferent health. In addition to cardiac problems, he developed circulatory problems in his 'polio' leg. This was amputated below the knee in his 85th year, and he was in hospital for several months due to MRSA infection. An attack of shingles compromised the sight in one eye to which he adapted well, but he did not venture out of doors thereafter. His intellect remained strong: he read daily newspapers and was always keen to discuss articles he had read and found interesting. Henri Roualle died after another short illness on 28 March 2007 and was survived by his wife Molly, by their children and four grandchildren, Simon, David, Helen and Samuel.

Sources
Information from Michael Roualle, Anne-Marie Dennis and Yvonne Bell

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/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299

URL for File
373442

Media Type
Unknown