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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E004040 - Fawcett, John (1866 - 1944)
Title:
Fawcett, John (1866 - 1944)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E004040
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2013-06-05
Description:
Obituary for Fawcett, John (1866 - 1944), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Fawcett, John
Date of Birth:
13 August 1866
Place of Birth:
London
Date of Death:
18 February 1944
Place of Death:
London
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS 8 May 1890

FRCS 9 June 1892

MB BS London 1890

MD 1891

LRCP 1890

MRCP 1895

FRCP 1902
Details:
Born at Brixton on 13 August 1866, eldest son and second of the seven children of John Bisdee Fawcett, of Lloyd's, and Ellen Hyslop, his wife. His father and mother both died when he was eleven, and the children were brought up by their uncle, Robert Grant, and his wife. He was educated at Dulwich and at Guy's Hospital, to which he was attached for more than fifty years. He served as demonstrator of morbid anatomy and as curator of the museum, and later won the Beaney research scholarship, under which he worked on the pharmacology and therapeutics of the salicylates. Although he took the FRCS in 1892 he had already begun to turn from surgery to medicine, having taken the London MD the previous year. In 1895 he took the MRCP, and was elected FRCP in 1902. Meanwhile he had been appointed to the honorary staff at Guy's in 1899. He became surgeon in 1906, and was elected consulting surgeon on his retirement in 1926. He also served as lecturer on medicine and was dean of the Medical School from 1900 to 1903, in succession to his great friend Lauriston Elgie Shaw, FRCP (1859-1923). Fawcett and Shaw planned to concentrate the pre-clinical work of all the London medical schools in a central school; when the board of Guy's, who had at first supported them, voted against the proposal Fawcett resigned the office of dean. He became later a governor of the Medical School of Guy's, in which he always retained a keen interest, and was also a member of council of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He succeeded Shaw also as chairman of Guy's medical committee. On Shaw's resignation the committee agreed to appoint their future chairmen by election instead of seniority, Fawcett being the senior eligible candidate, and then immediately elected Fawcett unanimously; he served the office for ten years. At the Royal College of Physicians Fawcett served as examiner 1916-20, councillor 1920, and a censor in 1920, 1921, and 1923. He represented the Physicians on the Senate of London University from 1920 to 1929, and examined in medicine for the universities of London, Sheffield, and Wales (Cardiff), and from 1916 to 1920 for the Conjoint Board. He was at one time assistant physician to the Royal Free Hospital and was an advocate of single-sex medical schools, taking much interest in the London School of Medicine for Women attached to the Royal Free. He was a member of council and for many years treasurer of Epsom College, and was vice-chairman of the Invalid Children's Aid Association. He was also founder and treasurer of the Old Alleynians' endowment fund. Fawcett was commissioned captain *à la suite* on 23 December 1908 on the formation of the RAMC Territorial Force, and served during the first world war at the 2nd London General Hospital, and was promoted brevet major on 3 June 1917. He was vice-president of the section of medicine at the Nottingham meeting of the British Medical Association in 1926. He represented the Board of Education on the General Nursing Council from 1928 to 1932, and served on the departmental committee of the Ministry of Health on morphia and heroin addiction, and on the Ministry of Pensions' Disability committee. Fawcett married on 15 July 1899 May Fleming, daughter of Herbert Fleming Baxter, who survived him with a son and a daughter. He practised at 66 Wimpole Street, later moving to 10 Chester Terrace, NW1, and again to 21 St John's Wood Court, NW8, and also had a country house, Oakdene, St Mengan's, Ruthin, North Wales. He was ill for many years at the close of his life, but never lost his confident spirit. He died in a London nursing home on 18 February 1944, aged 77, and was cremated after a funeral service at Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone. Mrs Fawcett died a few months later; she left £1000 to Guy's Hospital and £500 to the Ladies' Guild of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, among other charitable bequests. "Honest John" Fawcett was a most punctual, painstaking physician, who based his clinical practice on a profound knowledge of morbid anatomy. He believed in thorough examination of his patients, to whom he showed very human kindness. He was a good though not inspiring teacher, with a real interest in education. Fawcett was a loyal and friendly man, of very conservative temperament. He had been a good football player in youth, and in middle life his recreations were shooting, golf, and walking, which he chiefly enjoyed on his regular holidays in Scotland. Publication:- Chronic intestinal pneumonia, in Allbutt and Rolleston's *System of medicine*.
Sources:
*The Times*, 19 February 1944, p la, and 21st, p 6e

*Brit med J*. 1944, 1, 342, with eulogy by Sir William Hale-White, KBE, FRCP

*Lancet*, 1944, 1, 359, with portrait and eulogy by Sir Arthur Hurst, FRCP, and correction at p 455

*Guy's Hosp Rep*. 1944, 92, 111, by Professor J A Ryle, FRCP, with portrait and list of papers which he had contributed to the *Reports*

Information given Mrs May Fawcett
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/E004000-E004999/E004000-E004099
Media Type:
Unknown