Wynn Parry, Christopher Berkeley (1924 - 2015)
by
 
Sarah Gillam

Asset Name
E006957 - Wynn Parry, Christopher Berkeley (1924 - 2015)

Title
Wynn Parry, Christopher Berkeley (1924 - 2015)

Author
Sarah Gillam

Identifier
RCS: E006957

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2015-03-13
 
2017-07-26

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Wynn Parry, Christopher Berkeley (1924 - 2015), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Wynn Parry, Christopher Berkeley

Date of Birth
14 October 1924

Place of Birth
Leeds

Date of Death
24 February 2015

Occupation
Rheumatologist
 
Specialist in performing arts medicine

Titles/Qualifications
MBE 1952
 
BM BCh Oxford 1947
 
DPhysMed 1950
 
DM 1954
 
MRCP 1959
 
FRCP 1972
 
FRCS 1978
 
Hon RCM 2011

Details
Christopher Wynn Parry (known as 'Kit') was a rheumatologist who specialised in hand injuries and performing arts medicine. He was born on 14 October 1924 in Leeds, the son of Sir Henry Wynn Parry, a high court judge, and Shelagh Wynn Parry née Moynihan, daughter of the renowned surgeon and president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Lord Berkeley Moynihan. Wynn Parry was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford and qualified in 1947. His studies were interrupted by tuberculosis, from which he made a slow recovery, and he was advised not to continue with his surgical training. Instead, he became a rheumatologist, and was heavily influenced by Sir Herbert Seddon, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Oxford, who was researching into nerve injuries and neuropathic pain. After Oxford, Wynn Parry joined the Royal Air Force and became director of rehabilitation at the combined services rehabilitation centres at Chessington and Headley Court, where he established specialist services for neuro-rehabilitation and peripheral nerve injuries, and worked closely with hand surgeons in the RAF and at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH). He was also an early researcher into the use of EMG (electromyography) as a diagnostic tool. His work was summarised in *Rehabilitation of the hand* (London, Butterworth & Co, 1958), a pioneering text. After retiring from the RAF, he established a centre for neuro-rehabilitation and peripheral nerve injuries at the RNOH, which became nationally and internationally renowned. During this period, he co-wrote *Surgical disorders of the peripheral nerves* (Edinburgh, Church Livingstone, 1998) with Rolfe Birch and George Bonney. After retiring from the NHS, he continued to work privately in rehabilitation at the Devonshire and King Edward VII's hospitals, and also developed an interest in looking after the medical needs of musicians. With Ian James, he created the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) in 1989, a charity which provide medical advice and care to performers. In 1998, he collaborated with Ian Winspur to produce *The musician's hand: a clinician's guide* (London, Martin Dunitz), the first book of its kind in the English language. He was elected as an honorary member of the Royal College of Music in 2011, among many other national and international honours. In 1982, he was elected as president of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, the only non-surgeon so honoured. In 1953, he married Morna Sawyer. They had three daughters and a son. Kit Wynn Parry died on 24 February 2015, aged 90. Predeceased by his wife and a daughter, his other children survived him.

Sources
*The Telegraph* 19 March 2015 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11483398/Kit-Wynn-Parry-rheumatologist-obituary.html - accessed 13 July 2017
 
*The Guardian* 22 April 2015 www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/22/kit-wynn-parry-obituary - accessed 13 July 2017
 
*BMJ* 2015 350 1971 www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1971 - accessed 13 July 2017
 
Munk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians Christopher Berkeley Wynn Parry http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/7055 - accessed 13 July 2017

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/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999

URL for File
379140

Media Type
Unknown