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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E007091 - Atkinson, William John (1918 - 1990)
Title:
Atkinson, William John (1918 - 1990)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E007091
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2015-04-17
Description:
Obituary for Atkinson, William John (1918 - 1990), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Atkinson, William John
Date of Birth:
18 May 1918
Place of Birth:
London
Date of Death:
2 January 1990
Titles/Qualifications:
TD with 3 bars

MRCS 1941

FRCS 1946

MB BS 1942

MD London 1947

MS 1957

LLB 1984

LRCP 1941
Details:
William John Atkinson was born in London on 18 May 1918, the elder son of William Atkinson, a civil servant. He was educated at Ongar Grammar School and at Mercer's School in High Holborn before entering St Bartholomew's Hospital for his medical studies. He qualified in 1941 and immediately afterwards was appointed house surgeon to the neurosurgery unit at Shotley Bridge, Durham, returning to St Bartholomew's Hospital as senior house officer in the professorial unit in the following year. In 1942 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps serving as a medical officer in the 6th Airborne Division and later in India. At the end of the war he returned to St Bartholomew's as a supernumerary registrar and after passing the FRCS was appointed house surgeon at the National Hospital, Queen Square, where he worked under Wylie McKissock, Harvey Jackson and Valentine Logue. He was senior registrar at the London Hospital and later at the Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases and during this time he carried out research into destructive lesions of the hypothalamus, describing the effects of occlusion of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery. This work was continued while he was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He acquired the MD and MS degrees and was appointed Hunterian Professor in 1954, giving a lecture entitled *The management of head injuries*. Initially he was appointed consultant neurosurgeon to the North Manchester Hospital Group and later to the Hurstwood Park Neurosurgical Centre at Haywards Heath. He was a prodigious worker and despite his heavy professional commitments served in the Territorial Army from 1947 until 1970, being awarded the Territorial Decoration with 3 bars. He also became interested in medico-legal aspects of psychosurgery and this led to his being called to the bar in 1962 and graduating LLB in 1984. After retiring from the health service at the age of 64 he spent some time as a barrister doing medico-legal work. He married Imelda Morrisroe in 1944 and had two sons and two daughters the youngest of whom has graduated in medicine. In his earlier years he was a keen runner and tennis player but in later life his main outside interests were gardening and music. He died on 2 January 1990.
Sources:
*Brit med J* 1990, 300, 936
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/E007000-E007999/E007000-E007099
Media Type:
Unknown