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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E006850 - Pennell, Vernon Charles (1889 - 1976)
Title:
Pennell, Vernon Charles (1889 - 1976)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E006850
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2015-02-25
Description:
Obituary for Pennell, Vernon Charles (1889 - 1976), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Pennell, Vernon Charles
Date of Birth:
30 September 1889
Place of Birth:
Lincoln
Date of Death:
2 March 1976
Place of Death:
Cambridge
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS 1913

FRCS 1920

BA Cambridge 1911

MB BCh 1916

LRCP 1913
Details:
Vernon Pennell was born in Lincoln on 30 September 1889, the eldest son of Charles Waldegrave Pennell, a seed merchant, and Jessie Folkes. After education at Harrow School, with an exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1908 and a scholarship in the following year, he secured a first class in Natural Sciences in 1911 and moved to St Thomas's Hospital as a university scholar, qualifying in time to serve in the RAMC during the first world war. On demobilization, having been elected a Fellow of Pembroke in 1914, he returned to his old college as an assistant tutor and director of medical studies. He was then surgical registrar to Addenbrooke's Hospital and became FRCS in 1920 before appointment to the honorary staff in 1927. He was a member of the Court of Examiners for the Royal College of Surgeons and an examiner in surgery for the University of Cambridge. He became a life Fellow and senior Fellow of Pembroke and was a member of the Moynihan Club as well as the British Association of Urological Surgeons. During his post-war years Vernon Pennell was remembered as a dynamic figure and a clear and impressive anatomical teacher, drawing diagrams swiftly and accurately as he talked. He did not suffer fools gladly and was outspokenly critical of the idle and incompetent. As a practising surgeon his clinical knowledge lent piquancy to his anatomical discourse and he was widely recognised as an excellent teacher. In the Final Fellowship he had the reputation of being terse and irascible, but he was always fair in his markings. He was keenly interested in the subsequent careers of those he had taught and always willing to give help and advice to those who sought his support. He was a notably competent and dexterous surgeon, kind and understanding to his patients and taking immense care with them. He played a full and active part in college life at Cambridge and was a warm and generous host. A keen cricketer, who just failed to get into the Harrow XI, he later played for Lincolnshire and remained an ardent and critical follower of the game. Described as a staunch friend, a good clubman and a lively raconteur, his forthright expressions of opinion on academic, athletic and political subjects gave great pleasure and entertainment even to those who did not agree with him. He was twice married, first to Alberta Sanders, who died in 1960 and by whom there was one son, and then to Catherine Margaret Nisbett. He died in a nursing home at Cambridge on 2 March 1976, aged 86.
Sources:
*The Times* 4 March 1976

*Daily Telegraph* 4 March 1976

*Brit med J* 1976, 1, 841
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/E006800-E006899
Media Type:
Unknown