Search Results for

First Title value, for Searching Walsh, Michael Anthony (1939 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Toogood, Jonathan (1784 - 1870)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372667372667
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was apprenticed to Mr Dawe, of Bridgwater, and was educated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He practised for many years at Cornhill, Bridgwater, Somerset, where he founded, and was for thirty-three years Surgeon to, the Infirmary. He also practised at Taunton. He died at Torquay, after his retirement, on Dec 7th, 1870, being then Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Toogood’s *Reminiscences* are dedicated to Dr Francis Sibson, FRS, who conducted the author safely through a very severe and dangerous illness. Though not a biography, the work contains interesting accounts of West Country practice in the first half of the nineteenth century and of the extraordinary survivals of superstitions. The following letter is quoted by Toogood as a specimen of the familiar correspondence of Abernethy, whom he had consulted in a hopeless case:- “MY DEAR SIR, “All I can say to patients situated as yours is, after telling them what treatment seems rational and appropriate to the case, to exhort them not to despond; because we know many obstinately disordered states of the bowels which have continued until they have nearly exhausted the patient, have unexpectedly arrived at a kind of crisis, by the production of morbid discharges, etc. And with regard to local diseases, the proverb of ‘‘tis a long lane that has no turning’, is fully verified, for when least expected, a favourable change often occurs, as I suppose you can testify. In every situation of life our primary enquiry ought to be what is right to be done, and having ascertained as far as we have the power, we must then perform or endure it. I have no objection to opiates when required to soothe pain.” And he adds, in reference to a second case - “I hope Miss F - will do well under your care; I know the amendment of the health is the primary object in the cure of all local diseases; ‘tis the removal, in my opinion, of the cause. I feel that I am writing what you know, and that you will think me stupid; I will therefore add no more than that I remain, “Yours most sincerely, “J TOOGOOD, ESQ, JOHN ABERNETHY. “*Bridgwater*.” Publications: - *Hints to Mothers. Reminiscences of a Medical Life; with Cases and Practical Illustrations,* 8vo, Taunton and London, 1853.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000483
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fickling, Benjamin William (1909 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Morgan
Publication Date 2009-02-10
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372770372770
Occupation Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Details Benjamin William Fickling was a distinguished oral surgeon and a past president of the British Association of Oral Surgeons. The son of Robert Marshall Fickling, a dentist, he was born in London on 14 July 1909, in a house in Sloane Street where there had been a dental practice since 1840. His mother was Florence Isobel née Newson. By agreement with the deans of St George’s and the Royal Dental Hospital, he studied both medicine and dentistry at St George’s Hospital, having won the William Brown senior exhibition by examination at St George’s and a senior entrance scholarship to the clinical teaching hospital. These paid all his fees until he qualified. He also received the Johnson prize in anatomy, the Pollock prize in physiology and passed the primary FRCS after three months leave of absence from dentistry – all before his 21st Birthday and under three years after entering medical school. In March 1932 he qualified LDS RCS and subsequently became house surgeon in the prosthetics department whilst starting dental practice using the second surgery in the family home. He said that he spent most time providing cheap dentures at £2 each. In 1934 he qualified MRCS LRCP and was appointed senior house surgeon at the Royal Dental Hospital, which had beds in Charing Cross Hospital. At the age of 36 he was appointed assistant dental surgeon at the Royal Dental Hospital and a year later assistant dental surgeon to St George’s Hospital. It was at this time that on the advice of Wilfred Fish he visited the established figures of the day in Vienna. He studied in the private surgery of Gottleib Bohler and the highly acclaimed Hans Pichler, who had treated Sigmund Freud’s oral cancer with a wide local excision that included the floor of the mouth and a large portion of the right mandible, all under local anaesthetic. He subsequently made an obturator, which Freud called his ‘monster’. In November 1938, Fickling returned to London and passed his final FRCS. The road to promotion and a successful career lay through research and so in 1938 he attended the Hampton Hill research laboratories to study salivary secretion, where he was the first to show that bacteriostatic drugs could be excreted in saliva and was rewarded with a publication in *The Lancet*. At that time discharging sinuses on the face persisted for years and osteomyelitis was not uncommon. In 1933 Wilfred Fish established the first periodontal department at the Royal Dental Hospital, but later (1937) he resigned to concentrate on his research at St Mary’s Hospital. Fickling was placed in charge of the department and continued this until well after the war. At the outbreak of war, he was drafted into the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) at St George’s Hospital and served there throughout the Blitz. An Army Council report in 1934 had recommended that in the event of war maxillo-facial injuries should be concentrated in specialist hospitals, and Fickling joined the plastic surgeon Rainsford Mowlem at Hill End Hospital in St Albans 1941. In 1939 there was no up to date English language text on facial injuries and so, with his senior colleague Warwick James, he wrote *Injuries of the jaws and face* (J Bale & Staples, London, 1940). After the war, Fickling returned to dental practice in London and remained part-time at Hill End hospital, which later moved to Mount Vernon, where he was joined by Paul Toller. Fickling was present at the introduction of the NHS and continued in part-time general dental practice. In 1957 he joined the board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) of our College and was elected dean in 1968. He was a founder member of both the British Association of Oral Surgeons (president in 1967) and the International Association of Oral Surgeons in 1962. He was an examiner for the FDS (from 1959 to 1972) and in 1978 was appointed chairman of examiners for the Membership in General Dental Surgery (MGDS) and continued until 1981. In 1980 he retired from general dental practice after 58 years, handing over to his son Clive. His contributions to surgery were recognised by the award of the Charles Tomes lecture in 1956; the first Everett Magnus lecture in Melbourne in 1971 and the Webb Johnson lecture in 1978. He was awarded the Colyer gold medal of the Faculty of Dental Surgery in 1979 and his services to dentistry were recognised by the award of the CBE in 1973. He was a meticulous surgeon, devoted to detail. His Fickling forceps are still in standard use in most oral surgery sets today. He described a procedure for closing oroantral fistula and was instrumental in the development of the box frame and maxillary and mandibular rods and pins. He enjoyed travelling and skied until he was 75. In the third year of the war he offered a nurse from Bartholomew’s Hospital a lift home from a bus stop. They married soon after and Shirley (née Walker) was his companion for nearly seven decades and bore him three children (Julia Margaret, Paul Marshall and Clive Anthony). Benjamin Fickling died on 27 January 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000587
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Mangat, Teja Singh (1930 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372497372497
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Teja Mangat was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Dudley and Stourbridge Hospital and retired from clinical practice in 1995, after which he continued medico-legal work. Born on 7 May 1930 in Nairobi, Kenya, he was the fifth son of Waryam Singh Mangat, a pioneer who went to Kenya in 1908 and practised as an accountant, and Bachimt Kaur. His early education was at the Government Indian Primary School from 1935 to 1941, and the Government Indian High School from 1942 to 1946 in Nairobi. Going to the UK, he spent a further year at Woolwich Polytechnic before entering University College London for his pre-clinical course. His clinical education followed at University College Hospital Medical School. Following house appointments at the City Hospital, Nottingham, his interest in orthopaedics was kindled when working as senior house surgeon to Ross-Smith at Boscombe Hospital, Bournemouth, in 1956. Before taking his primary FRCS he spent time as a demonstrator of anatomy at his alma mater during 1957, passing the final FRCS in 1960. After this he returned to Africa and became surgical registrar at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. On returning to England, he became a senior registrar at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, and Birmingham Accident Centre, where he gained much experience under the supervision of F G Allen and M H M Harrison. He enjoyed the personal injury side of medico-legal work, in addition to wider orthopaedic interests, being an active member of the Birmingham Medico-Legal Society and of the British Orthopaedic Association. Teja Mangat was extremely athletic, gaining colours at medical school in tennis, squash, hockey and athletics. He continued his sporting activities in Stourbridge and became a founder member of the local squash club, playing for the Worcestershire county side. He married Sharon Ahhwalia, daughter of G B Singh of Eldoret, Kenya, in 1961. They had two daughters, Tejina and Sharleen. Teja Mangat died on 29 July 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000310
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Jefferiss, Christopher David (1940 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-08-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372566372566
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Christopher Jefferiss was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in Devon. He was the son of Derek Jefferiss, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Exeter. Like his father, he was an undergraduate at the Middlesex Hospital, where he qualified in 1964. He held a variety of junior posts at the Middlesex, Weymouth and District, and the Royal Devon and Exeter hospitals, before becoming a senior house officer at the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in Exeter in 1970, gaining the FRCS in the same year. He then abandoned his intention of becoming an obstetrician and gynaecologist in favour of orthopaedics, becoming successively registrar, senior registrar and finally consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at the Princess Elizabeth and Royal Devon and Exeter hospitals, eventually specialising in the surgery of the hand and the foot. He was an active member of the Hand Society and also the British Society for the Surgery of the Foot, and published 14 papers as author and co-author, mostly to do with the hand. Christopher played a leading part in the postgraduate orthopaedic training programme in Exeter. He became lead clinician in orthopaedics in 1996, and in 1997 clinical director for trauma, orthopaedics and rheumatology. In 2001 he was awarded a certificate of commendation by the BMA and the chairman’s award from the Devon and Exeter NHS Trust in recognition of his outstanding service. He was much sought after as a medico-legal specialist and was regarded by all as a man of great integrity and wisdom. He died on 26 November 2004 from a cerebellar tumour, and is survived by his wife Madlen, a former Bart’s theatre sister and by their three children, Fred, Lizzie and Emily.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000382
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Cardell, John Magor (1832 - 1875)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Carden, Henry Douglas ( - 1872)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-02-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373033373033
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of John Carden, Surgeon to the Worcester Infirmary, born at Worcester, was educated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. His elder brother, Thomas, had succeeded his father and was in turn succeeded by Henry Douglas, who held the post from 1888-1861, when he became Consulting Surgeon. He enjoyed a large surgical practice, hunted and shot, collected pictures of value, and was a zealous gardener. Had he lived, said the British Medical Journal, he would probably at no distant date have been elected President of the British Medical Association. The name of Carden is connected in the history of surgery with his recommendation of amputation by a single flap, published in the *British Medical Journal*, 1864. Fashion had changed from the varieties of circular amputation to that by transfixion with the long pointed knife recommended by Lisfranc. The main artery being controlled, the limb was stabbed with great rapidity twice on either side of the bone, and with each stab the edge of the knife was turned to cut obliquely forwards and outwards to make two thick flaps of obliquely severed muscles and nerves. The bone was sawn through with breathless haste; one ligature included the main artery and whatever was adjacent, vein or nerve or both. Sawdust was clapped on the stump and the surgeon departed, as also the onlookers. A few hours later there was reactionary hæmorrhage, and the House Surgeon by candlelight had to try to catch the bleeding points. The obliquely severed nerves caused painful twitchings of the stump, aggravated by the suppuration which set in. The ulceration and sloughing of the muscles was followed by their retraction, obtruding the end of the bone. After having practised amputation by transfixion from 1838, Carden began in 1846 to cut one single skin-flap, then to divide all the muscles down to the bone by a circular cut, and to saw through the bone slightly above the plane of the muscles. His table of 31 cases with 26 recoveries was very favourable at that time for the kind of cases undertaken. He avoided the pointed stump, and does not mention sloughing of the flap, which happened to other surgeons when an unduly long flap was raised. A second list of 33 cases by his colleagues as well as by Carden himself had similar results – 26 recoveries and 7 deaths. Teale modified the principle by making a flap three-quarters of what was needed anteriorly and a posterior flap of one-quarter, which aimed at avoiding the danger of sloughing mentioned above. Carden was disposed to maintain the advantage of the single long flap, for the limb had not to be removed so high up as Teale’s method demanded. He is also mentioned in Lister’s article in Holmes’s *System of Surgery*. Carden continued in active practice, although there were premonitory signs of apoplexy, until he died of it on Dec 22nd, 1872. *The Worcester Chronicle* referred to him in terms of appreciation. “He was gentle and gracious in manner, though, when it was needed, he could be firm and steadfast as a rock.” Publication: “On Amputation by a Single Flap.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1864, i, 416, with two tables and 8 figures of stumps.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000850
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kemball, Vero Clarke (1780 - 1853)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Wright, John ( - 1852)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Standert, Hugh Chudleigh (1782 - 1850)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Farrell, Charles (1779 - 1855)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Ransome, John Atkinson (1779 - 1837)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372679372679
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of Thomas Ransome, manager of Messrs Gurney’s Bank at Norwich. He was born at Norwich on March 4th, 1779, was apprenticed to a surgeon at Lynn, and entering Guy's Hospital became a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper, with whom he was ever afterwards in friendly correspondence. He endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to establish himself first in Ipswich and afterwards at Bury St Edmunds, but moving to Manchester he was elected Surgeon to the Infirmary on March 20th, 1806. In conjunction with James Ainsworth he lectured on anatomy and physiology at the Literary and Philosophical Institute, the earliest syllabus being published in 1812. The course, perhaps, was a continuation of that given by Peter Mark Roget and Benjamin Gibson in 1806-1807. Thomas Turner founded the Pine Street School of Medicine at Manchester in 1824 and enlisted the willing services of Ransome, who began to lecture on the principles and practice of surgery in 1825. His lectures fulfilled the requirements of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and the Pine Street School thus became the first provincial medical school whose teaching was formally recognized. Ransome’s lectures dealt chiefly with his own experience gained in a large surgical practice and were greatly appreciated by the students, as he rarely entered upon matters of hypothesis or controversy. The notes were written in his carriage whilst he went from patient to patient. Amongst his patients was William Huskisson, the statesman, who was accidentally killed at the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway on Sept 15th, 1830, and Ransome’s only contribution to surgical literature is the account of the accident, which he published in the *North of England Medical and Surgical Journal* for 1830 (p. 268). He was appointed Librarian of the Literary and Philosophical Society in 1809 and acted as one of the Secretaries from 1810-1820. He lived in Princess Street, at No 1 St Peter’s Square, and finally at Old Trafford, where he died on Feb 10th, 1837, and was buried behind the meeting-house of the Society of Friends in Mount Street. His son was Joseph Atkinson Ransome (q.v.), and it was perhaps the similarity of name that led to the error of including his distinguished father in the first list of 'Fellows when it was intended to honour the son. Ransome had a high and well-deserved reputation as a surgeon; he was a skilled operator, and was the first in Manchester to suggest catgut or silk ligatures for tying arteries on the ground that, being of animal origin, they would the more readily be absorbed. He was a skilled draughtsman and drew the illustrations for Benjamin Gibson’s *Practical Observations on the Formation of an Artificial Pupil, etc.* (London, 1811), a subject to which Ransome himself paid special attention. His strict integrity, spotless moral character, and honourable bearing gained him the respect and goodwill of all those with whom he was brought in contact. There is a fine portrait, a chalk drawing by Bedford, in the possession of the family. It is reproduced in Dr. Brockbank’s *Sketches of the Lives and Work of the Honorary Medical Staff of the Manchester Infirmary.*
Resource Identifier RCS: E000495
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Estlin, John Bishop (1785 - 1855)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-04 2008-05-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372680372680
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Dec 26th, 1785, at St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, the son of John Prior Estlin (1747-1817) and his second wife, who had been Miss Bishop. His father was the well-known Unitarian, friend of Coleridge, Southey, and Priestley, who kept a school in a large house at the top of St Michael’s Hill. In this school John Bishop Estlin was educated until he began his professional studies at Bristol Infirmary in 1804. He continued his studies at Guy’s Hospital and completed them at Edinburgh. He settled in practice at Bristol in 1808 and soon became interested in ophthalmology. In 1812 he established in Frogmore Street, Bristol, a dispensary for the treatment of diseases of the eye which he maintained for some time at his own expense. His reputation as an ophthalmic surgeon was soon established and he became well known throughout the West of England. He married in 1817 Margaret Bagehot, aunt of Walter Bagehot (1826-1877), the English economist and journalist: she died four years later, leaving an only daughter. His health failing, Estlin visited the island of St Vincent in 1832, where the warmer climate soon restored him. In 1838 he obtained and circulated a fresh supply of lymph from cows near Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, where Jenner had originally obtained the material for vaccination against small-pox. In 1845 he published his *Remarks on Mesmerism*, in which he gave a lucid exposition of the scientific method of investigating the phenomena said to be due to the hidden forces of nature. He was also a social reformer, dealing with temperance, the abolition of slavery, religious toleration, and the suppression of medical impostures. In religion he was a convinced Unitarian like his father, and wrote in favour of the Christian miracles and on Prayer and Divine Aid. He was always generous, but nevertheless grew rich and became, by force of upright character and professional skill, one of the most trusted men in Bristol. He died on June 10th, 1855, and was buried in the Lewins Mead burial ground, Bristol. There are monumental tablets to him and his wife in the adjoining meeting-house. PUBLICATIONS:— *Remarks on Mesmerism*, 1845. “Observations on Diseased Spine . . . Strictures on Baynton’s Treatise,” 8vo, Bristol, 1818; reprinted from *Edin Med and Surg Jour*, 1817, xiii, 341. Papers on “Amaurosis.” - *Edin Med and Surg Jour*, 1815, xi, 410. “Cases of Cysticercus Cellulosæ in the Eye.” - *Lond Med Gaz*, 1837-8, 839; and 1839-40, N.S. ii, 35. “One Hundred Cases of Operation for Strabismus.” - *Prov Med and Surg Jour*, 1842, iv, 303. “On Pretended Cure of Cataract by Prussic Acid.” - *Ibid*, 1842-3, v, 209. “An Address on Mesmerism.” - *Ibid*, 1843, vi, 303; and 1845, ix, 513.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000496
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Anderson, William Alexander ( - 1882)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Carr, William (1814 - 1877)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Anderton, Henry (1790 - 1870)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Andrew, Edwyn (1832 - 1887)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372872372872
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College Hospital. Held the offices of Resident Medical Officer, House Surgeon, and Physician’s Assistant, as well as President of the University College Medical Society. Practised in Shrewsbury, devoting himself especially to the treatment of diseases of the eye and the ear. He was appointed Surgeon to the Shropshire and North Wales Eye and Throat Infirmary. At that time the building was very small and inadequate, “but under his exertion, and with the aid of others, he lived to see a new hospital erected and completed in 1881, replete with every comfort and with ample accommodation”. The hospital cost £10,000 to erect. It is a fine building and may be regarded as his monument. Andrew was President of the Shropshire and Mid-Wales branch of the British Medical Association, 1883-1884; Hon Local Secretary and Treasurer to the Royal Medical Benevolent College; Surgeon to the Shropshire Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital; Consulting Surgeon to the Montgomeryshire Infirmary; Certificated Factory Inspector; and Surgeon to Shrewsbury Royal Grammar School. He died at his residence, 12 St John’s Hill, Shrewsbury, on Jan 10th, 1887. Publications: “Extirpation of Lachrymal Gland in Obstruction of Nasal Duct.” – *Brit. Med Jour.*, 1877, ii, 256, 623. “Intestinal Obstruction.” – Ibid., 1878 ii, 470. “On the Extraction of Senile Cataract and its Capsule.” – Ibid., 1883, i, 41.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000689
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Lister, Joseph, Baron Lister of Lyme Regis (1827 - 1912)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372684372684
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on April 5th, 1827, at Upton House, Stoke Newington, then a pleasant suburb of London, the fourth child and second son of Joseph Jackson Lister and Isabella Harris. J Jackson Lister was a port-wine shipper in partnership with Thomas Barton Beck, of Tokenhouse Yard, the grandfather of Marcus Beck (q.v.). Joseph Jackson Lister (1786-1869) was the inventor of the achromatic objective used in modern microscopes, and was admitted a FRS on February 2nd, 1832. Like his wife and his partner he was a member of the Society of Friends. Isabella Harris, Lister’s mother, was the youngest daughter of Anthony Harris, a master mariner of Maryport, Cumberland. Before her marriage she had assisted her widowed mother, who was superintendent of Ackworth School, near Pontefract, in Yorkshire, a school intended for the education of the children of Friends who were “not in affluent circumstances”. Joseph Lister was sent first to a private school at Hitchin and afterwards to the Quaker School kept by Mr Binns, of Grove House, Tottenham, where he got a sound classical education with some knowledge of comparative anatomy. From an early age he determined to become a surgeon, and he soon learned to macerate bones, dissect fish and small animals, and articulate their skeletons. He also showed some ability in drawing and sketching. Lister entered the unsectarian University of London in 1844, taking the Arts course and graduating BA in 1847, with honours in classics and botany. He must also have visited the North London (now University College) Hospital, for he was [may have been] present on December 21st, 1846, when Robert Liston (q.v.) performed the first operation in London upon a patient anaesthetized with ether. During his undergraduate period he suffered from small-pox, followed by a nervous breakdown, leading to a long holiday, so that he did not begin his medical studies at University College until October, 1848. During his student career he took an active part in the Debating Society at University College and in the affairs of the Hospital Medical Society. He seems to have been influenced more especially by the teaching of Wharton Jones (q.v.) and William Sharpey, physiologists, and by Thomas Graham, the Professor of Chemistry; and in 1853 he published two papers based on experiments. The first confirmed Kölliker’s observations on the muscular tissue of the iris, in which he demonstrated the existence both of dilator and sphincter fibres; the second, on the involuntary muscle of the skin, showed the means by which ‘goose skin’ is produced. Both communications were illustrated by delicate camera lucida drawings such as his father had taught him to make. In 1851 he served as House Surgeon to Sir John Eric Erichsen (q.v.) after he had acted as House Physician to Dr Walter Hayle Walshe. Lister had no definite plan for the future at the end of his house surgeoncy, and was advised by Professor Sharpey to visit Edinburgh, where James Syme (q.v.) had made a great surgical reputation, and then proceed to the Continental schools. He took the advice, went to Edinburgh, lodged in South Frederick Street, and presented himself to Syme in September, 1853. Syme at once took a liking to the young Quaker. He was invited to Millbank, Syme’s country house at Morningside, and became a regular attendant at the Royal Infirmary and Minto House, being sometimes allowed to assist at private operations. By the end of October Lister had determined to stay in Edinburgh through the winter, and in November Syme appointed him ‘Supernumerary Clerk’, a non-resident post which was much coveted. The duties were to assist at every operation, to watch the subsequent course of the case, and to take notes. During his term of office he read a paper at a full meeting of the Royal Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society to show that cancellous exostoses ossified in the same manner as the epiphysial cartilages of long bones. He was appointed Resident House Surgeon to Syme on his return from a Christmas visit to his family at Upton House in 1854, and held office until the end of February, 1855. Syme had by this time formed so high an estimate of his surgical ability that he gave Lister to understand that they stood in the relationship of Surgeon and Consulting Surgeon, and that he had authority to operate upon such emergency cases as he thought fit. This privilege was very unusual at a time when hospital surgeons were most averse to delegate any of the duties entrusted to them either in teaching, operating, or treatment. Lister made the best use of his opportunities, and his twelve dressers were not slow to appreciate their good fortune; to them he was always known as ‘The Chief’, whilst Syme was spoken of as ‘The Master’. News reached Edinburgh in October, 1854, that Richard James Mackenzie, Surgeon to the Infirmary, and Lecturer on Surgery at the Edinburgh Extra-mural School, had died of cholera at Balbec on September 28th, whilst serving as temporary surgeon to the 79th Highlanders in the Crimean War. Lister determined to “take advantage of this unrivalled opportunity”, as he called it, hired a lecture-room at 4 High School Yards, was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on April 21st, 1855, took lodgings at 3 Rutland Square, nearly opposite Syme’s consulting-room, and settled in Edinburgh to teach and practise surgery. He paid a hurried visit to Paris in June, 1855, to take a course of operative surgery on the dead body, returned to Rutland Square in July, and in August became engaged to Agnes, Syme’s elder daughter. The engagement led him to resign his membership of the Society of Friends and to become a Scottish Episcopalian, though he retained to the end of his life nearly all his Quaker characteristics. The wedding took place in Syme’s drawing-room at Millbank, in Scottish fashion, on April 23rd, 1856, and the marriage was supremely happy though there were no children. Lady Lister died of acute pneumonia whilst on a holiday at Rapallo on April 12th, 1893. Lister gave his first lecture on the “Principles and Practice of Surgery” at 4 High School Yards on Wednesday, November 7th, 1855. In preparation for it he had carried out a series of researches - mainly on the web of the frog’s foot - to show the early stages of inflammation, the results of which he communicated to the Royal Society on June 18th, 1857. At the end of the session he made an extended tour with his wife, visited France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, making the acquaintance of many Continental surgeons. He returned to Edinburgh in October, 1856, rented a house, No 11 Rutland Street, and was unanimously elected Assistant Surgeon to the Edinburgh Infirmary on October 13th, 1856. He began his second course of lectures on November 15th, and again dealt with the pathology of inflammation, treating also of the coagulation of the blood and the effects of stimuli on the pigment cells of the frog. He dealt, therefore, with the institutes of medicine rather than with surgery: his class, though small, was appreciative. James A Lawrie, Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Glasgow, became an invalid in August, 1859. The Home Secretary, Sir George Cornewall Lewis - on the advice of Allen Thomson, Syme, and Robert Christison - nominated Lister to the post, for which there were seven candidates. The appointment was confirmed on Jan 28th, 1860, and Lister’s departure from Edinburgh was celebrated by a banquet and the presentation of a silver flagon. He inaugurated his appointment as Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Glasgow by delivering a course of lectures to a class of 182 students. He had, however, no charge of beds, and it was not until August 15th, 1861 - nineteen months after his appointment to the Chair of Surgery - that he was elected Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary; nor then without some opposition. As a result of his experiences as Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary at Glasgow Lister described and practised a new method of amputation at the knee, and invented a tourniquet for compressing the aorta during amputation at the hip and for use during ligature of the large arteries for aneurysm, which was then of frequent occurrence. He also devised a method for reducing the loss of blood during amputation by raising the limb for some minutes before a tourniquet was screwed home. He also invented a needle with an eye for passing wire sutures through the tissues. Lister was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1860 and delivered the Croonian Lecture in 1863, taking “Coagulation of the Blood” as the subject. James Miller, the Professor of Systematic Surgery at Edinburgh, died in 1864, and Lister was urged to apply for the Chair on the ground that it was held for life, whilst at Glasgow the Surgeon to the Infirmary could only be elected twice, each time for a period of five years, and he might thus again be left without a hospital appointment. Lister applied, but James Spence was elected. In this year he invented a simple instrument for removing foreign bodies from the external auditory meatus and described his well-known operation for excision of the wrist. The year 1865 is memorable in the life of Lister because Dr Thomas Anderson, the Professor of Chemistry at Glasgow, drew his attention to Pasteur’s work which showed that putrefaction was due to living organisms in the air. In March, 1865, he used liquefied German creosote and then carbolic acid in the treatment of compound fractures, and he thus began the use of antiseptic surgery. The stages through which it passed were: crude acid in a watery solution; a purer acid dissolved in oil; a putty made by mixing common whitening with a 1-4 or 1-6 solution of carbolic acid in linseed oil; and finally a dressing of lint soaked in carbolized oil. The experimental dressings were carried out quietly in his ward at the Glasgow Infirmary until he published his epoch-making papers in the *Lancet* from March to July, 1867, under the title, “On a New Method of Treating Compound Fractures, Abscess, etc., with Observation on the Conditions of Suppuration”. He made his system still more widely known by reading a paper at the Dublin Meeting of the British Medical Association in August, 1867, “On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery”. He directed attention in it to three causes of suppuration: “(1) Simple inflammatory suppuration; (2) Suppuration caused by a chemical or a mechanical stimulus; (3) Suppuration caused by decomposition.” It does not appear as if he had yet thought of ferments or fungi as a cause. In the summer of 1866 Lister applied for the post of Professor of Surgery at University College which had become vacant by the resignation of Sir John Eric Erichsen (q.v.), but John Marshall (q.v.), who had been Assistant Surgeon from 1847, was elected. From 1867-1869 Lister was occupied in experimenting with a variety of wound dressings whilst he continued to work at the Glasgow Infirmary and to give a daily lecture at the University to a crowd of enthusiastic students. Towards the end of this period he had learnt and accepted the germ theory of putrefaction. He tied the carotid artery of a horse with silk which had been soaked in carbolic acid on December 12th, 1867, and obtained union by first intention, and in December, 1868, he first used an absorbable ligature - catgut. Professor Syme - his father-in-law - fell into ill health in 1869 and resigned his chair of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh in July. Lister was appointed in his place on Aug 18th, his pleasure being marred by the death of his father on October 24th. Lister returned to Edinburgh directly after the funeral and took a furnished house at 17 Abercromby Square, moving afterwards to 9 Charlotte Square, then a fashionable and medical centre. Here he soon became known as the leading surgeon in Scotland and acquired a larger practice than at any other time of his life. From 1873-1881 he was deeply interested in the effects of yeasts and micro-organisms on suppuration, and made a succession of changes in the dressings of wounds. He began to use the carbolic spray in 1871 and did not abandon it until 1887, although Sir John Burdon Sanderson had shown as early as 1873 that bacteria are not carried by the air and are killed by a dry heat of 100° C. In 1870 he employed many layers of carbolized gauze and a layer of ‘hat-lining’. In 1876 he used boric lint, on the suggestion of Louis Pasteur, as a dressing for wounds. In 1884 he used corrosive sublimate ‘blue’ wool and gauze and sal alembroth - a double salt of bichloride of mercury and chloride of ammonium. In 1889 he adopted a gauze charged with a double cyanide of mercury and zinc. He first used a rubber drainage tube in 1871, seemingly on his own initiative, though it had been employed by Chassaignac as early as 1859; his patient was Queen Victoria, upon whom he operated at Balmoral for an abscess in the axilla. He had been appointed Surgeon to the Queen in Scotland in 1870. Sir William Fergusson (q.v.) died on February 10th, 1877, and as early as Feb 18th Lister had been approached as to his willingness to become Professor of Clinical Surgery at King’s College Hospital in London, to fill the vacancy thus created. John Wood was next in order of succession. He was appointed, and on June 18th, 1877, Lister was elected to an additional chair of Clinical Surgery and was given beds in the hospital. He resigned his offices in Edinburgh and came to London purely in a missionary spirit to advance the cause he had so deeply at heart, and took a house at 12 Park Crescent, Regent’s Park. He brought with him Sir W Watson Cheyne, who had been his House Surgeon; John Stewart, who afterwards practised at Halifax, Nova Scotia; W H Dobie, who lived afterwards at Chester; and James Altham, who spent his life at Penrith. In 1892 he resigned his office of Professor of Clinical Surgery at King’s College on reaching the age of 65, but was invited to continue as Surgeon to King’s College Hospital for an additional year. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England Lister was a Member of the Council from 1880-1888, serving as Vice-President in 1886, but declining to be nominated for the office of President. He delivered the Bradshaw Lecture in 1887 “On the Present Position of Antiseptic Treatment in Surgery”. In 1897 he was given the Honorary Gold Medal, which is the highest distinction the College can bestow on its Members and Fellows. At the Royal Society he was elected a Fellow in 1860; served on the Council from 1881-1883; was foreign secretary from 1893-1895, succeeding Sir Archibald Geikie; and President in succession to Lord Kelvin from 1895-1900. He delivered the Croonian Lecture in 1863, was awarded a Royal Medal in 1880, and the Copley Medal in 1900. He became Surgeon in Ordinary to the Queen in October, 1878, following John Hilton (q.v.), and Serjeant Surgeon in 1900 in place of Sir James Paget (q.v.). He was created a baronet in 1883, and received the patent of a baron as Lord Lister of Lyme Regis at Queen Victoria’s second Jubilee in 1897. On the coronation of King Edward VII he was chosen one of the twelve members of the newly established Order of Merit and was gazetted a Privy Councillor. A British Institute of Preventive Medicine was established in London in 1891 on the lines of the Institut Pasteur in Paris and was called the Jenner Institute when it was opened in 1897, the name being changed in 1903 to “The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine”. Lister was appointed the first Chairman of the governing body, and became President of the Institute when the present building was completed in 1910. The touching meeting between Lister and Pasteur at the Sorbonne took place on Dec 27th, 1892, and in January, 1896, Lister attended Pasteur’s reburial in the chapel at the foot of the Institut Pasteur. In 1896 Lister gave an address as President of the Liverpool Meeting of the British Association; in the autumn of 1897 he visited Toronto in the same capacity; and in 1902 he made a voyage to South Africa. Most of the time from 1903-1907 was spent in London, where his household was superintended by his sister-in-law, Miss Syme; but he often paid visits to Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire, where he had bought a house in 1870 jointly with his brother Arthur and his brother-in-law, Smith Harrison. Sight and hearing began to fail in 1909, and with gradually failing powers he died quietly of pneumonia on the morning of Feb 10th, 1912, at Park House, Walmer, Kent, without issue and the peerage ended. A stately Memorial Service was held in Westminster Abbey on Feb 16th and his body was buried by the side of his wife at the West Hampstead Cemetery, London. Lister was 5 feet 10 inches in height, well formed and well proportioned; the head round, the forehead broad, full, and in later life rather wrinkled; the eyes blue and soft, the nose small but well formed; the lips full, especially the upper lip, the left half of which had a slight tilt; the mouth expressive of rare delicacy of feeling; the lower jaw strong; the complexion fresh and healthy; the lips and chin carefully shaven, the cheeks with ‘mutton-chop’ whiskers, as was the usual fashion of his generation; a fine head of hair - brown in youth - worn rather long and ending in light curls at the back. He spoke softly, frequently with a slight stammer; he sighed often and had a pleasant gentle smile, though he laughed but rarely. Equable in temper, he never spoke unadvisedly with his lips, even under great provocation, and seemed rather to pity than to be vexed with his opponents. He was courteous to all, but sheltered himself behind a natural reserve which many attributed to shyness. A lover of home life and very simple in his tastes, he maintained to the last evidence of his Quaker upbringing by using ‘thou’ and ‘thee’ when writing familiarly to members of his family. He was deeply religious, but without ostentation, attaching himself to no sect, but living a Christian life. No lover of money, he proportioned his fees to what he thought a patient could afford rather than what it was right or customary to charge, and he never, therefore, acquired wealth. He had square thick hands with rather short fingers, the skin being cracked and roughened by the constant use of carbolic solutions. He used his hands to good effect, but he was a slow operator, and in the face of any temporary difficulty during an operation he sweated profusely. The *British Medical Journal* (1927, ii, 110) gives an account of the various portraits of Lister, with a full-page coloured plate of the portrait by J H Lorimer, RSA, dated 1895. A portrait by W W Ouless, RA, 1897, hangs on the staircase at the Royal College of Surgeons, and near it is a bust by Sir Thomas Brock, RA, who also executed the medallion in Westminster Abbey. A colossal bust by the same sculptor stands near the top of Portland Place in the centre of the roadway; it was executed in 1922. The Lister Memorial Fund was raised by public subscription with the object of showing a lasting mark of respect to the memory of Lord Lister and in grateful appreciation of his eminent services to the science of surgery and the signal benefit thereby conferred on mankind. It consists of a general fund out of which a lecturer is paid once in three years, and a Bronze Medal which is awarded, irrespective of nationality, in recognition of distinguished contributions to surgical science. The Museum of the College also possesses a Lister Memorial Cabinet filled with various objects belonging to Lord Lister and collected by the assiduity of the late Sir Rickman J Godlee, Bart, KCVO (q.v.). Many honours fell to Lister in addition to those already mentioned: FRCS Edin in 1855 and Hon in 1905; FFPS Glasgow, 1860 and Hon 1898; FRS and LLD, Edin, 1878; Hon MD Dublin, 1879; LLD Glasgow, 1879; DCL Oxon, 1880; LLD Cantab, 1880; DSc Vict, 1898; Hon MD, Würzburg, Bologna, Budapest, Geneva; Kt Grand Cross Ord Dannebrog; Kt Prussian Ord ‘pour le mérite’, 1885; Fellow of University College, London; Cothenius Med Germ Soc of Naturalists, 1877; Royal Medalist of the Royal Society, London, 1880; Copley Med, 1902; Laureate French Acad Sci and Bondet Prizeman, 1881; Mem Assoc de l’Institut de France; Mem Assoc de l’Académie de Méd, Paris; Hon Mem Amer Acad Arts and Sci, Med Socs Munich, Leipzig, Vienna, Budapest, Dresden, Amsterdam, Petersburg, and Finland, and Obstet Soc Leipzig; Corr Member Soc de Chirurg, Paris, etc; Emeritus Professor Clin Surg King’s College; Consulting Surgeon King’s College Hospital; a freeman of the City of London, June 20th, 1907, and of Edinburgh, January 22nd, 1908. ANTISEPSIS ENSURING ASEPTIC SURGERY Lister revolutionized the art of surgery and started an indefinite extension by inventing the first method through which a surgeon was able with certainty to prevent inflammation from disturbing the natural healing of a wound when made by the surgeon, as well as to restrict or even to prevent inflammation in an accidental wound. He achieved asepsis by using chemical antiseptics; subsequently an improved asepsis resulted from methods of sterilization by heat under pressure. The use of antiseptics is as old as surgery itself. As employed by Hippocrates, ασηπτος referred to that which does not putrefy, the unputrefiable; αποσηπεσθαι had reference to the prevention of putrefaction in honey by cooking it; δνσσηπτος, putrefying with difficulty, was applied by Galen to linen and hemp for ligatures as opposed to catgut. The balsams, benzoin surviving longest; the caustics, including boiling oil; later the vegetable and mineral acids; and throughout the various forms of alcohol - all were used with the object of neutralizing the ill consequences of decomposition. Many experiments during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had for their object the estimation of the relative antiseptic properties of various substances. In contrast with much popular opinion Ancient Medicine obstinately opposed the theory of contagion. The idea of contagion was discountenanced by medical authority, and philosophy firmly held that all infection, including that of wounds, was air-borne. Aristotle in one passage had named plague, phthisis, itch, and ophthalmia as diseases transmitted by contagion; but in another he had upheld spontaneous generation, the parasites of man generated ‘nits’ and the ‘nits’ generated nothing. The Hebrews, perhaps learning from Egypt, certainly believed in the contagion of leprosy and of venereal disease, and through flies. But there is no trace of such ideas in Hippocrates and his followers. The body parasites and flies were held to generate spontaneously until Redi in 1658 carried out before the Academy of Experience in Florence his experiment of preventing the development of maggots in meat if flies were kept away by fine wire netting. Avenzoar described how the itch mites burrow under the skin, and this was demonstrated by experiment by Galés in Paris in 1812 and again by Renucci in 1834. But the old humoral pathology held sway, and in 1842 Hebra still maintained that there was a special itch dyscrasia which resulted in the spontaneous generation of the itch insect. After a further series of experiments in France, Hebra in 1844 changed his opinion and accepted the itch insect as the cause of scabies. Improvements in the microscope, to which Lister’s father contributed importantly, permitted the discovery of micro-organisms. The large *Bacillus anthracis* was seen in the splenic blood of infected cattle in 1855 by Pollender, it was proved by Davaine in 1863 to be characteristic of the disease, and later was stained by Koch, so as to be seen in tissues. Fermentation attracted attention from earliest times in connection with the fermentation of wine, the leavening of bread, and the digestive processes in the stomach and intestines. Further, with the rise of chemistry came in a number of simple chemical reactions. By loose analogy these fermentations and reactions were transferred to the causation of disease and of inflammation in wounds. Liebig with other chemists adhered to old vague notions; putrefaction was attributed to an inherent tendency to decay, favoured by a supply of oxygen; any organisms appeared late and only modified the course of fermentation. The yeast organisms had been seen by Leeuwenhoek in 1680, and various observations followed until in 1844 Pasteur began to inquire into the correct fermenting of wine, and as to the production of tartar. Whilst he was continuing his observations the chief authorities in Paris were united in rejecting organisms as the cause of fermentation. In 1850 Claude Bernard at the Collège de France declared that the process of fermentation was an obscure one; in 1853 Dumas employed the same expression, ‘obscure’; Berzelius held it to be a catalytic process. It was in August, 1857, that Pasteur read to the Lille Scientific Society a paper on lactic acid fermentation by organisms, and in December, 1857, a paper to the Académie des Sciences on alcoholic fermentation and its relation to yeast globules. As to anticipations of Lister, a most remarkable and curious account published in the *Lancet* (1912, i, 885) relates to the opinion of Randall, a London surgeon, as described by Mr Justice Street in charging the Jury at the Guildhall on May 4th, 1687. The judge said, “The plaintiff did naught save wash and tend the wound, for he saith that the pus which all others admire and desire as showing that Nature hath armed herself for the fight is not to be desired but that it is itself an impurity which should be avoided. He hath even in his mind some crotchet that pus is engendered by some small animal or plant, some bug or gnat, or beetle or fungus belike, though he saith openly that he cannot prove the existence of such creatures. This, however, he contendeth is because his glasses do not magnify sufficiently to see them. And he meaneth not the glasses or spectacles for weak or aged eyes, but the microscope which hath a rare and admirable faculty of making small things appear large. He saith forsooth that the true treatment is to keep all extraneous matter from the wound and even the air which he imagineth to be full of his bugs, gnats and beetles.” The surgeon was non-suited. In 1860 Lister was appointed Regius Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow and Surgeon to the Glasgow Infirmary which had been built over the town pits filled with corpses during former epidemics. Naturally he taught that suppuration in wounds was due to decomposition brought about in some way by the air; the only alternative then held by many was that some change in the blood happened. He based his belief on experiences gained in the practice of subcutaneous surgery so-called, in the difference between the healing of a fracture uncomplicated by a wound and that of a compound fracture, between the healing after fracture of ribs with surgical emphysema following a crush, and that after a penetrating wound of the thorax. At Glasgow in the years 1864-1866 Lister had a mortality after amputation of 45 per cent. In 1865, of 15 excisions of the wrist, 6 were attacked by hospital gangrene, and 1 by pyæmia. Within one week 5 men, following amputation, died of pyæmia; in six months (1865-1866) there were 13 deaths from pyæmia. Lister, busily engaged on surgery, had not read widely; he had made no previous acquaintance with Pasteur’s researches until his attention in 1865 was drawn to them by his colleague, Thomas Anderson, Professor of Chemistry. He then learnt that putrefaction and fermentation were set up by the vitality of minute organisms suspended in the air, and that Pasteur had disproved the influence of oxygen and other gaseous constituents of the atmosphere. Neither had he heard of Semmelweiss, who had limited his statements to a cadaveric virus, and to a miasma given off from the bodies of lying-in women and their infants; he had made no point of a microbic infection. His ideas were opposed by German obstetric physicians and by Virchow. When poor Semmelweiss pricked his finger whilst operating on a new-born infant, the septic delirium which followed caused him to be sent into a lunatic asylum, where he died three weeks later of pyæmia. For a time his opinions were treated as those of a madman. Neither had Lister learnt beforehand of Lemaire’s use of carbolic acid. Between 1860 and 1865 Lemaire, without a hospital appointment, and with no opportunities of applying it as a preventive in surgical operations, had used saponized coal tar, i.e., coal tar dissolved in a tincture of *Quillaia saponaria* (soapwort), in various ways as an antiseptic, for the reduction of inflammation and suppuration already established. All his observations were the reverse of methodical; the use had already been discarded before Lister took it up. Lister’s statement as to the adoption of carbolic acid was that in the course of the year 1864 he had been much struck with an account of the remarkable effects produced by carbolic acid upon the sewage of the town of Carlisle. He obtained the carbolic acid he first used from Professor Thomas Anderson. The material was dark and tarry from impurities, largely insoluble in water, and corresponded with what the Germans named creosote. He first made use of it in March, 1865. When first used for swabbing out a wound it proved unsatisfactory; next the carbolic acid was made to saturate lint, and some cauterization followed. Next carbonate of lead, glazier’s putty, was employed as an excipient applied between two sheets of calico. His epoch-making paper “On a New Method of Treating Compound Fracture, Abscess, etc., with Observations on the Conditions of Suppuration” appeared in the *Lancet* from March to July, 1867. Note the use of the term ‘conditions’, and not of ‘causes’. Improvements in method were continuous; in 1867 Calvert, of Manchester, supplied pure crystalline phenol, and wounds were washed out with a 5 per cent solution of the pure phenol; silk ligatures, after being steeped in it, had their ends cut short and generally remained buried; the carbolic acid was mixed with melted shellac, 1-4, and spread on calico; over this was painted indiarubber dissolved in benzine; on evaporating it left a layer of indiarubber which prevented sticking. Immediately over the sutured wound a sheet of oil silk covered with gum copal was laid after it had been dipped in the carbolic acid solution to free it from organisms, and by this means irritation was prevented. The above formed the essential antiseptic dressing in use when Lister left Glasgow for Edinburgh in the autumn of 1869. In an infirmary hitherto notorious for erysipelas, pyæmia, hospital gangrene, and tetanus, Lister had almost abolished such occurrences, whilst he had commenced to undertake surgical operations hitherto considered unjustifiable. The principle of Lister’s dressing was, by means of an antiseptic, to keep out the causes of putrefaction from entering wounds from the air, at the same time to exclude the antiseptic from the wound. There were two persistent misconceptions of Lister’s dressing: one that the dressing was intended to close up an operation wound; the ‘occlusion band’ idea was a cause of much misconception abroad. Lister’s dressing gave vent to any discharge, and when Sir James Paget painted collodion over a closed incision and then applied Lister’s dressing over it he courted the failure which ensued. The other misconception was that Lister’s method comprised the free application of carbolic acid to an operation wound, hence the number of carbolic acid poisoning cases which occurred under Billroth and Kocher. Lister’s method was properly understood and followed with success by Bickersteth, of Liverpool, and others in this country, by Nussbaum, of Munich, and by R von Volkmann at Halle. Simpson, of Edinburgh, published cavilling articles against him. He made inapplicable references to Lemaire, germs were declared to be mythic fungi; he continued to advocate surgery in private houses in preference to hospitals, but this was countered by Prescott Hewitt’s note of twenty-three cases of pyæmia after operation in his private practice. Another cause of Simpson’s opposition was that Lister had not adopted his acupressure to which he had absurdly attributed a diminution of pyæmia at Aberdeen under Pirie. On the other hand, Lister adopted Simpson’s chloroform as an anaesthetic to the exclusion of ether. In 1868 Lister entered upon a very complicated subject - the use of catgut instead of the carbolized silk. He used catgut steeped in carbolic acid dissolved in olive oil, which proved satisfactory in experiments on animals. In June, 1876, he began to prepare the catgut with chromic acid, later he added sulphurous acid, which gave the catgut a green tint such as he described in 1908. Of the innumerable alternative methods of sterilizing catgut, none proved free from occasional septic contamination by streptococcal germs and by those of tetanus. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 Lister published *A Method of Antiseptic Treatment applicable to Wounded in the War*, which received no attention from either French or German surgeons. The immediate amputations practised by Wiseman and other English naval surgeons, and so extensively by Larrey, had been forgotten. William MacCormac (q.v.), the chief English surgeon, did not save a single case of amputation in French hospitals during the Franco-German War in 1870. Alphonse Guérin between September, 1870, and February, 1871, saved only one case of amputation. At the Hôpital Saint-Louis from March to June, 1871, he adopted Lister’s methods in a half-hearted sort of way, and out of 34 secondary amputations 19 survived. Lister’s paper in 1870, “On the Effects of the Antiseptic System of Treatment upon the Salubrity of a Surgical Hospital”, marks the starting-point of a revolution in hospital construction, maintenance, and sanitation, which had often to be forced upon unwilling authorities. It is no wonder, considering the general state of hospital wards and the continual infection of wounds by erysipelas, pyæmia, and gangrene, that Lister should have introduced first the hand spray and then the steam spray. Already by 1881, when research by Tyndall and others had tended to exclude the air as a cause, and in view of Pasteur’s and Koch’s researches on micro-organisms, Lister had begun to contemplate the possibility of dispensing with the spray; he finally abandoned its use in 1887, and made an apology for its previous adoption at Berlin in 1890. Lister’s way of urging the practice of antiseptic surgery may be gathered from his introductory lecture at Edinburgh on November 8th, 1869: “On the Causation of Putrefaction and Fermentation”. Note the use of ‘causation’ as compared with the use of ‘conditions’ previously. He commended the germ theory to the Edinburgh students. “You are as competent as you ever will be to draw logical inferences from established data.” In the course of a demonstration to members of the British Medical Association Lister remarked, “In order, gentlemen, that you may get satisfactory results from this sort of treatment, you must be able to see with your mental eye the septic ferments as distinctly as we see flies and other insects with the corporeal eye. If you can, you can be properly on your guard against them; if you do not see them, you will certainly be liable to relax in your precautions.” It is quite certain that disbelief among surgeons was largely occasioned because they had never themselves seen the objects under discussion. There is the tale of a senior at the meeting of the London Pathological Society asking what germs had to do with frogs; he had heard the term ‘bacteria’ used and he confused it with ‘batrachia’. Two opponents may be mentioned: Spence, a colleague of Lister in Edinburgh, painted the skin of the margins of incisions with tincture of iodine. But there was really no comparison between the limited surgery practised by Spence and Lister’s extended field of operations. Savory at the Cork Meeting of the British Medical Association put forward 619 surgical operations carried out in the old way at St Bartholomew’s Hospital - a hospital where general cleanliness and sanitation were the best at that day. The operations had been followed by 45 deaths, a mortality of 7.2 per cent. But all the operations belonged to the limited class practised before Lister’s changes. Also the list included minor operations, 74 circumcisions, 25 tenotomies, 36 cases of fistula in ano, without deaths. Of 29 removals of the breast, with no deaths, the axilla was not opened in any one case; among 73 major operations there were 11 deaths and 13 excisions of joints with 4 deaths; Savory himself preferred amputation to excision. There were 9 deaths from pyæmia, 28 operation cases were attacked by erysipelas, and 4 died. The exclusion of the minor operations would render Savory’s statistics still more unfavourable. Some use was made of Lister’s antiseptic method by Bergmann (q.v.) in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. Among 81 severe gunshot injuries treated in this way the deaths numbered 15 (18.6 per cent), while among 143 similar severe gunshot injuries treated by older methods the deaths were 71 (49.6 per cent). Whereas immediate amputation had hitherto been the best treatment for a gunshot wound of the knee-joint, Bergmann saved cases without amputation. In London, except by Howse at Guy’s Hospital, and by Marcus Beck at University College Hospital, Lister’s methods were but little understood or practised until after his removal to London as Professor of Clinical Surgery at King’s College Hospital in succession to Fergusson. MacCormac’s Address at St Thomas’s Hospital on December 5th, 1879, and the debate which followed, exhibited the limited knowledge and the confusion in the minds of London surgeons opposing Lister. MacCormac mentioned as alternative antiseptics to carbolic acid, thymol, salicylic acid, boracic acid, acetate of alumina, and chloride of zinc. He did not refer to perchloride of mercury, with which in a 0.5 per cent solution Bergmann treated wool used for dressing in 1877. Lister’s methods reached their acme at the London International Congress in 1881; Watson Cheyne gave a full account of them in his *Antiseptic Surgery*, 1882. The further developments which replaced Lister’s procedure may be dated from Koch’s *Untersuchungen ueber die Aetiologie der Wundinfectionskrankheiten*, Leipzig, 1878, and his demonstrations at the London International Congress, including the staining of micro-organisms, and their cultivation on solid media, in test-tubes and on plates, in addition to fluid cultures in flasks. In 1881 Koch described perchloride of mercury as having a much more powerful influence in killing spores of anthrax than carbolic acid. That sublimate combined with albumin and so became much less active failed to prevent it from replacing carbolic acid, and its free application to fresh wounds resulted in numerous cases of mercury poisoning. The enhanced reputation of mercury salts led Lister to further research on the medication of dressings in order to avoid the irritation and pustulation produced by the perchloride. He tried the combination of mercury and ammonium chloride, sal alembroth, which proved too freely soluble after further research he adopted a double cyanide of mercury and zinc in 1889. Mercuric iodide was also introduced as a less poisonous solution than mercury chloride. Then came the further researches by Pasteur, by Koch, and especially by pupils and followers of Koch who hunted out to their sources the causes infecting wounds; they distinguished in particular staphylococci and streptococci, and described methods of sterilizing by steam under pressure. Pasteur attended a debate on puerperal fever in Paris, and declaring that none of the causes ascribed was the true one, went to the blackboard and drew micrococci in a chain as the real cause (*see* R F Godlee). Following up others, Fehleisen in 1883 demonstrated that erysipelas and allied infections were caused by streptococci. Alexander Ogston, whilst studying in Germany, showed that pus from acute suppuration in the hip-joint contained a pure cultivation of *Staphylococcus aureus*, and this organism proved to be the usual cause of suppuration and abscess, whilst the *Staphylococcus albus* was relatively inert. By 1878 Pasteur had come to recommend the flaming of instruments, and the sterilization of materials for dressings, etc., by heat at 100°-120°C under pressure. Neuber at Kiel, in private practice as a surgeon without hospital appointment, set himself to attain sterility of everything coming in contact with a wound, by boiling in the soft Kiel water instruments, dressings, clothing of patients, and overalls of surgeons and attendants. He washed out wounds with boiled normal salt solution. By 1885 he had set up a small private hospital having general sterility as its object. To hard water bicarbonate of soda was added. In 1886, Schlange having shown that dressing materials of commerce were nearly always contaminated by germs, Bergmann with his assistants, in particular Schimmelbusch, instituted the sterilizing procedures which were demonstrated at the Berlin International Congress in 1890. They used the bacillus of blue pus as a naked-eye indicator. Lister, whilst being shown round by Bergmann, noticed some beads of pus under the dressings, probably indicating imperfection in the sterilizing of the patient’s skin. The account by Schimmelbusch in his *Antiseptische Wundbehandlung*, 1893, and Rake’s English translation from the second German edition in 1894, popularized a procedure which replaced Lister’s methods up to the war of 1914. Further research was made by a number of observers upon infection through the patient’s skin, the hands of the surgeons, his assistants and nurses, through the mouth and hair, and into the sterilization of catgut already mentioned. Cleansing of the skin by soap and water without scrubbing was shown to free it almost from infection, particularly in the delicate skin of children and the face and neck of adults; whereas more active scrubbing and treatment by carbolic acid or perchloride of mercury defeated the end in view by setting up dermatitis. A 2 per cent solution of iodine in rectified spirit painted once or at most twice upon clean skin came into general use. The hands and nails of the surgeon, his assistants and nurses were proved to require personal manicure. Sir Thomas Watson had suggested in a lecture the use of thin impervious leather gloves - to be destroyed at the end of the case - when attending a patient with puerperal fever. Mikulicz and others used cotton gloves, sterilized in boiling water, but being permeable they required to be often changed in the course of an operation. Halsted in the United States obtained the manufacture in 1891 of the rubber gloves which came into general use. The great harm to the individual caused by oral sepsis was exposed in particular by William Hunter, Physician to Charing Cross Hospital. An enormous development occurred in the better care of the mouth demanded of surgeons and nurses; whilst provisionally the wearing of masks was a protection to patients, yet persistence of oral sepsis rebreathed by the masked surgeon was an added danger to him. Also the sterilization of anaesthetic masks was shown to be needed, and above all things, the necessity of putting the patient’s mouth in good order before undertaking operations. Hair kept clean was proved not to be a source of infection. [Such is a summary of Listerism to the outbreak of the European War in 1914.] PUBLICATIONS:- Lister’s collected papers were published in two quarto volumes at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in June, 1909, having been prepared by a Committee to celebrate his eightieth birthday on April 5th, 1907. There are two impressions, nearly the whole of the first impression having been destroyed by a fire at the printers.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000500
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Walker, William Martin (1919 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2009-05-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372793372793
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details William Martin Walker was a consultant ophthalmologist in Birmingham. He was born on 31 October 1919. He qualified from St Andrews University in 1943, completed his house jobs in Dundee and then served as a captain in the RAMC in Italy from 1945 to 1947. Before he was demobilised he gained his first experience in ophthalmology, being doctor in charge of the ophthalmic department of 92 British General Hospital. After the war, he completed his ophthalmic training in Dundee and Birmingham. In 1950 he was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital and to Queen Elizabeth General and Children’s Hospital, Birmingham. He developed the first specialist glaucoma service in the West Midlands and also developed a specialised service for paediatric ophthalmology at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He was recognised as an enthusiastic teacher. Outside medicine, he was a keen golfer, played bridge and tended his rose garden. He married Gladys, who predeceased him in 2001. He died on 16 July 2005 from oesophageal cancer, and leaves four children and five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000610
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Greaves, Desmond Peel (1920 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2009-05-15
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372794372794
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Desmond Peel Greaves was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at University College and Moorfields Eye hospitals in London. He was born on 14 December 1920 in the West Riding of Yorkshire to Bernard Peel, an optician, and Beatrice Peel. He was educated at High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield, and then went on to study medicine at the University of Sheffield, where he was the Edgar Allen scholar. After qualifying, he was a demonstrator in anatomy at Sheffield before completing his National Service in the RAF, with the rank of flight lieutenant. His ophthalmic training was at Moorfields Eye Hospital. From 1950 he was senior registrar and Pigott-Wernheiz research fellow at the Institute of Ophthalmology. He was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to University College Hospital in 1952 and to Moorfields Eye Hospital in 1960. He was vice-dean and lecturer at the Institute of Ophthalmology. He was a recognised teacher in London University and a member of the Court of Examiners of our College. He retired in 1985. He was a council member and honorary secretary of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, a council member of the European Society of Ophthalmology from 1970 and in 1980 president. From his student days he was an accomplished and enthusiastic pianist and a keen sailor, becoming a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club. He married Barbara in 1948. They had two children - Francis, who is a doctor, and Julia, a pharmacist. Desmond Greaves died on 11 March 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000611
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Hulke, John Whitaker (1830 - 1895)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-04 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372401372401
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Nov. 6th, 1830, the fourth son of William Hulke, surgeon, of Deal in Kent, where the family had practised from the time it was driven out of the Low Countries by the persecution of the Duke of Alva two hundred years earlier. Young Hulke was educated in the Moravian College of Neuwied from 1843-1845 and gained in these years his intimate knowledge of German, his somewhat sombre Puritanism, and the groundwork of his acquaintance with natural history, whilst the Eifel district awakened his interest in geology. Returning to England he was sent to King's College School, where he remained from 1847-1848, and in 1849 he entered the medical department of King's College, London. He acted as dresser to Sir William Bowman (q.v.), who inculcated in him a knowledge of scientific ophthalmology which he afterwards put to good use. He assisted his father at Deal as soon as he had qualified, and was in attendance with him when the Duke of Wellington died at Walmer Castle in September, 1852. He drew up an accurate account of the Duke's illness which was published in the papers to prevent the appearance of sensational reports. He then returned to King's College Hospital to become House Surgeon to Sir William Fergusson (q.v.). He went to the Crimea in March, 1855, and was detailed for duty in the English Hospital at Scutari. He left Smyrna for Sebastopol in September and spent the winter of 1855-1856 in the Crimea. He then returned to England and acted for a short time as Tutor at King's College Hospital, where he was elected Assistant Surgeon in 1857 for a term of five years. In 1856 he was one of the first to be appointed to the newly established post of Clinical Assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields, and in the same year he was defeated by J. F. Streatfield at a keenly contested election for the office of Assistant Surgeon to this charity. In 1858 an additional Assistant Surgeoncy was made, Hulke being returned unopposed, as Jonathan Hutchinson (q.v.) retired in his favour. He employed 'perimetry' at the hospital as early as 1859. He was promoted full Surgeon in 1868 and Consulting Surgeon in 1890. He was elected Assistant Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital in 1862 and full Surgeon in 1870, a position he retained until his death. At the Royal College of Surgeons Hulke filled every office open to him, and died during his second year as President. Winning the Jacksonian Prize in 1859 with an essay upon "The Morbid Changes in the Retina as seen in the Eye of the Living Person and after Removal from the Body, together with the Symptoms associated with several Morbid Conditions", he was appointed Arris and Gale Lecturer upon Anatomy and Physiology, 1868-1871; an Examiner on the Board of Anatomy and Physiology 1876-1880; a Member of the Court of Examiners, 1880-1889, and of the Dental Board 1889. He was a Member of the Council from 1881-1895; a Vice-President in 1888 and 1891; Bradshaw Lecturer in 1891; President from 1893-1895, and Hunterian Orator in 1895. The oration dealt with Hunter's knowledge of botany and geology. His Arris and Gale lectures dealt with the "Normal and Morbid Histology of the Eyeball" the first year and with the "Minute Anatomy of the Eye" in the second course. There were twelve lectures in all. Hulke was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867, his claim being based exclusively on researches relating to the anatomy and physiology of the retina in man and the lower animals, particularly reptiles. He served on the Council of the Royal Society in 1879-1880 and again in 1888-1889. Elected a member of the Geological Society in 1868, he was President from 1882-1884, and in 1887 he was awarded the Wollaston Medal, the greatest honour the Society could bestow. He was Foreign Secretary of the Society from 1891 until his death. He was elected an honorary member of King's College in January, 1862, a corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, in 1878, and an honorary member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1884. He was President of the Pathological Society of London from 1883-1885; President of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, 1886-1887; and President of the Clinical Society, 1893-1894. He married on Oct. 1st, 1858, Julia, daughter of Samuel Ridley, but there were no children. He died on Feb. 19th, 1895, of pneumonia. A bust of Walter Merrett is in the Middlesex Hospital. Hulke appears in the Council group by Jamyn Brookers, 1884. There is a pencil sketch by Frank Rutley in the College collection and a photograph in the Council Albumn. Hulke was a general surgeon who established a supreme reputation for skill and patience in the wards of the Middlesex Hospital. There are no brilliant departures associated with his name, but he was essentially painstaking and wise, and quick to see what surgical movements would stand the test of time. He was to some degree a pioneer in cerebral surgery, though his masters must have taught him that it was a very serious matter to meddle with the brain. In operating he was slow, but his cautious procedure was perhaps the result of minute anatomical and surgical knowledge. As a clinical teacher he was lucid, learned, and simple, a little intolerant of ignorance, however, just as in the examination-room he was a severe but undoubtedly telling cross-questioner, yet most anxious to be fair. He was a brilliantly versatile man, a good linguist and scholar, a learned Shakespearean, an excellent artist, a sportsman who shot or fished in the spirit of a naturalist, a splendid botanist, and a geologist of European reputation. His bibliography in the Royal Society's *Catalogue of Scientific Papers* fills more than a column, and he contributed nine papers to the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society. He gained a permanent position in surgical literature as the active editor of the third edition of the *System of Surgery*, 1883 (see HOLMES, TIMOTHY). A natural talent aided by opportunity enabled him to make important additions to palaeontology, more especially in connection with the great extinct land reptiles (Dinosauria) of the secondary period. His investiagations were carried out in the Kimmeridge clay of the Dorset cliffs and upon the Wealden reptiles of the cliffs of Brook and its neighbourhood in the Isle of Wight. In private life Hulke was one of the kindest and best of friends. His austerity completely disappered. His conversation was most interesting, abounding in knowledge of men and things. He was always willing to impart his knowledge to others and in a way which never betrayed any sense of superiority or presumption. He was in many departments of knowledge one of the most accomplished of men, and coupled a rigid integrity of conduct with a high sense of personal honour. As an examiner he was somewhat severe and unyielding if the student failed to show the knowledge he demanded from him; mitigating circumstances proved of little avail. He was in all things painstaking and thorough, and his devotion to duty led to his death while he was still at the helm in the College. He was called to the Middlesex Hospital in the middle of a bitterly cold night early in 1895 in order to operate for strangulated hernia. He went, and did not return till 3.30. Bronchitis followed. He neglected it and continued his work, became worse, and in a fortnight he was dead of pneumonia (Feb. 19th, 1895). As he lay on his deathbed the Hunterian Oration which he had prepared was read for him in his absence by Thomas Bryant on Feb. 14th.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000214
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Heath, Christopher (1835 - 1905)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-04 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372402372402
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born in London on March 13th, 1835, the son of Christopher Heath (1802-1876) and Eliza Barclay. His father was the well-known Irvingite who was instrumental in building the beautiful Catholic Apostolic Church in Gordon Square, where he afterwards acted as angel, or minister, of the congregation. Heath was educated at King's College School, which he entered in May, 1845. He was apprenticed to Nathaniel Davidson, of Charles Street, Manchester Square, and began his medical studies at King's College, London, in October , 1851. Here he gained the Leathes and Warneford Prizes for general proficiency in medical subjects and in divinity, and was admitted an Associate in 1855. From March 11th to Sept. 25th, 1855, he served as hospital dresser on board H.M. Steam Frigate *Impérieuse* in the Baltic Fleet during the Crimean War, and was awarded a medal. He was appointed Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy at King's College, and served as House Surgeon at King's College Hospital to Sir William Fergusson (q.v.) from May to November, 1857. In 1856 he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at Westminster Hospital, where he was made Lecturer on Anatomy and Assistant Surgeon in 1862. Heath was consulting Surgeon to the St. George and St. James's Dispensary in 1858, and in 1860 he was elected Surgeon to the West London Hospital at Hammersmith; in 1870 he was Surgeon to the Hospital for Women, Soho; and later he was Consulting Surgeon to the National Dental Hospital in Great Portland Street. He was elected Assistant Surgeon and Teacher of Operative Surgery at University College Hospital in 1866, where he became full Surgeon in 1871 on the resignation of Sir John Eric Erichsen (q.v.). He was appointed Holme Professor of Clinical Surgery in 1875, resigned his hospital appointments in 1900, and was then made Consulting Surgeon and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery. At the Royal College of Surgeons he gained the Jacksonian Prize in 1867 with his essay upon "The Injuries and Diseases of the Jaws, including those of the Antrum, and with the Treatment by Operation, or otherwise." He was a Member of the Council from 1881-1897; Examiner in Anatomy and Physiology from 1875-1880; a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1883-1892; and an Examiner in Dental Surgery in 1888. He was Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology in 1887, Bradshaw Lecturer in 1892, and Hunterian Orator in 1897. He was a Vice-President in 1895, and was called upon to act as President when John Whitaker Hulke (q.v.) died on Feb. 19th, 1895. Heath was elected President in his place in the following July and served his term of office during the year 1895-1896. In 1897 he visited the United States and delivered the second course of "Lane Medical Lectures" which had been recently founded at the Medical College, San Francisco. He visited Montreal on his way back to England and was given the honorary LL.D degree by the University of Montreal. He was President of the Clinical Society of London and an Associate Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Heath lived for many years at 36 Cavendish Square; the house has now been rebuilt. He married (1) Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Jasper Peck; and (2) Gabrielle Nora, daughter of Captain Joseph Maynard, R.N. He died on Aug. 8th, 1905, leaving a widow, five sons, and one daughter. His fourth son, P. Maynard Heath, F.R.C.S., became Surgeon to the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children. Heath was a brilliant surgeon and a great teacher. His intimate knowledge of anatomy made him a dexterous operator, but his comparative inability to appreciate new truths of bacteriology cut him off from the scientific side of surgery. Early in his career he showed a very special aptitude in the art of surgery, of which his master, Sir William Fergusson, was so excellent an exponent. For thirty-three years Heath was one of the most active members of the Surgical Staff of University College, and his boldness and skill were exhibited in his successful case of simultaneous ligature of the carotid and subclavian arteries for aneurysm in 1865. The patient lived for five years afterwards in spite of her intemperate habits. As a teacher Heath was at once direct and practical, and as an examiner prompt, penetrating, and just. He served the College in various capacities for many years, and in all of these devoted himself with zeal and energy to its interests. He was a born conversationalist with marked antipathies; a hard hitter with a confident belief in his own opinion. In person he was tall and handsome; in mind wonderfully alert, seeing instantaneously any flaw in the argument of his adversary. There is a marble bas-relief by Mr. Hope Pinker in the hall of the Medical School buildings of University College Hospital, and there is a good likeness of him in the portrait group of the College Council, by Jamyn Brookes. PUBLICATIONS:- All Heath's works were published in London. The chief of these are:- *A Manual of Minor Surgery and Bandaging,* 1861; 13th ed., 1906; 16th ed., 1917 (edited by H. MORRISON DAVIES). *Practical Anatomy. A Manual of Dissections,* 1864; 9th ed., 1902 (edited by J. E. Lane); translated into Japanese, Osaka, 1880. This text-book displaced *The Dublin Dissector,* which had been the favourite of many generations of medical students (see HARRISON, ROBERT). *Injuries and Diseases of the Jaws,* 1868; 4th ed., 1894 (edited by H. P. DEAN); translated into French, 1884. *Essay on the Treatment of Intrathoracic Aneurism by the Distal Ligature*, 1871; re-issue, 1898. *A Course of Operative Surgery*, 1877; 2nd ed., 1884; translated into Japanese, Osaka, 1882. *The Student's Guide to Surgical Diagnosis*, 1879; 2nd ed., 1883; Philadelphia, 1882; New York, 1881. *Clinical Lectures on Surgical Subjects*, 1891; 2nd ed., 1895; second series, Philadelphia, 1902. He edited a *Dictionary of Practical Surgery* in 2 vols., 1886.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000215
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Blake, Valentine Walshman (1818 - 1881)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-03-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373081373081
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy’s Hospital. He was a Fellow of the Obstetrical Society and practised at Birmingham, where he was at one time Surgeon to the Industrial School; to the Midland Counties Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary for Diseases of Women and Children; the Saltley Reformatory; and the Midland Counties Idiot Asylum, Knowle District. At the time of his death he was Consulting Surgeon to the Lying-in Charity and Industrial School. He had at one time also been Lecturer on Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children at Sydenham College. He practised latterly at 6 Old Square, Birmingham, and Five Lands, Moseley. He died at Moseley on November 24th, 1881. His photograph is in the Fellows’ Album.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000898
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Braine, James William (1796 - 1870)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373138373138
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised as a Surgeon at 5 Cleveland Row, St James’s, and was at one time Surgeon to the St James’s Infirmary, and later to the Burlington School. He was a Member of the Westminster Medical Society. Between 1858 and 1863 he moved to 44 Hertford Street, Mayfair, which was afterwards the address of his son, Francis Woodhouse Braine, the anaesthetist (qv). He was a well-known practitioner in Mayfair. He removed to Jersey at the close of his life, and died in France at Chambord, near Blois, on May 29th, 1870.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000955
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Braithwaite, Francis (1804 - 1863)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373139373139
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy’s Hospital, of the Physical Society of which he was an honorary member. He was for many years in general practice at Bridge Street, Hereford, where he was for some time Surgeon to the Infirmary and Dispensary (before 1855). He died at Hereford on December 2nd, 1863.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000956
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Bramley, Lawrence (1807 - 1882)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373140373140
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He practised at Ward’s End, Halifax, was Surgeon to the Infirmary and to the 6th West Yorks Militia. He retired to 12 Esplanade, Scarborough, and died there on April 8th, 1882. His photograph is in the Fellows’ Album.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000957
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Baddeley, William Edward ( - 1869)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372913372913
Occupation General surgeon
Details Received his medical education at University College Hospital and practised at Newport, Shropshire, where he died in 1869.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000730
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Bagshaw, [1] Edward Lloyd (1809 - 1885)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04 2016-02-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372914372914
Occupation General surgeon
Details [2] Received his professional training at St George's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon. Practised at 9a Russell Street, Bath, where he was Surgeon to the Penitentiary, and died at his residence, 13 St James's Square, Bath, on Sept 22nd, 1885. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] an 'e' is added - making 'Bagshawe'; [2] Son of Sir W G Bagshawe. Entered St George's Hospital as a perpetual pupil under T Rose in 1827]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000731
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Bailey, Henry Bennett ( - 1906)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372915372915
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's Hospital, where he gained the second Scholarship in 1869, and afterwards at St Bartholomew's Hospital. House Surgeon for five years at the Loughborough General Hospital and Dispensary, which was called later the Infirmary. He then practised at Grantham, Lincolnshire, first at 21 North Street, then at 35 High Street, and lastly at Vine House. He was Surgeon to the Grantham Provident Dispensary, Medical Officer to the Spittlegate District and Workhouse, Public Vaccinator to the Union, and Medical Referee to various Assurance Societies. He retired to Riversdale, Shelley Road, Worthing, spent the last year or two of his life in travelling, and died at Westleigh, Thrale Road, Streatham Park, SW, in 1905 or 1906. He was Medical Officer to the Actors' Association.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000732
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Chavasse, Charles Allen ( - 1863)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-04-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373332373332
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital. At the time of his death he was Medical Officer of the Smethwick District of King's Norton Union. He died at Smethwick, where he had practised, on Friday, October 16th, 1863, in the very exercise of his profession. "He was attending a patient in his surgery, when he suddenly fell, and expired in a few moments."
Resource Identifier RCS: E001149
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Cumming, Alexander (1793 - 1858)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373537373537
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was gazetted a Hospital Assistant to the Forces on March 7th, 1814. He served in the campaign in the United States in 1814; was Assistant Surgeon of the 67th Regiment of Foot on December 23rd, 1824; served in the Burmese War in 1826; was promoted Surgeon (7th Foot) on March 13th, 1885, and Staff Surgeon (1st Class) on October 9th, 1846. He became Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals on August 14th, 1852; Inspector-General on October 27th, 1854, and retired on half pay on January 25th, 1856. He died in London on December 4th, 1858.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001354
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Bennett, Henry (1804 - 1872)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-02-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373013373013
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals. He practised at St John’s Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, and died there on July 31st, 1872.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000830
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bennett, Joseph Blacker (1819 - 1897)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-02-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373014373014
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College and Hospital; he practised at Almondbury, Yorkshire; at Cleckheaton, Leeds; at Blenheim Terrace, Dewsbury; and at 7 Summerseat Place, Bradford, where he died on Jan 17th, 1897. He was a Certifying Factory Surgeon.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000831
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bennett, Samuel Nevitt (1779 - 1844)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-02-04 2018-03-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373015373015
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised at Chester. He died apparently soon after becoming a Fellow. [Date of death confirmed as 27 October 1844. Ancestry.co.uk 23 February 2018.]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000832
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shepherd, Rolf Carter (1926 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2011-05-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373346373346
Occupation General surgeon
Details Rolf Carter Shepherd was a general surgeon with an interest in vascular surgery. He established the peripheral vascular service for Bournemouth, Dorset and Jersey in the early 1960s and for 15 years ran this service single-handed. He was born in Cardiff on 8 June 1926, where his father, Charles Woolley Shepherd, was a general practitioner. Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were also doctors. His mother, Augot Wishman, was Norwegian by birth. He was educated first at Brean House Preparatory School in Weston-super-Mare, and from there won a scholarship to Epsom College, where he excelled, winning a major open scholarship to read botany at Caius College, Cambridge, in 1944. At Caius he transferred to read natural sciences and then proceeded to St Thomas' Hospital Medical School, London, for his clinical studies, graduating MB BChir in 1950. After house jobs at St Thomas' and the Rowley Bristow Hospital, Pyrford, he enlisted as a junior surgical specialist in the RAMC for his National Service. This was spent in Singapore and Malaya. Returning to civilian life, he worked at High Wycombe and Shoreham-by-Sea before passing his FRCS and obtaining a registrar post back at St Thomas'. He was soon spotted by John Kinmonth and was recruited to the surgical professorial unit, where peripheral vascular surgery was in its infancy. He was a lecturer in surgery for three years, before spending a year as a fellow in vascular surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, working with Richard Warren. On his return to St Thomas' he became a senior surgical registrar, during which time he passed the Cambridge MChir, and then was appointed as a resident assistant surgeon. This was a notoriously busy post, the incumbent being resident seven days a week and responsible for all emergency surgical admissions while acting independently as a consultant. In 1962, against strong competition, he was appointed as a consultant surgeon with an interest in peripheral vascular surgery to Bournemouth and East Dorset district, working principally at Poole Hospital. Before his appointment there was no vascular surgery in the area. Rolf quickly established a vascular service, which within a year encompassed Jersey, the whole of Dorset and parts of Wiltshire. As a single-handed vascular surgeon these were years of an enormous workload, with many night calls and long operating lists. In theatre he was tireless and exceedingly popular with the nursing staff, all of whom were keen to scrub for him such was his excellent technique and reputation for good results. In 1968 he established a dedicated varicose vein unit, which treated up to 1,000 patients in some years, many by injection sclerotherapy. For 10 years between 1972 and 1981 he was a College surgical tutor and in 1972 became a clinical teacher in surgery to the University of Southampton. He was an enthusiastic and charismatic teacher and much enjoyed this aspect of his work. He took his part in local hospital administration and also in the wider surgical world through his membership of the Vascular Surgical Society, the Peripheral Vascular Club, the South West Vascular Surgeons' Group and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He was also a keen member of the Grey Turner Surgical Club. In retirement he was able to spend more time pursuing the many interests he had outside of surgery. He was an accomplished pianist, playing in a trio and a quartet, a keen and proficient sailor of small boats, a highly skilled gardener with a special talent for garden design (he achieved a City and Guilds award in this subject) and was also a competent golfer and shot. Above all, he was a devoted family man, happily married to Joy, née Paterson, an artist, for 49 years. They had three sons, Charles (a submariner in the Royal Navy), Christian (a smallholder) and Dominic (an artist). Of relatively small stature but with a very big heart, Rolf Shepherd was a man with a zest for life, an enthusiast for everything he did and a true and much loved friend of so many. He died on 22 July 2010, aged 84, in Poole Hospital after a fall at home.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001163
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watt, Sir James (1914 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-05-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373347373347
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sir James Watt was medical director general of the Royal Navy. During his long and distinguished career he was a delightful, scholarly contributor to the Travelling Surgical Society, with which he first went as a guest on the club's visit to Heidelberg in May 1965 when he was a surgeon commander. He was promoted to surgeon rear admiral and became the first dean of naval medicine and founder of the Institute of Naval Medicine based at Alverstoke, Gosport. By 1972, he had been promoted to surgeon vice admiral and became medical director general (naval), a post he held with distinction until 1977, being knighted in 1975. James Watt was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, on 19 August 1914. His parents were Sarah and Thomas Watt, a teacher and businessman respectively, the latter distantly related to the engineer James Watt. A great grandfather married a descendant of John Knox of Edinburgh and an uncle was a director of Eastman Kodak, USA, and was responsible for the early development of colour photography. James attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Morpeth and was awarded the governor's prize in two successive years for declamation, perhaps an augur for future lecturing. Qualifying in 1938 from Durham University, James was a house surgeon at Ashington Hospital and then a resident medical officer at the Princess Mary Maternity Hospital in Newcastle. He served during the Second World War with the Royal Navy. From January 1941 to September 1942, he was a surgeon lieutenant commander on the cruiser HMS *Emerald* in the Far East until the fall of Singapore. His next posting was on North Atlantic convoys aboard the destroyer HMS *Roxborough*, which had many casualties on which he operated, being held up by an orderly, during one of the worst storms in living memory. After a short respite in February 1944 on HMS *Asbury* at the Royal Navy base in New Jersey, USA, James returned to the Far East aboard the aircraft carrier HMS *Arbiter* from 1944 to 1947, during which time he was mentioned in despatches. Following his demobilisation, in 1947 he returned to the Royal Victoria Hospital as a surgical registrar. Two years later, he then returned to the Royal Navy and served on HM hospital ship *Maine* during the Korean War, and later as a surgical specialist to the Royal Naval Hospital in Hong Kong from 1953 to 1955, the year in which he obtained the FRCS. The next year he became a consultant in surgery to RN Hospital, Plymouth, then Malta (1961) and Haslar (1963), before being appointed the first joint professor of naval surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons of England and RN Hospital Haslar (1965 to 1969). He was made dean of naval medicine and medical officer in charge of the Institute of Naval Medicine from 1969 to 1972, and was then director general (naval) from 1972 to 1977. During his career, he published widely on subjects as diverse as burns, cancer chemotherapy, peptic ulceration and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Showing an early interest in the history of medicine, many articles and lectures followed in this field and involved much painstaking research, his scholarship being evident to many learned societies. These included a biography of James Ramsay (1733-1789), whom he described as a naval surgeon, naval chaplain and morning star of the Anti-Slavery Movement in his guest lecture to the Travelling Surgical Society in 1992 at RNH Haslar. In 1995, in Israel, he lectured on mediaeval pilgrims and Crusaders and their bequests to surgery in a presentation which was both erudite and humorous. He was a member of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, the International Society for Burns Injuries and was a corresponding member of the Surgical Research Society from 1966 to 1977. He supported many other associations and societies, including the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. A fellow of the Medical Society of London, he became a member of the council from 1976 and was president in the year 1980 to 1981. He gave the Lettsomian lectures in 1979 and was elected a trustee. He was responsible for the re-organisation of the library and selling the valuable books to the Wellcome Institute, thereby guaranteeing the future of the Society. In 2009 he was elected an honorary fellow, a rare honour. James Watt was made an honorary freeman of the Worshipful Company of Barbers in 1978. He delivered the prestigious Thomas Vicary lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1974. A fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, he was president (its 91st) during the active rebuilding programme (1982 to 1984), and was made an honorary fellow in 1998 for his many major contributions. His administrative flair and commitment were recognised in several spheres, including the environmental medicine research committee. He was a governor of Epsom College from 2000, becoming its vice president. From 1983 he was vice-president of the Society for Nautical Research and in 1996 he was president of the Smeatonian Society of History at the University of Calgary, where he had been made an honorary member in 1978. His eclectic interests resulted in over 100 publications on surgery, burns and history, especially of nautical medicine. He edited and contributed to four books including *Starving sailors: the influence of nutrition upon naval and maritime history* (London, National Maritime Museum, 1981) and *Talking health: conventional and complementary approaches* (Royal Society of Medicine Services, 1988), wrote five articles in the *Dictionary of National Biography* and three chapters in a two volume book *Meta incognita, a discourse of discovery: Martin Frobisher's Arctic expedititions, 1576-1578* (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), which won the Canadian prize for maritime history in 2000. He served on the editorial board of the *British Journal of Surgery* from 1966 to 1977. Researches on Nelson took him on regular trips to libraries in Paris and culminated in a lecture to the Worshipful Company of Barbers in 2005, on surgery at the Battle of Trafalgar - surely a major undertaking for a man approaching his 90th year, celebrated in due style by the section of history of the Royal Society of Medicine. The published version entitled 'Surgery at Trafalgar' makes fascinating reading in *The Mariner's Mirror* of May 2005 (Vol.91 No.2, pp.266-283). Over the years, James Watt was visiting professor in history to the University of Calgary (1985), visiting fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra (1986), and foundation lecturer to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1990). His historical contributions earned him election as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Throughout his long, full, life James Watt was an active practising Christian, supporting not only local church activities but also the council of reference of the Christian Medical Fellowship. Heavily involved with Christian activities in the Royal Navy, he was a founder member of the Naval Christian Fellowship, which has been extended to navies throughout the world, a lasting blessing to naval personnel and their families. His private devotional life remained paramount in his daily living. He was president of the Royal Naval Lay Readers Society (1974 to 1983), the Institute of Religion and Medicine (1989 to 1991), and ECHO International Health Services (1983 to 2003), which provides financial support to health care institutions and initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa. He was vice-president of the Churches' Council of Healing from 1987 and a trustee of the Marylebone Centre Trust. His writings included *What is wrong with Christian healing?* (Churches' Council for Health & Healing, 1993), and also *The church, medicine and the New Age* (1995). He thought that the United Kingdom perhaps needed a Wesleyan revival. His many friends throughout the world crossed denominations, and he was widely admired by many Jewish thinkers. He remained unmarried. His relaxation came from music and walking, though age took its toll on the latter. He showed a keen interest in tennis and rugby. From his long-time home at Wimbledon, James retired to live on the Stockbridge Road in Winchester. Having found this too hilly for walking with his failing heart, in 2009 he moved to a flat in Otterbourne, also in Hampshire. He became unwell before Christmas 2009 and was admitted to hospital with a minor stroke, from which he made an initial recovery but died some 10 days later on 28 December 2009. He will be remembered fondly not merely for his high achievements, but also as a self-effacing somewhat ascetic scholar who devoted his life to his chosen commitments.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001164
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cundy, Osbert Fishlake (1818 - 1897)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-07 2013-12-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373540373540
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St George's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon and then Demonstrator of Anatomy at the School in Kinnerton Street. He was also at different times House Surgeon to the Lock Hospital and Surgeon to the Pimlico Dispensary and North London Ophthalmic Infirmary. He practised at 36 St James's Street, and about the year 1855 at 25 Chapel Street, Belgrave Square, being then in partnership with T F Chilver (qv), of New Burlington Street. Later he practised at 1 Lancaster Road, Belsize Park, Hampstead, and then at Sussex House, The Hoe, Plymouth. He died on January 27th, 1897 in Nice, France.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001357
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Curling, Henry ( - 1887)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Curry, William (1809 - 1886)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Jarrett, Llewellyn Neville (1946 - 2006)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-08-21 2009-02-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372728372728
Occupation Trauma surgeon
Details Lyn Jarrett was a consultant in accident and emergency surgery at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham. He was born on 18 September 1946 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. His father, Neville Jarrett, was a banker and his mother, Rosamond née Morrison, a housewife. He was educated at the Methodist Boys’ High School and the Prince of Wales School in Freetown, before going to England in 1966 to study medicine at Newcastle. After qualifying, he completed house officer jobs at Sunderland General Hospital and a senior house officer post at Nottingham General Hospital, where he continued to train in surgery. He then moved to the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, and to registrar posts at Derby Royal Infirmary and Leicester General Hospital, before being appointed as a consultant in accident and emergency surgery at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, in 1987. He developed an interest in sports injury during his training in accident and emergency surgery and was medical consultant to Nottingham Forest Football Club for more than 20 years. He was also chief medical officer at the Donington Park Racing Circuit and medical consultant to the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team. He married Resil Nicol-Cole, a solicitor, and had two daughters, Lynne and Nnenna, both of whom followed careers in marketing. Lyn died after a brief illness on 8 December 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000544
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Churchill, Frederick (1843 - 1916)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-05-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373356373356
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of John S M Churchill, JP, of Wimbledon. He received his professional training at the University of Edinburgh and at St Thomas's Hospital, where he was Surgical Registrar. He was at one time Pathological Assistant at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, and was also Resident Medical Officer at the York Road Lying-in Hospital. He was for many years in practice at 4 Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, and was Surgeon to the Victoria Hospital for Children, Chelsea, from 1871-1889. He was also for a time Hon Surgeon to the Young Women's Home, Sloane Street. He died at Cranley Gardens on June 22nd, 1916. His father was the well-known medical publisher. Publications: "Statistics of Limb Amputations, 1862-9." - *St Thomas's Hosp. Rep.*, i, 503. *St Thomas's Hospital Statistical Reports (Medical)*, 1868-70, 8vo, London, 1868-70. Translation of Liebreich "On the Use and Abuse of Atropine." "Report of Private Obstetrical Practice for Thirty-nine Years," 8vo, Dublin, 1872; reprinted from *Dublin Jour. Med. Sci.*, 1872. "The Complications of Hernia." - *St Thomas's Hosp. Rep.*, iii, 159. *Face and Foot Deformities: with illustrations of new appliances for the cure of birthmark, club-foot, etc.*, 8vo, 14 plates, London, 1885; American ed., 1885. *High-pressure Education, being an Exposition of the Evil Effects upon the Rising Generation of Hurry and Worry at School*, 12mo, London, 1885. *Causation and Treatment of Congenital Club foot*, 8vo, London, 1887. "On a New Mode of Arresting Haemorrhage by Temporary Compression." - *Lancet*, 1865, ii, 510, 556, etc. "The Therapeutic Value of the Hypophosphites Combined Soluble Tonic for Children." - *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1880, i, 472. "Mechanical Distortion of the Spine." - *Ibid.*, 1871, i, 638. A memoir of considerable merit based on an instance of curvature of the spine dependent upon an inequality in the length of the lower extremities, and associated with hypertrophy of the right patella.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001173
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Damant, Thomas William (1820 - 1876)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373559373559
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was educated at Guy's Hospital, and practised at Fakenham, in Norfolk, where he was District Medical Officer of the Mitford and Launditch Union and, at the time of his death, of the Walsingham Union; he was also Inspecting Medical Officer of Pensioners and Recruits. He died at Fakenham on February 23rd, 1876.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001376
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Clapp, William (1814 - 1888)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-05-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373358373358
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals. He was at one period Resident Surgeon on the Seamen's Hospital Ship *Dreadnought*, and then practised at Exeter, where he was in 1848 the first Surgeon-Apothecary (House Surgeon) to the Devon and Exeter Hospital. He petitioned soon after his appointment that he might be relieved of much of the book-keeping work to enable him to devote more time to professional work in the wards. He died at his residence, Southernhay Place, Exeter, on May 27th, 1888.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001175
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hendry, William Garden (1914 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372261372261
Occupation General surgeon
Details William Garden Hendry was a consultant surgeon at Highlands General Hospital and Wood Green and Southgate Hospital, London. He was born in Aberdeen on 30 September 1914, the son of two schoolteachers, and was brought up in a strict Presbyterian household. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and in 1936 graduated from Marshall College, Aberdeen. After house posts in Portsmouth, Guildford and Stafford, he joined the RAMC, serving as a regimental medical officer to the Honorable Artillery Company (Royal Horse Artillery). He then became a graded surgical specialist, serving in Baghdad and Basra. After a spell in Tehran, he returned to Basra, returning to the UK in 1944. Following demobilisation, he joined the London County Council hospital service at Highlands Hospital (then known as the Northern Hospital), a busy district general hospital. He subsequently worked there for 34 years, developing a high quality surgical unit. He was a general surgeon, but was particularly interested in gastric surgery. He was a pioneer of vagotomy and pyloroplasty, and of the conservative treatment of the acute diseases of the abdomen. He served as Chairman of the Highlands Hospital medical committee and was a consultant member of the hospital management committee, He was a keen gardener and golfer, winning many trophies. On several occasions he competed in the Open. After he retired, he wrote a book on the science of golf. He married Mary Masters, a nurse, who predeceased him. They had three children and eight grandchildren. He died from cerebral vascular disease on 26 September 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000074
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dudley, Hugh Arnold Freeman (1925 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by R C G Russell
Publication Date 2011-10-06 2013-11-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373640373640
Occupation General surgeon
Details Hugh Arnold Freeman Dudley was professor of surgery at St Mary's Hospital, London, and foundation professor of surgery at Monash University, Melbourne. He was born in Dublin on 1 July 1925, the third child and first son of Walter Lionel Dudley, a schoolmaster, and Ethel Marion Dudley née Smith. He was educated at Heath Grammar School, Halifax, and then went on to study medicine at Edinburgh University, where he won several prizes and topped his year in 1947. After house posts in Edinburgh, he joined the Army and served for two years as a medical officer in the Parachute Regiment. He left the Army with the rank of major. He returned to Edinburgh for his surgical training. Here he was influenced by the distinguished surgeon Sir James Learmouth. Dudley became interested in the body's response to injury, and he undertook a fellowship with Francis Moore at Harvard, the world authority on this area. His research formed the basis of his ChM thesis, for which he was awarded the gold medal and the Chiene medal of Edinburgh University in 1958. From Edinburgh he was appointed as a senior lecturer in the department of surgery at Aberdeen University at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. In 1963 he was invited to become the foundation professor of surgery at the then newly-established Monash University, Melbourne, based at Alfred Hospital. He developed a strong research base in his department, and encouraged young trainee surgeons who were studying for higher degrees. He was active within the Surgical Research Society of Australasia and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Along with other civilian surgeons, physicians and anaesthetists from Australia, Dudley served in the Vietnam War. He was decorated by the South Vietnam government for removing a live shell detonator cap from the abdomen of a wounded civilian. In 1973 Dudley returned to the UK, as professor of surgery at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. Here he introduced evidence based medicine to the surgical unit, together with strict record keeping. He expected high standards from his trainees, and they were worked very hard, but most felt they learnt a lot from the experience. Dudley wrote extensively throughout his career, including editing and contributing to the classic textbook *Operative surgery* (London, Butterworths). He was president of the Surgical Research Society in the UK. He was particularly proud to become chairman of the *British Journal of Surgery*, and transformed the *Journal* from a traditional and rather staid contribution to the surgical literature, by changing the publisher and the then owner of *Journal* from John Wright of Bristol to the publisher, Butterworth. In this negotiation he proved that the *Journal* belonged to the surgeons and established a company, The British Journal of Surgery, which became the owner of the *Journal*, with all rights to the *Journal* from its establishment. This enabled the editors to negotiate the content and the size of the *Journal* with freedom, dependent only on making a profit, which was used for the benefit of surgery. Thanks to Hugh's focus on excellence the editors improved the presentation, content and profitability of the *Journal*. It was this dedication to excellence which tarnished Hugh's image with his colleagues, house staff and students. He transformed the standard of clinical practice wherever he worked by setting an example of commitment to the patient, which involved seeing the sick patient several times in the day, and ensuring that all instructions on management were meticulously followed. His management of fluid balance was exemplary, ensuring that the patient had the best possible chance of recovery. His reputation of irritability was unjust; it was his passion for excellence in patient care, research and writing that gave him a reputation of directness, but his motive of achieving excellence could never be doubted. Socially, he was a pleasure, particularly as host of a dinner, usually within the role of chairman of the *British Journal of Surgery*, displaying a breadth of knowledge of great erudition. Within this part of his character was a dedication and loyalty to his trainees quite beyond that of his colleagues. He was a man whose influence in British surgery was considerable. In 1988 he retired from St Mary's. He continued to write and carried out consultative work for the Ministry of Defence. He moved to Aberdeenshire in Scotland, in the hope of enjoying an outdoor life, but his later years were marred by illness. He died on 28 June 2011 aged 85. He was survived by his wife, Jean, a former nurse, a son (Nigel) and a daughter (Iona), eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A son (Raymond) predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001457
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching England, Henry Richard (1917 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-10-06 2013-12-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373641373641
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Henry Richard England gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1954. He was originally from Auckland, New Zealand, and was born on 30 June 1917. He died in London, aged 94, on 18 August 2011. He was survived by his wife, Joy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001458
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fraser, Ian Urquhart (1926 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Margaret Bird
Publication Date 2011-10-06 2012-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373642373642
Occupation Anatomist
Details Ian Urquhart Fraser was an anatomy lecturer in London. He was born in Bangkok in 1926. During the Second World War he served in the Army and, in 1945, was based in Germany. Following his demobilisation, he returned to Britain to begin his studies as a medical student at King's College, London. Following the completion of his medical training, Ian obtained his MRCS and LRCP in 1954, and then worked at the American Hospital in Paris between 1956 and 1957. Back in the UK, he took up posts at Basildon and North End Hospital, Hampstead. By 1968 he was working at St Bartholomew's Hospital in West Smithfield and discovered a talent for teaching anatomy to medical students. He devoted the rest of his career to teaching medical students, initially at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and then at Bart's and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine following the merger of the basic medical sciences departments at Bart's and the Royal London with Queen Mary and Westfield College in 1990. During this period he often carried out locum work as a GP both in the Barbican and in Chalk Farm. He continued to teach well into his seventies and was considered to be one of the finest teachers of anatomy in the school of medicine. Ian had a wonderful sense of humour and a seemingly endless supply of witty comments and stories. He inspired his students with his command of anatomy coupled with memorable anecdotes, which aided the learning of a detailed and essential subject, thus vastly improving the recall of important anatomical facts. He was a valued colleague and friend who had the capacity to entertain and enliven even the dullest and most tedious meeting. He was immensely well-read and educated, and an enormous loss to the department when he retired. Ian was an intensely private person who, sadly, did not have any immediate family. In 2011 he was taken ill with heart and kidney problems. He was admitted into the Royal London Hospital and then to the cardiology ward at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he subsequently developed pneumonia. He died in hospital on 1 September 2011 at the age of 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001459
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hale, John Edward (1936 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Robin Lightwood
Publication Date 2011-10-06 2015-09-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373643373643
Occupation Colorectal surgeon General surgeon
Details John Hale was a consultant general and colorectal surgeon at Redhill in Surrey. He was born into a family of market gardeners in the Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire. He showed early academic promise and attended Prince Henry's Grammar School in Evesham, where he was head boy. He then gained a scholarship to King's College in London and Westminster Hospital Medical School, where he met his future wife Patricia Hikins, who was a student nurse, and they later married in 1964. Having qualified in 1960 and after house jobs at Westminster Hospital and in Southampton, he set off to Nigeria, where he did a year in tropical paediatrics and obstetrics in Ibadan. He drove back to Europe across North Africa. Following a spell in casualty at Edgware General Hospital, he set sail again, this time as a ship's doctor, travelling through the Suez Canal to the Far East. Having studied for the primary FRCS while at sea, he passed the exam after returning to London. After senior house officer posts in Bath and Bristol, he moved back to the Westminster and Gordon hospitals with the final FRCS under his belt. He then spent a year doing research into colonic healing in rats, using cyanoacrylate glue, at the University of California in San Francisco, under the direction of Englebert Dunphy and Tom Hunt, which led to his thesis for the MS. He returned to work at Roehampton Hospital with Alan Rutter and then as a senior registrar to Harold Ellis at the Westminster. He gained his MS in 1976 and a year later was appointed as a consultant surgeon in Redhill, first at Redhill General and Smallfield hospitals and later at the new East Surrey Hospital, where he remained until his retirement in 2001. Here he developed his interest in coloproctology. He belonged to the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, was an honorary member of the American Medical Association and was an elected member of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie. With the development of laparoscopic surgery, he became an enthusiastic advocate. For several years he visited the Norwegian fjords, operating at local hospitals with a nurse anaesthetist, while his wife and three daughters enjoyed a holiday. John was a kindly person, with wide interests outside medicine and great enthusiasm for all he did. Subject throughout his life to periods of depression, he was devastated to be sent on permanent leave at the age of 62. His many interests kept him busy, with music playing a large part in his life. As a young man he was a church organist in Evesham and he had a fine voice, singing as a baritone with Pat in local choral societies. He enjoyed gardening and in later life he kept bees. He was a keen Rotarian and a member of a walking group. In retirement he studied history, art history and literature to gain a BA in combined studies at the University of Surrey. He also managed his own investments. Latterly he took up windsurfing, but never learned how to turn round. He always maintained his roots in Worcestershire, with a cottage in Broadway and his bank in Evesham. He loved family holidays on the Scilly Isles. He diagnosed his own carcinoid syndrome in 2009, and died on 8 September 2011. He was 74.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001460
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kenefick, John Stanislaus (1937 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-10-06 2013-11-15
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373644373644
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Stanislaus Kenefick was a consultant surgeon at Barnet General Hospital. He was born in Cork, Ireland, on 10 February 1937, the son of Thomas Kenefick, a merchant, and Margaret Kenefick. He was educated at Presentation Brothers College in Cork, and then studied medicine at University College, Cork. He gained the Ainsworth scholarship and qualified in 1960 with honours in anatomy, pathology and surgery. He held posts at St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork, and then at North Middlesex Hospital, London. He was a senior registrar at the Royal Free Hospital, and then, in 1975, he was appointed to his consultant post at Barnet. He was also a consultant surgeon to the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in Swiss Cottage. He retired in January 1995. He wrote on a range of topics, including carcinoma of the duodenum, the measurement of interpretation of blood viscosity, and hepatoma. In 1969 he married Erica Anne Lucas. They had four children - Nicholas, Timothy, Susannah and Elizabeth. He died on 14 September 2011, aged 74.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001461
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Le Quesne, Leslie Philip (1919 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by R C G Russell
Publication Date 2011-10-07 2015-02-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373645373645
Occupation General surgeon
Details Leslie Le Quesne was professor of surgery at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He was born in Ashburton, Devon, on 24 August 1919. His father, Charles Thomas Le Quesne, was a prominent barrister, originally from Jersey; his mother, Florence Elizabeth Eileen Pearce Gould, was the granddaughter of Sir Alfred Pearce Gould, a senior surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital. Two of his maternal uncles were also surgeons. Leslie was educated at Rugby and Exeter College, Oxford. He was passionate about the Navy and, once war was declared in 1939, was determined to join, however, he was rejected on account of his poor eyesight. This defect caused problems with his future career: he was required to wear special glasses, a point noted with humour by the Middlesex Medical School students at their annual Christmas concerts. The defect was later corrected by a successful corneal graft. Le Quesne held junior appointments in Harrow, at the Middlesex, Southend and at St Mark's Hospital, London, and obtained his FRCS in 1947. Back at the Middlesex Hospital, he was first an assistant surgeon on the surgical unit to David Patey and later chief assistant. He remained under Patey's guidance until the senior surgeon retired in 1964 and Le Quesne was appointed to the chair of surgery. Patey had the unique ability of providing entertaining surgical teaching, such that there was a full lecture every Friday afternoon at 4pm, with a mixture of shrewd humour and serious lessons taught over the hour. Le Quesne, with a slightly different style, retained this form of teaching until the end of his career. Le Quesne, both during his training and as an assistant on the surgical unit, found that surgeons too often declared operations to have been a success from a technical point of view, only to find that the patient died. Determined to address this contradiction, he decided to investigate what other factors might be affecting survival after surgery. Nutritional status, for example, had not been addressed and fluid balance had not been investigated. Under Le Quesne's leadership, a new generation of surgeons focused on the physiological parameters which influence the outcome of surgical procedures. With the help of J D N Nabarro, a physician recently appointed from University College London, the physiology of surgery was investigated, resulting in a steady reduction of operative mortality, especially in those patients presenting with fluid deficiency and in diabetics. Much of this work was presented at the Surgical Research Society, a society founded by Patey and strongly supported by Le Quesne. Trainees were encouraged to undertake surgical research, presenting the work in 10 minute presentations: the quality of the research and its presentation played no small part in the success or failure of a surgical career. This approach effectively transformed the surgical approach to the science of surgery. Le Quesne's contributions as professor were considerable, not only in his own field of surgery, but also in the wider national sphere. In particular, the standard of surgical care improved with an emphasis on fluid and electrolyte balance, early mobilisation and the use of graded compression stockings following surgery to eliminate deep vein thrombosis. He persuaded his colleagues to reduce their bed requirements by encouraging shorter stays in hospital, so making space for a whole ward to be given over to intensive care, with a full-time specialist and adequate junior staff for 24 hour, seven day-a-week cover. As he became established, he joined the board of the *British Journal of Surgery* and was later appointed chairman, during which tenure he encouraged the development of a more professional approach. Soon the number of citations to articles published in the journal became important, and the editor was required to be much more careful about the quality of the papers accepted. Similar wisdom and emphasis on improving surgical standards was apparent when he became chairman of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was elected to the honorary fellowships of the American College of Surgeons and Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was appointed dean of the faculty of medicine at London University and deputy vice chancellor, the first time a professor of surgery had held this post. Following his retirement from the Middlesex in 1984, he was appointed as medical awards administrator of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Beyond surgery, Le Quesne was fascinated by the life of Admiral Lord Nelson, amassing a collection of Nelson portraits painted on glass (later the subject of a book) and lecturing widely on the surgical aspects of the wounds that led to Nelson's death at Trafalgar. Le Quesne had a successful marriage to Pamela 'Paddy' Fullerton, a consultant neurologist at the Middlesex. Predeceased by his wife, Le Quesne died on 5 August 2011, aged 91, and was survived by their two sons, Thomas and William, and five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001462
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Clarke, William Bruce (1850 - 1914)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-05-31 2013-11-29
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001100-E001199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373371373371
Occupation General surgeon
Details The only son of the Rev William Wilcox Clarke, was born at North Wootton Rectory, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, on March 25th, 1850. His father was rector and squire of the parish, and became Inspector of Schools, Rural Dean of Lynn, and Honorary Canon of Norwich. His mother was Lillias Bruce, the daughter of Alexander Bruce. William Bruce Clarke was educated at Brighton and Windlesham. He entered Harrow, where Henry Montague Butler was head master, in September, 1864, being in "Small Houses and Mr Middlemist's". He left at midsummer, 1869, and matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, on Oct 25th, 1869. He obtained 1st class biological honours in the Natural Science School in Trinity Term, 1873, but put off taking his BA degree until the following year. It was at this time, therefore, that he visited Leipzig and Würzburg, then celebrated for their biological teaching. On his return he acted as Demonstrator of Biology, more especially on its anthropotomy side, under Professor George Rolleston, FRS, in the New Museums in Oxford, and gained the Burdett Coutts University Geological Scholarship in 1875. He entered St Bartholomew's Hospital in October, 1874, where he acted as House Surgeon to Sir William Savory, FRS (qv), and as House Physician to James Andrew, MD. He was appointed Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in 1880, becoming full Demonstrator and Demonstrator of Operative Surgery in the Medical School attached to St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1881. He became known to the students as a good teacher of the broad principles of human anatomy. He was elected Assistant Surgeon to the West London Hospital in 1881, becoming full Surgeon in 1884. He was also Surgeon to St Peter's Hospital for Stone in 1883-1884. He was elected Assistant Surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital on Dec 20th, 1883, in the vacancy caused by the unexpected death of James Shuter (qv). The contest was a severe one and was carried out on the time-honoured lines of a Parliamentary election. Bruce Clarke received 81 votes, the other candidate, Jonathan F C Macready (qv), the son of the great actor who had been Surgical Registrar, getting 49 votes; but it was not until 1902 that he came on to the full staff of the hospital, and he thus had to spend nineteen years in the out-patient room. In 1886 Clarke won the Jacksonian Prize with a dissertation on "The Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Kidney amenable to direct Surgical Interference". He added to the essay and it was published as a *Handbook of the Surgery of the Kidneys* in 1911. From 1889 he lectured on anatomy, and resigned the post in 1903 when he was appointed Lecturer on Surgery. For some years he acted jointly with W Harrison Cripps (qv) as Surgeon to 'Martha' ward, where he was responsible for ovariotomy and other abdominal operations which were not then undertaken by the physicians-accoucheur. He resigned all his offices at St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1912 on the ground of ill health, and was elected a Governor and Consulting Surgeon. In 1896-1897 he was President of the West London Medical and Chirurgical Society, and was Vice-President of the Section of Surgery when the British Medical Association met at Oxford in 1904. At the Royal College of Surgeons Bruce Clarke acted as a Member of the Board of Anatomy for the Fellowship in 1889 and was a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1905-1910. He was a Member of Council from 1907-1913. He married: (1) Effie (d.1909), daughter of the Rev J Berryman, and had by her one son, William Robert Bruce Clarke, who, like his father, went to 'Small Houses', Harrow School, at Midsummer, 1900. He died shortly after his father of influenza, whilst on short leave from the front. (2) Agnes Mary, daughter of George Mayor Jackson, who survived him. He died of pneumonia at Eastbourne on March 28th, 1914, his last years being devoted to the restoration of an old stone-built farmhouse at Lea, North Wilts, which he did not live to inhabit. Bruce Clarke was a good surgeon, a good operator, and a good teacher. He was unfortunate in the time of his birth. If he had been born five years earlier, he would have shone as a surgeon of the old school; born five years later, he would have been a pioneer in antiseptic surgery. He belonged to the intermediate period. As a man and as an administrator he was altogether excellent; honest and upright in all his dealings, he set an example to the students of the large school to which he was attached. He was a great walker and would often walk from Oxford to London in a day. A favourite Sunday walk, with Dr George Gulliver or some other congenial friend, was to start from Windsor, through the Queen's Ride and Ascot, to Woking, in the days when there were no bicycles and no cars, to both of which he became addicted, for he loved an engineer's workshop. He had considerable mechanical ingenuity, and was thus well fitted for the post of Surgeon to the Orthopaedic Department which he held at St Bartholomew's Hospital and resigned in 1903. He was an expert boxer, whence he derived his name of 'The Bruiser' by which he was generally known to the students, and it is reported of him that after breaking the jaw of a rough who would have molested him, he admitted him into one of his own beds and cured him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001188
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Burdman, Mortimer (1927 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-10 2014-04-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373740373740
Occupation General surgeon
Details Mortimer Burdman was a general surgeon from New York. He was born in Brooklyn in the late 1920's and had a son by his first wife. In 1973 he married an Israeli woman, Osnat, who had two grown up daughters. She had emmigrated to the United States in 1966. In November 1986 they were living in Albertson, New York State when Osnat won $12 million in the New York State lottery. The couple were then in their mid- to late fifties and both promptly planned to retire, they told a news conference. He died in 2003 aged 73 or 74 and was survived by his wife and family.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001557
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Briggs, James ( - 1848)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Swan, Joseph (1791 - 1874)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372578372578
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of Henry Swan, Surgeon to the County Hospital at Lincoln, where his ancestors had been doctors for several generations. He was apprenticed to his father, and was sent to the United Borough Hospitals in 1810. He became a pupil of Henry Cline the younger, and gained the warm friendship of Astley Cooper, who sent him annually a Christmas present of a subject in a hamper labelled 'Glass with care', to enable him to continue his anatomical dissections of the nerves. Sir Astley's example was imitated by John Abernethy. He studied abroad for a short time after qualifying, and then settled at Lincoln, where he was elected Surgeon to the County Hospital on Jan 8th, 1814. He won the Jacksonian Prize at the College of Surgeons in 1817 with his essay, "On Deafness and Diseases and Injuries of the Organ of Hearing", and in 1819 he gained the prize a second time with a dissertation, "On the Treatment of Morbid Local Affections of Nerves". He was awarded in 1822-1824 the first College Triennial Prize for "A Minute Dissection of the Nerves of the Medulla Spinalis from their Origin to their Terminations and to their Conjunctions with the Cerebral and Visceral Nerves; authenticated by Preparations of the Dissected Parts”. The Triennial Prize was again awarded to him in 1825-1827 for "A Minute Dissection of the Cerebral Nerves from their Origin to their Termination and to the Conjunction with the Nerves of the Medulla Spinalis and Viscera, authenticated by Preparations of the Dissected Parts". Swan's success is the more remarkable when it is borne in mind that the Triennial Prize has only been given twelve times since it was first offered for competition in 1822. The College had so high an opinion of his merits that he was voted its honorary Gold Medal in 1825. Swan resigned his office of Surgeon to the Lincoln County Hospital on Feb 26th, 1827, moved to London and took a house at 6 Tavistock Square, where he converted the billiard-room into a dissecting-room. Here he continued his labours at leisure until the end of his life, never attaining any practice as a surgeon, but doing much for naked-eye anatomy. He was elected a life member of the Council of the College of Surgeons in 1831, but resigned after a severe attack of illness in 1870. He then retired to Filey, in Yorkshire, where he died on Oct 4th, 1874, and was buried in Filey Churchyard. He never married. Swan was a born anthropotomist, for there is but little to show that he was greatly interested in the anatomy of birds, beasts, or fish. He had a native genius for dissection, and the kindness of his friends kept him supplied with the necessary material. Of a retiring and modest disposition, he remained personally almost unknown, and the value of his work long remained unappreciated. Publications:- *A Demonstration of the Nerves of the Human Body* in twenty-five plates with explanations. Imperial fol., London, 1830; republished 1865. It is a clear exposition of the course and distribution of the cerebral, spinal, and sympathetic nerves of the human body. The plates are admirably drawn by E West and engraved by the Stewarts. The original copperplates and engravings on steel are in the possession of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, presented in 1865 by Mrs Machin, of Gateford Hill, Worksop, widow of the nephew and residuary legatee of Joseph Swan. A cheaper edition of this work was issued in 1884, with plates engraved by Finden. It was translated into French, Paris, 4to, 1838. *An Account of a New Method of Making Dried Anatomical Preparations*, 8vo, London, N.D.; 2nd ed., 1820; 3rd ed., 1833. *A Dissertation on the Treatment of Morbid Local Affections of the Nerves* (Jacksonian Prize Essay for 1819), 8vo, London, 1820; translated into German, 8vo, Leipzig, 1824. *Observations on Some Points relating to the Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Nervous System*, 8vo, London, 1822. *A Treatise on Diseases and Injuries of the Nerves* (a new edition), 8vo, London, 1834; This seems to be a re-issue of the two previous works. *An Enquiry into the Action of Mercury on the Living Body*, 8vo, London, 1822; 3rd ed., 1847. *An Essay on Tetanus*, 8vo, London, 1825. *An Essay on the Connection between . . . the Heart . . . and . . . the Nervous System . . . particularly its Influence . . . on Respiration*, 8vo, London, 1822; reprinted, 1829. *Illustrations of the Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System*, 4to, plates, London, 1835. *The Principal Offices of the Brain and other Centres*, 8vo, London, 1844. *The Physiology of the Nerves of the Uterus and its Appendages*, 8vo, London, 1844. *The Nature and Faculties of the Sympathetic Nerve*, 8vo, London, 1847. *Plates of the Brain in Explanation of its Physical Faculties*, etc., 4to, London, 1853. *The Brain in its Relation to Mind*, 8vo, London, 1854. *On the Origin of the Visual Powers of the Optic Nerve*, 4to, London, 1856. *Papers on the Brain*, 8vo, London, 1862. *Delineation of the Brain in Relation to Voluntary Motion*, 4to, London, 1864.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000394
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Sterry, Henry (1801 - 1873)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-03-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003700-E003799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375937375937
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on November 26th, 1801, the son of Samuel Henry Sterry, who practised for fifty years in Bermondsey. He went to Merchant Taylors' School in July, 1811, and was then educated at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals. He practised first in partnership with his father, and then with a former pupil of his father's, Richard Sharpe, at 7 Paragon, Southwark. He was for many years Surgeon to the School for Indigent Blind. He retired from practice in 1861, served as Justice of the Peace for Surrey, and succeeded Propert as Treasurer at the Royal Medical College, Epsom, worthily continuing the work of his predecessor and its founder. He is described as a man of high and sterling principles, who faithfully fulfilled the duties of life. He died at Eastbury, Leigham Court Road, Streatham, on February 12th, 1873.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003754
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Corbould, Francis John (1819 - 1884)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Cordwent, George (1815 - 1900)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-07-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373457373457
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was educated at St George's Hospital. He practised for many years in Taunton, Somerset, where he was Medical Officer to the Union, and at a later date Deputy Coroner for the West Division of Somerset. He was on the honorary staff of the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, and was at one time President of the West Somerset Branch of the British Medical Association. He retired from practice about the year 1875 and settled at Milverton. He was a life member of the Council of St Andrews University Graduates' Association, and took a great interest in archaeological subjects. His death occurred at his residence in Milverton on November 12th, 1900, and he was buried there. He married Miss Mathias, of Taunton, who predeceased him, and he left no family. Publications: Two pamphlets: "Epidemics," 1895, and "The Pathologic Service of Thirst Crave for Cold Water in the Early Stages of Fever." "On the Subtlety and Decline of Syphilitic Virus." - *Trans St And Med Grad Assoc*, 1868. "The Chief Cause of Failure of Operations for Fistula in Ano." - *Ibid*. "Death by Entrance of Air into Uterine Veins." - *St George's Hosp. Rep.*, vi, etc.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001274
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Corkey, Isaac Whitla (1892 - 1927)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-07-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373458373458
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Warrenport, Co Down, the son of Isaac Corkey and a nephew of Sir William Whitla, Professor of Medicine at Belfast. He was educated at the University of Dublin, where he won a medical scholarship at Trinity College in 1913. He served with distinction during the Great War, winning the Military Cross. After demobilization he passed the Fellowship Examinations both in Ireland and in England, having in 1918 been appointed Assistant Surgeon to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, Dublin. He was also appointed Demonstrator of Bacteriology at Trinity College, Dublin, and was Chief Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Dublin School of Physic. He practised at 93 Lower Baggot Street, and had to all appearances a successful career before him in the Irish capital; but the Irish Free State and the methods of those who strove for its formation were both so distasteful to him as an Ulsterman that he threw up his appointment, settled at Epsom in partnership with another of his compatriots, William Napier, FRCSI, and was appointed Surgeon to St Anthony's Hospital, Cheam. At the time of his death he was also Surgeon to the Epsom and Ewell Cottage Hospital, Surgeon Specialist to the Ministry of Pensions, and Vice-President of the Dublin University Biological Society. He has been described by a former colleague as in many ways a typical Irishman; impulsive, even hot-headed, generous, humorous, and above all eminently human. He died quite suddenly on March 7th, 1927, and was survived by his widow and one young child. He practised at 3 Ladbroke Road, Epsom. Publication: "Adenoma of Small Intestine, with Intussusception" (with G M KENDALL). - *Brit. Jour. Surg.*, 1925, xii, 617.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001275
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Cormick, William (1820 - 1877)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Duncan, Robert (1811 - 1876)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Duncan, William Archdeckne (1857 - 1917)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373657373657
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St Thomas's Hospital, where his career was brilliant, for he won the Tite Scholarship in 1877 and took successively the Musgrove Scholarship in 1878 and 1879, the Grainger Testimonial Prize in Anatomy and Physiology in 1879, the Cheselden and Treasurer's Gold Medals and the Solly Medal and Prize. He was Prosector of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was awarded a first-class Certificate of Honour. He was appointed Resident Accoucheur at St Thomas's Hospital, and very shortly afterwards was elected Assistant Obstetric Physician and Lecturer on Obstetric Medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, with which he henceforth completely identified himself. In 1889 he became full Obstetric Physician, and held this position till 1908, when he was elected Consulting Physician. He was also at one time Consulting Physician to the Chelsea Hospital for Women and Senior Physician to the Royal Hospital for Children and Women, and in 1909 was appointed an Examiner in Midwifery and Diseases of Women for the Conjoint Board, and was also Examiner in Obstetric Medicine at the Victoria University, Manchester, the University of Glasgow, and the Society of Apothecaries of London. He was a Vice-President of the Obstetrical Society. Duncan is described as a good operator, particularly gentle in handling tissues. His results were good, in spite of the fact that he did not fully adopt the modern aseptic technique. Had his entire energies been applied to his professional work he would have accomplished far more than he did, but his conviction that national defence was the first concern of all men led him to devote much of his time to voluntary military service. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1909, and for the following five years served as Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding the Middlesex Hussar Yeomanry. Comparatively late in life he was made a freemason, but worked with such enthusiasm at the craft as to become a Grand Officer in 1907. He was a Founder of the Middlesex Hospital Lodge and the Middlesex Yeomanry Chapter. Duncan was devoted to the country life. He lived at Shenley for some years before and after his retirement, and was popular with villagers and farmers alike. He died at his residence in Oakwood Court, Kensington, on October 18th, 1917. Publications:- "Report of the Obstetrical Department of St Thomas's Hospital for 1881-82-83." - *St Thomas's Hosp. Rep.*, xii, xiii. *On the Commoner Accidents attending Parturition, their Immediate and Remote Effects; with Treatment*, 8vo, London, 1886. "On the Extirpation of the Entire Uterus," 8vo, 8 charts, London, 1880; reprinted from *Trans. Obst. Soc. Lond.*, 1885, xxvii, 893. *Clinical Lecture on Extra-uterine Gestation*, 8vo, London, 1890. "A New Treatment for the Vomiting of Pregnancy." - *Lancet*, 1887, ii, 754. "On Chronic Disease of the Uterine Appendages. With a Table containing Short Notes of Thirty Consecutive Cases treated by Abdominal Section," 8vo, illustrated, London, 1891; reprinted from *Trans. Med. Soc.*, xiv, 214.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001474
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Phillips, Hugh (1940 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-08 2012-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372427372427
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Hugh Phillips, the first surgeon from Norfolk to become president of the Royal College of Surgeons, died within his first year of office. A past president of the British Orthopaedic Association and the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Hugh influenced every aspect of orthopaedic surgery. Voted Trainer of the Year in 1990 by the British Orthopaedic Trainees Association, he was committed to surgical training and later became chairman of the Orthopaedic Specialist Advisory Committee. Hugh earned a reputation for fairness both as an examiner and in the arrangements for rapid response teams reporting on major concerns in hospital practice. He was appointed vice-president of the College in 2003 and elected president the following year. Hugh's principal clinical interest was surgery of the hip. He founded the British Hip Society, was influential in establishing the National Joint Registry, and was said to have carried out over 6,000 joint replacements in his career. Hugh's family came from Treorchy in the Rhondda, where his grandfather and father were miners during the depression of the 1930s. His father, Morgan Phillips, a member of the Treorchy Male Voice Choir, resolved not to produce another generation of miners and walked to London where he became a manager at UGB Charlton, a thermoplastics company in south east London that made Bakelite. His mother, Elizabeth Evans, came from north Wales and contributed to Hugh's rather strict upbringing. Hugh was born on 19 March 1940 in Blackheath, the youngest of three children in a Welsh-speaking family. His older brother and sister returned to Wales during the Blitz, but his father's work was important to the war effort and Hugh remained with his parents. His earliest memories were of bombs and air raid shelters. While proud of his Welsh roots he considered himself a Londoner and commented once that he had "only been to Wales twice and it rained both times". He attended Henwick Primary School and the Roan Grammar School in Greenwich, where he became a prefect. He was a Queen's Scout. Hugh followed his eldest brother into medicine, winning a state scholarship to Bart's and completing a BSc in physiology. The life of a medical student in the 1960s was relaxed by the standards of later years and Hugh embraced it to the full. An all-round sportsman, he played cricket for Bart's, was captain of soccer and a member of the Vicarage Club. For a short period he generated additional income by working as a waiter on the liner *Pendennis Castle*, an experience that left him with a fund of anecdotes. Surprisingly, this most gregarious of men later listed "avoidance of all clubs" among his recreations in *Who's Who*. In 1966 he married Trish (Patricia Ann Cates Kennard), a physiotherapist at Bart's who later became chair of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. They had three daughters, Jane, Katie and Susie, and at the time of his death they had six grandchildren. Hugh owed much to his Welsh background, including a love of music. He was an excellent pianist and a former head choirboy at St James, Kidbrooke, often performing as a soloist at the Royal Festival Hall and elsewhere. He also inherited a strong sense of social justice and a dogged determination that did not permit him to leave a task unfinished, a trait he once described as "a black streak of Celtic bloody-mindedness". In 1970 he was appointed to the new higher surgical training programme in orthopaedics at Bart's and in the same year was found to have Hodgkin's lymphoma, which in those days had few survivors. After a harrowing period of intensive chemotherapy under the care of Gordon Hamilton Fairley, a pioneer of chemotherapy, Hugh Phillips became one of those few. The treatment, always at weekends so that he could be back at work on Monday, lasted two and a half years, when Hugh decided it should be terminated because nobody could tell him how long it should be continued. He never sought special consideration because of his illness and took a full share of workloads that would now be considered unacceptably heavy even for healthy people. In 1975 Hugh Phillips was appointed as the fifth orthopaedic consultant at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, where he is remembered as a hard worker, a loyal colleague and an outstanding surgeon. A man of great personal charm with a disarming sense of humour, Hugh was held in the highest regard by his patients, colleagues and trainees. He also displayed a natural flair for the politics of medicine and was a great exponent of the 'Delphic process', which allowed him to implement important changes at astounding speed without pointless discussion on the assumption that changes for the better would not be reversed. Although a Londoner, Hugh loved Norfolk and was intensely proud of his association with the county and its people. In 1996 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk. Hugh Phillips was elected president because of his unrivalled understanding of training and education and his ability to achieve change, but his presidency was tragically curtailed. In the last minutes of a social occasion in Norwich on 26 June 2004 to celebrate both his achievement in becoming president and his retirement from clinical practice, a trivial injury caused a fracture that proved to be pathological. The incident occurred less than four weeks before he assumed office. Many would have taken the easy path and stepped aside but despite debilitating treatment, increasing ill health and the exhortation of friends and colleagues, Hugh chose to continue the task he had been elected to complete. He confronted a number of major professional issues with characteristic determination and scored some notable successes but his unavoidable absences for treatment were to make this a difficult year for the College. In his last presidential letter for the *Bulletin* he wrote, "I had not anticipated that my presidency would last only one year but, sadly, ill-health has determined that I should stand down, a matter of immeasurable personal regret." He may also be remembered for a casual remark in another presidential letter to the effect that surgeons might avoid a great deal of confusion if they called themselves 'Dr' rather than 'Mr', a comment that attracted much media attention. During April 2005, he completed a physically demanding College visit to every hospital in Wales by road within one week, the warmth of his personality making a great impression in hospitals where the College had been seen as remote and unapproachable. A few days after his return he suffered a pulmonary embolus and, despite intensive treatment, including thrombolysis, he did not recover and died at home in Norfolk on 24 June 2005, less than one year after the condition came to light. His funeral service, which filled Norwich Cathedral, was attended by representatives of the Colleges, orthopaedic surgery, hospital colleagues and staff, the County Lieutenancy, the Department of Health, patients and the people of Norwich. The presidential gown covered the coffin as the Lord Bishop of Norwich, a personal friend, gave the address and spoke warmly of both Hugh's humanity and his contribution to surgery.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000240
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stevenson, Thomas (1801 - 1878)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching McConnachie, James Stewart (1913 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2007-08-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372289372289
Occupation General surgeon
Details James Stewart McConnachie, known as ‘Monty’, was a consultant surgeon at Tredegar and Nevill Hall hospitals. He was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 8 October 1913 into a medical family. His father was James Stewart McConnachie, his mother, Mary Watson Reiach. He studied medicine in Aberdeen, where he captained the rugby team and the athletics association, and gained five gold medals and one scholarship. He completed house jobs in the professorial units under Sir Stanley Davidson and Sir James Learmonth. At the outbreak of the second world war, he joined the RAMC and was with the 51st Highland Division in the British Expeditionary Force, being evacuated from St Valéry. He was later posted to the Far East, where he was a prisoner of war in the infamous Changi jail and was made to work on the railways, operating alongside the celebrated Sir ‘Weary’ Dunlop. After the war, Monty was a surgical registrar at Inverness and then a senior registrar in Aberdeen. In 1949, he was appointed to Tredegar and Nevill Hall hospitals, where he was at first the only surgeon. His wife Dot, along with Alun Evans, gave the anaesthetics. He was a founder member of the Welsh Surgical Society in 1953 and played an important role in developing surgical services in south Wales, culminating with the opening of a new district hospital in Abergavenny, to which he moved with two other surgeons in 1969. Predeceased by his first wife, Dorothy Isabel Mortimer, and son, he married a second time, to Megan. He died on 29 April 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000102
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fereday, Samuel Day (1813 - 1874)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-12-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373929373929
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Gornal on August 22nd, 1813, and was educated at St Thomas's and the Webb Street Schools of Medicine, where his career was one of distinction. Subsequently he settled at Dudley, where he practised as a surgeon for over thirty years. He was a founder of the Dudley Dispensary, and was one of its Consulting Surgeons at the time of his death. He was also one of the originators of the Guest Hospital, and took much interest in all other local charities. He is described as able, honourable, and a man of many friends. He died at Long Leys, Water Orton, near Birmingham, on April 14th, 1874. His widow survived him. Publications:- "Two Cases of Paracentesis Thoracic in Children." - *Prov. Med. Jour.*, 1849, 484. "Lithotomy in Twin Male Children, aged 2 ½ Years: Successful." - *Lancet*, 1855, ii, 521.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001746
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fitzmaurice, George Lionel (1805 - 1871)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Cotes, Henry (1816 - 1867)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Cotterell, Edward (1857 - 1898)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-08-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373466373466
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College, London, where he was Atkinson-Morley Scholar in 1881, House Surgeon to Christopher Heath, and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy. He practised for some years at Bicester, where he won a high reputation, chiefly by his boldness and skill in dealing with surgical emergencies. He had at this time two other addresses-one at 1 High Street, Banbury, the other at 7 Welbeck Street-and was Medical Officer to the Stoke Lyne District of the Bicester Union and Acting Surgeon to the 2nd Oxfordshire Rifle Volunteers, as well as Medical Referee to the Commercial Union Assurance Company. Removing to London in 1891, he settled at 39 Weymouth Street, W, and was appointed Surgeon to Out-patients at the Lock Hospital. He was also, at the time of his death, Surgeon to the West End Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System, and to the Cancer Hospital. He died of pneumonia at his residence, 5 West Halkin Street, Belgrave Square, W, on April 5th, 1898. Publications: *The Pocket Gray; or Anatomist's Vade-Mecum*, 5th ed, 1901. *Roaring in Horses. A Popular Description of its Causes and its Radical Cure*, 16mo, London, 1888. *Syphilis: its Treatment by Intramuscular Injections of soluble Mercurial Salts*, 16mo, London, 1893. He was editor of 2nd ed of Alfred Cooper's *Syphilis*, 8vo, London, 1895. "Successful Case of Removal of the Entire Uterus for Cancer affecting Cervix." - *Brit. Med. Jour*., 1887. "Two Cases of Uretero-Lithotomy." - *Trans. Roy. Med.-Chir. Soc*., 1894, lxxvii, 255. "Stone Impacted in the Ureter; its Consequences, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment." - *Lancet*, 1894, ii, 1189. "On the Frequent Occurrence of Epithelioma of the Tongue after Syphilitic Lesions of that Organ, and its Treatment." - *Med. Week*, 1894. "A Rectangular Splint for Use after Removal of the Breast." - *Brit. Med. Jour*., 1898, i, 442.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001283
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Moore, Keith Arthur (1911 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372291372291
Occupation General surgeon
Details Keith Moore was a consultant surgeon at North Middlesex Hospital. He was born on 30 June 1911, at Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia, the son of Frank Joshua Moore, an engineer, and Adela May née Bailey. He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School, and then Wesley College, Sydney University. He went to England to work for his FRCS. In 1941 he enrolled in the RAMC and then served in the Middle East prior to the fall of Tobruk. He subsequently escaped from an Italian prisoner of war camp and walked south through enemy territory to rejoin the Allied Forces, who were by then advancing northwards. After demobilisation he returned to Australia with an English bride, Evelyn Sarah Cowdeney (‘Sally’). They went on to have three daughters (Sarah, Charlotte and Jacqueline) and a son (Richard). He was soon appointed as a surgeon to the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. He was unhappy with the ethos of private practice in Australia and in 1950 returned to England to work in the newly established National Health Service, the principles of which he admired. His subsequent appointment at the North Middlesex Hospital became his life’s work. He retired in 1976. He was a cutting surgeon rather than a writing surgeon, despite having kept detailed personal diaries since he was a young man. His forte throughout his surgical career was discussing the rationale for his decisions concerning the treatment of his patients with his junior staff. Much of his retirement was spent in fulfilling his life-long ambition to restore an old mill, which he had bought very cheaply and which finally became an idyllic residence and garden in Wiltshire. In his later years he was afflicted with rapidly increasing glaucoma-related blindness, which he accepted with remarkable stoicism. During this time he was ably supported by his devoted and understanding wife, Sally. He died on 4 January 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000104
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Morrah, Dermot Dubrelle (1943 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2018-03-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372292372292
Occupation General surgeon
Details Dermot Dubrelle Morrah was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, on 26 October 1943, the second child and only son of Francis Dubrelle Morrah, a farmer, and Sheila Catherine née Douglas, the daughter of a banker. He attended primary and middle school in Invercargill and then, after winning a junior Somes scholarship, was educated at Christ's College in Christchurch. He studied science at Canterbury University and then went on to Otago University. He was a final year student at Christchurch Hospital and then held house surgeon and then registrar posts with the North Canterbury Hospital Board. In 1971 he travelled to the UK, as the ship's captain on the SS Imperial Star. From 1972 to 1973 he was a surgical registrar at Peterborough, where he carried out general, genito-urinary and vascular work. From March 1973 he attended the St Thomas's Hospital fellowship course, and subsequently passed the FRCS. He returned to New Zealand, as a senior registrar to the North Canterbury Hospital Board. In 1974 he gained his fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was employed as an acting lecturer and research fellow in the department of surgery, Otago Medical School until October 1977, when he moved north to join the staff of the Whangarei Hospital, North Island, as a full-time general surgeon. In 1978 he took up the post of supervisor for the surgical training of registrars and subsequently established a successful private practice with particular interests in endoscopy, breast surgery and cutaneaous malignancy. He was a talented organist and pianist, interested in travel and New Zealand philately. He died on 25 May 2003 and is survived by his wife Diana, whom he married in 1976, and sons David and Michael.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000105
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Murray, Richard William Cordiner (1907 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Ogg, Archibald John (1921 - 2005)

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First Title value, for Searching Owen, William Jones (1945 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2007-08-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372295372295
Occupation General surgeon
Details William Jones Owen was a consultant surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals and a senior lecturer at King’s College, London. He spent his early life in north Wales, where he excelled at his academic work, rugby, music and Welsh. He won first prize in a recital group at the Urdd National Eisteddfod and the Evanson scholarship from Llandovery College. He went on to Guy’s, where he took a BSc in anatomy, with a distinction in pathology. He held house posts in the south east of England, and gained his FRCS, winning the Hallet prize. He returned to Guy’s for his higher surgical training, and during this period obtained his masters degree in surgery from the University of London for his studies on intestinal adaptation. At the end of his training, in 1981, he was appointed to the staff of Guy’s, as a senior lecturer with Ian McColl. He remained in this position until he died. For many years he also worked at Lewisham and later at St Thomas’s Hospitals, and took on management responsibilities. He was considered a warm and loyal colleague, becoming a surgeons’ surgeon. He established one of the best oesophageal laboratories in the country, producing over 100 excellent papers. He played a prominent role in the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and was Chairman of the oesophageal section of the British Society of Gastroenterology. He was an examiner at the College and an honorary surgeon to the Army and the Royal Society of Music. He loved music and was an enthusiastic follower of sport. He was married to Wendy, a doctor who worked with him in the oesophageal laboratory. They had a daughter, Sarah, and a son, David. He died from a brain tumour on 3 April 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000108
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Park, William Douglas (1912 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Armstrong-Jones, Sir Robert (1857 - 1943)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003700-E003799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375965375965
Occupation Physician in mental diseases
Details Born 2 December 1857 at Ynyscynhaiarn, Carnarvonshire, the eldest son and second child of the Rev Thomas Jones (born 1826) of Cefnmaesydd, afterwards of Eisteddfa, Criccieth, a small landed proprietor, and Elizabeth, the only daughter of Robert Jones of Eisteddfa; seven of their ten children grew up. Thomas Jones was christened and confirmed in the Church of England but, disturbed by the religious neglect of the people, he joined the Congregationalists and had places of worship built for them at Pentrefelin, Penmorfa, Rhos-lan and Criccieth. Helped by Samuel Morley (see *DNB*), John Rylands (see *DNB*) and others, he founded a society to support the ministries of south Carnarvonshire and also started "British schools" at Pentrefelin and Tremadoc. His missionary zeal continued for fifty years. His wife, whom he married in 1855, claimed to be the twenty-first in lineal descent from Collwyn ap Tangno, one of the Welsh princes who was Lord of Eifionydd. Robert Armstrong Jones (he assumed the surname of Armstrong-Jones in 1914) was educated at Pormadoc Grammar School, to which he walked three and a half miles each way in all weathers, at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth, where he entered at the age of fourteen, and at Grove Park School, Wrexham. He matriculated for London University in 1875 and after six months at the surgery of Robert Jones, MRCS 1850, at Pormadoc, he entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College on 1 October 1876. Here he acted as prosector for the anatomy lecturers, and won the Wix essay prize and the Hichens prize after an examination in Butler's *Analogy of religion*. He then served from 1880 to 1882 as junior medical officer to the (Royal) Earlswood Institution and from 1882 to 1888 at Colney Hatch Asylum. During this period he took the London MD in 1883 and the FRCS in 1885. He went back to Earlswood as medical superintendent in 1888, till in 1893 he was elected the medical superintendent of the first new asylum of the first London County Council at Claybury, near Woodford, Essex. Frederick Mott (1853-1926, Kt, FRS, see *DNB*) was appointed at the same time pathologist to the asylum, and with Jones's cordial encouragement he began the long series of scientific publications which so greatly influenced psychiatric progress. Claybury was the first municipal asylum to take private paying patients, under the Lunacy Act of 1890. Besides the ordinary asylum an annexe was started for patients unable to afford a private institution yet above the pauper class - "a private asylum under public control". The experiment was successful: an old country house - Claybury Hall - was reconditioned and provided with accommodation for fifty male patients, the surroundings being made as home-like as possible. This progressive step, taken by the LCC at the instigation of Sir William J Collins FRCS, has been copied by many other authorities. While at Claybury, Jones was nominated honorary secretary of the (Royal) Medico-psychological Association and served the office for ten years, receiving, when he resigned, an illuminated address from the council and nomination to the presidential chair. He was also secretary of the psychology section of the British Medical Association at the Newcastle meeting in 1893, and president of the same section at the Swansea meeting in 1903. With Frederick Eustace Batten, MD (1865-1918), he was joint secretary of the psychology section at the second international congress on school hygiene held in London in 1907. In 1932 he was president of the section of psychiatry at the Royal Society of Medicine. During his time at Claybury he organized the teaching of mental nurses, and this was the first asylum under the London County Council to begin special training of mental nurses by lectures and demonstrations from the medical staff. Previously no LCC nurse had sat for the certificate in nursing given by the Medico-psychological Association; it is now universal. In recognition of this improvement Armstrong-Jones was made a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. At Claybury much attention was also given to the employment of patients by what came to be called "occupational therapy". Many hundred standard roses were budded or grafted by patients for the gardens and courts, which they kept in order themselves. Another occupation was the making of shell-cases during the first world war. While he was at Claybury, Armstrong-Jones gave evidence with W McAdam Eccles, FRCS, before the Select committee of Parliament on physical deterioration; and at the request of the British Medical Association he gave evidence for it, with Sir Thomas Clouston, MD (1840-1915), before the Royal Commission on divorce and matrimonial causes in 1910. He was nominated a Justice of the Peace for Essex. He was appointed in the same period lecturer on mental diseases at St Bartholomew's; in this capacity he held demonstrations in the wards and laboratory at Claybury and continued them for fifteen years. He had already held similar positions at Westminster Hospital and at the postgraduate college attached to the West London Hospital, Hammersmith. He ultimately became consulting physician on mental diseases at St Bartholomew's. The University of Wales recognized his work by conferring on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in 1918. He resigned the post of medical superintendent at Claybury at the end of 1916, as he was beginning to feel the strain of twenty-five years' institutional work among the insane. The LCC asylums committee recognized his services by a special addition to his pension, while he received marks of esteem from the medical and lay staff who had served under him, and a special record of praise from the Board of Control. He was gazetted a Knight Bachelor in the New Year's honours of 1917. His zeal and administrative ability, no less than his urbanity and clinical skill, had won Claybury a world-wide reputation. During the war of 1914-18 he was the first consulting physician in mental diseases to the London command with the rank of temporary honorary major in the RAMC (T), his commission being dated 5 January 1917. His jurisdiction was extended to include the Aldershot command and he was promoted temporary lieutenant-colonel on 25 May 1918. He was also consulting physician to the American Red Cross Hospital at Alford House. For these services he was awarded the CBE (military) in 1919. From 1917 to 1927 he was Gresham professor of physic. In 1921 he was appointed by Lord Birkenhead to be one of the three Lord Chancellor's visitors in lunacy, his colleagues being Sir James Crichton-Browne, MD (1840-1938) and Lord Sandhurst. In connexion with his duties he travelled widely in Europe, Russia, and North Africa to study foreign asylums. He also served on the Archbishop (Lord Davidson) of Canterbury's special committee on spiritual healing, 1920-23. In 1925 he gave evidence about defective child offenders before the Home Office (Molony) committee on young offenders, on behalf of the Magistrates Association, of which he was the first founding member. He was nominated a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the counties of London and Carnarvonshire, and was High Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1929. He married in 1893 Margaret Elizabeth, elder daughter of Sir Owen Roberts, DCL, who was High Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1904. Sir Owen Roberts was Clerk of the Clothworkers' Company, a pioneer of technical education and one of the founders of Somerville College, Oxford; a scholarship is named after him at the Royal Free Hospital. Lady Armstrong-Jones was interested in charitable and social work. She was a governor of Westminster Hospital and of the Welsh Schools at Ashford, Middlesex, and a Dame of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Of their three children, the eldest, Elaine, married Colonel C E Wauchope, MC, Royal Artillery; the son Ronald became a barrister, and, like his father and grandfather, was High Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1936-37, and became Deputy Judge Advocate during the second world war; the younger daughter, Gwendolen, married the Hon Denys Buckley, youngest son of the first Lord Wrenbury (1845-1935). Armstrong-Jones died on 30 January 1943, at Plas Dinas, Carnarvon, aged 85, and was buried at Llanwnda. His wife and children survived him. A memorial service was held at St Bartholomew-the-Less on 9 February 1943, when W McAdam Eccles, FRCS gave the funeral oration. Lady Armstrong-Jones died on 2 May 1943. Armstrong-Jones was above middle height, of spare figure and somewhat military bearing. He was not only an excellent clinician and teacher, but a wise counsellor and a first-rate director and inspirer of other men's work. He was a man of decided views and often wrote letters to *The Times* and articles for the lay reviews as well as for professional journals. He furthered not a little the great advances in care and treatment of lunatics which took place during his life, for he was, at least on the administrative side, the master alienist of his day. His second brother, John Lloyd Thomas Jones (1862-1925), MRCS 1885, became a lieutenant-colonel in the Indian Medical Service and then assay master of the Indian mint at Bombay and Calcutta (see Crawford's *Roll of the IMS*, Bombay list No 1091, and *Brit med J*. 1925, 2, 1036). Another brother became head of a banking business in the east, and the youngest, David Fowden Jones, took a prominent part in Carnarvonshire affairs and unsuccessfully contested the county as a Conservative. His eldest sister married Robert Davies Evans, MRCP Edinburgh, High Sheriff and a JP of Merionethshire. Her son, Sir Thomas Carey-Evans, FRCS, married Olwen, elder daughter of David Lloyd George, PC, MP, OM. Publications:- *A textbook of mental and sick nursing*. Introduction by Sir W J Collins, FRCS London, 1907. Relation of insanity and epilepsy, in Allbutts' *System of medicine*, Vol. 8. *The growth of the mind* (Henderson Trust lecture). Edinburgh, 1929.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003782
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gunning, John (1773 - 1863)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2012-03-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372589372589
Occupation General surgeon Military surgeon
Details The nephew of John Gunning, Master of the Surgeons' Company (1789-1790). He began a distinguished career as a military surgeon by being appointed Surgeon's Mate on the Hospital Staff, not attached to a regiment, and on Nov 20th, 1793, was commissioned Staff-Surgeon under the command of the Earl of Moira. He received permanent rank as Staff-Surgeon on Sept 12th, 1799, and on Aug 13th, 1805, was superseded, having asked leave to resign on being ordered on foreign service. He was reinstated on June 9th, 1808, and on Sept 17th, 1812, rose to the rank of Deputy Inspector of Hospitals. In February, 1816, he was promoted Inspector of Hospitals (Continent of Europe only), and was placed on half pay on Oct 1st, 1816. His war service included the campaigns of Holland and Flanders (1793-1795), the Peninsular War, and Waterloo. Towards the close of the day at the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Raglan, Military Secretary to Wellington, was standing by the Duke's side, when he was wounded in the right elbow by a bullet from the roof of La Haye Sainte. The arm had to be amputated, and Gunning performed the operation. Raglan bore it without a word, and when it was ended called to the orderly: "Hallo! don't carry away that arm till I have taken off my ring" - a ring which his wife had given him. Gunning went to Paris with Wellington's army, and practised there after the conclusion of peace to the end of his life. He was nominally Surgeon to St George's Hospital from 1800-1823. On New Year's Day, 1863, he was having a dinner party. An attack of bronchitis prevented his receiving his friends on the day expected. His medical attendant thought it serious; but he got better, and on the Saturday was thought to be out of danger. On Sunday morning, Jan 11th, 1863, however, he expired in his arm-chair, without pain, and with scarcely any previous symptoms to denote his approaching end. His daughter, Mrs Bagshawe, the wife of the Queen's Counsel, and two of his grand-daughters were with him at the time of his death. He was then 90 years old, and was the senior member of the Royal College of Surgeons. He is noted by Lieut-Colonel Crawford as being one of the seven officers of the Army Medical Department on whom the CB (Mil) was conferred when medical officers were first made eligible for that honour in 1850.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000405
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hey, William II (1772 - 1844)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Bloxham, Robert ( - 1858)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372591372591
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised at Newport, Isle of Wight. He is described as ‘retired’ in 1858, and he probably died in that year. He was associated in his practice with his son, Robert William Bloxham (qv). He reduced the dislocation of the shoulder sustained by Sir Benjamin Brodie (qv), which many years later was followed by the new growth of which he died. The story is told by Sir William White Cooper (qv), who says: “About 1834 whilst staying in an hotel in the Isle of Wight I saw a carriage drive up, from which was lifted out a gentleman covered with mud and evidently in some pain, who was no other than B Brodie. He had been thrown from a pony and was suffering from dislocation of the shoulder. Mr Bloxham, a well-known practitioner of that day and place, came in and together we reduced the dislocation. Sir Benjamin said that he used to think lightly of dislocation of the shoulder, but he never should do so again.” Bloxham’s name occurs in an old notebook in which Brodie has preserved short notices of cases in his private practice which struck him as interesting. In March, 1844, Bloxham consulted Sir Benjamin in consequence of having temporarily lost the power of moving the muscles of one side of his face from having been close to a cannon when it was fired. The accident was exceptional, but it seems not to have entailed any permanent consequence.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000407
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cartwright, Richard ( - 1854)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Beckett, Thomas (1773 - 1856)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Woolriche, Stephen (1770 - 1856)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372594372594
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on June 3rd, 1770, became Surgeon's Mate, and on May 30th, 1794, was gazetted Surgeon to the 111th Foot. From March, 1798, to May 22nd, 1806, he was on half pay, when he exchanged into the 4th Foot. On June 18th, 1807, he was appointed Surgeon to the Staff. He was on active service in Holland in 1799, at Copenhagen in 1807, in the Peninsula 1812-1814, and was present at the Battle of Waterloo. He was promoted to Deputy Inspector of Hospitals on May 26th, 1814, and Brevet Inspector of Hospitals on Dec 9th, 1823. He retired on half pay on May 25th, 1828, and on July 22nd, 1830, was promoted to be Inspector-General of Hospitals. He was one of the seven officers of the Army Medical Department upon whom the CB (mil) was conferred for the first time in 1850. He lived in retirement at Qwatford Lodge, Bridgnorth, and died on Feb 29th, 1856.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000410
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Annesley, Sir James H [1] (1774 - 1847)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2016-01-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372595372595
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of the Honourable Marcus Annesley, born in County Down, Ireland, about 1774, and educated at Trinity College and the College of Surgeons in Dublin, also at the Windmill Street School in London. On April 29th, 1799, he received a nomination in the medical service of the HEIC on the Madras side from Sir Walter Farquhar, and arrived in India in December, 1800. He was at once appointed to the Trichinopoly Corps and saw hard fighting with the field force in Southern India during the whole of the year 1801. He served with a battalion of native infantry at various stations from 1802-1805, when he was invalided home. Two years later he returned from England and was appointed Garrison Surgeon at Masulipatam, where he made himself well acquainted with native diseases and their treatment. He took careful notes of every case which came under his care, recording the symptoms, the remedies used, and the results. Annesley was placed in medical charge of the 78th British Regiment during the Java expedition in 1811. He had the satisfaction of landing 1070 men fit for duty out of a strength of 1100, and the field hospital at Cornalis being in an unsatisfactory condition, Annesley, although the junior officer, was ordered to take command, and it is on record that in ten days he had the hospital in proper order, with its 1400 or 1500 patients clothed, victualled, and treated. He was soon ordered back to Madras to superintend a field hospital established by Government for the native troops who had lost their health in the expedition to the Isle of France and Java. His administration proved so successful that he was publicly thanked by the Commander-in-Chief for "the ability, exertion and humane attention displayed by Surgeon Annesley, equally honourable to his professional talents and public zeal, which His Excellency trusts will entitle him to the good opinion and favourable notice of government". Native troops had been employed upon foreign service, and as a result of Annesley's treatment the Madras Sepoys were said to be willing to volunteer for any service in any part of the world. In 1812 Annesley joined the Madras European Regiment, with which he remained until 1817, when the last Mahratta and Pindaree War began. Annesley was appointed Superintending Surgeon to the advanced divisions of the Army and served in the field until the end of 1818, being repeatedly mentioned in general orders for his zeal and ability. He was appointed Garrison Surgeon at Fort St George on his return to Madras, and placed in charge of the General Hospital, where he remained until he was invalided home in 1824. On leaving India on furlough the Admiralty presented him with a piece of plate of the value of one hundred guineas "as a mark of the sense their Lordships entertained of his gratuitous medical attendance on the officers and men of His Majesty's ships in Madras Roads, 1823". Annesley returned to India in 1829, and was immediately appointed to examine the Medical Reports of former years with the view to selecting such cases as might tend to throw light upon the diseases of India. He made a digest of the Reports from 1786 to 1829, and also reported upon the climate, healthiness, and production of the hills in the Madras presidency. The digest occupied twelve volumes and was accompanied by four volumes of medical observations, all of the highest value. The digest had been made without cost to the Government, but on its completion the Court of Directors of the HEIC voted Annesley an honorarium of 5000 rupees. He was appointed a member of the Medical Board in 1833, and in 1838 was permitted to retire from the Honourable Company's service on the pension of his rank, having served in India for the long period of thirty-seven years. On his return to England he received the honour of knighthood in [2] 1844; he was also elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. During his later years he lived at 6 Albany, Piccadilly. He died at Florence on Dec 14th, 1847. Annesley did good service to the medical profession by his zeal, tact, and administrative ability, for he founded the tradition upon which was built the high reputation afterwards gained by the Indian Medical Service both amongst the Europeans and the native population of India. Publications:- Sketches of the Most Prevalent Diseases of India, Comprising a Treatise on Epidemic Cholera of the East, London, 1825, 2nd ed., 1828 [3]. Annesley discusses cholera with extensive first-hand information and makes some inquiries on the historical side in regard to the disease. The sketches include "Topographical, and Statistical Reports of the Diseases most prevalent in the different stations and divisions of the Army under the Madras Presidency", and "Practical Observations on the Effects of Calomel on the Mucous Surface and Secretions of the Alimentary Canal; and on the Use of this Remedy in Disease, more Particularly in the Diseases of India". For these sketches he received the Monthyon Prize, and the section on cholera was translated into German by Gustav Himly, Hannover, in 1831. Researches into the Causes, Nature and Treatment of the more Prevalent Diseases of India, and of Warm Climates Generally, 4to, 2 vols., with 40 coloured engravings, London, 1828. The work is rendered unwieldy by its wealth of detail. [4] [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] The 'H' is deleted and the following added - *Crawford's Roll of I.M.S;* Madras list no 435; [2] Crawford says knighted 13 May 1844 'F.R.S. 1840'; [3] 3rd edition 1841; [4] *Digest of Madras Medical Reports* 1788-1829 (Crawford) & ? above p.29; Portrait in College Collection]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000411
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Albert, George Frederick (1771 - 1853)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2016-01-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372596372596
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born Dec 18th 1771, and became an army surgeon. He was gazetted Staff Surgeon on Aug 30th, 1799, was placed on half pay in 1802, and restored to full pay on March 17th, 1803, when he exchanged to the cavalry depot at Maidstone. He was promoted Deputy Inspector of Hospitals on Nov 4th, 1813, and was put on half pay on Nov 25th, 1815. Practised at Cheltenham and at various times at St George's Terrace, Hyde Park, and in the Isle of Wight. He died on April 5th, 1853. Albert's thesis for the Edinburgh MD may have been [1] *Quœdam de Morbis Ætatum* (8vo, Edinburgh, 1823), but he is not given credit for it as a thesis in the Index Catalogue, USA Army. [Amendment from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] 'may have been' deleted and 'was' added]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000412
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Parkin, Henry (1779 - 1849)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Kidd, Thomas (1777 - 1849)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372598372598
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Aug 25th, 1777. He was Regimental Mate in the 49th Foot from June 17th, 1796, to Jan 23rd, 1797, and Surgeon's Mate on the Hospital Staff, not attached to a regiment, from Jan 24th to April 5th, 1797. He was gazetted Assistant Surgeon to the 13th Regiment of Foot on April 6th, 1797, was transferred to the 14th Dragoons on March 15th, 1799, and became Surgeon to the 4th Battalion of the 60th Foot on April 25th, being transferred to the 63rd Foot on July 25th. He became Staff Surgeon on Aug 27th, 1803, and Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, afterwards Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals (Brevet), on July 17th, 1817. The last-mentioned grade was abolished from 1804-1830, but the rank Deputy Inspector-General (Brevet) seems to have been conferred during that period. Kidd was again gazetted Deputy Inspector-General on Jan 27th, 1837, and became Inspector-General of Hospitals on Dec 16th, 1845, on which date he retired on half pay. He had served in the Peninsular War in 1810-1813, and had devoted his life to the service of his country in various parts of the globe, being stationed at one time at Corfu. He was held in high esteem by his brother officers. He died from bronchitis after a few hours’ illness on Dec 24th, 1849.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000414
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Farrants, Robert James (1810 - 1870)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Fawssett, Frederick (1807 - 1882)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-12-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001600-E001699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373868373868
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College and Hospital, London, and practised at Wisbech in partnership with David Charles Nicholl, MRCS. He was Surgeon to the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteers, and was for many years Surgeon to Wisbech Gaol. He died at Wisbech on December 18th, 1882.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001685
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Back, Ivor Gordon (1879 - 1951)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Bailey, Robert Cozens (1868 - 1938)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Baldwin, Aslett (1860 - 1945)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Baldwin, Gerald Robert (1868 - 1942)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Langlais, Franz (1942 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-16 2014-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373953373953
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Frantz Langlais was chairman of the orthopaedic department at University Hospital Sud, Rennes, France. He was born in 1942 in Plouër-sur-Rance, Brittany, the son of a general practitioner. He trained in orthopaedic surgery in Paris under Robert Merle d'Aubigné, Jean Gossett and Michel Postel, and then joined the University Hospital of Rennes. In 1979 he became professor of orthopaedic surgery, and in 1983 he was appointed chairman of the orthopaedic and trauma department. At Rennes he encouraged younger colleagues to develop specialised areas, including bone banking, arthroscopic surgery and microsurgery. His clinical work focused on arthroplasty of the hip and knee, particularly revision arthroplasty, and also on oncological surgery and allografts. He was in charge of the laboratory of experimental surgery at the University of Rennes and scientific director of the biomaterials and biomechanics laboratory. He published widely, in English and French, and was a lecturer or visiting professor in more than 40 countries. He was a member of numerous French and international organisations, including the French Académie de Chirurgie and Académie Nationale de Médecine, the International Hip Society and the French, European and North American Societies of Musculo-skeletal Oncology and of Orthopaedic Research. He became a fellow of Royal College of Surgeons in 2003. In 1989 he was president of the International Society of Limb Salvage and of the European Association for Musculoskeletal Transplantation in 1992. When he died he was president-elect of the French Society of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery and of EFORT, the European Federation of National Orthopaedic and Trauma Associations, of which he had been general secretary and then vice president. Frantz Langlais was killed in a car accident on 16 June 2007 as he was driving home from a postgraduate teaching session in La Baule, west France. He was 65. He was survived by his wife Mireille and their two sons Jonathan and Stéphane.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001770
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lee, John Patrick (1946 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-12-16 2014-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373954373954
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details John Lee was one of the world's most eminent ophthalmologists. A consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital for 25 years, he was also the eighth president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He was particularly known for his use of 'botox' or botulinum toxin in the management of strabismus and blepharospasm (uncontrollable blinking), and started the first clinic in the UK specifically for the use of this toxin in eye disorders. He was born on 25 October 1946 in Kingston upon Thames of immigrant Irish parents, both of whom were teachers. He was the oldest of 11 siblings, and had seven sisters and three brothers. He was educated at St George's College, Weybridge, an independent co-educational Roman Catholic school, where he excelled and gained five A-levels - one of which he studied on his own, as the school did not allow pupils reading science subjects time to study English. Needless to say, he gained excellent grades in this 'extra' subject. In order to buy his school uniform and help the family finances, John Lee worked at a garage in his spare time. At the age of 17, he was accepted by University College, Oxford, for his preclinical studies. Admitting that he never took these studies seriously, he took full advantage of the many other attractions of university life. Enjoying collegiate existence, he rarely missed an undergraduate party, and it was at one of these that he met his future wife, Arabella Rose. They married in 1971 and had two sons. Strangely for someone who admitted he neglected his undergraduate studies, his depth of general knowledge was so good that he represented his college on the TV quiz *University Challenge*. He could also complete *The Times* crossword at an enviable speed, and possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of film and music. He proceeded to the Westminster Hospital for his clinical training. After qualifying, John considered entering general medicine as a career, but after a brief spell working in infectious diseases, he changed his mind and his choice of specialties - happily for ophthalmology. So began his formal training in ophthalmology, first at the Oxford Eye Hospital, and then back in London at Moorfields, where he trained with Peter Fells. He then obtained a fellowship to study in the USA at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Florida with John Flynn. Founded by Edward W D Norton, a neuro-ophthalmologist, retinal specialist, administrator and teacher, and named after Bascom H Palmer, an ophthalmologist who settled in Miami in the 1920s, the Institute has been consistently ranked as the best eye hospital in the USA. In 1981 he visited Alan Scott at the Smith-Kettlewell Research Institute in San Francisco to study a new treatment for strabismus using botulinum toxin. He returned from California with some bottles of the toxin tucked in his hand baggage, which he then stored in his fridge at home. A friend who was invited round for a drink helped himself to a beer, but was advised not to touch nor drink from the opaque bottles! In 1983 John Lee took up a post as a university lecturer at Moorfields and the Institute of Ophthalmology, and was appointed as a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital two years later, holding appointments at both the High Holborn and City Road branches. At Moorfields, John developed a first-class service for patients with complex strabismus problems, and he inevitably attracted patients from across the UK. In Harley Street he saw also patients from many other countries. He rapidly gained recognition in the ophthalmological world for his technical brilliance and outstanding knowledge. Easily identifiable with his unruly crop of white hair and short beard, John Lee was often referred to as 'the old fellow' by candidates at examinations, although he was much younger than his fellow examiners. This facial feature, together with his rapid speech, made him a natural and popular choice for caricature, particularly in residents' reviews and shows. He wrote over 200 papers and many chapters in books. Having championed the use of botulinum toxin in strabismus, he published 45 papers on this important topic alone. John was a brilliant and inspirational teacher, and combined technical excellence with his unique ability to communicate. In constant demand as an authoritative and entertaining speaker, his 'pearls of wisdom', mixed with many humorous asides, were always delivered at high speed with a hint of an Irish accent. He taught at the American Academy of Ophthalmology for 20 years and organised the Moorfields squint grand rounds for nearly as long. Always approachable, he was keen to encourage young doctors, and there was no trace of snobbery or 'the great man syndrome' about him. He committed himself to improving the training of ophthalmologists in underdeveloped countries, and worked with Project Orbis, the international charity which works to prevent blindness. He taught strabismus surgery in Uttah Pradesh, India, and in Bangladesh, as well as imparting his knowledge to many of the leading surgeons in Europe and North America. In 2009 he was elected president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the first to be elected by fellow members rather than members of council. He was already proving himself to be effective, pragmatic and well-liked. He also served as president of the ophthalmology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the International Strabismus Association. Held in high regard by his colleagues in the USA, he was the first European to be elected to the Association for Research in Strabismus. John Lee managed to combine a very busy and successful professional life with a wide range of interests outside medicine, including music, theatre and the arts. He attended concerts with Arabella several times a week and, although classical music was a passion, he was equally at home with rock. He became a fan of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, which plays baroque, classical and romantic music, mainly at the Southbank Centre in London. He was interested in a wide variety of literature, from James Joyce's *Ulysses* to science fiction. Proud of his Irish roots, he loved to relax and spend time in the west of Ireland, where he enjoyed fly fishing. John Lee died suddenly on 8 October 2010, aged 63, while attending a conference in the USA at Traverse City, Michigan, leaving his many friends, colleagues and patients in a state of shock. He was survived by his wife, Arabella, and their two sons. A research fellowship, organised by the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, has been established in his honour. The fundraising events included 'John Lee quiz nights'; extremely appropriate in view of John Lee's wide general knowledge and his 'quizzical' approach to many aspects of life.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001771
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cockle, John (1813 - 1900)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-06-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373394373394
Occupation General surgeon
Details Became a member of the Staff of the Royal Free Hospital early in life, but in the absence of a medical school there, he joined the Grosvenor Place School of Medicine, where for a time he held the post of Lecturer on the Principles and Practice of Medicine. His colleagues here were Spencer Wells, B Ward Richardson, and William Adams. He then specialized in diseases of the chest, and was appointed Physician to the Margaret Street Infirmary for Consumption and to the City Dispensary. At the Royal Free Hospital he was for many years Senior Physician. He had numerous valuable drawings made of patients suffering from aneurysm of the root of the neck, and in his researches found the record of two cases of apparent cure of aneurysm of the arch due to obliteration of the left carotid. When Christopher Heath (qv) used distal ligature in 1865, Cockle became still more convinced that this method offered relief in aortic aneurysm, and in 1872, a suitable case presenting itself in his practice, he induced Heath to tie the left carotid in the neck. The patient made a complete recovery and lived for four years. The specimen is in the College of Surgeons' Museum. Cockle was one of the few physicians in his day who also held the RCS Fellowship. His practice at 63 Brook Street was extensive, and he afterwards moved, before his final retirement, to 8 Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, where he practised in the eighties of the nineteenth century. He came up daily to his practice from his country residence at West Molesey, Surrey. Increasing deafness caused him to retire finally about the year 1860, and he lived quietly with his daughter at Molesey till his death on November 14th, 1900. At the time of his death Cockle was Consulting Physician to the Royal Free Hospital and Examining Physician to the Royal National Hospital for Consumption, and had been Hon Physician to the Warehousemen, Clerks and Drapers' Schools. He was President of the Medical Society of London in 1879; a corresponding member of the Society of Science and Medicine, Berlin; corresponding member of the Philosophical Society of Queensland; a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Linnean Society. Publications: *An Essay on the Poison of the Cobra di Capello*, 8vo, London, 1852. Translation of Georg Weber's *Clinical Handbook of Auscultation and Percussion*, 8vo, London, 1854. *Lectures upon the Historic Literature of the Pathology of the Heart and Great Vessels*, Part I: From the earliest authentic records to the close of the Arabian epoch, 12mo, London, 1860. *On Insufficiency of the Aortic Valves in Connection with Sudden Death*: with notes historical and critical, 8vo, London, 1861; 2nd ed., 1880. *On Intrathoracic Cancer*: Part I, Introductory, and Historic Sketch; Part II, Contributions to the Pathology of the Disease, 8vo, London, 1865. *Thoughts on the Present Theories of the Algide Stage of Cholera*, 8vo, London, 1866. *The Oration on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Medical Society of London, being a Review of some recent Doctrines concerning the Mind*, 8vo, London, 1874. *Contributions to Cardiac Pathology*, 12mo, London, 1880. "The Influence of the Discharges and Nervous Shock on the Collapse of Cholera," 12mo, London, 1867; reprinted from *Med. Press and Circular*. "On Clinical Method." Introductory Address at the Royal Free Hospital, London, 1877. *Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Aortic Aneurysm*, being in part a reprint of some papers in the *Lancet* on the same subject, published in the years 1869 and 1872, 8vo, London, 1877. "Past and Present Phases of Physic." Introductory Address at the Grosvenor Place School of Medicine, London, 1859. "On Spontaneous Gangrene connected with Disease of the Heart and Great Vessels." - *Med. Mirror*, 1864, i, 821, 400. "On Mammary Abscess during Lactation." - *Med. Circular*, 1853, iii, 91.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001211
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rickham, Peter Paul (1917 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372305372305
Occupation Paediatric surgeon
Details Peter Rickham was one of a small group of pioneering surgeons who helped to establish the specialty of paediatric surgery in the UK. He was born in Berlin on 21 June 1917, where his father, Otto Louis Reichenheim, was professor of physics at Berlin University. His mother was Susanne née Huldschinsky. Peter was educated at the Kanton School and the Institute Rosenberg, St Galen, Switzerland. He then went to Queen’s College, Cambridge, and on to St Bartholomew’s for his clinical training, where he won the Butterworth prize for surgery. After junior posts, he joined the RAMC, where he had a distinguished career, taking part in the Normandy invasion and the war in the Far East, reaching the rank of Major. On demobilisation, he trained in paediatric surgery under Sir Denis Browne at Great Ormond Street and Isobella Forshall at the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool. After a year as Harkness travelling fellow, spent in Boston and Philadelphia, he was appointed consultant paediatric surgeon at Alder Hey in 1952. He became director of paediatric surgical studies in 1965 and in 1971 was appointed professor of paediatric surgery at the University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, where he remained until his retirement in 1983. He was intensely involved with research. His MS thesis concerned the metabolic response of the newborn to surgery. Later he devised the Rickham reservoir, an integral part of the Holter ventricular drainage system for hydrocephalus. His textbook, *Neonatal surgery* (London, Butterworths, 1969), remained the standard text for many years. At Alder Hey, he set up the first neonatal surgical unit in the world. It became a benchmark for similar units around the world, and resulted in an improvement in the survival of newborn infants undergoing surgery from 22 per cent to 74 per cent. He was Hunterian Professor at the College in 1964 and 1967, was honoured with the Denis Browne gold medal of the British Asosciation of Paediatic Surgeons, the medal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Chevalier Legion d’Honneur in 1979 and the Commander’s Cross (Germany) in 1988. Peter was a founder member of the Association of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, the European Union of Paediatric Surgeons and of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons, serving as its President from 1967 to 1968. He was a cofounder and editor for Europe of the *Journal of Pediatric Surgery*. Innovative, forceful and outspoken, he was passionately involved with his specialty. Shortly after his appointment in Liverpool he became so exasperated by the local paediatricians’ use of barium to diagnose oesophageal atresia that at Christmas 1954 he sent each one a card enclosing a radio-opaque catheter with which to make the diagnosis safely. He took great pride in the achievements of his many pupils who went on to become leaders in their specialty. He married Elizabeth Hartley in 1938 and they had a son, David, and two daughters, Susan and Mary-Anne. Elizabeth died in 1998 and he married for a second time, to Lynn, who nursed him through his final long illness. He had five grandchildren. He died on 17 November 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000118
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Roddie, Robert Kenneth (1923 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Ross, Sir James Keith (1927 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2007-09-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372307372307
Occupation Cardiac surgeon
Details James Keith Ross was a leading cardiac surgeon, and one of the team that performed the first cardiac transplant in Britain. He was born in London on 9 May 1927. His father, Sir James Paterson Ross, was later to become professor of surgery at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Surgeon to the Royal Household and President of the College. His mother, Marjorie Burton Townsend, had been a surgical ward sister at Bart’s. Keith was profoundly influenced by his maternal grandfather, Frederick William Townsend, who taught him to work in wood, a practical education in hand-eye coordination, which laid the foundation of his exceptional surgical skill. Another influence was his godfather, Sir Thomas Dunhill, who, whilst recuperating from a hernia repair, gave Keith a trout rod and insisted on demonstrating it whilst in his pyjamas in the middle of Harley Street. Keith attended the Hall School, Hampstead, and then St Paul’s, where he was the senior scholar. He went on to Middlesex Hospital medical school, where he won the Asher scholarship in anatomy and the Lyell medal in surgery. Qualifying in 1950, he became house surgeon to Thomas Holmes Sellors, won the Hallet prize in the primary FRCS and then did his National Service in the Royal Naval Reserve, mostly at sea. On returning to the Middlesex, he passed the FRCS in 1956 and began a training in cardiothoracic surgery at the Brompton Hospital and as a Fulbright scholar with Frank Gerbode in San Francisco, where his research into the fate of grafts in the heart led to a thesis for his masters in surgery and a Hunterian professorship. He was promoted to senior registrar in 1961 at the Middlesex and Harefield hospitals, and to part-time consultant at Harefield in 1964, and later at the Central Middlesex and Middlesex hospitals. In 1967, he gave up these posts, which involved a good deal of stressful travelling, to join Donald Ross at the National Heart Hospital. He was by now at the top of the tree, recognised both in Britain and abroad. His personal series of 100 consecutive homograft aortic valve replacements with only two hospital deaths was, at the time, unrivalled. It was with surprise that his contemporaries learned that he had moved to Southampton, though those who knew him better understood that he felt he was needed there, and it was his duty to go. Arriving in Southampton in 1972, he was joined the following year by James Monro, who had just returned from a year with Barrett-Boyes in New Zealand, and brought expertise in paediatric cardiac surgery. Together they built up a first rate team, accepting only the highest standards and insisting on a strict audit, both of the short-term results and of quality of life after cardiac surgery. The reputation of the department attracted young surgeons from abroad, in particular from Boston, to work in his unit and to support this he organised a cardiac surgical fellowship. Once the unit was well established, he started a second open heart programme at King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst. He was postgraduate dean and then President of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons. He was elected to the Council of the College in 1986. He was awarded a fellowship in 1989 and the Bruce medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He succeeded his father to the baronetcy in 1980. Keith was a man of great personal charm, with a high sense of duty, fortified by a solid faith. He was perhaps at his happiest whilst fishing, be it on a Highland salmon river or on the Test. He was also a keen sailor and woodworker, and a talented artist – painting took up much of his time once he had retired. Twice he had pictures accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition and, to his glee, sold them both. In 1956, he married Jacqueline Annella Clarke, a Middlesex Hospital nurse. They had four children – a son, Andrew Charles Paterson, an officer in the Royal Marines who succeeds him as third baronet, and three daughters (Susan Wendy, Janet Mary and Anne Townsend). There are eight grandchildren. In 2000, he underwent an operation by his old team to replace his aortic valve. Ironically, it was a procedure he had pioneered. He made an excellent recovery, but nearly a year later developed a dissecting aneursym of the aortic arch: this too was treated with initial success, but he died suddenly on 18 February 2003 in his old hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000120
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ross, William Mackie (1922 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-11 2014-06-06
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373762373762
Occupation Radiologist
Details William Mackie 'Bill' Ross was head of radiotherapy at Newcastle General Hospital and a former president of the Royal College of Radiologists. He was born in Glasgow on 14 December 1922. His father, Harry Caithness Ross, was a professional golfer in Durham; his mother, Catherine Ross née Mackie, was the daughter of a gardener. Ross was educated at Neville's Cross Primary School and then Durham Johnston School, where he gained a state scholarship to study medicine at King's College, University of Durham. He qualified MB BS in 1945, after following the shortened wartime course. He held house surgeon and house physician posts at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, and was subsequently a registrar and then a senior registrar in radiotherapy at Shotley Bridge Hospital. He gained his diploma in radiotherapy in 1948. During his training he was particularly influenced by John Hamilton Barclay and Christopher John Lester Thurgar. From 1951 to 1953, he carried out his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, as a specialist in radiology to the British troops in Austria. In 1953 he was appointed as a consultant in radiotherapy in Newcastle, and continued in this post until his retirement in 1987. From 1973 he was consultant in charge of the Northern Regional Radiotherapy Centre, and also an honorary lecturer and head of the department of radiotherapy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was also chairman of the medical staff committee at Newcastle. During his long association with radiotherapy at Newcastle, Ross helped ensure an effective service was delivered to patients in all parts of the region, in particular to the more peripheral districts. To this end, he was instrumental in developing smaller units in Cleveland and Cumbria, which retained links to the larger Newcastle base. Throughout his career, Ross was involved in clinical trials, including the King's/Cambridge breast cancer trial and the British National Lymphoma Investigation. With the backing of the North of England Cancer Research Campaign, he also developed an oncology centre at Newcastle General Hospital. Ross was president of the northern council of the BMA (on two occasions), president of the British Institute of Radiology, the section of radiotherapy of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the North of England Surgical Society. From 1983 to 1986 he was president of the Royal College of Radiologists. He then became secretary of the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges (later to become the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges). From 1985 to 1989, Ross was chairman of section of radiotherapy of the European Association of Radiology (EAR). He then became treasurer of EAR, remaining in post through the organisation's transition to become the European Society of Radiology and during the establishment of the European Congress of Radiology. In 1993 he was awarded the Society's Boris Rajewsky medal. Ross served with distinction in the Territorial Army, becoming an honorary colonel in charge of 201(N) General Hospital. Outside medicine, he enjoyed car rallying. He was a member of local motor clubs, and a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Once he retired and had returned to Durham, he joined the local branches of Probus and the National Trust. In April 1948 he married Mary Burt, a primary schoolteacher. They had three children - Heather, Hilary and Duncan - and five grandchildren. They celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2008, but Mary died later that same year, in November. William Mackie Ross died on 15 March 2011, aged 88, after a short illness.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001579
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Richardson, John Wilberforce (1930 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Norman Kirby
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2015-04-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373763373763
Occupation Military surgeon
Details John Richardson had a distinguished career in the Royal Naval Medical Service as a surgeon serving at home and at sea. He was professor of naval surgery and later dean of naval medicine. He was born on 4 July 1930 in Ilford, Essex, the son of Cotsford Wilberforce Richardson, a science master, and Ethel Emma née Oram, a housewife. Through his father he was a direct descendant of William Wilberforce, the British politician who campaigned to end slavery. Richardson attended Barking Abbey School and then University College London, qualifying MB BS in 1953. Conscripted in 1955, he took a short service commission and converted to a full career commission the following year. He served at sea on HMS *Daring* and was then posted to the Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) Haslar to start surgical training. He passed the FRCS in 1961. He was graded as a surgical specialist in 1962 and as a senior specialist in 1965. Further service at sea on HMS *Albion* and HMS *Centaur* followed. From 1962 to 1963, as a lieutenant commander, he was leader of the first naval surgical team in Brunei and Borneo. He returned to RNH Plymouth and was then posted overseas, as a surgeon captain and consultant surgeon to RNH Gibraltar. In 1969 he returned to RNH Haslar as an adviser in surgery to the Royal Navy, and six years later he was appointed as a surgical tutor at RNH Plymouth. In the same year, 1975, he went to sea as a surgeon aboard HMS *Hermes*, the aircraft carrier. In 1977 he was appointed professor of naval surgery at RNH Haslar, a joint chair with the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal Naval College of Medicine. This was a period when the concept of joint medical services was developing. The RAMC, RAF and Royal Navy medical services met regularly to discuss issues relating to military surgery and inter-service cooperation. John Richardson played a valuable role in increasing effective planning between the services. He was appointed as a surgeon commodore (one star rank) on becoming dean of naval medicine in 1983. The Defence Medical Services Postgraduate Council was constituted in 1983 and he served as chairman until 1985. He had been the naval member of the British military medical delegation to China in 1979. In 1980 he was appointed an officer of the Order of St John. Following this, he conducted the 1981 defence review for the medical director general. In 1982 he was appointed as an honorary surgeon to HM The Queen. In October 1986 he left the service. In his spare time he was a keen sailor. He built a wooden 22-foot boat with six berths with the aid of his children. He was a member of the Royal Yachting Association and the Joint Services Sailing Club. Other interests included genealogy and photography. After his service in Gibraltar, he developed an interest in the stamps of that country. In January 1954 he married Cecilia Elizabeth Reid, a nurse. They had five children - John (a solicitor), Alistair (a marine engineer), Graham (an accountant), Cecilia (a general practitioner) and Hilary (a teacher). John Richardson died on 12 December 2008. He was 78.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001580
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Riddle, Peter Riversdale (1933 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2013-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373764373764
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Peter Riddle was a well-known urologist who worked all his consultant life in London. He was emeritus surgeon at University College London and at St Peter's Hospital, and had been sub-dean at the Institute of Urology. He was born on 1 September 1933. His father, Leonard, was an assurance broker and his mother, Beatrice Helen Valentine née Colyer Fergusson, a housewife. He had at least two medical forebears. His great-great grandfather, Sir William Fergusson, became president of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1870 and was Serjeant-Surgeon to HM Queen Victoria. The second medical ancestor was John Coakley Lettsom, a Quaker physician and philanthropist, who founded the Medical Society of London in 1773. Peter was educated privately at Colet house, the preparatory school to St Paul's School. He progressed through the junior to the senior school, where he won academic prizes in languages and gained colours in athletics, and boxed for the school team. Following his illustrious forebears, Peter went into medicine, studying first at King's College, London, and then gained an entrance exhibition in anatomy and physiology to St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner. He participated to the full as social secretary of the medical school and continued his pugilistic activities in the first VII boxing team. Peter qualified in 1957 and became a house surgeon at St George's Hospital to Sir Marriott F Nicholls, a general surgeon with wide interests including urology, who was elected president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM). Following further house appointments at St George's and University College Hospital, Peter carried out his National Service as a captain in the RAMC. He then became a research fellow and a senior registrar at St Mary's Hospital, before undertaking a resident surgical officer post at St Peter's Hospital, London. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon at St Peter's and was sub-dean at the Institute of Urology. He also worked for many years at St George's Hospital until it merged with St James' Hospital, Balham. He strongly disapproved of this merger, which prompted him to resign from his post. From 1974 for a few years he was on the staff of the Central Middlesex Hospital, replacing J D Fergusson. Peter continued on the staff of the Royal Masonic Hospital until he retired. He was an honorary consultant to the Army and gave long service to the War Pensions Appeals Committee. He was a regional adviser at the Royal College of Surgeons for many years and was a lecturer on fellowship courses organised at Lincoln's Inn Fields. He published widely over the years starting in 1963 and wrote some 40 papers on urological malignancy and operative surgery. He contributed to several textbooks, including those by Rodney Smith and Charles Rob, and also wrote chapters in three editions of R M Kirk's book on surgery. He was a regular attender at the meetings of the urology section of the RSM, serving on the council and as secretary. He was also on the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. In honour of John Coakley Lettsom, Peter served on the council of the Medical Society of London, as secretary and then as vice president. He was also a director of St Peter's Trust for Kidney, Bladder and Prostate Research. Outside of medicine, Peter had a great interest in restoring and running vintage cars, his favourite being a 'bull-nosed Morris'. In his earlier days he was a keen squash player, but admitted that, when playing golf, his handicap was rather high. Painting was a later interest and for many years he enjoyed skiing, particularly at the winter 'uro-ski' meetings of the section of urology of the RSM. These annual events of 'urological fellowship' were started by Ken Owen of St Mary's Hospital when members and their wives visited Obergurgl. The meetings combined science and exercise on the ski slopes. In-house morning discussions and lectures were followed by skiing (or walking) until early evening. Peter had more than his fair share of medical problems, of which he made light, including a nephrectomy, parotid surgery and radiotherapy, artificial hip replacements and coronary artery by-pass surgery. Prone to vascular problems, he lost the sight in one eye, but wore a black patch and continued to live a normal life. Peter's marriage to Kitty née Berkley, by whom he had a son, Jonathan, was dissolved. Jonathan has a son, William, and lives in an isolated part of Wales. When living in retirement near Stonehenge, Peter met Rosemary ('Rosie') Page, whom he had first known when he was a house surgeon at St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, and she was a staff nurse. They fell in love and married in 1995, and Rosie and Peter shared many happy years. Peter was an excellent stepfather to her twins, Jay and Maria, and also to her daughter, Annalisa. Together they maintained a large garden and Peter continued painting to a high standard in watercolours and oil. On his second marriage he became a Roman Catholic. He died peacefully on 1 January 2011, aged 77.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001581
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Scott, Daphne Mary (1919 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2014-06-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373765373765
Occupation Medical Officer
Details Daphne Mary Scott was a medical officer for Family Planning Association (FPA) clinics in Croydon, Westminster and Oxted. She was born in Ealing, London, on 2 April 1919, the elder daughter of Sir Harold Richard Scott, a civil servant, and Ethel Mary Scott née Golledge. Scott's father was in charge of civil defence in London during the Second World War, and later became commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and then chairman of HM Prison Commissioners. She was educated at Bridge House, Tadworth, Sunny Hill School, Bruton, and Roedean, and went on to study medicine at St Andrews University. She won year medals for botany and zoology, and qualified in 1943. Whilst a student she represented her university at lacrosse and swimming. During the Second World War Scott was an assistant in general practice in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. From 1948 to 1950 she was a house officer at North Middlesex Hospital. In 1950 she was an assistant demonstrator in anatomy at St Thomas's Hospital, and then a senior house officer at Leicester Royal Infirmary. She went on to become an approved speaker, teacher and trainer for the FPA. She gained her FPA training certificate in 1961. Outside medicine, she enjoyed walking and hill climbing, gardening, botany and handicrafts. In 1953 she married. Her husband was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a GP surgeon in Oxted. They had two daughters. She died on 11 December 2007, aged 88.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001582
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Savage, Christopher Smallwood (1915 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2013-07-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373767373767
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Christopher Savage was a consultant ENT surgeon at the Chelmsford and Essex Hospital, and the Southend General Hospital, where he developed a special interest in microsurgery of the ear. Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 21 November 1915, he was part of the third generation of a family of surgeons. His father, Ernest Smallwood Savage, who gained his FRCS in 1896, was a gynaecologist at Birmingham and Wolverhampton. His grandfather, Thomas Savage, who was awarded the FRCS in 1869, was a professor of gynaecology in Birmingham. Christopher Savage's mother Constance was a housewife. Savage was educated at West House School, Edgbaston, Marlborough College, Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, and then the London Hospital. He managed to do his pre-registration house jobs at the Haymeads Hospital, Bishop's Stortford, before serving as a surgeon lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve on HMS *Havelock* on the North Atlantic convoys. At the end of the Second World War he became a supernumerary registrar at the London Hospital, during which time he gained experience in general surgery and otolaryngology with Charles Keogh, Alan Bowen Davies and Johan Lindahl. Their influence led him to become first assistant to the aural department at the London from 1948 to 1952. He contracted polio in 1953, but fortunately made a near complete recovery. In 1949 he was appointed to his first consultant post, in Chelmsford, and, in 1953, he was also made a consultant at Southend. Among his consultant colleagues he was respected for his hard work, humour and principles. He retired in April 1979. He continued to sail at the Blackwater Sailing Club and took up woodcarving and fly fishing. He died from pneumonia on 10 December 2007 at the age of 92. He was survived by his wife Jill née Dawe, whom he married in April 1951, and his three children. His sons James and Robert have continued the family tradition, becoming a general practitioner and a consultant orthopaedic surgeon respectively. His daughter became a physiotherapist. Three of his seven grandchildren have also become doctors.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001584
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robson, Peter Napier (1923 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2014-06-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373768373768
Occupation General surgeon
Details Peter Napier Robson was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. He was born in Newcastle on 5 November 1923, the son of Hubert Napier Robson, a company director, and Isabella Alice Robson née Thompson, the daughter of a master mariner. He attended preparatory school at Seascale, Cumberland, and then Shrewsbury School. He went on to study medicine at King's College, University of Durham, qualifying in 1946. He was a house surgeon and a senior registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, before he was appointed as a consultant. He listed John Brumwell and C G Irwin as surgeons who had influenced him during his training. Outside medicine, he enjoyed yachting and was interested in marine biology. In 1950 he married Jacqueline Elliot, who also qualified MB BS. They had two daughters. He died on 22 January 2008, aged 84.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001585
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Brookes, Andrew Good (1814 - 1894)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Colgate, Robert (1816 - 1904)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Brookes, William Philpot (1819 - 1865)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373160373160
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College and Hospital, where he was for five years Resident Surgeon. He became Surgeon to the Great Western Railway Company, Cheltenham District, Surgeon to the Dispensary for Women and Children, and to the Lying-in Charity. By 1855 he was in practice at Albion House, Cheltenham. He was Medical Inspector of Lunatic Asylums for the Upper Division of the Gloucestershire Improvement Commission, Surgeon to the Cheltenham General Hospital and Dispensary, and Staff Surgeon to the Royal South Gloucester Infantry Regiment of Militia. He retired from this last post before 1863, when he was reported to be travelling, but continued to hold his other positions. His death occurred at Oriel Terrace, Weston-super-Mare, on October 2nd, 1865. Publications: *Practical Remarks on the Inhalation of the Vapour of Sulphuric Ether*, 8vo, London, 1847. “Case of Successful Ligature of the External Iliac close to its origin from the Common Iliac for Inguinal Aneurysm.” – *Lancet*, 1856, ii, 192.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000977
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McNeill, Donald Cragg (1935 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Morgan
Publication Date 2011-11-03 2013-10-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373685373685
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Donald Cragg McNeill was a consultant plastic surgeon in Salisbury. He was born in 1935 and was educated at the Southern Grammar School, Portsmouth. He won a scholarship to study medicine and trained at St Mary's, qualifying in 1958. Most of his surgical training took place in the Wessex region, where he gained wide experience in all aspects of general surgery, orthopaedics, gynaecology and plastic surgery. In 1960 he extended his National Service with a five-year commission in the RAF. His initial posting was to Halton as a trainee in general surgery, orthopaedics and gynaecology. He was then posted to the island of Gan in the Indian Ocean, where he was the only surgeon for 2,000 miles. He returned to the RAF hospital at Ely, and then had a further posting abroad to the Christmas Islands. In 1965 he left the RAF holding the rank of squadron leader. He continued his general surgical training in Winchester, then began his plastic surgery training at Odstock 1967 with John Barron. He passed his Edinburgh fellowship in 1968. He rose from senior house officer to senior registrar, and then moved to the Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith, working with James Calnan in the department of experimental surgery. In 1973 he was appointed as a consultant in plastic surgery to Odstock Hospital in Salisbury and as a senior lecturer to Southampton Medical School. He enjoyed integrating with other services, and was one of the first oncoplastic breast surgeons. He also developed an interest in the use of lasers in surgery, on which he became an international authority. In addition to this commitments in Wessex, he built up a practice in Jersey over 25 years. He enjoyed and was passionate about teaching, in the UK and also in India, where he helped train young surgeons in plastic surgery. In the late seventies and eighties he led a group of consultants who wished to establish a private hospital in Salisbury. They formed the Salisbury Independent Hospital Trust, with Donald as the chairman. Fundraising and sponsorship enabled a property to be purchased and, after renovations, this became New Hall Hospital, which has continued to thrive. Problems with silicone breast implants in the early nineties led the Department of Health to set up the National Breast Implant Registry at Odstock, with Donald as director. After his death the registry was discontinued: had it continued the failure of PIP implants, which eventually came to light in 2012, may have been recognised earlier. In 1995 Donald was elected president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. His commitment to teaching and his leadership in plastic surgery was recognised by his election as a fellow *ad eundem* of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1998. He was married and had three children, Andrew, Jane and John (who predeceased him). Donald died on 16 October 2005 at the age of 70 after a long fight with head and neck cancer, a disease which, ironically, he had spent many years treating. The Donald McNeill oncoplastic travelling scholarship was set up by the Association of Breast Surgery in his memory.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001502
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thomas, Hugh James McKim (1932 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-03 2015-04-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373686373686
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Hugh James McKim Thomas was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Nottingham. He was born on 3 October 1932, the son of G M Thomas of Llandaff, South Wales. He attended Epsom College from 1945 to 1951 and then studied medicine at Cardiff University Medical School, qualifying in 1955. He gained his FRCS in 1963. He was an orthopaedic registrar at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London, and then became an honorary consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire, and a lecturer in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Manchester and a consultant at the Royal Infirmary. He subsequently became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Nottingham. He was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. Hugh James McKim Thomas died suddenly on 29 June 2007. He was 74.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001503
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Mendis, Balapuwaduge Jayasiri Susantha ( - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Majumdar, Pratip ( - 2006)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-03 2014-10-17
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373688373688
Occupation General surgeon
Details Pradip Majumdar gained his FRCS in 1960. He lived in Calcutta, India. His death was notified to the Royal College of Surgeons in October 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001505
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Nangle, Edward Jocelyn (1916 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-03 2014-08-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373689373689
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Edward Nangle was an orthopaedic surgeon in Zimbabwe. He was born Edward Jocelyn Nangle Freer in East London, South Africa on 18 March 1916 (he changed his name to 'Nangle' in 1937). His father, Cecil Charles Freer, was a dentist. His mother was Dorothy Ismay Nangle. He was educated at Plumtree School in what was then Rhodesia, and went on to study medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He qualified in 1940. He held junior posts at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, and then joined the South African Medical Corps. He served in Italy during the Second World War with the rank of major. In 1939 he had won a Beit fellowship for postgraduate training, and after the war, following his demobilisation in 1945, he went to the UK. He trained at St Thomas' Hospital in London, the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore under Herbert Seddon. In late 1950 he moved to Rhodesia and started in private practice. He was also an honorary orthopaedic surgeon for the government, and treated patients from the Army, Air Force and Police. He also saw welfare cases free of charge. In Salisbury he established a centre to help victims of polio. He served on many advisory boards, even after he retired in 1998. He wrote *Instruments and apparatus in orthopaedic surgery* (Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1951). In 1957 he was elected a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. He was a member of the Royal Salisbury Club and the Royal Commonwealth Society. He enjoyed sailing and photography. In 1950, in England, he married Valerie Mercer Ainslow. They had five children: John Stuart, Ismay Susan, Nancy Elizabeth, Caroline Joan and Rosemary Joyce. Edward Nangle died on 20 March 2008, aged 92.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001506
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Blandy, John Peter (1927 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Christopher Woodhouse
Publication Date 2011-11-03 2012-12-21
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373690373690
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Blandy was professor of urology at the Royal London Hospital and the Institute of Urology. He was a product of the old Empire, from which he inherited many wonderful characteristics and none of the bad ones. His father was Sir E Nicholas Blandy. At the time of John's birth in the Edith Cavell nursing home in Calcutta on 11 September 1927, Sir Nicholas was serving as assistant commissioner in Barisal. The district was then a part of Bengal and now is in Bangladesh. John's mother was Dorothy Kathleen Blandy née Marshall. It was unusual for the children of the Empire to be born overseas, as it was considered too dangerous. John's older brother had died at birth in India and his father's first wife of cholera. His mother was, therefore, sent back to England for the birth of John's older sister, Helen. As this had gone well, John was delivered in India, but went to England at the age of three for safety from the diseases of the East and, later, to begin school at Edinburgh House, Lee-on Solent. For much of this period he was separated from his parents, who were busy governing India. Nonetheless, he had a happy childhood at a school that encouraged learning from a much broader curriculum than was usual. He lived with a family that looked after many other children whose parents were overseas. At the beginning of the war, he re-joined his parents in India and went to prep school in Darjeeling. Here he developed his love of painting. He excelled at academic work. In the 1942 school certificate exam in English he wrote an essay on all eight questions when only four were required, but still came first amongst all the candidates from India. His father died in the same year. The family returned to England, at great peril from U-boats and John went to Clifton College in Bristol. In 1947 he won a scholarship to Balliol, Oxford, and went up to read medicine in the following year. His anatomy tutor was Le Gros Clark. Clinical training began at the London Hospital in 1948. Apart from the ward work, particularly influenced by Donald Hunter (editor of *Hutchison's clinical method* and specialist in occupational diseases), he further developed his painting and became a proficient skier. He graduated in 1951 and did house jobs at the London, the first with Clifford Wilson. In 1953, he married Anne Mathias, a staff nurse at the London, daughter of Hugh Mathias. It was a happy marriage from the very start and John records in his memoirs that they skipped down the altar steps in Tenby, on the way to a honeymoon in Lincolnshire. They had four daughters, Su, Caroline, Nikki and Kitty. All have followed in the footsteps of their parents, Kitty as an artist, Su as a paediatrician, and Caroline and Nikki as nurses. He was no sooner married than he was sent off to the RAMC to do his National Service. He had several postings in the UK, ending as medical officer in Cowglen. There he wrote his first paper on a stress fracture of the femoral neck following excessive route marching. Once back to civilian life, he began a meteoric career in surgery, leading on to urology, then considered to be a small subspecialty. He was an assistant to Victor Dix at the London Hospital. In 1960 he was awarded a Robertson visiting fellowship at Presbyterian St Luke's Hospital in Chicago. Here he researched the use of intestine for the construction of continent urinary reservoirs. This formed the basis of his doctoral thesis which was awarded in 1963. The other most important outcome of his service in Chicago was to learn transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). This operation was hardly known in the UK, where Millin's open prostatectomy was still the popular operation for the benignly enlarged prostate. On his return to the London, he began a protracted battle to establish this new and much less traumatic operation. It was certainly an uphill task, partly because it was difficult to learn to do well and partly because 'general surgeons with an interest in urology' felt that the open operation that they had learnt as registrars was much superior. John's excellent text book on TURP (*Transurethral resection* London, Pitman Medical) was first published in 1971. It remains the standard work on the subject. While climbing the training ladder at the London and later as resident medical officer at St Peter's Hospitals, he published on a wide range of topics including the vascular anatomy of the colonic wall, bladder cancer and testicular cancer. He also designed a set of retractors for the newly described Gil-Vernet operation for staghorn calculus. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the London in 1964. Although nominally a generalist, he immediately began to work almost exclusively in urology with the support of Gerald Tresidder. Together they worked to raise the standards of urological care introducing, amongst other things, the revolutionary idea that cystoscopies should be done with sterile water rather than tap water which was usually contaminated with *Pseudomonas pyocynea*! In his training he had been strongly influenced by David Innes Williams, the pioneer of paediatric urology. He was elected to the Society for Paediatric Urology and developed surgery for children, especially hypospadias, at the London. This led on to work on the surgery of urethral strictures, then treated mainly by repeated urethral dilatation. He used and developed the two stage inlay urethroplasty devised by his colleague, Richard Turner Warwick. Renal transplants were the great surgical excitement of the 1960s and were started at the London by John and the vascular surgeon, Douglas Eadie. In 1968 he was appointed a consultant at St Peter's Hospitals at the same time as John Wickham and Richard Turner Warwick. In the following year he was awarded a personal chair in urology. His output of research papers is legendary. He wrote in a style that encouraged readership and did many of the illustrations himself. His books were all medical best-sellers and strongly influenced his students and trainees. Most UK medical students learnt their urology from his *Lecture notes in urology* (Oxford, Blackwell Scientific). Many of today's consultants did their research in his department and owe their careers to his unstinting support. He travelled widely as a guest lecturer and visiting professor, often being elected as an honorary member of the relevant national urological society. He was council member of the Royal College of Surgeons, chairman of the training board and vice president from 1984 to 1986. It was due in large part to his influence that the first part of the FRCS became an exam on surgery in general as an entrance to higher surgical training. The final FRCS became a qualifying exam in the chosen sub-specialty. Amongst many other achievements, he was president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) from 1984 to 1986, of the European Association of Urology (1988) and of the European Board in Urology (1991 to 1992). He was elected to the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (1977). In the New Year honours of 1995 the Queen appointed him CBE for services to surgery. He was awarded the St Peter's medal of BAUS in 1982 and the Willy Grégoir medal of the Société Internationale d'Urologie in 2001. Although medicine in general and urology in particular were the areas in which he was best known, he was truly a renaissance man. He read widely, but also enjoyed tinkering with the broken engines of motor cycles and cars that he had as a registrar. While returning from India in 1942 he helped to repair the broken engine of his ship. Both in working life and in retirement, he was a fine painter and sculptor. It was easy to know when a committee meeting had become too long as he would get out his pad and quietly sketch his fellow sufferers. At dinner in the RCS he used to tour the portraits with other guests, give a learned critique of the artist and a life history of the subject. He died on 23 July 2011 from a sarcoma. His funeral was private, but a memorial service in St Giles, Cripplegate, next to his home in the Barbican was full with family, friends and colleagues. The eulogies, readings and music, including the drinking song from act one of *La Traviata*, reflected his joy of life and enthusiasm for the achievements of his family and students.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001507
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching James, John Arnallt (1917 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-08 2013-12-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001600-E001699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373879373879
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details James Arnault James was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Kidderminster. He was born on 9 June 1917 in Gwynfe, a thriving farming community in rural Carmarthenshire, Wales. Both his parents, James and Florence (née Jones) were schoolteachers, and had moved to Gwynfe when they married. John and his sister Nest were both born in the school house. John went to Caterham School, where he was encouraged to develop his talent for music. He seriously considered music as a profession, but finally decided to study medicine. At the age of 17 he went up to University College, London, and qualified in 1940. He then joined the RAMC as a captain. His war years were spent in Jamaica and later in Italy. After the war he began his orthopaedic training at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and later became a senior registrar at the Prince of Wales Orthopaedic Hospital in Cardiff. In the late 1950s John settled in Worcestershire. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Kidderminster General Hospital, where he was an expert on hip replacement procedures. He also liaised with metallurgists at Aston University on suitable materials for a new type of crutch that supported the wrist and elbow. In 1967 he became president of the Birmingham Medical Arts Society, which involved organising exhibitions and loan schemes. He was a member of the British Medical Association (BMA) and, in 1982, was president of the Worcestershire branch, the same year he retired. He had a wide range of interests. In 1962 he purchased Stone Court - an unwanted, run down farmhouse with a large, overgrown garden. John began to farm pigs there, until he had over 200. He cycled and played hockey as a young man, and later took up another great love - skiing. He went to the Alps with friends every February for nearly 20 years. He also loved to watch cricket and, as a Welshman, was addicted to rugby. He was a member of the Midlands Automobile Club and passed the advanced driving test. He continued his life-long love of music, and regularly played his grand piano and sang. He also had a passion for opera, especially Wagner and Mozart. As a Welshman and a Welsh speaker, he loved returning to Wales. He bought a second home near Bala, Gwynedd, and his family and friends enjoyed many holidays there over the years. He also enjoyed travelling abroad, and visited the USA and China (with the BMA), Pakistan and Zimbabwe. For many years he and his wife spent at least three weeks in France every summer. In 1940 he married Elaine ('Betty'). They had six children - Myf, Louise, Sue, Nick, Chris and Pete. He died on 7 June 2011, just two days before his 94th birthday.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001696
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watts, John Cadman (1913 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Norman Kirby
Publication Date 2011-08-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373495373495
Occupation General surgeon
Details Colonel John Watts was the first joint professor of military surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal Army Medical College, a post he held from 1960 to 1964. Watts was born on 13 April 1913 at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, the only child of John Nixon Watts, a solicitor, and the Honorable Amy Bettina Watts née Cadman, a teacher. He was educated at Alleyn Court Preparatory School and Merchant Taylors' School, where he joined the Officer Training Corps. His medical career started at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Here he joined 'Mitchener's Army' in the University of London Officer Training Corps. Phillip Henry Mitchener was one of the most colourful figures in surgery and a consultant surgeon to St Thomas' Hospital. John, his house surgeon, asked him for career advice. He was advised to join the RAMC as war was imminent, and in February 1938 he did. In the run up to the Second World War, Watts served in Palestine with the Black Watch, and then with the No 8 General Hospital. Between 1942 and 1944, he was officer in charge of 41 Field Surgical Unit, in Italy. With the surgeon Robert Stephens, Watts developed field surgical teams for war. On D-day he took an airlanding field surgical team by glider to Normandy and operated under fire for several weeks. On seeing the red cross, one of the defending German soldiers attended his unit with a wound he had sustained on the Russian front which had broken down - this was properly treated and the patient evacuated. After several months, the lightly equipped field surgical team returned to the UK to prepare for the airborne Rhine crossing, by which time John had been promoted to deputy assistant director of medical services. For his gallant actions in these battles he was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to command 225 Parachute Field Ambulance, which, after training in UK in July 1945, went to South East Asia. He was again mentioned in despatches. In 1946, in command of 195 Parachute Field Ambulance, he returned to Palestine and was awarded the third clasp. After a spell at the RAMC College, Millbank, he became officer in command of the surgical division in the British Commonwealth Hospital in Korea and Japan. He wrote articles on the treatment of war wounds and of frostbite in Korea. Returning to the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, adjacent to the Airborne Forces Depot, he maintained his expertise in the treatment of parachute injuries. He later went to Cyprus at the start of the EOKA campaign, the nationalist struggle to end British rule, as officer in charge of the surgical division at the military hospital in Nicosia and later Dhekelia. During the Suez campaign, he was able to train another parachute field surgical team for the 3 Para drop on El Gamil airfield in November 1956. The EOKA campaign resulted in 704 British casualties and these were reviewed by Watts and presented to the RCS in his Hunterian Lecture, in January 1960. After a short tour at Iserlohn with the British Army of the Rhine, in February 1960, he was appointed as the first joint professor of military surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal Army Medical College and was promoted to colonel. Retiring from the Army in 1965, he was appointed as a consultant in trauma and orthopaedics at Bedford General Hospital. He was a senior fellow of British Orthopaedic Association. In 1955 he published *Surgeon at war* (Allen & Unwin), which described his many adventures at war, but also expressed the many principles of war surgery that he had learnt and taught. Watts retired from the NHS in1976 and moved to Suffolk, where he could enjoy his lifelong passion of sailing the tidal waters of East Anglia. In 1938 he married Joan Lilian Inwood, a nurse. They had a daughter, Stephanie Carol, and three sons (John Michael, Jeremy Christopher and Richard Charles). His wife and one son predeceased him. John Cadman Watts died on 17 December 2010.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001312
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tindall, Victor Ronald (1928 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Michael Pugh
Publication Date 2011-08-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373496373496
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Victor Tindall was professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in Manchester. He was awarded a scholarship to Wallasey Grammar School, where, as well as his academic achievements, he was a dazzling athlete and rugby player. In track events he won the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-yard records, together with the high and the long jump, winning the award of *victor ludoram*. His crowning achievement was being selected to play rugby for his county, Cheshire, whilst still at school. At Liverpool University, where he was also a scholar, he played rugby for the university and also for New Brighton. He subsequently played for the Royal Air Force, England and the Barbarians. His playing career ended when he injured his neck and then he became a referee, but he was involved with the game all his life. He qualified MB ChB in 1951 and, after junior posts, which included obstetrics and gynaecology, he acquired the diploma in obstetrics. He spent his National Service in the Royal Air Force, examining recruits for the Women's Royal Air Force. Returning to Liverpool for his specialist training in Norman Jeffcoate's department, he became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1961. He then set aside clinical work to enter the physiology department to prepare for his doctorate in medicine. He had a special interest in liver disease and this is reflected in his work on liver disease in pregnancy. In 1987 Tindall edited the fifth edition of the landmark textbook *Principles of gynaecology* (Butterworth), originally edited by Jeffcoate. In 1965 he moved to Cardiff as a senior lecturer at the Welsh National School of Medicine, becoming a consultant at the University Hospital in 1970. In 1967 he was elected to serve on the council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He completed four terms in office and was elected senior vice president from 1993. In 1972 he left Cardiff to become professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Victoria University in Manchester. There his role as an educator is aptly demonstrated by his bibliography. Coupled with this was a busy gynaecological surgical practice with a special interest in radical pelvic surgery. He had to combine his demanding clinical load with the administrative duties of being a professor, and he had an excellent reputation for always honouring all his commitments, always sending word ahead if he knew he was going to be late for a meeting. In addition he had a great interest in audit, with a major role in the triennial report on maternal mortality, which seeks to determine cause rather than blame when these tragic events arise. In this vein his work with the Royal College of Surgeons, when he served on the committee of the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths (CEPOD), which was set up by Brendan Devlin in 1982 and reported for the first time in 1987. It later became a national enquiry of a similar title, initially into perioperative death and later for patient outcome. At one meeting of this committee there was a tense moment, which was resolved by taking the offended lady out to an elegant tea at the Waldorf Hotel, where her ruffled feathers were soothed and all was well. In 1991 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons by election, a great distinction. He was appointed as the Simms-Black travelling professor in 1985 by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, visiting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and Cyprus. This required him to give many lectures and occasional surgical demonstrations at each port of call. Victor Tindall married Brenda Fay in 1955. They had two children, a son and a daughter, who later gave them the joy of seven grandchildren, all of them boys. Sadly, his later years were clouded by Parkinson's disease and he died on 11 June 2010. From his own description of his interests in *Who's Who*, it was clear that outside medicine and his family, he had one major interest - rugby.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001313
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rogers, Norman Charles (1916 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Norman Kirby
Publication Date 2011-08-26 2011-09-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373497373497
Occupation Accident and emergency surgeon General surgeon
Details Major General Norman Rogers was the director of Army surgery, and during his career encouraged the training of Army surgeons and the study of military wounding at the research establishment at Porton Down. He was born on 14 October 1916 in Long Acre, central London, the only child of Charles William Rogers, a wing commander in the RAF, and Edith Minnie née Weaver. He was initially educated at Mostyn House School in Cheshire, but, with his father's posting to Egypt, he moved to Victoria College, Alexandria. Finally, he was schooled at Imperial Service College, Windsor. He then studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was awarded the Brackenbury scholarship in surgery. Immediately on qualifying, he volunteered to join the Royal Army Medical Corps and was soon posted to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, Belgium and eventually the beaches of Dunkirk, from where he was evacuated to the UK. For his work with the wounded at Dunkirk he received his first mention in despatches. In 1941 he joined the 4th Royal Tank Regiment and served in North Africa, Tobruk, and the battle of Gazala. During this battle they were surrounded and came under heavy shellfire. When the crew of an anti-tank gun was hit, Rogers collected the wounded in his truck and, whilst moving them to the field ambulance, he was intercepted by a German armoured car and taken prisoner. He was sent to a prisoner of war camp in northern Italy at Fontanellato near Parma. In this camp were 600 prisoners with a wide variety of characters and abilities. He wrote that there seemed to be experts on everything from physics to forgery, and the personalities ranged from the straight laced to the raffish. The student could learn fascinating details about low-life east of Suez or the Danish system of pig farming. He also was involved in a discussion with an Italian doctor about whether the novel *Don Quixote* is a comedy or a tragedy: later he was able to discuss the same problem with his grand-daughter when she was studying the same book at university. In September 1943, after the Italian Armistice, the camp commandant opened the gates and allowed the prisoners to march out. Norman joined up with Captain Arthur Jones, later an MP, and they decided to walk south to meet the Allied Forces who were 400 miles away near Naples, they believed. Other prisoners, Eric Newby and Richard Carver, the stepson of Field Marshal Montgomery, made the same walk and wrote books about it. Norman and Arthur skirted La Spezia, crossed the river Arno east of Florence and trekked along the Appennine ranges. They used sheep tracks, knocked on the doors of isolated houses of shepherds and peasants. They slept in barns and dodged the German patrols who were furiously seeking the escapees. The Italians fed, sheltered and sometimes clothed them. However poor they were, they always shared with them what little they had. They were voluble, occasionally unreliable, but generous, kind and brave. As they approached the Volturno river, near Venafro, the Germans were establishing a new defensive line and blowing things up. At Raviscanina the village was empty - they were in no-mans land. There was a castle on the high ground being shelled. As they went towards it along a narrow alleyway, an old woman shouted at them - the path was mined and had killed a boy the night before. Following in her footsteps, they got through the minefield and reached the crest. They were eventually met by an astonished GI of the 36th Texas Division. Rogers considered that they had covered 400 miles as the crow flies, but his maps and diary indicated that the tortuous route they had actually walked had taken them more than twice the distance. They gave the Americans a lot of useful information, but then were moved under armed escort to a British intelligence officer for more debriefing. They were flown to Algiers and then repatriated on a troopship. Norman woke his parents at dawn on Christmas Eve. He was later mentioned in despatches for the second time. He then wrote his personal diary of his escape - it was for his family, not for publishing. In June 1944 he was the resident medical officer of the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch in the Normandy landing and served in North West Europe. He was wounded in the leg and evacuated to the UK. After surgery, he rejoined his regiment and served with them to the end of the war. He was mentioned in despatches for a third time. On 31 March 1945 he was released, unemployed, from the Army. His experience of treating battle casualties during the Second World War led to his desire to become a surgeon. Following his demobilisation, he commenced training in surgery, starting as a house surgeon at Bart's and then as a casualty and surgical registrar in Norwich hospitals. He passed his FRCS in November 1949 and was subsequently appointed as a senior registrar at the Birmingham United Hospitals in 1952. It was there that he met and married Pamela Marion Rose, a doctor, in 1954. They had three children, Charles, now a car designer, Emma, a dentist, wife and mother, and Richard, a consultant paediatric anaesthetist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He rejoined the RAMC in 1956 and was soon designated a consultant and officer in charge of the surgical divisions at the British Military Hospitals in Chester, Dhekelia in Cyprus, Catterick in the UK and Iserlohn in Germany. He was promoted to brigadier and appointed as a consultant surgeon to the British Army of the Rhine in 1967. In 1969 he was appointed as the director of Army surgery and honorary surgeon to the Queen. He was promoted to major general on 23 March 1969 and retired from the Army in May 1973. Returning to the NHS, he became the consultant in the accident and emergency department at Guy's Hospital, London, and was soon appointed as clinical superintendent, dealing with the many changes to which the NHS is subject. On retirement from his distinguished career at Guy's, he returned to the Army as a civilian consultant surgeon at the British Military Hospital at Iserlohn in Germany. His main hobbies were gardening and walking, and he loved the countryside. But his abiding love was books. His knowledge of history, both military and political, was enormous. He finally retired to Kidlington, and became a familiar figure to residents, walking into the village every morning to collect his paper. A religious man, he attended St Mary's in Kidlington every week until his last illness. He died from porocarcinoma on 19 February 2011. He was survived by his wife Pamela, their three children and five grandchildren. At his funeral, his grand-daughter, Ruthie, gave a eulogy, emphasising how grateful he had been for the kindness and generosity of the Italian peasants during his trek across Italy. It was 'the most important lesson that he wanted his family to learn from his experience'.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001314
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Talbot, Clifford Heyworth (1925 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Andrew Shorthouse
Publication Date 2011-08-26 2011-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373498373498
Occupation General surgeon
Details Clifford Talbot became one of the country's leading thyroid surgeons following his appointment as a consultant general surgeon to the Sheffield Royal Hospital in 1961. He rapidly gained a fine reputation for his outstanding technical ability and was highly respected as a colleague, trainer and mentor. He continued in the finest tradition of surgical technique pioneered by Cecil Joll two generations previously. He was born in Southport, Lancashire, on 22 April 1925, the son of Frank Heyworth Talbot, a barrister, and Mabel Jane Talbot née Williams. He was a pupil at the Downs School, Malvern, between 1933 and 1939, where he gained an academic scholarship to Leighton Park School, which he attended from 1939 to 1943. At both schools he continued to develop his interest in cricket. Having originally decided to become a surgeon as an eight-year-old, his ambition was unwavering: he gained a place at St John's College, Cambridge, followed by clinical years at Guy's Hospital, qualifying in 1948. At Cambridge, he pursued his love of cricket, representing the St John's College first XI. In 1949 he was called up for National Service and was a medical officer at the Military Corrective Establishment in Colchester. In preparation for a surgical career, he was keen to improve his knowledge of anatomy and taught medical students as an anatomy demonstrator at Cambridge in 1951. From 1952 to 1953 he was a house surgeon at Guy's and his FRCS followed in 1953. He was a registrar in Sheffield between 1954 and 1956 and was then appointed as a senior registrar in Bristol, where he remained until 1961. He was awarded his MChir in 1957. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon to the Sheffield Royal Hospital in 1961 at the age of 35. He built up a very large thyroid practice and was an early proponent of multidisciplinary team working, building a close professional relationship with Donald S Munro, the eminent Sheffield endocrinologist. He published widely and reported on the surgical management of over 600 cases of thyrotoxicosis and more than 100 cases of autonomous hot nodules. He published his 10 year results of over 200 patients with Graves' disease treated by subtotal thyroidectomy, with an emphasis on the development of late hypothyroidism. He had a large experience of treating thyroid carcinoma, reporting his experience of over 100 cases, confirming that, in the absence of extra-thyroid dissemination, lobectomy is safe and effective. Large personal case series of operations performed in a standardised manner, such as those carefully documented by Clifford Talbot, are now part of surgical history. Clifford valued the close working relations he enjoyed with his team, and in particular the registrars. He trained them meticulously and encouraged them to make surgical decisions confidently and operate under supervision. He was very conscientious, always at the end of the phone for emergencies, and went into the hospital without hesitation if the registrar called for help. He was so supportive, and his trainees really appreciated working with him. Clifford played an important part in the amalgamation of the surgical departments of the Royal Infirmary and the Royal Hospital in Sheffield into the newly built Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 1978, where he had a pivotal role in the organisation of the new outpatient departments. He was a superb mentor to newly appointed consultants. I felt extremely fortunate to have such a supportive colleague in my early days, one who actively encouraged us to develop our practices and our management roles without restraint. He was a father figure on a very happy and functional surgical unit. We so much admired his wisdom, clinical judgment, gentlemanly demeanour and his technical ability He was a keen member of the Sheffield Town Trust, one of the oldest charities in England, during the latter part of his career, using its funds to protect and safeguard the city's heritage and environment. Clifford loved his adopted city and he wanted to give something back. He was also a well-loved and active member of the Grey Turner Surgical Club. On the day of his retirement he ceased all clinical work 'at a stroke' and concentrated on his family and his woodwork. He was an expert turner. But perhaps his greatest love was fly fishing. The Derbyshire river, the Derwent, was at the bottom of his garden and across a field; he liked nothing better than to teach his grandchildren to 'present the fly beautifully'. He enjoyed a long, healthy and active retirement before falling ill in his early eighties. Typical of Clifford, he continued to lead life to its full, until metastatic disease presented as a short illness just before his death on 24 March 2009. At Guy's he had met Margaret Hilda Hooper, a ward sister, and in 1950 they married. He adored Margaret and was hugely supportive to her. They had three children, David, Mary and Jenny, who survive him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001315
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Birnstingl, Martin Avigdor (1924 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-08-31 2011-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373499373499
Occupation Vascular surgeon
Details Martin Birnstingl was a consultant vascular surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and was widely respected for his expertise and for his clear and concise teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students. He was also a consultant surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and served in an honorary capacity at St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy. He was born on 17 June 1924, the eldest of four children: his father, Charles Avigdor Birnstingl, was a master printer and was founder of the hand-printing press 'Favil' in the 1920s. His mother Ursula née Carr went to University College to study general science and then the Royal College of Music, where she played the piano. She also made illustrations for the publications produced by her husband. Her father, Herbert Wilson Carr, was a professor of philosophy, teaching first at King's College London and then in the USA at the University of Southern California, and her mother, Geraldine Carr, was a noted enamellist who trained at the Slade School of Art. Both of Martin's parents were Fabian socialists who encouraged their offspring to develop broad cultural interests. Clearly the musical, artistic and literary genes were quite dominant. When Martin was eight, the family moved to a farm in Wiltshire, and he started a lifelong interest in ornithology. Shortly thereafter he was sent to the progressive school, Bedales, where he was influenced by some excellent teachers and there was an emphasis on the arts. This was ideal for someone in whom music was to play such an important part throughout his life. Although there were age gaps in the family of three boys and a girl, the elder two, Martin and David, shared an old Harley Davison motorbike and when at home the two older brothers towed young Roger on a wooden sledge! Their only sister, Jessica, appeared in 1939 to complete the family. From school he went to St Bartholomew's Hospital for his medical training and had an exceptionally good academic undergraduate career. He gained many prizes including the treasurer's, the Foster prize, a junior scholarship and the Brackenbury prize in surgery. With the latter, it was inevitable that he would start his career on the professorial surgical unit under Sir James Paterson Ross. His early training was undertaken at the time when the more conservative approaches to vascular problems were the vogue, such as sympathectomy. He did National Service as a captain in the RAMC, serving in East Africa and Mauritius, where he kept a pet parrot. When demobilised he had a spell as a demonstrator in pathology and during this appointment passed the primary and final FRCS examinations. Martin soon developed an interest in the emerging discipline of reconstructive vascular surgery, which had been pioneered in America in 1948. In 1952 he and a visiting American fellow at Bart's, Jack Connolly, toured the vascular centres in Europe, their education in the latest techniques being greatly facilitated by Martin's fluency in many languages. It opened many doors in France with surgeons such as Leriche, Dubust, Kulin and Oudot. With the FRCS under his belt, he went as a surgical registrar to Norwich and benefited from the wide range of clinical problems seen in the provinces. He worked with Charles Noon, a Bart's man of the 'old school', and Norman Townsley, an Ulsterman, who quizzed his registrars on clinical anatomy, some aspects of radiotherapy and introduced them to emergency neurosurgery, as well as paediatric problems. Being on call at the main Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on alternate nights and the remaining nights at the Jenny Lind Hospital for Children, gave Martin a great experience in the 'generality of surgery'. He continued his training at Bart's as a chief assistant to Sir James Paterson Ross on the surgical professorial unit, where he was fortunate to work with Gerard Taylor, who had gained experience of large vessel replacement in San Francisco with Emile Holman and Frank Gerbode. 'Gerry' Taylor replaced Sir James as professor of surgery and was a superb technician and an excellent teacher who trained generations of surgeons. Towards the end of his period as a senior registrar, Martin went as a Fulbright scholar to the USA for a year. He worked at Stanford University, San Francisco, California with Frank Gerbode. It was during this year that he and American surgeon, John Erskine, walked the John Muir trail in the High Sierras of California: this proved to be one of Martin's favourite treks. Other outside activities starting in his early adult years were sailing and canoeing. On his return to the UK, Martin Birnstingl was made assistant director of the professorial surgical unit and added to the vascular expertise already present. His interest in replacement vascular surgery was maintained and put him in the forefront of advances in this field. He edited and published *Peripheral vascular surgery* (London, Heinemann Medical, 1973), a concise textbook for the surgeon and general medical practitioner containing up-to-date reviews of the diseases affecting the abdominal aorta and peripheral arteries, with an account of the latest techniques for treating them. In 1986 he was elected president of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland. His definitive appointment was as one of two consultants on the 'light blue' surgical firm at Bart's, where he proved an admirable foil to Sir Edward Tuckwell, serjeant- surgeon to The Queen. The firm was very popular with students and trainees alike, but at times, Martin became very frustrated that the 'junior' of the two consultants had so few beds for his patients. That the hospital had no private beds suited Martin's commitment to the NHS, although he did have a modest private practice to exercise his skills. At times this source of income was barely enough to cover the cost of shared rooms in Harley Street. He was certainly unhappy at the relentless privatisation of the NHS and was never fond of committee work. He became somewhat disenchanted at the way his alma mater was approaching its future. For over 40 years his much loved partner was Renate Prince, an architect. They lived in London in a large Victorian house with a garden, trees and a resident fox. Close to Hampstead Heath, it was ideal for Martin's bird-watching, and as they were both keenly interested in the arts and travel, they were able to pursue their love of music, literature, architecture and, for many years, engaged in skiing, which Martin had started in his twenties. Martin rarely missed an alpine season and in 1960, with his brother Roger, he completed the 'haute route' from Chamonix to Saas Fee, taking in many summits en route, including Monte Rose and the Allalinhorn. Having started to play the flute in childhood, with Renate's encouragement, Martin started to learn the harpsichord in middle age. When going to Germany to collect a new instrument he had ordered, he was taken to a house and not the maker's workshop: 'Wir sind bereit, herr professor'. It took some time for Martin to convince the sizeable gathering that he has a doctor of medicine, and not of music! As a fine flautist he played in many London amateur orchestras, even performing the Bach B minor suite in public. An abiding interest in jazz music started in the year he spent in the USA during his surgical training. Although widely read in the classical literature, and able to read in many European languages, *Moby Dick* was the book he most frequently re-read. Both Martin and Renate were committed to progressive politics, and shared the same humanitarian beliefs and concerns. Martin had a principled, moral approach to the world. When involved in an issue, he used his medical knowledge and expertise to challenge the official line. In the 1960s, as an opponent of the war in Vietnam, he travelled to Hanoi for the Stockholm Tribunal (initiated by Bertrand Russell) to witness the destruction of the medical infrastructure during the American bombing of North Vietnam. He saw at first hand the damage to hospitals, clinics and the loss of important medical supplies and equipment: he was appalled to see that weapons used by the United States military had maimed or killed so many civilians. In 1982 he went to Beirut with two friends, Pam Zinkin, a paediatrician, and Steven Rose to study health conditions in the aftermath of the massacre by fellow Arabs of Palestinian refugees in camps at Sabra and Chatilla. The Israelis had stood by and watched, and Martin's opposition to Israel's stance was longstanding. He was involved in several campaigns including the academic and economic boycott. Having visited the camps in southern Lebanon they published a report on the health of the refugees. He went to several meetings of Physicians for Human Rights of Israel, and Martin campaigned against the infringements of Palestinian human rights. He was a co-signatory of a letter in the *Lancet* (2007 Dec 22;370[9605]:2102) reporting allegations that Israeli doctors colluded in the torture of prisoners in Gaza. The letter was critical of the Israeli Medical Association for not speaking out on the issue, and he was one of 725 physicians who called on the UN to investigate the claims. On the UK scene he was one of those who challenged Lord Hutton's classification of documents about the death of the chemical weapons expert, David Kelly, and took issue with the conclusion that the death was a suicide. The argument they advanced was that it was 'highly improbable' that the primary cause of death was haemorrhage from a single ulnar artery as stated in the Hutton report. He gave Norman Baker MP some useful information for the book he wrote on this controversial topic. Both Martin and Renate were disenchanted with Prime Minister Blair's tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like so many others in the UK, they feared the unnecessary loss of life and the inevitable difficulty in negotiating a peace settlement in cultures totally different from those in the West. Martin Birnstingl suffered a severe stroke when in Spain with Renate at the end of September 2010, and spent five cruel months paralysed and unable to speak, first in hospital and then in Highgate Nursing Home, where he died on 21 January 2011 at the age of 86. Renate Prince survives him as do his siblings, Roger, a well-known bassoonist and professor at the Royal College of Music and other institutions, and Jessica Smart, who was a lawyer's assistant.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001316
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Craven, Robert (1798 - 1850)

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First Title value, for Searching Craven, Robert (1812 - 1875)

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First Title value, for Searching Craven, Sir Robert Martin (1824 - 1903)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373502373502
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Hull on March 12th, 1824. He came of a family distinguished professionally and as prominent citizens in his native town. His grandfather, Robert Martin Craven (the first), was born on November 11th, 1770 (St Martin's Day), and began to practise in Hull in 1794. He was Sheriff of Hull in 1822, carried on practice as Robert M Craven and Son, and died in 1859. The name Craven was borne by Sir William Craven (1548-1618?), Lord Mayor of London, whose eldest son, William Earl of Craven (1606-1697), was the soldier, and his second son, John, the founder of the Craven Scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge. Robert Martin Craven (the second) was educated at Kingston College, Hull, and received his professional training at the Hull General Infirmary, the Hull Medical School, and at St Bartholomew's Hospital and School, where Lawrence, Paget, Skey, and Stanley were amongst his most distinguished teachers. Later he pursued his studies in various Paris hospitals. He practised in Hull in partnership with his father and was elected Hon Surgeon to the Hull Infirmary (October 8th, 1852), having previously, during five years, acted as Dresser there under his father. He was for twenty years an admirable Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in the Hull Medical School, which was dissolved in September, 1870. He was during the same time Secretary to the School. In 1876 he made his wife and six children Life Governors of the Hull Infirmary, and in August, 1886, one of the wards was named 'The Craven Ward' in recognition of the eminent services rendered to the institution by three generations of Cravens. In 1878 he was elected Sheriff of Hull, and in the following year he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. His election to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England took place more than ten years later. He was admitted to the freedom of the Society of Apothecaries, London, on Oct 14th, 1890. In 1892 he resigned his position as Hon Surgeon to the Hull Royal Infirmary after forty years' tenure of office, when he was presented with a testimonial and appointed Consulting Surgeon. He also became a member of the Board of Management. In March, 1894, he was elected Consulting Surgeon to the Hull Women's and the Orthopaedic Hospitals. He was twice President of the Hull and East Riding and North Lincolnshire Branch of the British Medical Association, and in 1891-1892 he was President of the Hull Medico-Ethical Society. He took a considerable part in the political and social life of what he loved to refer to as 'my town'. His knighthood, which was conferred on him in 1896, was much appreciated by his fellow-citizens. Sir Robert was a most familiar figure at the Royal College of Surgeons, his striking and rugged head, with its thick white hair, being conspicuous at Hunterian Orations and elections of Fellows when personal attendance was necessary. His loud voice with a strong Yorkshire accent revealed his presence in every assembly. On stepping from his cab in front of the College, one or other of the porters would run out with a judicious "Good day, Sir Robert". "Ah, you're glad to see me, then," would come the reply. A pourboire of half-a-crown invariably followed, so that there was keen competition for the honour of opening the door of the cab. He died at his residence, 13 and 14 Albion Street, Hull, on November 15th, 1903, and was buried in the Hull General Cemetery. Sir Robert Craven was twice married: (1) in 1853 to Jane, daughter of William Ward, a shipowner of Hull, and (2) in 1859 to Mary, daughter of Robert Welsh, Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. This lady was a descendant of John Knox, and first cousin to Jane Welsh Carlyle. By the first marriage there was born to him one son, and by the second five daughters. His second wife died in 1885. His portrait - an admirable one, from the *Scalpel*, 1896, i - is in the College Collection. Publications: Sir Robert Craven was an occasional contributor to the medical journals. "His first contributions", says the Scalpel biography, "were published in 1868 by Christopher Heath, FRCS, in his work on *Injuries and Diseases of the Jaw* (Jacksonian Essay, 1867)."
Resource Identifier RCS: E001319
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Crawford, Henry ( - 1872)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-02 2013-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373503373503
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised at Canterbury about the year 1847, but is not included in the *Medical Directories* for many years afterwards. He died in or before 1872.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001320
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Collambell, Charles (1814 - 1890)

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First Title value, for Searching Collard, Frederic Stuartson (1873 - 1929)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Colledge, Thomas Richardson (1796 - 1879)

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First Title value, for Searching Barling, Sir Harry Gilbert (1855 - 1940)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-10
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003800-E003899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375985375985
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Blythe Court, Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire on 30 April 1855, the sixth child and fifth son of William Barling, MRCVS, veterinary surgeon and farmer, by his wife Eliza Sharpe. He was educated privately until he matriculated at the University of London in 1875 from Queen's College, Birmingham. In October 1875 he entered the medical school attached to St Bartholomew's Hospital and there made a life-long friendship with (Sir) Anthony Bowlby. He won the scholarship in anatomy and physiology, the Kirkes gold medal in clinical medicine, and the Brackenbury surgical scholarship, and was a house surgeon from 1 October 1879 to 30 September 1880. On the advice of Oliver Pemberton, FRCS he then applied for and was elected to the post of pathologist to the Birmingham General Hospital, where he was successively resident surgical officer, assistant surgeon (1885), surgeon from 1891 to 1915, consulting surgeon (1915-40) and president of the hospital board from 1925. On his resignation as surgeon, on reaching the retiring age, he was presented with the portrait which now hangs in the hospital and Mrs Barling received a pendant of opals, diamonds, and pearls in recognition of the encouragement and sympathy given to her husband during his long and devoted work at the hospital. For many years Barling was chairman of the Birmingham Committee of the Hospital Sunday Fund, of the Birmingham Hospitals Council, of the Hospitals Guild of the Amalgamated Orthopaedic Hospital and Cripples Union. He taught almost continuously throughout his professional life at the Birmingham Medical School, first as demonstrator of anatomy (1885), then as professor of pathology at Queen's College (1886) and at Mason College. He was co-professor of surgery and dean of the faculty of medicine in the university 1905-06 and 1911-12, and Ingleby lecturer (1895). Whilst at the university he acted as vice-chancellor (1913-14 and 1926-27), pro-chancellor (1927-28 and 1932-33). On his resignation of the last office he was made emeritus professor of surgery and was again presented with his portrait. In 1937 he received from the university the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England he served as a member of the Council from 1904 to 1912, and on the General Medical Council he represented Birmingham University. He joined the territorial force on 3 July 1908 with a commission as lieutenant-colonel, RAMC, *à la suite*, and was called up for service in August 1914 when he was posted as consulting surgeon to the southern command. On 18 June 1917 he was promoted colonel, AMS and in November went to France as consulting surgeon to the British forces on the western front. For his military services he was decorated with the CB in 1917 and the CBE in 1919, and in recognition of his civil work at Birmingham he was created a baronet in 1919. On 21 October 1885 he married Katherine Jaffray, daughter of Henry Edmunds. She died in 1920, leaving him with two daughters: the elder unmarried; the younger, Mrs E L Chaloner, whose husband was editor of the Journal of Commerce and Shipping Telegraph and afterwards of the Public Ledger. Sir Gilbert died suddenly whilst walking in his garden at 6 Manor Park, Edgbaston on 27 April 1940, three days before his eighty- fifth birthday. Gilbert Barling attained to a position which is only possible in a large provincial town possessed of a strong ésprit de corps both in civic and professional life. Starting in Birmingham without any advantages he made his way to a large practice by the excellence of his surgery. He availed himself of the successive changes in surgical practice and kept himself abreast of them by his ability to teach students. He was foremost in improving and advancing the medical faculty of the newly established university and in consolidating the clinical side of surgery. He was endowed by nature with great powers of administration which, with his transparent honesty of purpose and friendliness of manner, brought him to a very prominent position in his adopted city. Portraits: No 1. By E Harper, three-quarter length, in vice-chancellor's robes, hangs in the boardroom of the General Hospital, Birmingham. No 2. By Fiddes Watt, three-quarter length, in pro-chancellor's robes, hangs in the Great Hall of Birmingham University.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003802
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barlow, John (1853 - 1943)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003800-E003899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375986375986
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Leigh, near Manchester, 29 January 1853, the eldest child of John Barlow, clothier, and Hannah Welsby, his wife. He was educated at Crowbent, Lancashire, at Anderson's College, Glasgow and at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, graduating from the latter in 1875, having taken the English MRCS the previous year. Barlow began his career as a pure physiologist and served as physiological assistant to Professor John Gray McKendrick, MD, FRSEd (1841-1926). He then became first Muirhead demonstrator of physiology at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Medicine and subsequently professor of physiology at St Mungo's College, before its absorption by the Royal Infirmary School. He was also lecturer in physiology at the Royal Technical College, and was in demand as a lecturer to popular audiences. After some years he felt the urge to turn from academic work to practical surgery. He was elected a Fellow of Faculty in 1881 and admitted to the English Fellowship in 1885. In 1892 he was appointed visiting surgeon at the Royal Infirmary and was elected consulting surgeon on his retirement in 1913. Barlow was a fluent teacher both in physiology and surgery. He served as an examiner in physiology for the Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1890, and at the Royal Faculty in Glasgow he was successively an examiner and a councillor, and served as president 1913-15. He was commissioned on 3 July 1908, when the RAMC territorial force was formed, lieutenant-colonel *à la suite* on the staff of the 14th Scottish General Hospital, Glasgow. Barlow married three times: (1) Annie Smithells, by whom he had one daughter; (2) Annie Macintyre, by whom he had two sons and three daughters, of whom one died young; and (3) seven years before his death, Agnes Strachan, who survived him. Three of his six children entered the medical profession. Of these, his daughter by his second marriage, Annie (MB Glasgow 1920), married George Thomson Mowat, FRFPS, surgeon to the Royal Infirmary; Mrs Mowat served as anaesthetist at the Glasgow Eye Infirmary. He practised at 4 Somerset Place, Glasgow and lived after his retirement at Broomfield, Callander, Perthshire, where he died on 27 December 1943, aged 90. Publications:- Physiological actions of ozonised air. *J Anat Physiol*. 1879, 13, 107. Statistics of surgical operations 1883-92. *Glasg med J*. 1892, 38, 1. Intussusception in infants treated by abdominal section. *Lancet*, 1899, 1, 291.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003803
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barnett, Geoffrey Michael Fulton (1893 - 1950)

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First Title value, for Searching Stirling, Leader Dominic (1906 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372320372320
Occupation General surgeon
Details Leader Stirling was an eminent missionary surgeon and a former minister for health in Tanzania. He was born on 19 January 1906 in Essex. Many of the family were doctors, although a cousin did found the SAS – the Special Air Service. Stirling was educated at Bishop’s Stortford and then went on to the London Hospital for his medical studies. His father lent him £1,000 for the five-year medical course. After house surgeon appointments and time spent in general practice, he was eventually able to pay him back. Not knowing the direction of his career, he prayed for guidance. Two days later a cable from the Universities Mission to Central Africa arrived, urgently requesting doctors for the Masasi region. When Stirling arrived the operating theatre was a bamboo building with a grass roof, every gust of wind filling it with dust and dead leaves. There was no running water and no lighting except for oil lamps. Cooking pots, stores of food, live hens, spears, bows and arrows were stowed under the beds in the mud huts that served as wards. A visit to an outlying hospital could mean a 24-mile walk through the bush. He built his own hospital in nearby Lulundi from scratch, borrowing a book from an engineer uncle, and roofing it with pantiles fashioned by his local Scout troop. He also started a nurse training school there, despite opposition from the medical establishment who believed that only white women could be trained as nurses. After 14 years at Lulundi he became a Catholic, took the name Dominic and joined the Benedictine Mission. They sent him to Mnero, where he built another hospital, this time with the help of a brother who had been an architect. There he started a school for rural medical assistants who were trained on a three-year resident course to diagnose and treat the 15 conditions that accounted for 80 per cent of visits to the doctor, and to send anything else to a doctor. Fifteen years later he was transferred to Kibosho, on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. In his book *Africa: my surgery* (Worthing, Churchman, 1987) Stirling describes the conditions he encountered. These were as diverse as belly-ripping by a jealous husband, to crocodile and hippo bites. He devised instruments from simple materials. Screw-drivers made ideal supracondylar traction pins, sewing cotton became perfect ligatures. Thomas splints were contrived from bamboo, extension cord from plaited palm leaves with stones as traction weights. For intravenous infusions he used triple-distilled water, to which he added salt and glucose. When plaster of Paris ran out, he made his own from locally quarried gypsum. He was one of the first to operate on tuberculous abscesses of the spine causing paraplegia, draining them from the front. He devised a new bloodless operation for the giant swellings of the scrotum caused by filariasis. After the war he stood for the Tanganyika African National Union in the new legislative council, the forerunner of a parliament. When independence was agreed in 1961 Stirling became a Tanganyikan citizen. In 1973 Julius Nyerere made him minister for health and he strove to bring tuberculosis and leprosy under control, closing the obsolete leprosaria. He dealt with an outbreak of cholera and reformed the treatment of mental disease. His rural medical assistant scheme was adopted by many other developing countries. He retired from politics at 75, but continued to practise surgery. His last operation, at 85, was a favour to a friend who would trust no one else. In 1993 the College made him a Fellow by election – a rare honour. He married an African nurse, Regina Haule, in 1963, who died of septicaemia nine years later. He then married Anna Chilunda, a nurse (and also a princess), who was a widow with six children. He died in Dar-es-Salaam on 7 February 2003 at the age of 97.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000133
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Brooman, Peter John Cole (1948 - 2011)

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by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-04 2014-03-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373697373697
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Peter Brooman was a consultant urological surgeon at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport. He was born in London, the son of Edward Brooman, a wholesale newsagent, and Irene Brooman née Ward. He was educated at Purley Grammar School and then studied medicine at Sheffield University. He held an orthopaedic house surgeon post at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, and was a house physician at St George's Hospital, Lincoln. During his training he was influenced by B Crawford, J T Rowling and R H Baker. He subsequently gained his consultant position as a urological surgeon in Stockport. Outside medicine, he played table tennis and squash and rode horses. In 1975 he married Sheila Smith. They had no children. Peter Brooman died on 4 January 2011, aged 62. He was survived by his wife.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001514
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bryant, Martyn John (1957 - 2003)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-04 2013-02-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373698373698
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Martyn Bryant was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. He studied medicine in London and qualified MB BS from King's College Medical School in 1981. He began his training programme in Hull and then moved to Belfast where his senior registrar post gave him ample experience in the management of trauma. His MD thesis was on the survival of joint replacements. He returned to Hull as a consultant in 1993 and moved to Chesterfield in 1998. In the department of orthopaedics at the Royal Hospital, Chesterfield, he established a specialist service for shoulder and elbow problems. He had a reputation as a careful, caring and thoughtful surgeon and his experiences in Northern Ireland, led to him being able to remain calm and efficient in the face of major trauma. His interests included running and cycling. He died at home, aged 45 years, on 26 August 2003 after a diagnosis of carcinoma of the stomach, which he faced with dignity and the dry humour that was characteristic of him. He was survived by his mother, wife Marie, and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001515
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Candlin, Richard Eric (1919 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Richard Eric Candlin
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2015-06-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373883373883
Occupation General surgeon Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Eric Candlin was a consultant orthopaedic and general surgeon at St Leonard's, Manor House, Enfield War Memorial and Cheshunt Cottage hospitals. He was born in Mukden, Manchuria, China, the third child and second son of George Alfred Candlin, general manager of the Russo-Asiatic Bank in the Far East, and Ellen Frances Candlin née Binns, the daughter of a colliery agent. His paternal grandfather was a missionary in China. He was educated at Kent House School in Eastbourne and then Victoria College, Jersey. He was a pacifist in his youth, but was converted from this by a year at Heidelberg University (from 1936 to 1937), when he read chemistry and physics. Whilst a Harkness open scholar at St Andrews University, reading for his BSc, he was commissioned in the Supplementary Reserve in 1939, and went in the 7th Field Regiment Royal Artillery with the British Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of the Second World War, returning via Dunkirk. He later served with the 19th Field Regiment Royal Artillery in Italy. After the war he returned as a medical student to St Andrews, qualifying - with a few short cuts - in 1949. His interest in trauma was aroused by a stint as a house surgeon to the Medical Research Council's burns unit at Birmingham Accident Hospital. After learning his craft at Nottingham City Hospital and a period in general practice, he qualified FRCS in 1953. An appointment as a registrar then as a senior registrar in general surgery to the London and the Metropolitan hospitals was followed in 1964 by an invitation to apply for an appointment as a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at the latter, and later at St Leonard's Hospital, Shoreditch. In this period he was a locum in every metropolitan region in both general and orthopaedic surgery; and from 1964 to 1984 was at Enfield War Memorial and Cheshunt Cottage hospitals as a general surgeon, becoming a very dexterous vasectomist, clearing his waiting list of 19 on his last day! In 1969 he was appointed to the private Manor House Hospital, Golders Green, and developed a particular interest in hip surgery and arthroscopy. Because of the geographic spread of the hospital's patients, he acquired a nationwide view of his specialty and continued to operate until he was almost 70. Over the years, and in collaboration with his secretary, he built up a remarkably widespread medico-legal practice based on broad medical and social experience, exploitation of the business potential of computers, diligent pursuit of records and considerable presence as a professional witness. He made regular circuits from Kent and the South Coast, to Exeter and as far north as Cheshire and Yorkshire, and south to the Channel Islands to visit patients; he saw his last patient and completed his final case report in 2010. Elected to the reforming Conservative Islington Council in 1968, in his three years as a councillor he was chairman in turn of the committees for cleaning and baths, children, public health, environmental health and social services, and health (with housing). He was a lifelong beekeeper, keeping hives in sometimes peculiar locations as required by his peripatetic early career. Many a church fete benefitted from the honey, and in his late eighties he was still collecting swarms causing a nuisance in public places when asked to do so by the local police. He was a part-time assistant to his wife, a GP, by whom he had six children (Deirdre, Lucy, George, Zoe, James and Athene), in addition to a daughter, Diana, from his war-time marriage to Anne Fry. He died on 10 January 2011, aged 91. His wife, Anthea MacBean, predeceased him by three years to the day.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001700
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dickson, James Russell (1922 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2014-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373884373884
Occupation General surgeon
Details James Dickson (Jim) was a general surgeon at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey. He was born in Liverpool on 27 October 1922, the son of James Reid Dickson, a commercial traveller, and his wife, Lizzie, née Acheson. He was educated at Alleyn's School in Dulwich and qualified MB BS in 1946 having studied at Guy's Hospital. He did national service with the RAF from 1946 to 1949, serving as a medical officer with the rank of flight lieutenant. After surgical residencies at the King Edward VII Hospital Windsor, and the Maidenhead and Brompton Hospitals, he passed the fellowship of the College (in 1954) and moved to Guernsey in 1955 where he became consultant surgeon to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital. As his obituary in the BMJ noted "the Channel Islands had been under German occupation during the war and the recovery was slow and difficult in the austere conditions of that time. Modernisation was urgently required and Jim worked tirelessly with both his surgery and hospital administration to provide as much improvement as was necessary." A versatile surgeon he rapidly increased the range of operations available on the island. Meticulous in his operations he could turn his hand to most procedures and he made sure that any surgical innovations were speedily adopted on Guernsey. When he was a student at Guy's he met his wife Patricia Mary née Palin, who qualified as a physiotherapist. They married in 1947 and had three children, Christopher who died in a riding accident in Australia, Patrick and Joanna. He had a deep religious faith and was church warden of St Andrew's Church from 1991 to 2000. His hobbies were swimming, sailing, golf (he was captain of the local club), gardening and wood turning - he used to make miniature dolls' furniture for exhibition. He died of prostate cancer on 2 January 2009, in his 87th year survived by Pat, his remaining son and daughter, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001701
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching D'Souza, Edward Paul (1935 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2014-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373885373885
Occupation Cardiovascular surgeon Thoracic surgeon
Details Edward D'Souza was a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon at Dakota Midland Hospital in the USA. He was born in Panjim, Goa on 19 July 1935 to Gerado Bruno D'Souza who worked in communications and his wife, Maria Orfelinda. He qualified MB,BS at the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Parel, Bombay in 1961 after internship training at the KEM Hospital. In June that year he took up a 6 month surgical residency at Walsall Manor Hospital in the UK and followed this by posts throughout the country including Bolton, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Altringham, Birmingham and Cornwall. Further experience was gained by a variety of locum jobs in London, St Albans and Northern Ireland. Before passing the College fellowship in 1969, he took various postgraduate courses at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. Early in the 1970's he worked in London at the National Heart Hospital, Great Ormond Street and the Brompton Chest Hospital. Moving to the USA in late 1971 he was appointed fellow in cardiovascular surgery at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, working with Denton R Cooley, the distinguished heart surgeon who founded the Institute in 1962. In 1973 he started the first cardiovascular unit in South Dakota at the Dakota Midland Hospital in Aberdeen and performed the first coronary by-pass surgeries in the state. He was a member of numerous local and international medical associations and a founder member of the Denton Cooley Cardiovascular Society. He married Heather Muriel on 9 July 1965 in Abadan, Iran. They had three children; David Joseph (born 20 March 1966) who became a software engineer for Microsoft, Sharon Megan Gburek (18 June 1967) and Dougal Nigel (5 July 1968). Both his younger children qualified MD from the University of Chicago and, at the time of his death, Sharon was in private practice in Scottsville, Arizona and Dougal was practising surgery in Chicago. In his youth D'Souza had been very athletic - in spite of suffering from undiscovered polio in childhood - enjoying soccer, grass hockey and running. Later interests were ballroom dancing, music and reading. He died, aged 75, on 7 September 2010 in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001702
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cridland, Arthur John ( - 1860)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-02 2013-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373509373509
Occupation General practitioner
Details Was in general practice at Chelsea; at Maidenhead; at 60 Old Steine, Brighton, where he was a Member of the Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society; and at Putney, where he was in partnership with Charles Shillito, MRCS. He died in or before 1860.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001326
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Evans, David Lawrence (1919 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2014-04-02
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373887373887
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details David Evans was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Queen Mary's and the Westminster Hospital, London. He was born in London on 21 September 1919, the son of Arthur Evans OBE FRCS who was a general surgeon at the Westminster and Royal Masonic Hospitals and his wife, Dorothy, née Briant. His eldest brother, Briant Evans FRCS FRCOG was an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Westminster, Chelsea and Queen Charlotte. David attended St Piran's School, Maidenhead and Rugby School. He studied medicine at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Westminster Hospital Medical School, where he was president of the student's union and, in 1942, won both the Bulkeley medal and the Chadwick clinical surgery prize. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the RNVR as a surgeon lieutenant. He was on HMS *Pathfinder* for a year taking part in Atlantic convoys, serving in the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean. Following this he was with the Royal Marines at Trincomalee, Ceylon and MO to Mountbatten's fleet force, landing at Arakan and taking the surrender of the Japanese in Sabang (North Sumatera) - a time which he described as "A marvellous, occasionally alarming but seldom boring adventure at HM's expense". After the war David joined the staff of the Westminster Hospital as surgical registrar to Sir Stanford Cade and also worked at the Hospital for Sick children at Great Ormond Street. Appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Southend General Hospital in 1957 he remained there for 2 years before taking up a consultancy at the Westminster where he worked until retirement in 1985. In the early 1960's he was also at St Stephen's Hospital in Chelsea, staying there until 1972, and from 1961-1985 he was consultant orthopaecdic surgeon to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. At the College, he was on Council from 1983 to 1991, Vice-President from 1989 to 1991, RCS visitor to the RCOG Council 1985 to 1990 and Robert Jones Lecturer in 1985. With Peter Bevan he initiated the Overseas Doctors Training Scheme. He was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association for many years and served as its President in 1980. In 1987 he was made an honorary fellow of the section of orthopaedics of the Royal Society of Medicine, having been the section President in 1979. For many years he was on the editorial board of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery*(British Volume) and contributed numerous article to that and other professional journals. He married Betty McCrea, a nurse at St Thomas's, on 14 January 1951. She was the daughter of Dr H Moreland McCrea OBE MD. They had a son Tim who became a general practitioner and three daughters, Joanna Burgess, a speech therapist in London; Phillipa Ford, who lived in Harare, Zimbabwe and Gillian Adkins who practised as a physiotherapist in Portland, Oregon, USA. At university and medical school he was a keen hockey player and an enthusiastic all round sportsman. In later life he enjoyed golf (he was Captain of the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club in 1981), tennis and skiing (he was founder of the British Orthopaedic Skiing Group). Fishing, especially dry fly, was another favourite pastime plus bridge and what he described as "African adventures". He died on 5 March 2010 aged 90, survived by his family which by 2001 included 12 grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001704
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Evans, Geoffrey (1935 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2015-02-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373888373888
Occupation Vascular surgeon
Details Geoffrey Evans was an associate professor of surgery at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was born on 25 January 1935 in Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, Wales, the son of William Garfield Evans, a schoolmaster, and Hannah Evans née James. He attended Mountain Ash Grammar School and then studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He was a house surgeon on the surgical unit at St Mary's and then a house physician at Paddington General Hospital. From May to December 1959 he was a casualty surgeon at St Mary's and subsequently a tutor in anatomy and physiology at the medical school there. From May to December 1960 he was a senior house officer at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, and then became a surgical registrar at Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex. He returned to London in 1963, as a surgical registrar at Paddington General and a senior registrar in surgery at St Mary's. In 1967 he went to Canada, where he was a Canadian Heart Foundation fellow in the department of pathology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He stayed on to become an assistant professor of surgery in 1969 and then, from 1970, an associate professor of surgery. He carried out research into thromboembolism and transient cerebral ischaemia. He was a member of the Society of University Surgeons, the Society for Academic Surgery, and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Canadian Heart Foundation. Outside medicine he enjoyed skiing, sailing, squash, photography and music. In 1959 he married a Miss Martin. They had a son and twin daughters. Geoffrey Evans died in 2010.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001705
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McGhee, John James (1931 - 2006)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372625372625
Occupation General surgeon
Details John James McGhee, known as ‘Jack’, was a surgeon in the Canadian town of Prince Georgia, British Columbia (BC). He was born in Princeton, BC, on 6 December 1931 and raised in Trail. His parents, Thomas Doyle McGhee, a miner, and Agnes Wilson McGhee, both originally from Glasgow, agreed that Jack and his younger brother, Gordon, should try to avoid life in the mines. Jack subsequently enrolled in the University of British Columbia. Having played for the Trail Smoke Eaters as a junior, Jack was on the university hockey team, but quickly realised he wasn’t cut out for life as a professional sportsman. He concentrated on medicine and was in the third graduating class of the faculty of medicine, being licensed to practise in 1957. With a group of classmates he went to the UK, and gained much experience in orthopaedic and general surgery. When off duty he enjoyed all the cultural and sport opportunities offered in Europe. There were certain consultants who strongly influenced Jack’s decision to pursue general surgery. The first was Michael Reilly in Plymouth, who noted Jack’s ‘good hands’ and encouraged him by teaching him many skills. A strong negative influence was a position at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital where, in spite of encounters with many famous specialists, such as Seddon, and free tickets to the opera etc, he realised that the esoterica he was dealing with were not what he was really interested in. However, he continued with orthopaedics by taking a position at Nottingham General Hospital, before proceeding to Edinburgh to tackle the primary. He passed the Edinburgh FRCS exam in 1962, and returned to the Nottingham General to take a surgical registrar position. His chiefs were Tommy Field and John Swan, and the senior registrar was Ted Oliver. The experience of working with these three skilled surgeons was inspiring. It was an extremely busy hospital, and the call schedule involved each surgical firm being on call for a continuous week every month. Cold surgery was not set aside during this week, so the work was intense. Ted Oliver died on the golf course, much too young – he was 45. Jack completed the London fellowship during this period, in 1964. In November 1964 he married Carolyn Meetham, also a doctor, whom he had met in Nottingham. He had applied for one senior registrar position in Sheffield, but realised that it would be a very long haul before he achieved this promotion, and it was decided to return to British Columbia in 1965, after seven years in Britain. On returning to Canada, while Carolyn kept bread on the table with an assistant resident position in paediatrics in Vancouver, Jack studied for the Canadian Certification in General Surgery, which he achieved in 1965. On weekends off they travelled around the province looking for a town which wanted a specialist surgeon. Prince George was the only city where they were welcomed with open arms, so they settled there. Jack formed a dynamic and legendary partnership with Bob Ewert, who had earlier come back to his home town as the city’s first specialist general surgeon. Jack was a very skilled surgeon, much loved for his humour and courtesy, humanity towards patients, and scrupulous professionalism. He was an inspiring and enthusiastic mentor for a generation of medical students and surgical residents. Wanderlust led him to travel widely with his family. They volunteered their professional services in Belize, Dominica, Papua New Guinea and Somalia. Jack retired from active practice in 1996 after 30 years. He was honoured to be made an honorary member of the department of surgery of the University of British Columbia in 1995, and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia in 2000. During his working life, his many hobbies included mountaineering. He was a member of the Alpine Club of Canada for 25 years and an active member of the Prince George section, where another of his interests was indulged: he would enter the photographic competition with success. He was a wonderful skier, and undertook many traverses and climbs with and without guides in winter and summer. He loved fly fishing for trout and steelhead. He was also interested in beekeeping, at which he became an expert. With his family, he travelled to all the continents, for exploration, natural history and especially bird watching. He gave many beautiful slide shows based on these travels. He carried on with these pursuits after retirement, and added more, including cooking. His final remarkable trek, around Manaslu in central Nepal in April 2005, was undertaken in great pain from bone secondaries, before the diagnosis of lung cancer was made in August 2005. Nobody was surprised that he bore his illness with extraordinary courage. He died on 18 April 2006, at home, surrounded by his family. Posthumously he was inducted into the Northern Medical Hall of Fame in January 2007. He is survived by his wife Carolyn, three adult children (Alex Jane, a nurse, Rachel, a physician, and Dougal, a carpenter, whose wife is Kirsten) and two grandchildren, all of whom he was extremely proud.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000441
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Griffith, Gwilym Huw (1933 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Rees
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2013-02-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373890373890
Occupation General surgeon
Details Gwilym Huw Griffith was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. He was born on 2 May 1933 in Denbigh, Wales, the younger of two children. His father was a Welsh Presbyterian minister and his mother was a teacher at Howell's, an independent girls' school. Gwilym was educated at Denbigh Grammar School and, in October 1950, at the age of 17, went on to St Mary's Hospital in London to study medicine, qualifying in 1956. Between 1956 and 1958 Gwilym completed various house jobs in and around London. From September 1958 to October 1960, he served as a captain in the RAMC for his National Service, acting as a junior specialist in surgery at the Military Hospital in Dhekelia, Cyprus, and at Benghazi, North Africa. Having gained his FRCS in 1962, he worked as a surgical registrar and was latterly appointed as a surgical registrar at St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, London, where he worked under the watchful eyes of Charles Drew and Harold Siddons. In 1963 he was appointed as a registrar at Llandough Hospital and the Cardiff Royal Infirmary. He worked closely with David Crosby, and assisted him with the first renal transplant to be performed in Wales. He became a senior registrar at the surgical unit of the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, under Patrick Forrest. In August 1967 he became a senior registrar in surgery at Singleton Hospital, Swansea. Gwilym had a very thorough and comprehensive training in general surgery, with a specialist interest in endocrine surgery, an interest he developed under the influence of Hilary Wade in Cardiff. In May 1972 he was appointed as a consultant in general surgery at the then Newport and East Monmouthshire hospitals. He started his career as a consultant on 1 September at St Woolos Hospital, later transferring to the Royal Gwent Hospital. Gwilym quickly developed a very large practice in general and endocrine surgery. His commitment and care of his patients were exemplary. The training of junior surgeons was also important to him. He helped establish the Welsh Surgical Travellers Club and became president of the Welsh Surgical Society. In August 1987 he was elected chairman of the medical executive committee, and in 1993 was appointed medical director of the then Glan Hafren NHS Trust. In 1995 Gwilym was diagnosed with malignant myeloma. He responded well to treatment and was able to return to work a year later. In 1998 he was awarded an OBE for services to medicine. Gwilym was proud of his Welsh roots. He had a fine singing voice and enjoyed listening to music. He was a member of the executive committee of the National Eisteddfod in Newport in 1988 and was also chairman of the literature committee. A keen mountaineer from the 1950s, he helped St Mary's Climbing Club buy a hut in North Wales, which is still in use. He delighted in spending time in the French Alps near Chamonix, where he had an apartment. He was an enthusiastic skier and when snow shut the roads in Newport in 1982 he skied to the hospital to see his patients. He married Elan in 1964 and they had three daughters. Gwilym Huw Griffith died on 12 January 2004 in Newport, Wales, aged 70.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001707
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Goodman, Helene Valerie (1925 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Michael Pugh
Publication Date 2011-12-09 2013-11-25
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373891373891
Occupation Rheumatologist
Details Helene Valerie Goodman was a consultant rheumatologist at St Stephen's, Westminster and Royal Marsden hospitals, London. She was born in London on 18 October 1925, the daughter of Isaac Harris Goodman, a South African businessman and exporter, and Hilda Goodman née Lubetzki. She was known as 'Paddy' since childhood, a nickname allegedly given to her by her father, who had wanted a boy (when she was born there was a play running with the title *Paddy, the next best thing*). Paddy and her older sister Phyllis went to St Paul's Girls School and then to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Paddy read medicine and did her clinical training at St George's, qualifying in 1951. She was very keen to become a surgeon, at a time when women were not encouraged to follow a surgical career. In 1952 she joined the primary course at the Royal College of Surgeons, where she met Anthony Woolf. They became engaged and married on 3 September 1952, which coincided with the primary examination for the London fellowship. They decided to go up to Glasgow to sit for the exam: Paddy passed and Anthony did not. She became a house surgeon at the Miller Hospital, then at St James', Balham, where she came under the tutelage of Norman Tanner. Realising that a surgical career was difficult for a married woman, she chose to become a rheumatologist. She gained a registrar appointment at Middlesex Hospital under Archie Boyle and, through the Middlesex, came to the notice of Roger Gilliat, the consultant neurologist. In cooperation with him, she researched nerve production using electromyography. This work formed the basis of her DM thesis, and the work was seminal in the development of treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. She was awarded her DM in 1962 and, after this, she completed her fellowship of our College. She was then a registrar and a senior registrar at St Thomas' Hospital in the department of rheumatology under Phillipe Bauwens and James Cyriax. She was appointed as a consultant rheumatologist at St Stephen's Hospital, the Westminster and the Royal Marsden Hospital, and was an accredited teacher at the University of London. She was also on the staff of the Dispensaire Français, where consultations were conducted in French. After she retired she worked as a locum at Charing Cross Hospital, helping to clear their long list of patients waiting for electromyography. Paddy greatly valued her classical education and took a lifelong interest in Latin. Music for her was a special joy; she played the piano and she greatly enjoyed opera at Covent Garden and Glyndebourne. Her husband, Anthony, became a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician in Hackney. They had two daughters, Serena Jane and Caroline Rosemary, and a granddaughter, Antonia. On holiday in South Africa, Anthony and Paddy were the victims of an armed holdup and car hijacking. This disturbed Paddy and, through an error of judgement, she stepped into a scalding bath. She was admitted to Morningside Mediclinic in Johannesburg, but died a week later, on 21 January 2010, of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). She was 84.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001708
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Clyne, Andrew Jack (1907 - 1994)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by R P Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2018-02-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373710373710
Occupation Military surgeon
Details Major General Andrew Clyne, a hugely experienced military surgeon who served in a number of campaigns, was director general of medical services for the Royal Australia Army Medical Corps. He was born on 30 June 1907 in Melbourne, Australia, the eldest son of Andrew Morrison Clyne, a stock and station agent, and Ethel Kathleen Clyne née Kentish. He was educated at the University High School in Melbourne, and then studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, gaining a BSc and qualifying MB BS in 1932 with the Keith Levi memorial prize in medicine and the Jamieson prize in clinical medicine. After a post as a resident medical officer at Melbourne Hospital, he went to the UK and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1934 as a lieutenant, proceeding to the rank of captain in March 1935. In the pre-war years he was based in India. During the Second World War he was a staff captain at the Southern Command (India) and deputy assistant director of medical services and then assistant director at the Army headquarters between December 1942 and July 1943. From July 1943 and October 1944 he was officer commanding the 13 Indian Casualty Clearing Station, and officer commanding 51 MFTU (malaria forward treatment unit) between October 1944 and March 1945. He was then in command of the British Military Hospitals in Deolali, in Bombay and finally in Delhi between September 1945 and July 1946. In 1947 he was at the Royal Army Medical College, Millbank, and in 1949 was a clinical assistant at Miller Hospital, Greenwich. He gained his FRCS in 1949, followed by a series of appointments as a consultant surgeon, firstly in the Far East between February 1950 and May 1956, which covered most of the Malayan Emergency. He also served in Korea. Between August 1956 and February 1959 he was a consultant surgeon at the headquarters of the British Army of the Rhine at Rheindahlen, West Germany. From there, he became a consultant surgeon to the Middle East Land Forces based in Cyprus, between February 1959 and June 1960 - the period when EOKA (Ethnikí Orgánosis Kipriakoú Agónos) was fighting for independence. He then returned to the United Kingdom and was promoted to honorary brigadier. He relinquished his commission after being appointed by the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps as their next director general of medical services. He served in this role from 1960 to 1967. He was made an honorary major general around 1963. He was an honorary surgeon to The Queen. He was clearly a surgeon of considerable ability and served with distinction as a senior medical administrator. He was awarded with the 1939-1945 Star, the Burma Star, and the Defence and War medals for his service in the Second World War. Later he gained the Malayan General Service medal, and the Korean and UN medals. In 1954 he was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service in the Far East. He married Queenie Decima Ford in 1935. They had two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001527
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dark, John Fairman (1921 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Raymond Hurt
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2012-11-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373711373711
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details John Fairman Dark was a thoracic surgeon in Manchester. He was born in London on 18 April 1921, the son of Leonard Dark, a sales manager, and Dorothy Rose Dark née Fairman, a London Hospital nurse. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, where he won Harrison and Kitchener scholarships, and then Manchester University Medical School. In 1944 he served for four and a half months in an Emergency Medical Service hospital at Conishead Priory. He gained his MB ChB in 1945. Following junior hospital posts at Manchester Royal Infirmary, in 1949 he began to train in his chosen specialty of thoracic surgery at Baguley Sanatorium, also in Manchester. In 1952 he was appointed as a consultant thoracic surgeon at Baguely and at other hospitals in the region. Twenty years later, in 1972, he was appointed to the regional cardiothoracic unit at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. By the 1970s, pulmonary tuberculosis surgery had largely disappeared with the introduction of chemotherapy, and the major part of thoracic surgery was the treatment of bronchial carcinoma and, to a lesser extent, the treatment of oesophageal carcinoma. Dark always had a special interest in the treatment of oesophageal carcinoma, and he was very proud of the statistics that he and his team published in *Thorax* in 1981 for oesophageal resection for this disease ('Surgical treatment of carcinoma of the oesophagus' *Thorax* 1981 Dec;36[12]:891-5). Of the 449 operations they reported, there was a hospital mortality rate of only 7.6 per cent and a five year survival rate of 18 per cent above the average rate for that time. In 1968 Dark began open-heart surgery with the hypothermia technique at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. Then, like other thoracic surgeons of that era, he became more involved in closed heart surgery - mitral valvotomy and the treatment of congenital heart disease (patent ductus arteriosus and aortic coarctation). For six years he was an examiner for the Edinburgh cardiothoracic fellowship examination and, from 1980 to 1985, an adviser in cardiothoracic surgery to the Department of Health. He was president of the Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and president of the Manchester Medical Society in 1989. He had an extremely friendly personality and was greatly respected by his peers. He married Prudence Mary Holden in June 1949. They had four children - John Henry (a fellow of the College and professor of cardiothoracic and transplant surgery at Newcastle), Jeremy (who died infancy), Robert Fairman and Julia Mary. Dark developed a contained abdominal aortic aneurysm, which became a full rupture about 35 hours later and was not repaired because of a recent stroke. He died on 9 April 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001528
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Butt, Mahmud ( - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2014-04-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373712373712
Occupation General surgeon
Details Mahmud Butt was a general surgeon who qualified MB, BS in the Punjab in 1955. He became a fellow of the College in 1977. Sadly little is known of his surgical career apart from the fact that he worked at the Royal Infirmary, Huddersfield in the 1980's. He was living in Leeds when he died on 16 March 2009, survived by his wife, Moira.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001529
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cleave, Hugh Latimer (1910 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by RM Kirk
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2014-06-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373713373713
Occupation Naval surgeon
Details Hugh Latimer Cleave was a surgeon captain in the Royal Navy. He was born on 11 February 1910 in Exeter, the younger of two sons of Richard Charles Cleave, an engineer captain in the Royal Navy, and Ethel Elizabeth Cleave née Latimer. His older brother, Thomas (Peter), also served in the Royal Navy Medical Service, as a surgeon captain. From 1920 to 1926, Hugh was educated at Clifton College. He qualified in medicine at Bristol University and subsequently trained for the FRCS at Middlesex, Guy's and London hospitals. The teacher who most impressed him was Wilfred Adams, to whom he was a house surgeon at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. A memorable appointment was at Putney Hospital in 1933, when he was the sole resident medical officer. It is believed that he joined the Royal Navy early in his career. Certainly, he served throughout the Second World War. In 1939 he was mentioned in despatches, continuing in the Navy until his retirement in 1967, with the final rank of captain. He was awarded the CBE for his services. Hugh married a Miss P E W Hill in 1933. They had a son and daughter. His later life was spent in Buckland Monachorum, Devon, and he enjoyed most sports, in particular fishing and shooting. He died on 18 November 2010, aged 100.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001530
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dykes, Campbell (1873 - 1911)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Dyson, Malcolm Goodworth (1868 - 1913)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Cross, Richard (1818 - 1882)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-06 2011-09-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373522373522
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's Hospital. He began to practise in Scarborough in 1840, shortly afterwards going into partnership with Thomas Weddell, who died in 1862. He practised for more than forty years in Scarborough, and was a prominent public man. At one period he was Physician to the Royal Scarborough Sea-Bathing Infirmary and a member of the Committee of the Cliff Bridge Company. He was for thirty-six years Medical Officer to the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society. Elected a member of the Scarborough Corporation on November 1st, 1849, when he headed the poll for the North Ward, he was re-elected with regularity until 1862, when he was made Alderman. He was Mayor in 1860-1861, and retired from civic duties in 1874. He was also a Magistrate for the Borough and a Trustee of the Municipal Charities, Medical Referee for the Railway Passengers and the Imperial Union Accident Companies, Surgeon Major on the Staff of the East and North Riding Brigade of the Yorkshire Artillery Volunteers, Ordnance Surgeon for Scarborough, Fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical and Obstetric Societies, London, and a member of the British Medical Association. He was greatly honoured and esteemed for his professional and social qualities, his courtesy and geniality rendering him very popular. He was eulogized by John Marshall (qv) in his "Presidential Address" before the Medico-Chirurgical Society in March, 1883, as "eminent in both private and public practice", for his character, and as "an admirable example of a large class of provincial practitioners". Latterly Cross was in partnership with his son, Thomas Brown Cross, MA Cantab, MRCS. His professional address in Scarborough was 6 Queen Street. His death occurred on November 19th, 1882, about twelve hours after he had submitted to an amputation above the knee, for a tedious and painful disease of that joint. His funeral was celebrated with military honours and attended by the volunteers, the Mayor and Corporation, and others. Publication: "A Table of Obstetrical Studies." - *Lancet*, 1866, ii, 274, 456.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001339
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Paton-Philip, Philip (1922 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-09-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373622373622
Occupation Urologist
Details Philip Paton-Philip was a consultant urologist at Epsom and District Hospital and St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, also serving as a senior lecturer to St George's Hospital Medical School with honorary consultant status. He was born in Cambridge on 12 September 1922, the eldest son of Wilfrid Paton Philip, a chest physician, and Mary Simpson, a nursing sister, whose own father had been a journalist. Educated at Perse School, Cambridge, Philip Paton-Philip proceeded to St John's College, Cambridge, for his natural science studies. He then went to St Bartholomew's Medical School on a Kitchener scholarship. After house appointments, in 1947 he served in the chest unit at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, as surgeon in charge with the rank of surgeon lieutenant commander. In his post-service appointments he worked as a resident surgical officer at the London Clinic, and it was here that he was greatly influenced by Rodney Maingot, Dickson Wright, Sir Harold Gillies and Sir Archibald McIndoe. Definitive surgical and specialist urological training came as a senior registrar and chief assistant at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he worked with Rupert Corbett and Alec Badenoch, the latter influencing his future specialist career. He was a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for the Stone, London. In 1964 he was appointed to his definitive appointment, as a consultant urologist at Epsom and District Hospital and St Helier Hospital, Carshalton. He published in the thoracic field, particularly on death from air embolism whilst serving in the Royal Navy, and later on feminising testicular tumours. He had an extensive private practice. He retired early from the NHS in 1985. He was a member of the Hunterian Society, the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the British Academy of Expert Witnesses, having developed a reputation in the medico-legal side of urology, thoracic surgery and problems associated with deep-water diving. Outside medicine, Philip Paton-Philip was an accomplished horseman and competed regularly in amateur cross country and show jumping championships. He was a member of the Garrick and Savage clubs. Philip Paton-Philip married Julia Vaux in 1959, by whom he had one son, Charles. Later he was married for 34 years to Christina Bernhardson, a dental surgeon from Sweden, whom he had met whilst riding in Hyde Park. They had two sons, the elder, Richard, became a barrister, and James, a solicitor. Their parents sponsored both of them to play polo for Eton. In later years Philip Paton-Philip developed Alzheimer's disease: Christina cared for him with great devotion during those difficult times. He died in hospital on 2 March 2009. Christina and his three sons, Charles, Richard and James, survived him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001439
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rawsthorne, George Brian (1937 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2011-06-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373426373426
Occupation General surgeon
Details George Brian Rawsthorne was a consultant surgeon at Leighton Hospital, Crewe. He was born on 5 May 1937 in Liverpool, the second of the four children of Joseph Lewis Rawsthorne, a master builder, and Caroline Dorothy Ball, a physiotherapist. He was educated at Huyton Hill Preparatory School, Windermere, and Wrekin College, Shropshire, where he was captain of swimming. It was while he was doing his National Service in the RAMC as a corporal at Netley Hospital that he observed the medical staff and decided he too could do medicine. On demobilisation he studied at Birkenhead Technical College to get the necessary A levels and then applied to every medical school in the country in alphabetical order: Aberdeen was the first to accept him. There he was president of both the physiology and rowing clubs. He did his house jobs at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen, was a demonstrator of anatomy, and then became a senior house officer for two years. He held registrar appointments in Liverpool, finishing with a position on the professorial unit. He was seconded as a locum consultant to Leighton Hospital, Crewe, in 1973, succeeding to the substantive post at the end of the year. At Crewe he was a postgraduate clinical tutor, he set up a medical audit unit (together with his anaesthetic colleague) and was chairman of the district medical advisory committee. In 1988 he was the prime mover in establishing a private hospital in the grounds of Leighton Hospital. In 1995 he became the lead consultant of cancer services and, two years later, lead breast surgeon. He retired in 2002. He played tennis until worsening asthma meant be could no longer continue. He was a keen fly fisherman and photographer. He built his own Ford special and was a keen watercolourist. In 1966 he married Anne Margaret Mackenzie, from Tain Easter Ross. Both Anne's parents were GPs and she became a clinical assistant in psychiatry at Leighton Hospital. They had two daughters, Nicola, a teacher, and Karen, a solicitor who defended cases of medical negligence. Rawsthorne died from carcinoma of the oesophagus on 10 June 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001243
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Reece, Michael William (1925 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Slesser, Elizabeth Vivien (1918 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-06-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001200-E001299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373428373428
Occupation Cardiothoracic surgeon
Details Elizabeth Vivien Slesser, known as 'Betty', worked as a surgeon in Leicester from 1951 to 1978 and expanded the cardio-thoracic unit at Groby Road Hospital. She had an interesting life at a time when women in surgery had to fight hard to be recognised, and later lectured on this topic at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. She was born in India on 23 August 1918, the elder daughter of William Slesser, a military policeman, and Alice née Hardy, who was a graduate of Aberdeen University. Betty's sister, Margaret Phillip, died in her early twenties but had a son who lives in Thunder Bay, Canada. Her brother, Malcolm, a professor of energy studies at Strathclyde University, had two children, Morag and Calum. Morag Slesser, Betty's niece, is a clinical psychologist. Qualifying from Edinburgh University in 1941, Betty obtained a house surgeon post in the ear, nose and throat department at the Royal Infirmary and worked with Ewart Martin. In those days it was most unusual for female doctors to get junior house jobs in general surgery and medicine in Edinburgh, and most had to apply to the specialist departments, such as eyes, skin and VD. One exception among her contemporaries was Dame Sheila Sherlock, who won the Ettes scholarship, got general house appointments, and later became the first woman professor of medicine in England at the Royal Free Hospital, London. In March 1942, Betty applied for a post as house surgeon to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Greenbank, Plymouth. The town had been heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe and she wished to contribute to the war effort. The interviews took place during heavy snowfall that prevented her from travelling. She sent a telegram to this effect, but received one in return indicating that she had been appointed. She gained valuable experience at this busy general hospital in emergency work, including many casualties from 'hit and run raids'. The following year Betty was made resident surgical officer to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Devonport, a smaller hospital with fewer junior staff, but gained good clinical experience. The medical registrar gave anaesthetics for emergencies, and on one occasion held up a copy of *Romanis and Mitchiner*, which gave Betty the confidence she needed to operate on an empyema of the gallbladder, found instead of the acutely inflamed appendix she had initially diagnosed. Of her early experiences she wrote at a later date: "We worked extremely long hours, including Saturdays and Sundays, without feeling tired or badly done by. To us it was all valuable experience. My salary was £100 per year plus board and room. Initially I had one half day off a week, 3pm to 10pm, covered by the junior consultant, but when I got back I found all the emergencies from the late afternoon onwards had piled up and were awaiting me: I soon gave up my half day!" In 1943, feeling she should do more for the war effort, she was interviewed and accepted for the Royal Air Force medical service. This decision was reversed by the central committee who controlled all civilian hospital appointments. Betty was told that the RAF did not need more women doctors and she should find another surgical post. Unsuccessful in many applications to hospitals along the south coast, in desperation she applied for a job at a miners convalescent home near Sheffield. The interviews were held at the Royal Infirmary and Betty was pleasantly surprised to be offered a post as first assistant there to the surgical professorial unit with Sir Ernest Finch, doyen of surgery in the city at the time. Like many cities less vulnerable to German bombing, Sheffield received its fair share of second front service casualties who had received emergency treatment in field hospitals and hospitals on the south coast of England. The junior consultant, Alan Fawcett, a good general surgeon with superb technical ability, was developing an interest in thoracic surgery and passed his enthusiasm on to Betty Slesser as she helped him with his early thoracic operations, many performed under local anaesthesia. Clearly destined for a career in surgery, she sat and passed the Edinburgh FRCS in January 1945. Rather than attempt to obtain a post in a teaching hospital with many men returning from war service, she returned to the West Country as a surgical registrar. By September 1946 Alan Fawcett was specialising entirely in thoracic surgery and offered Betty a senior registrar post in Sheffield at the Royal Infirmary. She also worked with J T Chesterman at the Northern General Hospital. He was a pioneer in open heart surgery and the development of the heart lung machine. The workload in Sheffield was enormous, but Betty developed her interest in surgery of the oesophagus. In August 1951 she was appointed consultant surgeon to the thoracic unit in Leicester, based at the old tuberculosis and isolation hospital, a unit was started before the Second World War by Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors and expanded by her senior colleague, Gordon Cruickshank. On achieving regional status, the name was changed to Groby Road Hospital. Betty knew she was not the favoured candidate and had to overcome this obstacle with the Leicester consultant staff. She recalled one amusing episode whilst waiting for the interview. Females were expected to wear hats for these formal occasions. Her chief, Mr Fawcett, who was on the interviewing committee, made a remark likely to depress any lady before experiencing the ordeal: "Where did you get that bloody awful hat?" In addition to her work in Leicestershire, Betty had to look after south Derbyshire. Initially 50 per cent of the work was in the surgery of pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchiectasis and lung cancer, but she also engaged in oesophageal surgery. It was necessary to travel many miles at all hours to cope with chest injuries in Derby. Cardiac surgery on the unit expanded from closed mitral valvotomy and correction of congenital abnormalities, to closure of septal defects under hypothermia. During the period when cardio-pulmonary bypass was in its infancy in the UK, her senior colleague died at the age of 47. The setting up of an open-heart unit was discussed at regional level for some 10 months, and no replacement was made for her colleague. Any senior registrar acting as a locum would expect to obtain the definitive post, so Betty Slesser decided to work on her own until the correct decision could be made at regional level. In order to keep her waiting list down, some patients were transferred to Harefield hospital and a general surgeon shared the oesophageal workload in Leicester. In 1965 Philip Slade was appointed, trained in the techniques of cardio-pulmonary by-pass by Sir Russell Brock and Oswald Tubbs: a cardiologist and cardiac radiologist were also appointed in order to provide better overall care for patients. Slade trained the existing staff in Leicester, including Betty Slesser, in the various techniques, and she was then able to take her fair share of the cardiac workload. Pulmonary work continued as the expertise in coronary surgery was developed in the area. Morale in the operating theatres during these long procedures and in intensive care units was essential, and Betty gave much of the necessary support. She was a prominent and much respected member of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the local Leicester Medical Society. Her major contribution over many years was recognised in 1974 when Betty was awarded the FRCS of our College *ad eundem* by the president, Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors. In her later years Betty married John Chatterton, clerk to the County Council of Leicester, and inherited two children, Jill and James. She and her husband were mutually supportive and in 1978 Betty decided to retire at the age of 60 so that she could spend more time with her husband who had retired four years previously. She felt he was having a raw deal, meals at all hours and little companionship, and she herself was getting a little tired of late night calls and the daily stress, admitting she had enjoyed her working life enormously. Betty spent two happy and peaceful years with John before he died in 1980 at their home in Rothley, Leicestershire. She had many interests outside medicine including fly fishing and walking in the Highlands. She was a great traveller, particularly after retirement, and went on many cruises with friends. On her husband's death she was befriended by Frank Doleman, a Leicester GP. Although they never shared a home, they continued to live near each other for 12 years until Frank died at the age of 92. She moved back to Scotland at the turn of the century to spend her remaining years in Netherbridge. She and John had a retreat there for many years and after he died she sold this and moved to 'Dornie', Netherbridge. Betty Slesser died peacefully on 13 February 2010 at her home at the age of 91. She is survived by her two step-children, Jill and James, and is much missed by a close-knit family.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001245
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Earle, Edward Septimus ( - 1885)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Eastes, George (1841 - 1909)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373717373717
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on May 16th, 1841, in Old Folkestone close to the harbour. He was the eldest child of Sylvester Eastes, MRCS, JP, the Mayor of Folkestone, at that time a small place with fields covering the West Cliff up to the Parish Church. Eastes went to school at St Margare's Bay, then to Tonbridge Grammar School, where the boys got up at 5 am in the summer for preparation, lasting to 8 am. In 1854 he was transferred to Maidstone, where at the end of the Crimean War he won a prize for a school poem on 'Peace'. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to his father, after which in 1860 he entered Guy's Hospital, where he proceeded to the London Degree and to the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons. He was House Surgeon, and then for two years Surgical Registrar and Tutor. After six months' study in Paris he settled in general practice at 5 Albion Place, W, in succession to Dr Egbert W Charlton. In 1863 he was one of the founders of the Guyite Club, composed of forty-three original members with a motto 'Dum licet nobis', and was its Secretary to the end of his life, when the little society had dwindled to fifteen. With the aid of the Guy's surgeons he was able to develop a special practice in the administration of anaesthetics; he was for fourteen years Anaesthetist to the Great Northern Hospital, and was one of the founders of the Society of Anaesthetists. He acted as Secretary to the first British Medical Association Committee of Inquiry, and devoted much time to a tabulation of the results of the inquiry into anaesthetic administrations. From about 1874 he acted with Alban Doran and Fancourt Barnes on the editorial staff of the *British Medical Journal*, under the Editor, Ernest Hart, and he continued throughout his life to contribute to it. At the Metropolitan Counties Branch he was Secretary (1886-1888), Treasurer (1892-1899 and 1901-1903), President (1900), and Secretary of the Investigation Committee (1885-1887). Up to 1908 he was the Branch Representative on the Council, and a member of the Finance and Journal Committee. At the Leeds Meeting in 1889 he was Secretary of the Section of Public Medicine, and at the Newcastle Meeting in 1893, Vice-President of the same section. He was President of the Harveian Society in 1895. Further, he was instrumental in erecting on the Leas at Folkestone the memorial statue to Harvey at his birthplace. He published a short account of Harvey in 1871. In later life he practised at 35 Gloucester Terrace. He was fond of riding, shooting, the sea, and travel. After a short illness, from which he seemed to be recovering, he died with an attack of thoracic pain on January 23rd, 1909, and was buried in Folkestone Cemetery. He had married in 1869 Miss Fanny Elizabeth Friend, of Hambledon, who survived him with two daughters and one son, Dr George Leslie Eastes, pathologist. His younger brother was Thomas Eastes (qv).
Resource Identifier RCS: E001534
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kelly, Martin Bernard Hirigoyen (1965 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Morgan
Publication Date 2012-01-05 2016-02-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373994373994
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Martin Kelly was a craniofacial plastic surgeon at the Chelsea and Westminster, and Royal Marsden hospitals. An extraordinarily talented surgeon, he died of a heart attack at the young age of 43, stunning his colleagues. He was born Martin Hirigoyen in London on 7 May 1965, the son of Bernard Hirigoyen, a French industrialist with a Basque background, and Diane Kelly. He was brought up in Paris and, when his parents separated when he was 17, he accompanied his mother and four sisters to London and later adopted her maiden name. He was educated in Paris and at Winchester College, and went on to study medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1989. He trained in surgery in Oxford and in London, and gained his FRCS in 1993. His early training in plastic surgery continued in Oxford and London. He then obtained a two-year travelling fellowship in microsurgery and craniofacial reconstruction at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. His research there led to an MD thesis in 1997. His formal training as a specialist registrar in plastic surgery also began in the same year on the London hospitals rotation and he obtained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in plastic surgery. During his training Kelly also studied in Paris with Darina Krastinova at the Hôpital Foch, the unit founded by Paul Tessier, the father of craniofacial surgery. In 2001 Kelly was appointed as a consultant craniofacial plastic surgeon at the craniofacial unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and at the Royal Marsden Hospital. His main interest was reconstructing faces with congenital deformities and repair of defects after ablative surgery for head and neck tumours. In 2003, with his fellow consultant Norman Waterhouse, he founded the charity Facing the World, which treats children around the world disfigured by facial deformities. Earlier he had worked for Médecins Sans Frontières, operating on children in Afghanistan. He was a member of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons and the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and an associate member of the European Society of Craniofacial Surgery. Martin was renowned for his surgical skill, professionalism and energy. The craniofacial and microsurgery meant many hours with one case in the operating theatre. He was described as a modest and compassionate man. Outside medicine, he wrote his own music and played the drums and bass guitar. He enjoyed playing tennis, horse riding and skiing. He painted and his association with the artist Jonathan Yeo led to a series of paintings by Yeo focusing on plastic surgery. Martin Kelly died on 20 May 2008. He was survived by his wife, the actress Natascha McElhone, and three sons: Theodore, Otis and Rex (born after Kelly's death).
Resource Identifier RCS: E001811
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kelly, Langton Edmund Patrick ( - 1995)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-01-05 2014-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373995373995
Occupation General surgeon
Details Langton Kelly was a general surgeon. He qualified in medicine in Queensland, Australia before coming to the UK and passing the fellowships of both the College and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1963. Returning to Queensland he practiced at the Medical Centre at Coolangatta on the coast and lived in Greenslopes, a suburb of Brisbane. He is believed to have died in 1995.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001812
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Keiller, Francis Edwyn Swinnerton (1927 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-05 2015-03-20
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373996373996
Occupation General surgeon
Details Francis Edwyn Swinnerton Keiller, known as 'Frank', was a senior consultant surgeon in the Royal Air Force, retiring with the rank of wing commander. He was born on 20 July 1927 in Nottingham. The family name was originally 'Killer' but, as he writes, he 'changed to Keiller on taking up medicine'. His father, Francis William, was a priest; his mother, Mary Elizabeth née Bradney, was a teacher. He was educated at Victoria College in Jersey. In 2000 he published *Prison without bars: living in Jersey under the German occupation 1940-45* (Seaflower Books), detailing his experiences on the island during the Second World War. He went on to serve in the RAF and afterwards studied medicine at the University of Bristol on an ex-service further education and training scheme. He qualified MB ChB in 1954. He was a house surgeon and house physician at Bristol Royal Infirmary and then rejoined the RAF in 1958. He held various posts, including senior consultant surgeon to the Ghanaian Armed Forces in West Africa and also served in the UK, Aden, Cyprus and Singapore. In the latter part of his career he was a consultant surgeon in Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, and then a medico-legal consultant in Canberra. He was a member of the Provincial Surgeons of Australia and president in 1982. Outside medicine he was interested in rugby, squash, golf and cross country skiing. In 1948 he married Enid May née Glen. They had a daughter, Jennifer, and a son, Andrew. Frank Keiller died on 9 June 2007 in Canberra. He was 79.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001813
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kamdar, Batookrai Anopchand (1939 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-05 2015-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373997373997
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Batookrai Anopchand Kamdar was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at West Hill and Joyce Green hospitals, Dartford, Kent. He was born on 29 October 1939 and studied medicine at the MP Shah Medical College in Jamnagar, Gujarat, qualifying MB BS in 1965. He gained his fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1970 and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (ad eundem) in 1998. Prior to his consultant appointment he was a registrar in orthopaedic surgery at Hammersmith and Heatherwood hospitals, and then a senior registrar in orthopaedic surgery at the Royal Free and Windsor group of hospitals. He was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. Outside medicine he was interested in reading, music, philately, cricket, skiing and golf. He died on 21 January 2009, aged 69.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001814
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pearson, John Brian (1930 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by R M Kirk
Publication Date 2012-02-03 2013-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374139374139
Occupation General surgeon
Details Brian Pearson was a consultant general surgeon in Ilford, London. He could be described in terms of one of his interests: he was like a good wine, he improved over time. Unpretentious, with a soft trace of his Birmingham-derived accent, he had a sly sense of humour, and did not have all his other many virtues on show. He was born in Smethwick near Birmingham on 29 July 1930. His father, Benjamin Clarence Pearson, was a grammar school English teacher who fought in the First and Second World Wars. Brian's mother was one of the first women to earn a BA degree at Leeds University and taught French. Brian had two non-identical twin brothers, Michael and David. David became a consultant anaesthetist. Brain was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and then at King Edward VI School, Birmingham. He was then awarded a prestigious state scholarship to Birmingham Medical School. Qualifying in 1953, he became a house surgeon with Bryan Brooke at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, before moving to Wolverhampton. Brian then joined the RAMC, enlisting for a three-year short service commission in Germany. Returning to civilian life in Birmingham, he embarked on a career in surgery, disregarding a senior doctor's opinion that he lacked the required aggressiveness for a surgeon. As an anatomy demonstrator he created many of the dissections for illustrations in Lord Solly Zuckerman's anatomy text. He subsequently gained surgical registrarships in Birmingham and Leamington Spa, being influenced and inspired by Jack Collis and Arnold Gourevitch. To consolidate his practical knowledge, he worked from 1962 to 1963 as a registrar at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1967 Brian was appointed as a consultant surgeon with a special interest in colorectal diseases at the New Barking and Ilford Hospital, later King George Hospital, Ilford. From 1975 to 1977 he worked as a consultant surgeon at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was a skilful, universally admired and sought-after colorectal surgeon, but also expert in vascular surgery, though depressed by the often poor long-term results. He also had a special interest in oesophageal surgery - which often offers an even worse prognosis. One colleague, who particularly admired his clinical skills, also mentioned his operating speed, versatility, minimal blood loss, and the care he gave to all his patients. After formally reaching retirement age, he was induced to remain, working until 1998, before being replaced by two consultants. He was an assiduous member of the colorectal section of the Royal Society of Medicine, and also a member of the Hunterian Society. Brian met Adele Kelly, a nurse in Birmingham, and they were married at St Chad's Cathedral in February 1955. They had two sons, Simon and Michael, and a daughter, Sarah. Tragically, Adele suffered a stroke in the late 1970s. This deprived her of speech, except for her prayers. She became increasingly incapacitated. Brian cared for her devotedly throughout. Remarkably, he took her with him on extensive overseas tours, including to China and the Indian subcontinent, where she engaged with his friends and enjoyed the experiences under his unceasing attention. She lived until February 2000. In September 2000 Brian married Angela Pollard, an outstanding former theatre sister, later a ward sister, who had also been widowed. She had been a long-time friend of Brian, Adele and of their children. Angela enthusiastically joined him in his love of theatre and music, while he admired the varied birds and animals she, the daughter of a veterinarian, regularly acquired. But he resisted active participation in riding to hounds! As a teenager, Brian had been fascinated by, and constructed, marionettes, building a theatre in which to display them. He was a fencer in his university days and later enjoyed carpentry and stone carving, acquiring a well equipped workshop. In later life he had became deeply committed to opera and theatre. His knowledge and appreciation of opera was profound and his opinions on individual performances were always worth seeking. His comments were searching, but never unfairly critical. Brian kept a diary for 43 years, now passed to his son Michael. In 2007 he was found to have prostatic carcinoma, already generalised at discovery. His fortitude in continuing to lead an active life through years of aggressive treatment was remarkable. He referred to any disabilities in matter-of-fact terms. We never heard him express any recriminations or appeals for sympathy. He continued to enjoy his normal cultural pursuits, right to the end. In spite of vigorous and sometimes experimental drug treatment still under trial, he was finally overcome, dying on 10 December 2011, at the age of 81. Brian may or may not have expressed a view on how he wished to be remembered. Those of us who were privileged to be his friends know how we shall recollect him. He was an outstanding surgeon, a kind, gentle, highly intelligent and deeply cultured man - with a wonderful, sly, wicked, but never cruel, sense of humour. Albert Einstein exhorted us: 'Do not try to be a man of success but try to be a man of value.' Brian Pearson was truly a man of value.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001956
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Raghavjee, Mansooklall Mohan ( - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-02-03 2014-01-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374140374140
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Mansooklall Mohan Raghavjee was an orthopaedic surgeon in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1986.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001957
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hastings, Thomas (1819 - 1897)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Kershaw, Will Wear (1932 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-12-12 2014-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373902373902
Occupation General surgeon
Details Will Kershaw was a consultant general surgeon at Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth. He was born on 7 January 1932 and studied medicine at Leeds University where he qualified MB, ChB in 1956. In Leeds he was surgical registrar at St James's Hospital and the General Infirmary and then senior surgical registrar to the United Leeds Hospitals. He moved to Wales and lived in Borth while working at Bronglais. At the time of his death on 5 December 2008 he was living in Machynllth, North Cardiganshire. His wife, Gwyneth Margaret, a state registered nurse, predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001719
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Laurence, Walter Nick (1918 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-12 2015-04-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373903373903
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Nick Laurence was an honorary consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Brighton. He was born on 12 August 1918 and qualified in 1940. He was a wing commander and orthopaedic specialist in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and trained as a resident surgical officer at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital and as a registrar in orthopaedics at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. From the 1950s he worked as a consultant at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children, Brighton General Hospital and the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. In the late 1960s, with his colleague Austin Brown, he advised on the design of the new accident and emergency block and orthopaedic department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Nick Laurence died on 20 May 2005, aged 86, from head injuries following an accident. He was survived by his widow Eileen, children David, Sue and Nicholas, and six grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001720
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Holmes, Charles (1816 - 1915)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-04-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002200-E002299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374434374434
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was apprenticed at the age of 14 to Dr John Turner, of High Wycombe, after which he studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital and qualified in 1838. He was at first assistant to Dr John Symonds, of Oxford, and after five or six years set up in practice at Chipping Norton, where he was Medical Officer to the Union. In 1861 he had removed to Newport, Isle of Wight; in 1863 to Slough, where he was Surgeon to the Great Western Provident Society, Hon Secretary to its Medical Staff, and in 1875 Medical Officer of Health of the Slough Union District. Owing to unsatisfactory health, he moved to Blockley, in Gloucestershire, and then to Emsworth, in Hampshire; towards the close of the century he was living at Cotswold, St Branock's, Ilfracombe. He had reached the age of 99, being then probably the Senior Fellow, when he died on August 6th, 1915. Publications:- "Case of Amputation of the Leg in which no Ligature was Employed." - *Assoc Med Jour*, 1856, 334. "On Small-pox after Vaccination." - *Med Circular*, 1860, xvi, 184. *Sick Paupers and their Medical Attendants*, 1878.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002251
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Holmes, Timothy (1825 - 1907)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-04-18
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002200-E002299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374435374435
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on May 9th, 1825, the only child of John Holmes, warehouseman, living in Colebrooke Row, Islington, and his wife Elizabeth. He entered Merchant Taylors' School, then in Suffolk Lane, in November, 1836, and left with a Stuart's Exhibition to Cambridge in 1843. He was admitted a Scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1845 and graduated BA in 1847 as forty-second wrangler and twelfth classic. He took his MA degree in 1853, was made an Hon Fellow of Pembroke College in 1900, and received the honorary degree of MCh in the same year. Holmes returned to London in 1847 and became a student at St George's Hospital. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons without having previously taken the diploma of Member, and then served as House Surgeon and Surgical Registrar at St George's Hospital. He acted for a time as Curator of the Museum and Demonstrator of Anatomy until he was elected Assistant Surgeon and Lecturer on Anatomy in June, 1861 (*see* Gray, Henry). He became full Surgeon in 1867 upon the resignation of Thomas Tatum (1802-1879) and held the post until 1887, when he resigned on a time limit of service and was appointed Consulting Surgeon. In 1894 he accepted the onerous position of Hon Treasurer to the Hospital, and in 1904 was appointed a Vice-President on his retirement from active work. Elected Asistant Surgeon to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street in May, 1859, he served as full Surgeon from September, 1861, until 1868. He was for twenty years Chief Surgeon to the Metropolitan Police. At the Royal College of Surgeons, Holmes was Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology 1872-1874, a member of the Court of Examiners from 1873-1883, a member of the newly appointed Conjoint Board of Examiners in Anatomy and Physiology (1872-4), and Examiner on the Dental Examining Board in 1880. He was elected a Member of the Council of the College in 1877, but did not seek re-election at the end of his first term of office in 1885, though he acted for a year as Vice-President in 1884. As Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology he delivered eighteen lectures "On the Surgical Treatment of Aneurysm in its Various Forms". He took an active interest in the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society (which became the Royal Society of Medicine). He was Chairman of the Building Committee which arranged the removal of the Society from its quarters, 53 Berners Street, to its house, 20 Hanover Square, in 1889, and in 1900 he was elected President after serving in all the subordinate offices. He joined the Pathological Society of London in 1854, and while Hon Secretary (1864-1867) prepared a general index to the volumes of its *Transactions*. He was an original member of the Clinical Society and was a Vice-President from 1878-1875. He lived for many years at 18 Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, but removed after his retirement from practice to 6 Sussex Place, Hyde Park, where he died on September 8th, 1907, and was buried at Hendon. He married Sarah Brooksbank, but left no issue. His portrait, painted by Sir William B Richmond in 1899, hangs in the Board Room of St George's Hospital. He appears as the Vice-President in Jamyn Brookes's portrait group of the College Council in 1884. Holmes was a surgeon of the older school, and based his practice on anatomy, for there was no bacteriology and he was unfriendly to the Listerian teaching, He was, however, a practical surgeon possessed of an unusually clear and logical mind. Gifted with the power of incisive speech, he was fearless in expressing his conclusions and exposed the fallacy in an argument mercilessly. He was, too, a skilful writer, always lucid, pure in style, and well read in Greek and Latin as well as in the best English literature. He was a lover of the theatre, and had no hesitation in expressing publicly and aloud his disapprobation of any failure in theatrical standards. Childless and possessed of ample means, he did not seek private practice and was thus enabled to devote the more time to public duties. The loss of an eye due to acute gonococcal infection resulting from accidental infection whilst operating, a harsh and somewhat monotonous voice, and a manner carefully cultivated to hide any interest he might feel in those he examined, made him a terror to the students; but his lack of sympathy was entirely assumed and he was the friend and trusted adviser of all who sought his help. Publications: Holmes edited several editions of the *Anatomy* written by Henry Gray (qv), and there is reason to suppose that he was responsible for such literary elegance as it possessed. He designed and edited *A System of Surgery, Theoretical and Practical*, 4 vols., 1860-4; 2nd ed, 5 vols, 1869-71; 3rd ed, 3 vols, 1883, issued jointly with J W HULKE (qv), a standard authority for the surgery of that date. *A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Surgery*, 1875. This long remained a favourite text-book for students; the 5th edition appeared in 1888 and was largely rewritten by T PICKERING PICK (qv). *A Treatise on the Surgical Treatment of the Diseases of Infancy and Childhood*, 1868; 2nd ed, 1869; translated into French and German. It contains the results of his ten years' experience as Surgeon to the Children's Hospital in Great Ormond Street. *A Life of Sir Benjamin Brodie* (q.v.) for the "Masters in Medicine" Series, 1898. Translation of C E A Wagner's monograph, *On the Process of Repair after Resection and Extirpation of Bones*, for the Sydenham Society, 1859. He prepared in conjunction with Dr JOHN SYER BRISTOWE a valuable report upon Hospitals and their Administration which was published as an appendix to the Sixth Annual Report of the Public Health Department of the Privy Council.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002252
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Day, Brian Hanbury ( - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2015-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374005374005
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Brian Hanbury Day was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, and at Nelson Hospital, London, and Wilson Hospital, Mitcham. He studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School, qualifying MB BS in 1952. He gained his FRCS in 1959. Prior to his consultant appointment he was a surgical registrar at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, and a senior orthopaedic registrar at the Royal Free Hospital and Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. He wrote *Orthopaedic appliances* (London, Faber and Faber, 1972). Brian Hanbury Day died on 2 November 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001822
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ford, Trevor Francis (1946 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Timothy G Williams
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2012-10-31
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374007374007
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Trevor Ford was a consultant general surgeon and urologist to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, working at Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. The adopted only son of an antiques dealer, Trevor was brought up in London. After pre-clinical studies at Oxford University, he proceeded to St George's Hospital Medical School. His definitive urological training at senior registrar level was at St Peter's Hospital and the Institute of Urology in London, where he worked with John Blandy and others. It was thought that he was the author of more papers than any other previous trainee. He published on gastric erosions, urinary tract stones and urological malignancy, amongst much else. Before going to Kent, he was a lecturer in surgery at St George's Hospital. Possessed of a sharp, dry sense of humour, he did not tolerate fools gladly. Usually very reserved, he was held in some awe by his juniors for his direct manner when the occasion demanded. His opinions were carefully considered, and much valued by his colleagues, though his commitment to smoking over-rode social constraint. He was one of the first in the UK to perform a radical prostatectomy, and deserved and received the respect of his patients, who saw in him a clinician who always strove to act in their best interests. With a white moustache and slightly portly figure, he was every inch a character. Trevor's company was always engaging, enlivening dull proceedings with pithy, pertinent comments streaked with wit. Sadly, he was such a private man that he eschewed personal memorabilia, and left instructions that there should be no memorial service or other tribute to a life in which he proved to be an extremely capable urologist. His hobby was classic cars, and he could sometimes be seen at the wheel of his Rolls Royce Continental, which he lovingly maintained. Indeed it won several concours d'elegance, or gatherings of classic cars, and both he and the car were very much admired by the French. He married twice, the second time very happily to Paddy, with whom he had a son, James. He had a daughter, Priscilla, from his first marriage. Trevor died on 5 August 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001824
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Griffith, William Stokes (1864 - 1898)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374243374243
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of Judge Griffith of the County Court, Wolverhampton Circuit, previously Attorney-General, Cape Colony. He entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1882, and, after gaining a scholarship, graduated with a first class in the Classical Tripos in 1885. He then studied at St Thomas's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon. In 1893 he was appointed Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Free Hospital, but exhibiting signs of pulmonary tuberculosis was obliged to go on a voyage to the West Indies and then to Cape Colony. He spent a year at Aliwal, and he acted as Medical Officer at Quiting in Basutoland. In 1896 he was appointed House Surgeon to the Kimberley Hospital, and was afterwards President of the Griqualand West Branch of the British Medical Association and was a member of the Pathological Society. He died of phthisis on November 17th, 1898, at Kimberley. Whilst there he exhibited an original and inquiring mind and a rich Irish humour which coloured his descriptions of diseases he had observed among the natives.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002060
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Haward, John Warrington (1841 - 1921)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-04-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374346374346
Occupation General surgeon Orthopaedic surgeon
Details John Warrington Haward (pronounced Hayward) was born on November 18th, 1841, the youngest of ten surviving children of James Haward, of Great Baddow, Essex, and grand-nephew of Francis Haward (1759-1797), engraver (*Dict Nat Biog*). He entered St George's Hospital in October, 1860, gained the William Brown Scholarship, and took four prizes in clinical medicine and surgery at a time when the staff included Henry Hawkins, Prescott Hewett, and George Pollock, Henry Gray being Demonstrator of Anatomy. He was House Surgeon at Westminster Hospital in 1864; Demonstrator of Anatomy at St. George's in 1867; Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, in 1870; Surgical Registrar at St George's from 1870-1872; and Curator of the Museum and Demonstrator of Morbid Anatomy from 1878-1875. From 1875-1880 he was Assistant Surgeon and Surgeon to the Orthopaedic Department; in 1880 Surgeon and Lecturer on Surgery and Operative Surgery, retiring, after twenty years' service in this post, in 1900. He then became Consulting Surgeon, member of the Weekly Board, Chairman of the Nursing Committee, and Treasurer of the Hospital Medical School. From 1874-1882 he was Surgeon to the Cripples' Nursery. In 1906 he gave a Hunterian Lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons on "Phlebitis and Thrombosis". He served through various offices of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society up to President in 1907, the year of the amalgamation to form the Royal Society of Medicine. He had been also Vice-President of the Clinical and Pathological Societies, and in 1908-1909 was President of the Surgical Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was a notable figure in the charitable world, serving on the committee of the Charity Organization Society, on the Mansion House Committee on "The Dwellings of the Poor", on the Invalid Children's Association as Chairman of the Executive Committee, and President. He was also Treasurer of the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men. His delightful personality made him loved as well as respected, and there was a complete absence of any leaning towards self-assertion. He had practised at 5 Montagu Street, Portman Square, at 18 Savile Row, and at 57 Green Street. On retiring he went to reside at Manor End, Berkhamsted, where he died on August 20th, 1921, and was buried at Potten End. He married in 1876 Amy Caecilia, daughter of James Nicholls (q.v.), of Chelmsford and Wiveliscombe, who survived him, as also did two sons, the elder, Lawrence Haward, being in charge of the Manchester Art Gallery. A portrait of Haward in *St George's Hospital Gazette*, 1900, represents him on his retirement from the active staff. His surgical practice was influenced by the revolution in surgery brought in by Lister, which he followed slowly and not without glances back. It was limited, moreover, by the line of work experienced at the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital and the Orthopaedic Department at St George's. Publications: *A Treatise on Orthopedic Surgery*, 1881. *Phlebitis and Thrombosis*, 1906. Several articles in Holmes and Hulke's *System of Surgery*; Heath's *Dictionary of Surgery*; *St George's Hosp Rep*. "On Fracture of the Skull with Pulsating Tumour of the Head." - *Lancet*, 1869, ii, 79. This paper includes one of the first descriptions of the bony metastases of primary carcinoma of the thyroid.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002163
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kadzombe, Edward Andrews Maonga (1947 - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2015-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373904373904
Occupation Accident and emergency surgeon
Details Edward Kadzombe was a consultant in accident and emergency surgery in Liverpool. He was born in Mgoza village in Balaka, Malawi. He was educated at Mtendere and Blantyre secondary schools before gaining a scholarship to study medicine at the University of Manchester. He qualified MB ChB in 1975. He was a house physician and senior house officer at Manchester Royal Infirmary and then a registrar in surgery for the South Lothian Health Board in Edinburgh. He subsequently went to Liverpool as a senior registrar at Aintree Hospital and the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Alder Hey. He then became a surgical registrar at North Manchester General Hospital and a consultant in accident and emergency surgery at Fazekeley and Aintree hospitals, Liverpool. He was also a founding member and the first chairman of the charity Malawi Health Care Support UK. Edward Kadzombe died after a short illness on 8 January 2004 at University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool. He was 56. He was survived by his wife Cecilia and three children - Chapuka, Zaithwa and Nthambi.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001721
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kay, Sir Andrew Watt (1916 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sir Miles Irving
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2013-12-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373905373905
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sir Andrew Watt Kay was regius professor of surgery at Glasgow and an archetypal Scottish academic surgeon. Known by surgical trainees worldwide through his book *A textbook of surgical physiology* (Edinburgh/London, E & S Livingstone, 1959), written with R Ainslie Jamieson, Kay stood alongside many other surgical giants from north of the border. Kay (known affectionately as 'Drew') was born in Ayr on 14 August 1916, the eldest son of David Watt Kay and Jean Cuthbertson Kay née Muir, both of whom were pharmacists. He attended Ayr Academy and studied medicine at Glasgow University, graduating in 1939, having won the Brunton memorial prize as the most distinguished graduate of the year. He was later awarded an MD and the Bellahouston gold medal in 1944, the medical faculty's highest award. Between 1942 and 1945, and then again from 1948 to 1956, he was an assistant to the regius professor of surgery at Glasgow, the redoubtable Sir Charles Illingworth, thus obtaining a major formative apprenticeship, second to none for an aspiring academic surgeon. During the intervening years, from 1946 to 1948, he carried out his National Service, continuing his surgical training at Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital in London, where he held the rank of major. In 1956 he became a consultant in charge of the surgical wards at Glasgow Western Infirmary. Two years later, he was appointed professor of surgery at Sheffield University, where he established a renowned surgical training school notable for spawning a clutch of surgical professors trained with an ethos linking the long academic tradition of the Scottish medical schools with the practicalities of providing surgical services to a large industrial city. In 1964 he returned to Glasgow, to succeed Illingworth as regius professor, and was almost immediately made a member of the Royal Commission on Medical Education. It was between these two environments, Sheffield and Glasgow, that Kay developed his research interests in gastroenterology in general and peptic ulceration in particular. In this latter arena he gained worldwide recognition. It was during his tenure at Sheffield that he was awarded an FRCS *ad eundem* by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Thereafter further accolades were bestowed upon him, and inevitably his involvement in administrative and political activities steadily increased. In 1969, during his tenure as president of the Surgical Research Society, he took up the Sir Arthur Sims Commonwealth travelling professorship. He was awarded the Cecil Joll prize and the Gordon Gordon-Taylor lectureship and medal. In 1971 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and, in the following year, became president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He was surgeon to the Queen in Scotland and part-time chief scientist to the Scottish Home and Health Department from 1973 to 1981. He was knighted in 1973. In 1943 he married Janetta Roxburgh. They had two sons and two daughters. Janetta predeceased him in 1990, and he subsequently married Phyllis Gillies, in 1992. Kay died on 1 February 2011 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, at the age of 94.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001722
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Houghton, Paul Winchester (1911 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Mark Houghton
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2014-05-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373906373906
Occupation General surgeon
Details Paul Winchester Houghton was a general surgeon in Worcester, and served with distinction in the Second World War. He was born in west London into a naval family on 30 September 1911 and was educated at Whitgift School. Until his last days he could remember the hunger caused by rationing during the First World War, and his uncle Herbert returning from the Western front. He recalled: 'My mother stood him on a big white sheet in the living room, for he was covered in mud from head to foot.' He entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School and qualified MB BS in 1935. His first surgical training post was at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where he sustained a burn to his finger while aiming a firework at the matron's window. In 1938 he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, after his father warned him: 'here we go again'. He worked in a naval hospital at Lowestoft before, in 1940, joining the destroyer HMS *Zulu*, in which he took part in Atlantic convoys. 'I was rowed out to the ship and climbed the vertical steel ladder to salute the quarterdeck. You never forget the thrill of joining a warship getting up steam to head out into the Atlantic.' During his wartime service he treated everything from tuberculosis to missing limbs, head injuries, flash burns, splinter wounds and survivors of the aircraft carrier HMS *Eagle*, who had skinned themselves while sliding down her barnacled hull as she rolled over. It was difficult for Houghton to treat the wounded in the small *Zulu*, and often he could only provide palliative care. Even in the battleship HMS *Nelson*, which he joined as a surgical specialist in 1941, Houghton was appalled to find long knives, saws and tarred string for tying off blood vessels, all in a brassbound box, apparently as issued in the days of Nelson himself. He promptly wrote directly to the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, asking for modern instruments. This earned him a reprimand for not using official channels, but soon so much equipment arrived he was able to share it with other ships. On 27 September 1941, HMS *Nelson*, the flagship of the Malta convoys, was torpedoed and Houghton found himself trapped below decks. 'In the darkness I walked forward to feel if the watertight bulkhead was holding. After an hour I made the same journey; but this time I was walking back up a steep hill. Sometime later we heard a dreadful roaring over our heads. Then we heard the watertight door being opened for the wonderful release of daylight. We discovered the noise was my friend Commander Blundell at work. He saved the ship by organising the crew to winch and drag the enormous anchor chain from the front to the rear of the ship. This change of weights raised the bows until the torpedo hole was out of the water.' In autumn 1942, while HMS *Nelson* was in the Mediterranean, Rear Admiral Philip Vian, one of the war's most distinguished fighting admirals, consulted Houghton in secret. Vian was clearly ill and had been relieved of command of Force A, based at Port Said. Examination revealed a large infected scalp sebaceous cyst concealed by matted hair, which in Houghton's opinion was life threatening. Houghton operated successfully, the episode was kept confidential, and Vian made a complete recovery, going on to command part of the invasion fleet on D Day. In January 1943, when the *Nelson* was the flagship of Force H, the South African-born Vice Admiral Neville Syfret consulted the ship's surgical specialist after four days of abdominal pain. Houghton found him acutely ill with appendicitis and operated at once. Afterwards, while waiting for him to recover, he and a colleague were playfully trying on the admiral's hat. A sudden roar from the patient('take that bloody thing off') put an end to their games. 'No hopes of a medal for me,' Houghton predicted. After the war Houghton took a surgical job in Shrewsbury, where he met and treated his future wife of 62 years when she cut her finger on the anchor chain of a captured German yacht. He was then appointed as a consultant general surgeon in Worcester, working at Ronkswood Hospital. On retiring at the compulsory age of 65 (in 1976), he continued as a locum in Worcester and then elsewhere in South Africa, St Lucia and the UK. His last post, at the age of 75, was at the Nazareth Hospital, Israel. As usual for his generation, he had a very wide surgical practice, including initially orthopaedics. A man of enormous personal integrity, he always kept his patients fully informed of their prognosis, but his watchword was 'never destroy hope'. Houghton was the antithesis of the clubbable man, despising 'shallow affability'. Yet he enjoyed good dinners and had a wide range of personal friends who appreciated his many stories and his vast store of memorised verse. His whimsical sense of humour was famous, but did not conceal his compassion. He was sustained throughout his life by a steadfast Christian faith, and began every operation with a quiet prayer, said without ostentation and not usually noticed by others. As ill health took its toll towards the end of this long life, he longed in his own words for 'the land of heaven'. He died at home from heart failure on 5 August 2009, at the age of 97, and was survived by his wife Jean, daughter Pippa, a theatre nurse, son Mark, a GP, and his three grandchildren - Celia, Daniel and Fiona. In 1995 a meeting was held in Worcester to mark the passing of 50 years since the end of the Second World War. Paul Houghton spoke of his wartime experiences. He showed a black and white photograph that he had taken from HMS *Nelson* at sunset of burials at sea from the aircraft carrier HMS *Indomitable*. At this point he broke down in tears and was unable to continue, a moment of unforgettable poignancy for those present.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001723
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Desai, Suresh Bhimbhai Rambhai (1937 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2015-08-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374009374009
Occupation General surgeon
Details Suresh Bhimbhai Rambhai Desai was a consultant surgeon at Scunthorpe General Hospital. He was born on 8 February 1937 and studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School. He held house posts at Charing Cross Hospital and was then a surgical registrar there. He subsequently became a senior lecturer in surgery at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, before moving to his consultant post in Scunthorpe. He gained his FRCS in 1965. Suresh Desai died on 8 August 2008. He was 71.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001826
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kinmonth, Maurice Henry (1917 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Morgan
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2015-05-29
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374010374010
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Maurice Kinmonth was a plastic surgeon in Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln. He was born in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland. His father, George Henry Kinmonth, was a general practitioner and on account of the deteriorating political situation in Ireland the family moved to London, where he was in practice in Dulwich. His mother was Delia Agnes Kinmonth née Daly. Maurice went to school at Dulwich College and then studied medicine at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1939. His brother, John, also studied medicine at St Thomas', eventually becoming professor of surgery there. After qualifying, Maurice undertook house jobs at St Thomas's and Kingston hospitals. He joined the RAF in 1942 and was posted with 242 Squadron to the Far East. There he was captured by the Japanese and interned. He remained a prisoner of war (POW) in Java until 1945. He was mentioned in despatches in 1946. After the war he trained in surgery at Kingston Hospital with Dick Franklin. He passed his FRCS in 1947 and then trained in plastic and reconstructive surgery with Richard Battle at St Thomas' and with David Matthews at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 1952 he was appointed as a consultant plastic surgeon to Leicester Royal Infirmary, covering Nottingham and Lincoln as well as Leicester. He worked single-handed until 1976. He undertook the full range of plastic surgery procedures treating burns, head and neck cancer, cleft lip and palate and hand surgery. His expertise in hand surgery brought him the presidency of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand and in 1981 he was president of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons. He is described by one of his trainees as a 'knife man', as opposed to a 'scissor snipper'. His surgery was efficient, but always accompanied by non-stop conversation. His teaching was his strength, alongside kindness and compassion for his patients. His notes were illustrated with his own diagrams. Retirement came in 1983 and he remained busy with many interests, including golf, shooting and fishing. He learnt wood engraving and made the comment 'wood doesn't bleed!' In 1947 Maurice married Stella Phillips and they had two sons (Fred and Patrick) and two daughters (Ann Louise and Katherine). Maurice Kinmonth died on 30 January 2009, aged 91. He said he would like to be remembered for developing plastic surgery in Leicester.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001827
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kirby, Roger (1939 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2014-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374011374011
Occupation General surgeon
Details Roger Kirby was a consultant general surgeon at the University Hospital of Hartlepool. Born in Hartlepool in 1939, he was educated there and then proceeded to qualify MB, BS from Durham University in 1962 and to pass the fellowship of the College in 1969. He became senior surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne and passed his MS in 1974. After this he spent a year at the Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia USA before returning to the UK to settle in Hartlepool in 1975. He was appointed consultant general surgeon at the University Hospital of Hartlepool and remained there until his retirement in 2002. A general surgeon his special interest was gastroenterology. With a fellow Hartlepool surgeon, Professor Greg McLatchie, he removed a gall bladder using key hole surgery in 1992 - thought to be the first time such a technique was used in the area. The two colleagues, who worked together for 20 years, also became highly accomplished in doing pelvic clearance operations for advanced cancer - a topic on which they gave a presentation at the College in 1990. A keen hill walker, he spent his holidays in the Lake District or West Highlands while in the UK and also hiked in the Austrian Alps, Yosemite National Park and the Canadian Rockies. He also enjoyed golf and tennis and was said to have a "highly technical knowledge of aeronautics". He died at his home on 26 November 2008, aged 69 years, survived by his wife Marie, children Richard, Ian and Joanna and two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001828
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Higgs, Brian (1935 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2015-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373907373907
Occupation General surgeon
Details Brian Higgs was a consultant general surgeon in Wycombe and Amersham. He was born in Bedford on 21 June 1935, and was educated at Bedford College and then Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied medicine. In 1957 he went on to Westminster Hospital Medical School, where he won several prizes, including the Hanbury and Arthur Evans memorial prizes. He qualified MRCS LRCP in 1959. He was then a house surgeon at Gordon Hospital, London, where he worked under Lawrence Abel. He went on to gain experience in a wide range of surgical specialties. He was a research assistant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, and a senior registrar at St Peter's Hospital for Stone and St Thomas' Hospital, before he was appointed to a consultant post at Wycombe Hospital in January 1969. He retired in 1998, due to ill health, and spent 10 years battling leukaemia. He eventually died on 4 October 2008. He was 73. In 2007 he had married his long term partner, Rosemary. He was survived by her, his two sons and by his three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001724
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Griffith, Iolo Pyrs (1933 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Vera Griffith
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2016-05-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373908373908
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Iolo Griffith was a consultant ENT surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, who, as an otologist, co-established the South Wales Cochlear Implant Programme and, as a laryngologist, served the Welsh National Opera. He was greatly respected as a modest, private and diligent man, and admired for his hatred of dishonesty, drama or affectation. He was born in Llanaelhaearn, in the foothills of Snowdonia, the third of three sons of John Pierce Griffith, a farmer, and Rebecca Ellen Griffith née Jones. Iolo Griffith decided that he wanted to become a doctor at an early age after falling off a wall at school and fracturing a leg. He was educated at Pwllheli Grammar School, which hitherto had not taught A-level biology. The North Walian characteristic of stubbornness prevailed and he won a state scholarship to read medicine at University College London. He qualified in 1959, having won the prize in anatomy. After house posts at University College Hospital (in surgery) and the Charing Cross Hospital (in medicine) and a year in casualty and orthopaedics at Barnet General Hospital, he decided to become a surgeon. In preparation for the primary FRCS, Iolo became a demonstrator and later an assistant lecturer in the department of physiology at St Bartholomew's Medical College, London (from 1962 to 1966). Whilst at St Bartholomew's he developed testicular cancer and received linear accelerator treatment at the Royal Marsden at Sutton. During his recuperation he was encouraged by Robin McNab Jones to prepare a PhD thesis on the subject of 'Neurophysiology of taste'. Much of this work involved the use of the dissecting microscope, which naturally stimulated an interest in other uses of a microscope and a career in ENT. The thesis, which had been supervised by Norman Joels, was awarded in 1967. Iolo Griffith started as a senior house officer at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, Golden Square, followed by a registrar post at the Westminster Hospital working with E H Miles Foxen and Christopher Holborow. In 1969 he became a senior registrar at the Middlesex Hospital, where he was influenced by Douglas Ranger, R A Williams and D Garfield Davies. Always anxious to serve his fellow countrymen, Iolo Griffith returned to Wales in 1972 as a senior lecturer and honorary NHS consultant to University College of Medicine and University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Later in 1978 he changed to a maximum part-time contract, which he held until his retirement in 1998. Among his many professional appointments was membership of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (from 1989 to 2000) and the presidency of the section of otology of the Royal Society of Medicine (from 1997 to 1998). In September 1962 he married a fellow North Walian Vera Parry, a physiotherapist trained at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, and later a magistrate. They had two children - Gwyn, who gained a doctorate in mycology and worked in research for 15 years before retraining as a probation officer and Ffion, who has had a successful career in human resources. Iolo and Vera Griffith had five grandchildren. Iolo Griffith shared a love of gardening and music with his wife. He used his ENT expertise to help many musicians associated with the Welsh National Opera. Above all, he gave himself to his profession and his patients. He is remembered as a modest person who honoured everyone with deep respect, believing strongly in their right to be treated with dignity. The last few years of his life, troubled by Alzheimer's, were hard, but his family and friends guarded his dignity and in the end he died peacefully on 27 June 2011 in his own home nursed by his loving wife. He was 77.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001725
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barclay, Robert Christopher (1916 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-02-06 2013-09-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374150374150
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Robert Christopher Barclay was a consultant thoracic surgeon. Born on 2 April 1916 in Chippenham, he trained at St George's Hospital and qualified from Cambridge University in 1942. Passing the fellowship in 1946 he was house surgeon at St George's and then resident medical officer at the Royal Cancer Hospital. He moved to Oxford to become registrar at the Radcliff Infirmary before ending his medial career as consultant thoracic surgeon to the Nottingham City Hospital and associated Sanatoria. He was a fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He died at his home in Thurgarton, Notts on Friday 2 January 2009, aged 92 years, survived by a Robert E. Barclay who may have been his son. His wife, Gwendoline E. Barclay, was living at the same address in 2004 but it is not known if she survived him. Publications:- Operations for hernia: nylon darn technique. *Lancet* 1948 Solid sarcomatous pulmonary artery (jointly) *Brit j dis chest* 1960
Resource Identifier RCS: E001967
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barclay, Thomas Laird (1925 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-02-06 2014-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374151374151
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Thomas Laird Barclay was a consultant plastic surgeon at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, St James Hospital, Leeds and St Luke's Hospital Bradford. Born in Huddersfield on 26 March 1925, the son of William and Mary Frances Barclay, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University. He qualified MB ChB in 1947 and was house surgeon to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for a year. He was senior registrar in plastic surgery to Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood from 1955 to 1960 when he became consultant plastic surgeon to the Bradford Hospitals group. A member of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, he served as its president in 1983. He was a major in the Royal Army Emergency Reserve from 1962 to 1968 and was a keen golfer. He married Isabel Mary Raffan on 19 September 1953 and they had two children, William and Philippa. He died on 3 March 2007 aged 81 years. Publications: *Burns and their treatment*1962; 3rd ed 1968. Fluid balance in burned patients. (jointly) *Lancet* 1954 Diplopia in association with fractures of the zygomatic bone. *Brit Jl Plastic Surg * 1958 Oedema following operation for Dupuytren's contracture. *Plastic and reconstructive Surg* 1959
Resource Identifier RCS: E001968
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Beare, Robin Lyell Blin (1922 - 2007)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Brian Morgan
Publication Date 2012-02-06 2015-05-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374152374152
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Robin Lyell Blin Beare was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and St Mary's Hospital, London. He was born on 31 July 1922 in Weybridge, where his father was a surgeon/GP. Robin went to Radley School, where he was a junior scholar. In 1940 he joined the RAF, trained as a pilot, and was shot down on a bombing raid over Berlin. He parachuted to safety, but was captured and from 1941 was a prisoner of war. After the war he worked as a test pilot researching ejector seats designed by Martin Baker, which left him with lasting back problems. When he left the Royal Air Force he continued to fly, then in 1947 decided to train in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1952 with a distinction in surgery, the Charles Bell prize in anatomy and the Leopold Hudson prize in surgical pathology. He was an assistant lecturer in the Bland Sutton Institute of Pathology, and then trained in general surgery at the Middlesex Hospital and in plastic surgery at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, under the tutelage of Sir Archibald McIndoe. In 1956 he was appointed as a consultant at Queen Victoria Hospital and also at Mary's Hospital, Paddington, and had a regular clinic at Brighton. He continued working closely with McIndoe, and when McIndoe died in 1960 Robin succeeded him in his NHS work and also in his private practice at 149 Harley Street. His clinical interests were in facial reconstruction, cleft lip and palate, and burns. He was author of papers on surgical subjects including irradiation injuries of the perineum, skin grafts and flaps. He worked with his colleague John Watson on the design of the building of the new and quite revolutionary burns unit at Queen Victoria Hospital, which was opened in 1963. He was interested in fostering research in plastic surgery and was an original trustee of the Blond McIndoe Research Foundation. His private, mostly cosmetic, practice was considerable and one newspaper rated him as one of the top eight in the world. His colleagues remember him as a 'man of action' and very generous. He had a meticulous surgical technique and demanded a similar performance from others. He was a member of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was honoured with the grand officer, first class, of the Order of Al-Istiqlal, Jordan. He was a passionate fisherman and enjoyed shooting and engineering projects. He also designed and made ornaments in silver and gold. Robin Lyell Blin Beare died on 1 December 2007, aged 85. He was survived by his wife Iris, sons Julian and John (an ophthalmic surgeon), and daughters Virginia and Karen.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001969
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Black, James (1852 - 1935)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003800-E003899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376024376024
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born at Finchley, Middlesex, 27 December 1852, the fifth child of Thomas Black, merchant and Mary Guy, his wife. He was educated at the Cholmley Grammar School, Highgate and matriculated in the University of Cambridge from Caius College in January 1874. He was a scholar of the college from Michaelmas 1875 until Lady Day 1876 and graduated BA in 1877 after he had been placed in the third class of the Natural Sciences Tripos Part I, 1876. He received his medical education in the medical school at Cambridge under Prof Clifford Allbutt and Prof Humphry, FRCS and afterwards went to St Thomas's Hospital, where he was house surgeon. At Westminster Hospital he was at first demonstrator and later lecturer on anatomy from 1879 to 1883, posts he resigned when the Westminster Hospital ceased to teach anatomy and physiology, subjects which were undertaken by the medical school at King's College, London. From 1884 to 1887 he examined in elementary anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He was for some years assistant surgeon at the North West London Hospital, and after serving as surgical tutor he was elected aural surgeon to Westminster Hospital in 1886, a position he resigned in 1895, when he was succeeded by Philip R W de Santi, FRCS. In 1890 he left 10 Wimpole Street and retired to Beulah Hill, SE. He married Clara Anne Fleming in 1875, who survived him with a son, John Black, LDS, his elder son, Guy Black, MB London, having been killed in the war of 1914-18. He died on 13 April 1935 at Hillcroft, Rotherfield, Sussex and was buried at St Denys', Rotherfield. Black was an excellent anatomist and W G Spencer said of him that "he was the most rapid draftsman with coloured chalks on the blackboard that I happen to have known". Publications:- A case of trephining for supposed abscess in the temporosphenoidal lobe. *Proc Med Soc Lond*. 1887, 10, 254. Case of cervical ribs. *Proc Anat Soc Great Britain*, 1897-98, pp. Xlvii-i. *Treatment of alarming symptoms occurring in suppurative disease of the middle ear*. Graduation thesis for MB Cambridge, 1887.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003841
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Henley, Francis Austin (1914 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-13 2022-06-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373911373911
Occupation Gastrointestinal surgeon General surgeon
Details Francis Henley was a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at the Central Middlesex Hospital, London. He was born in Liverpool on 23 May 1914, the son of Francis Henley, a director of a sports business, and Julia Virginia Henley née Kowrach, a housewife. He was educated at several Catholic schools, and then studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1939, just before the beginning of the Second World War. He was a house surgeon at Middlesex Hospital under Gordon Gordon-Taylor and Rupert Vaughan Hudson, and then joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He initially served in Norway, and was subsequently involved in establishing the Royal Navy's blood transfusion service. He was then assigned to HMS *Argonaut* in the Mediterranean, landing troops in North Africa. The ship was torpedoed twice, in the Mediterranean and in the Bay of Biscay, in a convoy heading back to the UK in February 1943. On the second occasion, the crew, including casualties, had to be transferred in an open boat at night. Henley eventually returned to Gibraltar and travelled to Algiers and then Tunisia, where he set up a naval hospital at Ferryville by requisitioning a school. He returned to the UK in June 1944 and spent two years at HMS *Vernon*, a 'shore' establishment, based at Eastbourne College. He was demobilised in 1946 with the rank of surgeon lieutenant commander. From 1947 to 1948 he was a house surgeon and then neurological house surgeon to Douglas Northfield at the London Hospital. He then returned to Middlesex Hospital, where he was registrar and senior registrar. He gained his FRCS in 1949 and from 1952 to 1953 he was a Hunterian professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, and also held a Fulbright scholarship to the USA, working in Chicago. He was appointed as a consultant and then a senior consultant surgeon at Central Middlesex Hospital. He wrote papers on gastrointestinal topics, including blood supply of the bile duct, jejunal replacement of the stomach in gastrectomy, and carcinoma of the liver treated with hemi-hepatectomy. He retired in 1979. He was also an honorary professor of surgery at Firouzabadi Hospital, Teheran, Iran, and a visiting surgeon to the Libyan government and a visiting professor in Benghazi. In 1944 he married Ann Mumby. They had a son, Raymond Alan. In 1960 he married for a second time, to Elizabeth McDonald Sellars, a RADA-trained stage and film actress. Francis Austin Henley died on 31 January 2009, aged 94.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001728
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Blackstock, Anthony (1895 - 1931)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Grose, Samuel ( - 1919)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Grosjean, James Keith Jeanneret (1839 - 1884)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-14 2022-09-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374253374253
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised in Kensington and in Alexandria, dying about the year 1886. **See below for an expanded version of the original obituary which was printed in volume 1 of Plarr's Lives of the Fellows. Please contact the library if you would like more information lives@rcseng.ac.uk** James Keith Jeanneret Grosjean was a surgeon and barrister who practised in Alexandria, Egypt. He was born in 1839 in Marylebone, London, the eldest son of Pierre Frederic Jeanneret Grosjean, a military outfitter and merchant, and Elizabeth Grosjean née Keith. He attended St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and the University of Erlangen in Bavaria, where he gained an MD in 1867, the same year he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He was called to the Middle Temple as a barrister on 7 June 1873. He practised in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died on 5 February 1884. He was unmarried. Sarah Gillam
Resource Identifier RCS: E002070
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Gruggen, William ( - 1868)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Guest, Edmund (1817 - 1866)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Gulliver, George (1804 - 1882)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Gunn, Robert Marcus (1850 - 1909)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374257374257
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Born at Culgower in Sutherlandshire in 1850, the youngest, and eventually the last survivor, of a family of four, consisting of two sons and two daughters. The Gunns are an old Scandinavian stock and have been settled for many generations in the north and north-east of Scotland. Marcus Gunn was educated for a year at the village school, and then for some time at Golspie. At the age of 14 he went to Edinburgh and received his professional training at the University, where he was a contemporary and slight acquaintance of Robert Louis Stevenson. In Edinburgh, Syme, Lister, and the ophthalmologists Walker and Argyll Robertson, were among his teachers. He also studied at St Andrews University. In 1873, having been introduced to John Couper (qv), he began attendance at the Moorfields Eye Hospital, and worked at the comparative anatomy of the eye under Professor Schafer at University College during the early part of 1874. In the summer vacation, and for part of 1875, he was in residence at the Perth District Asylum, Murthly, where he examined the fundus oculorum of lunatics, having been attracted to the subject by the published work of Clifford Allbutt. He found the eyes of lunatics to be precisely like those of the sane. He enjoyed his work, went fearlessly among the patients, but was once set upon, his assailant being an old melancholic woman, whom another lunatic pulled off. He studied at Vienna from December, 1874, to June, 1875, under Jaeger, with whom he was a favourite and whom he admired. This great teacher insisted on his class using his own form of ophthalmoscope, an improvement on the original Helmholtz model. Gunn afterwards excelled as an ophthalmoscopist. He considered Jaeger greatly superior as a teacher to Arlt and Stellwag. Returning to London, he again worked at Moorfields under Couper, being appointed Junior House Surgeon in August, 1876, and becoming Senior House Surgeon in December, retaining the post till November, 1879. His work as a resident medical officer coincided with noteworthy improvements in various directions in the hospital, such as the reform of the nursing, a higher standard of note-taking, and better results in the operations for cataract. His influence made itself felt in these matters, and the last-mentioned is perhaps to be attributed in no small degree to his early adherence to Listerian principles. A remark by Syme, in commenting upon one of Lister's cases at Edinburgh-"We are told of pus, we fear pus, we expect pus-but we see no pus"-made a great impression upon him as a student, and in John Couper he found a chief who was enthusiastically in sympathy with the new principles. He went to Australia in December, 1879, meaning especially to collect the eyes of marsupials and the Monotremata with a view to microscopic examination, and his work on this subject, partly published in papers in the *Journal of Anatomy and Physiology*, early attracted the attention of Sir William Bowman. He helped to examine the zoological specimens collected by the Challenger Expedition, and embodied much of this work in his Arris and Gale Lectures before the Royal College of Surgeons in 1888. These were not printed. Gunn was elected Assistant Surgeon to the Moorfields Eye Hospital in August, 1883, in place of John C Wordsworth (qv) resigned, becoming full Surgeon in 1888. In 1880 he was appointed Ophthalmic Surgeon to the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, Queen Square, and to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Later he was Assistant Ophthalmic Surgeon to University College Hospital. He was Vice-President of the Section of Ophthalmology at the Edinburgh Meeting of the British Medical Association in 1898, and President of the same Section at the Toronto Meeting in 1906, and there delivered an address before the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-laryngology on "Certain Affections of the Optic Nerve". He put forward the view in this address that the initial oedema of the disc in cases of cerebral tumour is due to pressure on the small veins of the pial sheath by fluid in the intervaginal space. At the time of his death Gunn was Senior Surgeon at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields; Ophthalmic Surgeon at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic, Queen Square; President of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom; a Visitor for the King's Hospital Fund; Consulting Surgeon to the Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital; Hon Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Royal Caledonian Asylum; Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Great Northern Central Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street; and Assistant Ophthalmic Surgeon to University College Hospital. He died at Hindhead, after a long and painful illness, on Nov 29th, 1909, and was survived by his widow and two daughters. He practised at 54 Queen Anne Street. Apart from his daily hospital and private practice, Gunn's ophthalmic interests lay to a large extent in the physiology and pathology of the retina, optic nerve, and visual functions. Of his later work he would probably have liked best to be associated with his classical paper on the ophthalmoscopic evidence of retinal arterial sclerosis as a sign of similar changes in the arteries of the brain and other organs. He had also convinced himself of the bad prospects in life of persons with albuminuric retinitis some time before Miley's well-known paper on this subject was undertaken. Thus, in discussing before the Ophthalmological Society the differences between diabetic and renal retinitis, he said: "In my experience it is most exceptional to see an old case of albuminuric retinitis; this latter affection seems to occur at a late stage of the general disease, so that death supervenes before the retinal changes have existed very long." He first learnt this by discovering that patients with this form of retinitis who attended for demonstration usually died before the time came round for the following years' course. In speaking of unpublished work, it may be mentioned that Gunn was one of the first, if not the first, to insist on the importance of studying fine changes in the cornea and iris by the aid of the strongest available magnification, and that he has the credit of causing the introduction at Moorfields of the now commonly used high pocket magnifier. When in Vienna he had been much impressed by the systematic teaching of ophthalmology, and soon after his attainment of staff rank at Moorfields his efforts led to the establishment of regular courses of instruction in ophthalmoscopy. Other courses have since been added, and a flourishing School of Ophthalmology at the hospital is the result. Gunn was an operator of no mean skill. He extracted cataracts invariably after a preliminary iridectomy done several weeks previously, and always held that this was the safest operation. He had a high sense of the responsibility which lay upon the surgeon, and carried it to the extent of seldom allowing anyone else to perform the operations for which he himself was responsible. He was a skilful all-round ophthalmic surgeon, but it was universally felt that it was as an ophthalmoscopist he shone with the highest brilliancy. Thus he took up a reserved attitude towards retinoscopy lest it should lead to neglect of the search for slight changes in the fundus. He was an admirable teacher, and his eulogists unite in bearing witness to his charm, his simplicity, his sense of humour, and his lofty character. He was markedly intellectual, a keen observer, a man of fine judgement and mental grasp. As a reader he could rapidly extract the pith of a book, storing it in his retentive memory. He came of a typical studious Scottish stock, his father and uncles, though engaged in farming, having managed to educate themselves at the University of Aberdeen, to which they walked and from which they re-walked to their remote northern home, a distance of 200 miles there and back. He was devoted from boyhood to outdoor pursuits. He was fond of shooting, was a botanist, a marine zoologist, and a keen geologist, his collection of fossils from the Jurassic and Old Red Sandstone, which crops out in his own native district of Scotland, being exceptionally fine. The best specimens from his collection went to the Geological Department of the British Museum during his lifetime. Publications: "Minute Anatomy of the Retina."- *Jour. Anat. And Physiol.*, 1877, xi, 357. "The Eye of Ornithorhyncus."- *Ibid.*, 1884, xviii, 401. "The Embryology of the Retina of Teleosteans." - *Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.*, 1888. "Retinal Reflexes."- *Roy. Lond. Ophth. Hosp. Rep*., 1887, xi, 348. "Continuous Electrical Current as a Therapeutic Agent in Atrophy of Optic Nerve and in Retinitis Pigmentosa."- *Ibid.*, 1882, x, 181. "Sympathetic Inflammation."- *Ibid.*, xi, 273. "Nature of Light Percipient Organs and of Light and Colour Perceptions."- *Ibid.*, 1889, xii, 101. "Peculiar Appearance in the Retina" (now generally known as 'Gunn's Dots').- *Trans. Ophthalmol. Soc.*, 1883, iii, 110. "Amblyopia from Bisulphide of Carbon."- *Ibid.*, 1886, vi, 372. "Nystagmus. Toxic Amblyopia."-*Ibid.*, 1887, vii, 305. "Growth of Lens Fibres. Foveal Reflex in Myopia."- *Ibid.*, 1888, viii, 126. "Retinal Arterial Sclerosis."-*Ibid.*, xii, xviii, xxiv. "Pemphigus of Conjunctiva."-*Ibid.*, 1893, xiii, 30; 1895, xv, 68; 1896, xvi, 45. "Haemorrhage into Optic Sheath."-*Ibid.*, 1896, xvi, 95. "Bowman Lecture on Visual Sensation."-*Ibid.*, 1900, xx, 11. Presidential Address, "History of the Ophthalmological Society."-*Ibid.*, 1908, xxviii, p. i. "Keratitis Nodosa."- *Ibid.*, 1902, xxii, 97. "Family Optic Atrophy."-*Ibid.*, 1907, xxvii, 221. "Two Lectures on Congenital Malformations of the Eye," 8vo, London, 1889; reprinted from *Ophthalmic Rev.*, 1889, viii, 193, etc. "A Case of Haemorrhagic Disease of Retina with Obliteration of Veins," plate, Helmholtz's *Festschrift*, 1893. "Diseases of the Eye" in Treves's *Manual of Surgery*. "The Eyeball and its Surroundings" in Morris's *Treatise on Human Anatomy*. "Optic Nerve and Retina."- *Encyc. Med.* *Sympathetic Inflammation of Eyeball*, 8vo, London, 1887. *Gowers's Manual of Ophthalmoscopy* (co-editor of 3rd and 4th ed.).
Resource Identifier RCS: E002074
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Neophyton, John (1938 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by John Gullotta
Publication Date 2012-01-11 2015-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374024374024
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Neophyton was not only a lifelong family friend but he was my mentor. 'Dr John Neo', as he was affectionately called, was a university colleague and one of the best and closest friends of my father Andrew, so I have known John and his family all my life. My earliest memory was when I was a young boy and he showed me how to pack a medical kit. John followed and guided me throughout my career and was always there for me, answering any questions I had, practical, theoretical or otherwise. My first experience in an operating theatre was with John. It was in the sanctity of his beloved operating theatre that I learned the most about him. His witty, dry sense of humour, his love of cricket, all codes of football and rugby, exotic cars, good food and horse racing! He was extremely highly respected both by his patients and his colleagues. At times he was feared by the nursing staff because it was John's edict that he always wanted things perfectly done without exception. Second best or 'she'll be right mate' was not in his vocabulary. He always said that his job was to do the best for his patient and he was not there to win any popularity contests. John's passion was his family - his children David and Joanne and his wife Averil. His vocation was medicine and general in particular. His major interests were colorectal surgery, breast surgery and sports medicine. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1963 and was awarded his Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Surgery in 1971. He was awarded his FRCS (Eng) in 1972. After returning from England he began working as an Honorary Medical Officer at Sutherland Hospital in 1975 and started his private practice in Miranda. He was a VMO at the St George Private Kareena and President Private Hospitals. He also consulted at my rooms in Matraville a few times a week and operated at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital. He had a strong involvement in sports medicine and was the team doctor for the Broncos Rugby League Club for 20 years as Wayne Bennett's right-hand man. In the words of Wayne Bennett who was among the hundreds of people at his funeral, 'He was a very good person, John was capable, trustworthy and a good friend to everyone at the Broncos.' In 1996 and 1997 he served as Chairman of the Medical staff Association of Sutherland Hospital and 1999-2001 as Chairman of the Department of Surgery. From 2002-2004 he was acting Director of Medical Services for Sutherland Hospital. He was also past Chairman of the Medical Staff Association of both Kareena Private Hospital and President Private Hospital. Over the years I exposed him to AMA politics and convinced him to serve as an AMA (NSW) Councillor for the past five years, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He was also a member of the association's Ethics and Hospital Practice Committees. He was a great asset to the AMA and his contribution was greatly valued, especially on hospital issues. John's yearning for knowledge was never quenched so he enrolled in Law, graduating with distinction in 2002. This law degree helped John to once again diversify his practice and over the past few years he specialised in the medico legal field after passing the WorkCover, Comcare and American Board of Independent Medical Examiners Courses. 'Dr Neo' will certainly be missed by his family, colleagues and patients. I will miss his passion, dedication, wisdom, guidance and most of all his loyal friendship. He is now in the hands of God. May he Rest in Peace.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001841
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Owen, William Mervyn ( - 2004)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-11 2015-07-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374025374025
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details William Mervyn Owen was a consultant ENT surgeon who worked in Liverpool. He was brought up in Caernarfon, Wales, and studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, qualifying with the conjoint diploma in 1937 and the MB BS in 1938. During the Second World War he served in the RAMC and in 1940 was on the beach at Dunkirk. After the war he continued to serve in the RAMC. He rose to the rank of major and spent a long period stationed in Germany, on the Rhine. In 1948 he gained his diploma in laryngology and otology, and became a senior specialist in otolaryngology. After leaving the Army, Owen became a consultant ENT surgeon on Merseyside. He was also a visiting consultant to the Isle of Man Health Services Board. He was a member of the Liverpool Medical Institution. Owen was married to Annie (née Daly), a nurse who had trained at the Middlesex Hospital. They had seven children. Two sons (Anthony Wynn Michael Carton and Eoghan) became surgeons. William Mervyn Owen died on 21 April 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001842
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Osung, Okon Akpan ( - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-01-11 2014-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374026374026
Occupation General surgeon
Details Okon Osung was a surgeon at Neath General Hospital in Wales. He had previously worked at the Morriston Hospital in Swansea. Of Nigerian origin he was found dead in his flat in Neath on 9 July 2008. He was 65 years old and was survived by three children from whom he was estranged.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001843
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching MacDonald, Neil (1927 - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Macky, James Fraser Warwick (1920 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001000-E001099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373222373222
Occupation Urologist
Details Warwick Macky was the leading urologist in New Zealand for more than half a century, and a man of outstanding presence and charm. He was born on 8 December 1920 into a successful family of importers. His father, Frank Macky, who qualified in 1914, was senior surgeon of the Auckland Hospital from 1926, and battled to establish a separate urological unit, introducing the Harris prostatectomy. Warwick was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School and followed his father to Ormond College, University of Melbourne, where he graduated in 1943 with the Ryan prize in surgery. After junior posts, Warwick joined the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps in 1945. After the war, he carried out postgraduate work in Melbourne, passed his MS in 1947 and won the Gordon Craig scholarship, which took him to the Westminster Hospital. There he specialised in urology under Robert Cox and passed the FRCS. In 1950, he returned to Auckland as a tutor specialist in surgery at Greenlane Hospital. He was appointed as a visiting urologist at Auckland Hospital the following year, remaining there as a senior urologist and head of department until he retired in 1985. During this period he made his department into a first-class modern unit, to which end he travelled extensively and invited many celebrated urologists to visit New Zealand. He also set up the Ormond clinic for private urology, which had day care facilities and became a mecca for visiting urologists for the next 30 years. He was very active in national and international urology. In 1974, he was elected as an international member of the exclusive American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons. At the Royal Australasian College, he served on the New Zealand committee from 1955 to 1963, on the council from 1965 to 1977 and was vice president from 1975 to 1977. He was an examiner in urology from 1966 to 1975, New Zealand censor from 1975 to 1977 and was a member of the Court of Honour from 1981 to 2010. He was president of the Australasian Urological Society from 1965 to 1966, when he hosted the annual conference in Auckland. Warwick was a tall, handsome man with an impish sense of humour and, together with his wife Elizabeth, was popular wherever he went. He was a keen sailor, skippering his 40 foot yacht Ilex as far as Sydney. Three of his children became world champion yachtsmen. His other great interest was St Kentigern’s school in Auckland, of which he was chairman for 37 years. He planted many London plane trees at the school and his funeral was held there. He died on 9 February 2010 at the age of 89, in the presence of Elizabeth, his son Peter, and his daughters Rebecca and Josephine, a week after sustaining a fracture of the hip.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001039
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Magell, Jack (1928 - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2010-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001000-E001099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373223373223
Occupation General surgeon
Details Jack Magell was a consultant general surgeon at Blackburn Royal Infirmary and Accrington Victoria Hospital. He was greatly admired by his colleagues and his trainees were devoted to him for the support he provided and the good grounding he gave to them for their future careers. Jack’s father, Abraham Magilner (later Magell), came from Vilna in Russia (Vilnius in Lithuania) at the age of 19 and became a watchmaker in Llanelli, Wales. The family of Jack’s mother, Ida Polotovski (later Paul), came to the UK around 1910. Abraham and Ida married in 1912 and had three children, George, Angela and Jack, who was born in Cardiff on 22 October 1928. Jack went to Cardiff High School, from which he entered Cardiff Medical School at the age of 16, qualifying in 1950. He was a senior house officer at Llandough Hospital and a surgical registrar at Bridgend Hospital. He was much influenced by Lambert Rogers and Arnold Aldis. He went to be a registrar at New End Hospital in London, where he gained experience in thyroid diseases. Jack did his National Service in the RAMC, serving in Singapore and in Malaysia, mainly in Kluang, Johor state. Following his demobilisation, he trained as a senior registrar in general surgery at the Maelor Hospital, Wrexham. During his training he spent a year in America as an instructor in surgery at the University of Illinois, Chicago, under Warren Cole. He published several papers, including one on the use of anticancer agents for the control of tumour growth in the peritoneal cavity. He also studied the role of bile salts in the dissolution of gallstones. He was appointed to his consultant post in Blackburn in 1965. He was married twice. He met his first wife, Naida Payne, a theatre sister, in Wrexham. They had two children: Tanya became a lawyer and Alex is a chartered accountant in Sark. Naida died in May 1985 and Jack subsequently met and married Jeanne, who herself had four children, Antony, Michael, Christopher and Karen. Jack and Jeanne had 20 happy years together, and had nine grandchildren between them. Jack Magell died on 6 February 2005. He was survived by Jeanne (who died in 2006), his daughter Tanya and son Alex.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001040
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Johnson, Christopher junior (1816 - 1894)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Mill, James Crowe Davidson (1925 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-04-12 2014-03-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374372374372
Occupation General surgeon
Details James Crowe Davidson Mill was a surgeon in Elizabeth, South Australia. He was born in Croydon, the son of James Mill and Rita Crowe. The family eventually emigrated to Australia, and Mill finished his education at St Peter's College, Adelaide. He started studying medicine at the University of Adelaide, but joined the Australian Army towards the end of the Second World War, serving in the Signal Corps in Darwin and northern Australia. Once he was demobilised, he went back to medical school, graduating MB BS in 1946. He then spent a year as a resident at Freemantle Hospital in Western Australia. In 1955 he travelled to the UK as a ship's surgeon on the SS *Runic*. He finally passed his FRCS in 1959, having worked in Nottingham, Leamington Spa and Warwick. He returned to Australia in 1960. He became a senior registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, and was then asked to join a new surgical practice in Elizabeth, north of Adelaide. Mill enjoyed fishing, water-skiing, diving and football. He retired to Adelaide, and died on 27 July 2010, aged 85. He was survived by his wife Kate (née Chapman), a former occupational therapist he had met in the UK, his daughter Sara and son Robert.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002189
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Orr, Neil Wallace Morison (1931 - 2012)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2012-04-12 2014-08-11
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374373374373
Occupation General surgeon
Details Neil Orr was a much-loved general surgeon at Colchester Hospital known for his superlative surgical technique, his charm and unfailing courtesy, his questioning of surgical dogma and his immaculate dress, complete with a daily button hole picked fresh from his garden. He was born in Neyyoor, south India, the son of a medical missionary. He was educated at Loretto School, Edinburgh, where he became head boy, and proceeded to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he read natural sciences. He then attended St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, graduating in 1957. After house jobs and in lieu of National Service, he broke off further medical training in order to spend two and a half years in the Antarctic with the British Antarctic Survey. Among other responsibilities, he was veterinary surgeon to the huskies, which gave him the opportunity to pursue research leading to several publications and the award of an MD on the subject of food and water requirements of men and dogs in the Antarctic. He was awarded the Polar medal for his contribution to increased knowledge of the polar region. Returning to St Thomas', he passed the FRCS and became a registrar and then senior registrar to the surgical unit, from where he published research into the gastrointestinal complications of aortic aneurysm surgery and techniques of intestinal anastomosis. In 1969 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to Colchester Hospital. Neil quickly made his mark in his new appointment. He questioned accepted dogma, but always politely and with great charm, which led to him getting results. He was a keen exponent of day case surgery, which in the early 1970s was far from common practice. He persevered however, and the new hospital was built with a day unit thanks to his endeavours. He challenged the use of surgical masks in the operating theatre and published a controversial paper in the *Annals*, showing that over a six-month period when all operations in one theatre were performed without the surgeon wearing a mask there was no increase in infection ('Is a mask necessary in the operating theatre?' *Ann R Coll Surg Eng.* 1981 Nov;63[6]:390-2). This led to considerable debate and controversy, but time has shown that masks are not essential for most procedures. His background of his early years in India led him to forge a link with the Christian Medical College in Vellore, south India, and over the years many young Indian surgeons visited Colchester as part of their training and in return Colchester consultants profited by visiting Vellore for educational purposes. Neil had wide surgical interests beyond the hurly burly of clinical practice. He was a member of the Court of Examiners of the College for many years, archivist of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, secretary of the North East Metropolitan Surgical Society and a keen member of the Surgical Sixty Club, being secretary for many years. He became chairman of the district management team and was a member of the North East Essex Health Authority. In 1992 he was appointed to the board of prison visitors at Chelmsford Prison, which later became the independent board of prison monitors, of which he was chairman for five years. During this time he was instrumental in setting up the family visiting centre at the prison, something of which he was especially proud. In retirement he became a volunteer guide at the Hunterian Museum and gave conducted tours on a regular basis. He was a keen sailor, owning a 42-foot yawl named *Gigi*, an enthusiastic gardener and a water-colour artist of considerable merit. But above all, he was a devoted family man. He married Sarah, a St Thomas' nurse, in 1968 and they had two daughters, Lucy and Kate. In his last years, when suffering from a carcinoma of the oesophagus, he was besotted by his young grandson Christopher, known as 'Kit'. Facing his illness with great stoicism, Neil Orr died on 26 March 2012, aged 80.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002190
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Owen, Anthony Wynn Michael Carton (1943 - 2012)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Linda de Cossart
Publication Date 2012-04-12 2013-11-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374374374374
Occupation Breast Surgeon oncologist
Details Anthony Wynn Michael Carton Owen was a consultant surgeon at Wharfedale General Hospital, Otley. He was born on 8 April 1943 in Pinner, Middlesex, the first of seven children born to Annie and William Owen. His parents met and married in London. His mother, then Annie Daly, a Westmeath lady from Garryduff, Kilbeggan, Ireland, was training to be a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, while his father, William Mervyn Owen, from Caernarfon, Wales, was studying medicine at St Thomas'. During the Second World War, Tony's father served in the RAMC and in 1940 was on the beach at Dunkirk. He continued to serve in the RAMC after the war had finished, rising to the rank of major and spent a long period stationed on the Rhine, in Germany. After leaving the Army he became a surgeon in Merseyside. Anthony spent his first three years in Garryduff, and for the rest of his life held a deep love of Ireland and the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. His sojourn in Germany, living in the grand officers' mess, was also said to have set the tone for his own lifestyle later on. He went to junior school in Dublin, attending St Michael's College, a preparatory school for Blackrock College, which was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, also known as 'the Spiritans'. At 13 he went to St Edward's College in Liverpool, falling this time under the influence of the Irish Christian Brothers. He obtained a BSc with honours from the University of Liverpool in 1965 and qualified MB ChB in 1968, winning the orthopaedic medal in the final examinations. He made an early decision to follow a surgical career, and this began with house surgeon jobs to the professorial unit at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1968. He became a fellow, by examination, of the English and Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Surgeons in 1973. His surgical training continued with the post of demonstrator of anatomy at the University of Liverpool's department of anatomy. Following this, he rotated through a range of general hospitals in Merseyside, gaining a broad experience in general surgery. In 1978 he was appointed as a lecturer to the department of surgery at the University of Edinburgh and spent three years under the tutorship of Sir Patrick Forrest. His interest in oncology and in breast cancer was established during this very formative time in his career, and his subsequent appointment as a lecturer in the university department at South Manchester under R A Sellwood established his credentials in breast and endocrine surgery. In these posts he was part of the key teams exploring the usefulness of breast screening for the United Kingdom. He obtained a masters degree in surgery in 1983. He regularly gave lectures in surgery and published many papers in learned journals. During this time he also supported humanitarian organisations, spending periods overseas supporting international medical aid. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Wharfedale General Hospital in 1990 and retired in 2009. He continued clinical work as an honorary consultant at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital after his retirement. He was for seven years a visiting surgeon to HM Prison Service. Tony had a great passion for aviation and held his own pilot's license. For five years he was an adviser in aviation medicine to Britannia Airways PLC and an authorised medical examiner for the Civil Aviation Authority. In 1992 he was Lancashire pilot of the year and won the Rodman landing trophy in 1999. Eoghan Owen, Tony's brother, also a consultant surgeon, said of him at his funeral: 'He was such a complex man in many ways and yet in other ways he was absolutely straightforward. You knew where you were with him, he was straight talking. He lived in the fast lane of life; he was always in a rush, always having to get something done quickly so he could dash off and do something else. He was a perfectionist and "it will do" would never do for Anthony; it had to be right, it had to be perfect.' As he grew older Anthony's Christian faith became stronger and in retirement he served mass at St Christopher's and at Bishop Eton, in Liverpool. He was a reader and Eucharistic minister in both churches. He never got round to fulfilling his ambition to buy a Ferrari or a Porsche. Tony's death was unexpected and tragic. He died on 17 March 2012, aged 68, a week after sustaining a head injury following an assault outside his home in Hale, Merseyside. There were no witnesses to the event. He is missed by his family and friends.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002191
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Johnson, Edmund Charles (1822 - 1895)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Foster, William James (1865 - 1928)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-01-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374077374077
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on December 21st, 1865, the only son of Henry Foster, a chemical manufacturer, and Mary his wife. After being educated privately he entered St Mary's Hospital, where he served as Obstetrical Officer, House Surgeon, and Clinical Ophthalmic Assistant. He began to practise in Reading in 1893, and in 1899 was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, becoming full Surgeon in 1914, and, retiring in 1924, was appointed Consulting Surgeon. Foster was a pioneer in X-ray work in Reading, and was mainly responsible for the formation of a Radiological Department at the Hospital. During the War he had charge of the Reading War Hospital with a commission as Captain RAMC (T). He died suddenly at Boscombe, Hampshire, on May 11th, 1928, survived by his second wife, Dorothea Gwenfron (née Davies), whom he had married on August 15th, 1924, and a married daughter. A younger daughter qualified, and died unmarried whilst in resident charge of a hospital at Quetta. He was buried at Tyler's Green, Bucks.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001894
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Foulkes, Thomas Howard (1870 - 1920)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-01-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374078374078
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Coonoor, in the Nilgiri Hills, Southern India, on April 2nd, 1870. He was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and entered the Indian Medical Service on July 29th, 1893, becoming Lieutenant-Colonel after twenty years' service. Having been six years in military employment, he took civil employ in the province of Madras, and was District Medical and Sanitary Officer in 1899. In this capacity he was appointed to Vizagapatam in July, 1908, where he was also Superintendent of the Medical School and Lunatic Asylum. He was appointed Durbar Surgeon of Mysore State in June, 1912, and reverted again to the Army during the Great War (1914-1918). He had previously served in small campaigns in Burma (1894-1896), on the North-West Frontier in the Tirah Campaign (1897-1898), in the Bara Valley operations (Medal with Clasp), and in China in 1900 (Medal). When Administrative Medical Officer of the Kohat Brigade he was shot dead in his bungalow at Kohat, on the North-West Frontier of India, on November 15th, 1920. Mrs. Foulkes was badly wounded at the same time, and was carried off by the tribesmen who were the murderers, but was afterwards released. Foulkes had received the Star of Nepal a few days previously.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001895
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fowke, John ( - 1852)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Fowler, Charles (1797 - 1858)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Hall, Geoffrey Craythorne (1848 - 1923)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Hall, Sir John (1795 - 1866)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Hall, John Basil (1868 - 1926)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Hall, John Charles (1816 - 1876)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374273374273
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon Physician
Details Born at Nottingham in December, 1816, and received his preliminary education in Doncaster. He was then apprenticed to Mr Carrick, of Kensington, and proceeded, after serving his time, to St George's Hospital, where he became Assistant and afterwards House Surgeon under Brodie and Keate. From St George's he went to Paris, and on his return settled in practice at Retford, and in 1848 migrated to Sheffield as a physician. He soon became attached to the School of Medicine there, and in 1854, with Drs Law and Elam, was elected Physician to the Dispensary. He laboured during four years, till 1858, to attach a hospital to this institution, and despite much opposition succeeded in doing so with the assistance of S Parker and others. Twenty-five beds were opened in 1858, and in 1872 this number had increased exactly fourfold. In 1858 he was presented with a handsome piece of plate in recognition of his untiring exertions on the hospital's behalf. He was Hon Secretary as well as Physician to the institution, his management was admirable and impressed his colleagues. Hall was one of the pioneers of improved conditions of labour. He studied the occupational diseases of Sheffield, and by protest and toil endeavoured to get them remedied. He wrote to *The Times*, contributed letterpress descriptions which accompanied the sketches of the Sheffield Halls in the *Illustrated London News*, and gave evidence before a Royal Commission on the special diseases of grinders and other workmen. *The Times* at last acknowledged his efforts in the following words: "Dr J C Hall, by his persistent efforts for years on behalf of these poor men, has at last forced the public to listen to him." Largely through his efforts, 'Hospital Sunday' was established in Sheffield, and at the time of his death he was a member of the Hospital Sunday Committee. He was of great service to Friendly Societies, particularly to the Oddfellows. He was President of the Yorkshire Branch of the British Medical Association in 1866-1867, and at its meeting at Sheffield when Vice-President of the Section of Medicine, read a paper on the "Sheffield Diseases of Occupations". He was a Member of the General Council of the Association, and in 1872-1873 was President of the Sheffield Medico-Chirurgical Society. He was an eloquent and pointed speaker, able to quote the poets admirably. Well read in the literature of his profession, he kept himself abreast of the progress of the day, was a skilful physician and a remarkably rapid and ardent worker. He died at his residence, Surrey House, Sheffield, on October 26th, 1876, and was buried in the General Cemetery. He had been two years a widower at the time of his death. By his marriage with Miss Orridge he left two sons and two daughters. At the time of his death, besides being Senior Physician to the Sheffield Public Hospital and Dispensary, he was Lecturer on the Practice of Physic at the Sheffield Medical School, having been previously Lecturer on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and Botany. He was also Consulting Physician to the Midland Railway Company, and Medical Referee to a number of Assurance Societies. Publications:- *Interesting Facts connected with the Animal Kingdom, with some Remarks on the Unity of our Species*, 8vo, London, 1841. *Clinical Remarks on Certain Diseases of the Eye, and on Miscellaneous Subjects, Medical and Surgical, including Gout, Rheumatism, Fistula, Cancer, Hernia, Indigestion, etc., etc.*, 8vo, London, 1843. *On the Nature and Treatment of some of the More Important Diseases, Medical and Surgical, including the Principal Diseases of the Eye*, 2nd ed., 8vo, London, 1844. *Facts which prove the Immediate Necessity for the Enactment of Sanitary Measures to remove those Causes which at Present Increase most fearfully the Bills of Mortality, and Seriously Affect the Health of Towns*, 8vo, London, 1847. "On the Pathology, Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Thoracic Consumption; Bed-side Sketches," 8vo, London, 1850; reprinted from *Lond. Med. Gaz.*, 1850, xlv, 494, etc. *A Letter to the Chairman of the Board of Guardians of the Sheffield Union on the Pre-vention of Cholera*, 8vo, London, 1853. "Analytical Synopsis of the Natural History of Man" prefixed to Bonn's edition of Charles Pickering's *Races of Man*, 8vo, London, 1854. *Hints on the Pathology, Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Thoracic Consumption, with Microscopic Illustrations of Tubercle*, 3rd. Ed., 12mo, London, 1856. *Medical Evidence in Railway Accidents*, 8vo, London, 1868. *Pathology and Treatment of the Sheffield Grinders' Disease*, 1857. *The Trades of Sheffield as influencing Life and Health*, 1866.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002090
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, James ( - 1871)

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First Title value, for Searching Halls, John James (1820 - 1860)

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First Title value, for Searching Pyne, John Robin (1939 - 2012)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2012-06-28 2013-10-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374735374735
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details John Pyne was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Norfolk and Norwich and West Norwich hospitals, and also worked privately at the BUPA Hospital Norwich in Colney, Norfolk. One of nature's true gentlemen, he had a courteous approach to his many grateful patients, his colleagues, junior staff and the nursing staff who supported him in his work. He was born in Shoeburyness, Essex, on 13 April 1939 the son of Edward Gordon Pyne, a chest physician, and his wife Gladys Elizabeth Anne née Conway. He spent the first seven years of his life in India, where his father was stationed in the Army. The family returned to the UK for John's education, first in Chelmsford and then at Felsted School. He went for his medical education to Charing Cross Hospital, London, and qualified in 1965. Pre-registration house appointments followed at the hospital in surgery and medicine, followed by a casualty officer post. He recorded his gratitude to A Harding Rains, Peter Philips, the urologist, and Leslie Oliver, a neurosurgeon. John decided quite early in his career to specialise in ophthalmic surgery: his further training was at Moorfields. As a senior registrar there he also had sessions at the National Hospital, Queen's Square, and Great Ormond Street. At Moorfields he was greatly influenced by Barrie Jones, Lorimer Fison, a pioneer retinal surgeon, and Ayoub and Greaves. He joined the Norwich ophthalmic department as a consultant in 1974, and was an excellent colleague to Peter Hunter, Peter James and later Peter Davies. Although very general in his approach, he later specialised in retinal surgery. He wrote just three papers; his first, 'Carcinoma of the penis in a Jew circumcised in infancy' (*Br J Surg* 1967 Aug; 54[8]:729-31) was a particularly unusual contribution from a doctor destined to be an eye surgeon. After retiring from active NHS work, John continued to work as a locum for local opticians, conducting eye examinations and had sessions at D R Grey and at Dipple and Conway. He was well-known for his professional ability, and for his charming and compassionate manner. The opticians felt greatly privileged to have his assistance, admiring him for the depth of his knowledge. John undertook a lot of unpaid voluntary work. In Norwich he worked for the Samaritans. Further afield, he gave his valuable services to Fight for Sight in Africa, operating on and restoring the gift of sight to hundreds of Africans. Outside medicine John had many interests. He was a good pianist and enjoyed playing the works of Mozart and Chopin in particular, but had a wide knowledge of classical music, particularly orchestral works. He possessed a fine tenor voice and sang in the Norwich Philharmonic Choir and other choirs, and at many concerts throughout Norfolk. He enjoyed swimming, playing squash, and enjoyed skiing, mainly in the Trois Vallées region of France. His last skiing trip was to Verbier, Switzerland, three years before he died. As a medical student he met Judith Carolyn née Wheaton: they married in 1963 whilst they were both students. They had two sons, Stephen and Michael, and a daughter, Anna. Stephen works in education, Michael is a commercial airline pilot and Anna is a professional musician. They describe him succinctly as a 'fine man and a wonderful father'. In 1997 John married his second wife, Marcelle née Chapman, who had three children by her first marriage. They lived very happily in Shotesham village, where, coincidentally, the first surgeon to the original Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Benjamin Gooch, lived and practised as a surgeon-apothecary in the eighteenth century. John Pyne developed bowel cancer which was treated surgically and then by courses of chemotherapy for two years. He never complained and was active into his last few months. He died at his home in Shotesham on 20 May 2012 at the age of 73. He was survived by his second wife Marcelle, his three children, 12 grandchildren and three step-children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002552
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robinson, Clayton Lindsay Nelson (1919 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Richard Robinson
Publication Date 2012-06-28 2012-09-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374736374736
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Clayton Lindsay Nelson Robinson, known as 'Robbie', was a thoracic surgeon in Vancouver, Canada. He was born in Chapeau, Quebec, the son of Joseph Edward Robinson, a rancher, and Ada Elizabeth Robinson née Armstrong. He was raised on a farm in Meath, Ontario, the youngest of three sons who were all destined to become doctors. Educated in the Ottawa Valley towns of Pembroke and Renfrew, he graduated early from Queen's Medical School in 1943 and volunteered for the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. He served on the HMCS *Middlesex* in the Atlantic convoy escort as a surgeon lieutenant until the end of the Second World War, when he joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy and travelled to Ceylon for three months. He was very proud of his time in the Navy, and loved telling stories about his time on the high seas. After the war, Clayton demonstrated anatomy at the University of Toronto under J C B Grant (he wrote Grant's biography in 1993 for the Canadian Medical Association). His medical training in thoracic surgery continued in Vancouver and England, and he met his wife Kathleen Feenan at Southend-on-Sea Hospital. They were married on St Patrick's Day 1952 and honeymooned in Ireland, where Clayton kissed the Blarney Stone. Clayton and Kathleen lived in Saskatoon from 1958 to 1966, where he was a member of the department of surgery and worked at University Hospital. He was president of both the Canadian Thoracic Association and Saskatoon Medical Association in 1965. The family moved to Vancouver in 1966 and Clayton worked primarily at Vancouver General, Shaughnessy and St Vincent's hospitals and as a professor of surgery at the University of British Columbia. His work was his passion, and he was much loved by his patients and hospital staff. His crowning glory came in 1982 when he was invited to give a Hunterian Lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The topic of his lecture was 'The role of surgery of the thymus for myasthenia gravis'. He was extremely honoured and proud of this invitation. In 1985, Clayton turned 65 and, along with 14 other physicians, lost his privileges at Vancouver General Hospital. They challenged this newly-created hospital by-law on the grounds that it infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the basis of age discrimination. This precedent-setting case was eventually heard in the Supreme Court of Canada in 1990 and became the basis for many of the mandatory retirement policies of today. Clayton also loved the sea and the mountains, and he built two sailing dinghies and a family cabin at Whistler, where family and friends shared many happy times. Although Kathleen was the social planner, Clayton loved making Irish coffees to 'splice the mainbrace'. He was an avid reader, frustrated gardener and regular attendee at the Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Opera, and Vancouver Men's Welsh Choir. Clayton passed away in his home on 13 November 2011 at the age of 92. Predeceased by his wife Kathleen in 2009, he was survived by his children Moya, Elspeth and Richard, and his five grandchildren, Lucy, Anna, Tessa, Andrew and James.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002553
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gilpin, Bernard (1790 - 1861)

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First Title value, for Searching Gilson, Benjamin ( - 1856)

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First Title value, for Searching Gilson, John Thomas (1803 - 1879)

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First Title value, for Searching Girdlestone, Tharp Mountain (1823 - 1899)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374172374172
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of the Rev Charles Girdlestone, who was a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, at the time of his son's birth, and later Rector of Kingswinford. One of his brothers was Canon Girdlestone, of Christ Church, Oxford. Tharp Mountain Girdlestone was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon. He was greatly attached to his old hospital, and his talk would be of Lawrence, Stanley, Holden, Paget, and others. Occasionally, too, he would tell of his exploits as an athlete, boxing and rowing being his two specialities, and he could show some trophies won on the river in his student days. He practised for a long period at Melbourne, Victoria, where he occupied many important positions. He was a coroner to the Goldfields in the early days, and sat in the Legislative Assembly as Representative of a Mining Constituency. He was Health Officer to the City of Melbourne, Surgeon to the Alfred Hospital, Assistant Surgeon and then full Surgeon to the Melbourne Hospital, and Lecturer on Surgery at the Melbourne University. He was also a member of the Microscopical Society of Victoria, and a most active member of the Medical Society of Victoria. He contributed frequently to its *Proceedings*, for long served on its Committee, and was also Treasurer and President. His lectures at the university, when he was first appointed, were up to date, and supplied good, sound, serviceable material. His name should always be associated with the use of kangaroo tendon as an animal ligature. He introduced it, and was always a strong advocate for its employment. At the Melbourne Hospital he was the first surgeon to secure union by first intention with something like unfailing regularity by a more strict following of antiseptic routine. As a surgeon Girdlestone was capable, slow, and a safe, if not a brilliant, operator. He was upright, honourable, and pleasant and kindly among friends. He was one of the many, including medical men, who suffered from the disastrous failures of banks and companies in Australia in the early nineties of the nineteenth century. He lost his position as Surgeon at the Melbourne Hospital and showed symptoms of heart disease. He returned to England about the year 1894 and lived with his distinguished brother, Canon Girdlestone. Subsequently he re-entered practice- in England, but returned to his brother's house to die. His death occurred at Sunningdale, Berks, on July 6th, 1899. In Melbourne he practised at No 114 and then at No 164 Collins Street East. Publications: Girdlestone published as separate pamphlets:- "Partial Dislocation of the Radius and Ulna backwards, with the Formation of a New Joint," 8vo, 1850; reprinted from *Trans Abernethian Soc of St Bart's Hosp*, 1849, No 7 and 1851, No 17. *Under the Floor* (No 4 Austral Health Soc), 8vo, Melbourne, 1877.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001989
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, John Dalston (1811 - 1869)

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First Title value, for Searching Hall, Thomas ( - 1866)

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First Title value, for Searching Hughes, Robert (1802 - 1880)

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First Title value, for Searching Hughes, William ( - 1855)

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First Title value, for Searching King, Thomas (1795 - 1877)

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First Title value, for Searching King, Thomas Wilkinson (1809 - 1847)

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First Title value, for Searching Glendinning, Bryden (1880 - 1927)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374174374174
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Dunedin, New Zealand. Coming to England in 1898, he became a student at Guy's Hospital, where he held house appointments in 1903-1904 under Sir William Arbuthnot Lane and was House Surgeon. He then studied medicine in Paris and became Resident Surgeon at the Hertford British Hospital. He accompanied the Queen of Spain to Madrid on the occasion of her marriage, and afterwards remained in Spain as her personal medical attendant for about two years. After his return to England he worked under Comyns Berkeley and Victor Bonney, and was appointed Pathologist, and later Assistant Surgeon, to the Chelsea Hospital for Women. In 1911 he was also elected to a Walter Emden Research Scholarship in the Cancer Research Laboratories at the Middlesex Hospital. During his three years' tenure of this scholarship he wrote nine papers, nearly all of which were on the subject of malignant disease in its relation to gynaecology. The most important was that on the spread of carcinoma by the Fallopian tube, in which he put forward a view as to the invasion of the Fallopian tube by carcinoma from the uterus and ovary. He adduced evidence that it may be brought about by cancer cells which, coming in contact with the fimbriae or being swept into the lumen, engraft themselves upon the columnar cells and thence travel to deeper parts. He saw, however, that the possibility of lymphatic permeation from the ovarian growths could not be entirely excluded. He also acted as Obstetric Tutor and Registrar at the Middlesex Hospital, and was elected Gynaecological Surgeon to the Hampstead General and North-West London Hospitals in 1912, though he did not relinquish his research work. His health broke down late in 1913, but he resumed active work in 1914 both at Chelsea and Hampstead, and, with the advent of the Great War, was appointed Surgeon to the Duchess of Bedford's War Hospital of 102 beds in Woburn Abbey and Woburn Cottage Hospital. He was here confronted with work of a general surgical character and had full scope for the display of his peculiar genius for combining diagnostic acumen with operative skill. He was a bold operator, not hesitating to undertake what his pathological knowledge told him was necessary; yet in actual manipulations a lightness and sureness of touch was shown in everything he did. Late in 1916 his health once more broke down and he had to rest for some months, but he was at work again in 1917, and continued to act as Surgeon at the Woburn War Hospital till its closure in 1920 and at the Woburn Cottage Hospital till 1925. Early in that year failing health compelled him to retire from active work of any kind. He died at Woodcote, Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire, on May 19th, 1927. He was survived by his widow, who was a daughter of Captain G E Hodgson, of the 44th Regiment, and by an only son. Publications: "Spread of Cancer by the Fallopian Tube." - *Jour Obst and Gynaecol*, 1910, xvii, 24. "Malignant Disease of the Ovaries: a Statistical Study." - *Arch Middlesex Hosp Cancer Lab*, 1909, xv, 50. "Extension of Sarcoma in Pelvic Regions of the Female." - *Ibid*, 1910, xix, 82. "Ossifying Fibromyoma invaded by Carcinoma Corporis Uteri." - *Ibid*, 94. "Adenomatosis Vaginae: a hitherto Undescribed Condition" (with Victor BONNEY) - *Proc Roy Soc Med (Obstet Sect)*, 1910-11, iv, 18. "Fibro-adenoma of Ovarian Fimbriae and the Question of Accessory Ovary." - *Ibid* (Obstet Sect), 1911-12, v, 271. "Catheterisation of Ureter in Pyelitis of Pregnancy." - *Arch Middlesex Hosp Clin Rep*, 1911, viii, 21. "Gynaecology and Obstetrics" in Rendle Short's *Index of Prognosis and End-results of Treatment*, 1915.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001991
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hull, Alfred John ( - 1924)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-04-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002200-E002299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374473374473
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's Hospital, where he was a Clinical Assistant. He also acted as Clinical Assistant at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, and as Assistant House Physician at the Hospital for Women, Soho Square. He joined the RAMC, and had a distinguished record of service. He died at Peshawar, India, on February 15th, 1924. Publications: Hull was the editor of an authoritative publication at a crisis, *Surgery in War*, with a Preface by Sir Alfred Keogh, to which a number of experts contributed, 1916; 2nd ed with a Preface by Sir T H J C Goodwin, 1918.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002290
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kirkman, Joseph Thomas ( - 1886)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Knight, Charles ( - 1895)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Knowles, George Beauchamp ( - 1867)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Knox, George (1793 - 1847)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Kocher, Theodor (1841 - 1917)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002400-E002499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374644374644
Occupation General surgeon
Details Theodor Kocher, a native of Berne, is remarkable in having remained in his native place throughout his life. Born in 1841, he graduated at the University of Berne in 1865 and studied further in Vienna and in Berlin, and he also visited London and Paris. Following G A Luecke he was appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery in 1872, and was Chief of the Surgical Clinic for forty-five years. He continued in good health and in full activity generally and professorially, as a man far younger than his age, until a serious illness from which he so far recovered as to resume some surgical work in 1917. But in July of that year he was seized with ileus, operated upon, and died two days later on July 27th, 1917. Kocher early reached the first rank as a surgeon, and retained his position throughout life. His clinic was the resort of all who wished to see general surgery carried out by the most advanced methods. Beginning from the standpoint of applied anatomy in relation to dislocation of the shoulder, in Luecke's theatre a case of old-standing dislocation was submitted to every procedure in vain until Kocher was allowed to try and reduce the dislocation. In later years, after the introduction of X-ray photography, he ardently followed up the development and employed it for the more accurate diagnosis of fractures and dislocations, as well as for the more exact reductions. After the International Congress of 1881 in London, Kocher became the chief advocate of Lister's methods in Switzerland. Sir Spencer Wells performed ovariotomy in Switzerland with success for the first time in 1882; Kocher followed him. Later he gradually changed to aseptic methods. His most original work was the demonstration, along with Reverdin, that when operating for goitre the removal of the whole thyroid gland which had become possible through the adoption of Listerism was followed by cachexia strumipriva, and this was confirmed experimentally by Schiff, of Geneva, on dogs and rodents, and by Victor Horsley on monkeys. Placed at the centre of endemic thyroid disease, Kocher developed and continually improved upon the details of removal of goitre in all its forms, including the more intimate study of exophthalmic goitre. By 1912 he had performed 5000 goitre operations; general anaesthesia was replaced by local anaesthesia, and Kocher operated at a remarkably uniform, yet really rapid rate. With antisepsis came the operation for the cure of hernia by incision; at first he inverted the sac as in his previous subcutaneous operation, then the ligature of the neck at its junction with the peritoneal cavity and the removal of the sac. His method of suturing was superseded by that of Bassini. He devised a modification of the original Billroth's procedures for cancer of the stomach, but it had not a very wide application. He introduced a submaxillary operation for cancer of the tongue, later he rather reverted to the median Syme's operation. But the Butlin method of a dissection of the neck to remove the glands earliest invaded was wider, and on the other hand caused less injury to the rest of the tongue and jaw. The great advantage of the original operation was the preliminary ligature of the lingual artery. Kocher's monograph on intracranial pressure is remarkable for the amount of research included in it. The onset of a general epileptic fit had been usually ascribed to an anaemia of the affected convolutions of the cortex. Kocher suggested the reverse - a temporary congestion - and that trephining might set up an anastomosis between the intracranial circulation and that of the scalp. He frequently visited the chief centres of surgery, and was well known in London as a perfect linguist in the three languages - German, French, and English. He exhibited a pleasant, humorous, unassuming courtesy, whether in his clinic, in his house, or abroad. To all surgical students he became well known through his *Chirurgische Operationslehre*, first published in 1892, with 162 illustrations, translated by Harold Stiles in 1895; by 1911 there had appeared the fifth German edition and the corresponding revised translation. As the first surgeon of his day, he was President of the German Society of Surgery in 1902, again of the first meeting of the International Surgical Society at Brussels in 1905, and in 1911 he received the Nobel Prize for Surgery. Publications: *Behandlung der croupösen Pneumonie mit Veratrum Präparaten*, Würzburg, 1866. This was his one medical contribution. "Die Analogien von Schulter und Hüft-Gelenk Luxationen und ihrer Repositions¬methoden." - *Volkmann's Sammlung klin Vortr*, 1875, No 83, *Chir* No 27, p611. "Die Lister'sche Behandlung bei der Ovariotomie." - *Cor-Blatt f schweiz Aerzie*, 1875, v, 393. "Ueber Kropfextirpation und ihre Folgen." - *Arch f klin Chir*, 1883, xxix, 254. "Die Hernien im Kindesalter." - *Gerhardt's Handbuch der Kinderkrankh*, 1889, vi, 2 abtheil, 699. "Zur Radicalcur der Hernien." - *Cor-Blatt f schweiz Aerzie*, 1892, xxii, 561. "Die Oesophagusdivertikel und dessen Behandlung." - *Ibid*, 233. "Hirnerschütterung, Hirndruck und Chirurgische Eingriffe bei Hirnkrankheiten." - *Nothnagel Sp Pathol u Therap*, 1901, ix Bd, III Th, II abtheil. *Chirurgische Operationslehre*, 1892; 5th ed 1907. Translation by Harold Stiles, 1895, from 2nd German edition; 1911, from 5th German edition.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002461
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching König, Franz (1832 - 1910)

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First Title value, for Searching Lacy, Edward (1799 - 1870)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-14 2017-05-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002400-E002499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374646374646
Occupation General practitioner General surgeon
Details Professionally educated at St George's Hospital. He practised first at Stockport, where he was Surgeon to the Infirmary Fever Wards and to the Queen's Lying-in Institute. At the latter institution he lectured on midwifery and the diseases of women and children. Removing to Poole, he was at the time of his death Surgeon to the Bournemouth General Dispensary and Surgeon to the 4th Dorset Rifle Volunteers. He died at Poole on October 7th, 1870. Publication: "Treatment of Fistula in Ano by Chloride of Zinc." - *Med Times and Gaz*, 1852, xxv, 576. See below for an amended version of the published obituary: Edward Lacy made his name as a surgeon and leading citizen in Poole, Dorset. He was born in Salisbury in 1799 and baptised in Salisbury Cathedral on 17 March 1800, although his parents were both from Dorset: his father, James, was born in Poole, his mother, Mary née Bemister, in nearby Wimborne. He began his medical career as a pupil at the County Infirmary in Salisbury, before moving to London to the Marylebone Infirmary; he then studied at St George's Hospital as a pupil and dresser to Sir Edward Home and Sir Benjamin Brodie, receiving his diploma in 1823. He gained his membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1822, the same year he was awarded his licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1852. His first post was in Stockport, perhaps chosen because his brother Henry was at that time in Manchester, when he was appointed as a house surgeon at the Stockport Infirmary in March 1823. He also worked at the Dispensary and House of Recovery, moving on later to the Queen's Lying-in Institution, Manchester, where he lectured on midwifery and diseases of women and children. Edward applied several times, unsuccessfully, to be elected as a surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary during the 1830s. A case study of one of his patients with diabetes mellitus, from his practice in King Street, Manchester, appears in Edward Carbutt's book *Clinical lectures in the Manchester Royal Infirmary* (London, Longman and company, 1834). It was while in Manchester that he became embroiled in 1832 in a law suit concerning grave-robbing. The Rev Gilpin of Stockport was successful with a libel case against an activist and publisher, Mr Doherty, who had stated that a body was removed from the graveyard attached to the church to the dissecting room of the surgeon Mr Lacy, who happened to be the Rev Gilpin's brother-in-law. The case featured strongly in the local and London newspapers, and must have been very embarrassing both professionally and personally for Edward. He had moved to Poole by 1844, taking over the medical practice of Thomas Barter at 90 High Street. Before this move, he had gained considerable experience in hospital work, but there was no hospital in Poole at that time or indeed during his lifetime. His living was therefore from general practice, plus the various contracts available to doctors. He became honorary surgeon to the 4th Dorset Rifle Volunteers, surgeon to several different friendly societies and the Amity Lodge. Another role was medical officer to the Kinson, Canford and Parkstone district of the Poole Union. He was able to later become involved in Bournemouth's first hospital development. He was listed in 1859 as a member of the founding committee of the Bournemouth Public Dispensary for the Sick Poor, as well as working there as an honorary surgeon. The dispensary was established to provide for the poor in the fast-developing town of Bournemouth, but also covering adjoining areas including Poole. As a dispensary, it did not have inpatients, although before his death it had become a cottage hospital, forerunner to the Royal Victoria Hospital. As he grew older, he took William Turner as a partner in his practice in Poole. His medical interests are shown by publications in the *Medical Times and Gazette* on ingrowing toenails, treatment of naevi, effects of use of lead powder by actors, and use of zinc chloride in the treatment of anal fistulae. He prepared a report for presentation to the inaugural meeting of the Dorset County Association of General Practitioners in June 1848 on the use of chloroform in surgery, which represented an early clinical review of experience. He was a local secretary of the New Sydenham Society, linking local doctors with the publisher. A further interest must have been public health, as in 1848 he was invited to present a lecture at Poole Guildhall on 'The health of towns'. The context was the passing of the Public Health Act in that year, but the worry of cholera outbreaks was a constant factor locally and nationally. Using his experience in Manchester, he compared life expectancy in Poole, a small town in a rural area, with northern cities, although stressing nevertheless how Poole's filthy streets affected the health of its population. The bulk of his lecture was educational, using diagrams and other aids, to demonstrate the impact of poor living conditions, showing how cholera could arise. He ended by stating that however well the Poor Law guardians provided aid and nutrition for the poor, they could do nothing to affect ventilation and cleanliness for the general population, suggesting that therefore the poor suffered the most in times of cholera. He offered, should cholera hit Poole, that his surgery would be open at all hours to the suffering poor. He was first elected to the Poole Town Council in 1848, representing the north-west ward as a Conservative, and remained a councillor until his death. In November 1860, as a long-serving member, he was elected by the town council as the mayor, and by this time he was also chief magistrate for the town. When he died the newspaper headline recorded it as the death of a magistrate, rather than surgeon; perhaps in his later years his presence on the bench was more marked than his medical work. Outside his medical career, he had at least one business interest. This was the time of 'railway mania', and Manchester was at the forefront. Edward was attracted to the possibilities and developed this interest after moving to Poole. He was heavily involved in the efforts to develop a railway link from Poole to Salisbury. This link was for a time known locally as the 'Lacy line'. There is no evidence this business venture brought him the same financial success as achieved by his brother Henry Lacy, a director of the London and South Western Railway and MP for Bodmin. Edward married Frances Gilpin on 2 September 1828; she was born in Broughton in Furness, Lancashire, the daughter of a local magistrate. They had four children while living in Manchester: Caroline Mary died in infancy in 1840, but Ruth, Bernard and Frances all grew up in Poole. Bernard Gilpin Lacy is listed in the 1871 census as an 'MD USA not in practice'. Edward Lacy died on 7 October 1870, aged 70, and was buried in Poole Cemetery on 13 October. The funeral was a large affair, with a procession of civic dignitaries and an honour guard of 30 men from the Rifle Volunteers; flags were at half-mast on the Guildhall and church. His obituary in the local newspaper was accompanied by a eulogy, highly complimentary about his medical career, including his Christian charitable approach to those unable to pay for his care. As a surgeon and leading citizen of the town, Edward Lacy made his mark in his adopted home of Poole. He was a part of the first hospital development in Bournemouth and Poole, and became Poole's civic leader. The obituary and eulogy published in the local newspaper demonstrate the town held him in high regard as 'a worthy magistrate, a skilful surgeon, and most upright and honourable gentleman'. Publications: New mode of treating ingrowing toenails. *Medical Times and Gazette* 1852 Aug 172-3. Treatment of fistula in ano by chloride of zinc. *Medical Times and Gazette* 1852 June 576. Use of lead powder by actors. *Medical Times and Gazette* 1852 Aug 223. Treatment of naevus by pressure. *Medical Times and Gazette* 1852. John Bartling Gill
Resource Identifier RCS: E002463
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, Sydney (1831 - 1913)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-05-23
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002300-E002399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374572374572
Occupation General surgeon
Details The eighth son of Robert Jones, of Walworth. He was educated at Stanmore and at King's College, from which places he matriculated at the University of London. He was then apprenticed, according to the custom of the time, to Mr Bristowe, of Camberwell, whose son, Dr John Syer Bristowe, was at one time Physician to St Thomas's Hospital and the author of the well-known text-book on medicine. Dr Syer Bristowe and Sydney Jones were lifelong friends, and were always closely associated in hospital work. Sydney Jones entered as a student at St Thomas's Hospital in 1851, whilst it was still situated in the Borough. Here he gained many prizes and certificates of honour, chiefly in anatomy. He served the office of House Surgeon from February, 1854, and spent some time in Paris studying surgery at the Hertel-Dieu and in the Lariboisiere Hospital. He was appointed Curator of the Museum at St Thomas's Hospital and was elected the first regularly appointed Assistant Surgeon in June, 1860. Five years later he was placed in charge of the Ophthalmic Department, where he continued the tradition of Frederick Tyrrell (1797-1843). He was made Lecturer on Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy in 1860, and Lecturer on Ophthalmic Surgery in 1866. In January, 1871, he succeeded to the full Surgeoncy in the place of Samuel Solly (qv) and was Joint Lecturer of Systematic Surgery, having Le Gros Clarke (qv) as senior colleague and when he resigned, Sir William MacCormac. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was Member of Council from 1883-1891. He acted as an Examiner in Surgery to the Royal College of Physicians of London, but had not sufficient leisure to undertake another examinership till his retirement from hospital duties, when he became Examiner in Surgery to the University of Glasgow. He retired early in 1891 with the rank of Consulting Surgeon, after twenty years' service on the staff of St Thomas's Hospital. Sydney Jones was essentially a man of practice as opposed to theory; he was not an original investigator, but readily adopted any method of wound treatment that appeared to possess advantages over previous procedures. In addition he accepted and practised any new manner of operative interference which offered a prospect of improved result, and published cases which showed that he was well in the forefront of all changes which were taking place in the general advance of the active surgical period of the nineteenth century. He learned to operate at a time when rapidity was a necessity for success, and he was quick and brilliant as well as sound in such a happy combination that many accounted him the best operator of his day in London. There were several operations which were considered in the seventies and eighties of the last century as the highest tests of skill, and to see Sydney Jones perform a lateral lithotomy, remove a diseased foot by Syme's method, or excise the upper jaw, surgeons would travel for long distances, and the auditorium of the operation theatre was sure to be crowded. His extensive knowledge of anatomy stood him in good stead through life, and when talking over the prospects of a new operation, or the advantage and disadvantage of an old one, his criticism was very sound ; moreover, he not infrequently practised the operation on the dead subject before undertaking it in the theatre. The case of Alexis St Martin, and Bassow and Blondlot's experiments in setting up a gastric fistula in dogs, led Sédillot in 1849 to attempt to relieve an emaciated patient who was half dead. He inserted a cannula without fixing the stomach; the cannula slipped out and the patient died. He repeated the operation in 1853, fixing the stomach, but the patient died on the tenth day. Following this gastrostomy was attempted by various surgeons, twenty-six operations at least being undertaken without a single success, until Sydney Jones in 1875 had the first recovery; he had failed twice before. The patient was aged 67; feeding was begun on the sixth day; the man died of bronchitis and haemorrhage from extension of the oesophageal cancer forty days after the gastrostomy. He was always punctual in his rounds at the hospital in the days when the visiting staff paid their visits at 8 o'clock in the morning. House surgeons arriving a few minutes late would find him in his ward already well started with the examination of his patients - an examination which was always most thorough. There could be little doubt of the excellent impression which his careful methods of investigation made upon the students, while his impressive delivery and methodical arrangement of lectures, both systematic and clinical, rendered them popular both in school and hospital. For many years he was the most prominent figure in the surgical work of St Thomas's Hospital, to which his reputation brought many visitors, both from home and abroad. He was the last St Thomas's Surgeon to take a 'cub', as the apprentices were picturesquely termed. In addition to his appointments at this institution, Sydney Jones was Consulting Surgeon to the London Throat Hospital, the Surrey and Royal South London Dispensaries, and the Cottage Hospitals at Luton, Beckenham, and Hatfield Broad Oak. He had also at one time been Surgeon to the Islington and Surrey Dispensaries, and Clinical Assistant to the Brompton Hospital for Consumption. He carried on his practice at 16 George Street, Hanover Square, where St Thomas's men enjoyed his hospitality. For some years before his death he lived in retirement at the house of his younger son, Bevington Sydney Jones, MRCS, at 97 Louisville Road, Upper Tooting, SW. He died on December 7th, 1913. By his marriage with Mary Morris he had five children - two sons, both in the medical profession and former students of St Thomas's Hospital (Sydney Harold Jones, FRCS, and Bevington Sydney Jones), and three daughters, who married medical men. Portraits of him accompany his biographies in the *Lancet* (1913, ii, 1801), the *British Medical Journal* (1913, ii, 1613), and the *St Thomas's Hospital Gazette* (1914, xxiv, 6). He also figures in the portrait group of the Council (1884) by Henry Jamyn Brookes, his likeness there being approved at his hospital. Publications: Jones edited the St Thomas's Hospital Museum Pathological *Catalogue* ("Pathological Anatomy"), ii and iii 8vo, London, 1859, of which the second edition was by SAMUEL G SHATTOCK, FRS (qv). "This task occupied a period of three years, and in the preface to the catalogue it was stated that the entire collection required revision, that one-third of the specimens had to be described, and that many of the descriptions in the original manuscript required alteration or correction. Probably the contributions which attracted most attention at the time they were published were those dealing with the treatment of diseased joints by excision." He contributed many other papers to *St Thomas's Hosp Rep* and other medical periodicals. "Contribution towards the Surgical Treatment of Diseases of the Joints." - *St Thomas's Hosp Rep*, 1870, NS i, 435; 1871, NS ii, 283; 1873, NS iii, 255. "Three Rare Surgical Cases." - *Ibid*, 1874, NS v, 295. "Sarcoma of the Thyroid Gland; Removal; Recurrences; Death." - *Ibid*, 1888, NS xviii, 233.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002389
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, Thomas (1817 - 1863)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Jones, Thomas (1848 - 1900)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-05-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002300-E002399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374574374574
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on October 18th, 1848, the son of David Jones, of Derlwyn, Carmarthenshire, a well-to-do yeoman, and a fine type of the best Welsh Puritan stock, who took an active part in public life, was a Justice of the Peace, a prominent Congregationalist, and did excellent service in initiating and promoting a better educational system in Wales. Thomas Jones received his early education at Derlwyn College, which his father had established, went to the Normal College at Swansea, and from there matriculated at London University. He gained the Gold Medal in organic chemistry and materia medica and honours in anatomy at the 1st MB examination in the University of London, and honours in medicine and was accounted worthy of the Medal in midwifery at the final MB in 1872; he was first in honours at the BS examination in 1879. He became resident pupil at the Northern Hospital, Liverpool, in 1865, and at the same time attended classes of lectures at the Liverpool School of Medicine. He then became a student at Guy's Hospital, where he remained six years. Here he was dresser to John Poland, a post for which there was always keen competition; for, himself a brilliant surgeon, Poland was generous to his dressers in allowing them to perform major operations under his direct supervision. In due course Jones served the office of House Surgeon. Jones's main life-work was at Manchester and was full of interest. He started in practice in 1873 and was one of the first to set up as a pure consulting and operating surgeon in Manchester. He was elected Resident Surgical Officer to the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1872. From 1873-1876 he was Pathological Registrar, Surgical Registrar from 1876-1879, Assistant Surgeon in 1879 on the retirement of George Bowring (qv), and full Surgeon in 1880 on the death of Samuel Bradley, retaining this position at the time of his early death. He was appointed Lecturer on Practical and Operative Surgery at Owens College in 1880, and in 1890 was elected Professor of Systematic Surgery at this College in connection with the Victoria University, where he became by virtue of this office Examiner in Surgery. He was also the first Operating Surgeon to the Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, from 1874-1880, being appointed Consulting Surgeon in the latter year. Little surgical work was done in the Pendlebury Hospital at the time of his appointment, and operations of urgency were undertaken by the physicians, but his skill and energy soon attracted a large number of surgical patients. He took the keenest interest in this hospital and raised it to a high position among kindred institutions. At the Cancer Pavilion and Home he laboured most actively as Surgeon. He was also President of the Manchester Medical Society in 1891 and a prominent member of the British Medical Association. Jones spoke Welsh fluently; he was a loyal and ardent Welshman, and always took a deep interest in the affairs of the Principality. He was a Member of the Council of the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth and a generous contributor to its funds. It was in great measure his devotion to his native country that constrained him to yield, after deliberate consideration, to the pressure put upon him to become Chief Surgeon to the Welsh Hospital and to proceed to South Africa without fee or reward. A provisional committee for the Welsh Hospital for South Africa was formed in February, 1900. It included such influential members as Sir John Williams, Dr F T Roberts, Dr Isambard Owen, Edmund Owen (qv), and Thomas Jones. The Organizing Secretary was Professor Alfred Hughes (qv), of King's College, London. Professor Jones's colleagues as Surgeons on the staff of the Welsh Hospital were J Lynn Thomas, FRCS, Assistant Surgeon to the Cardiff Infirmary, and R H Mills-Roberts, FRCS Edin, Surgeon to the Llanberis Quarries Hospital. The Assistant Surgeons were E Laming Evans, FRCS, late House Surgeon, St Bartholomew's Hospital, and Herbert Davies, MB, ChB Viet, late Senior House Surgeon at the Stoke-on-Trent Infirmary. With these were five dressers and nine or ten nurses. The hospital funds amounted to some £12,000, to which Queen Victoria subscribed £100, and the hospital itself was open to the troops at large, irrespective of nationality. Jones had been granted six months' leave by the authorities at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. The hospital left England on April 14th, 1900. On arrival at Cape Town, Jones went at once to Bloemfontein, and stayed there several weeks pending the establishment of the hospital at Springfontein, Orange River Colony. He joined it towards the end of May, and worked admirably as Senior Surgeon in charge of the hospital. On June 16th he became mentally prostrated, and died on June 18th, 1900. The Manchester contingent of the Welsh Hospital was strangely unfortunate, for of the five members of the surgical staff who volunteered from this district, three died in South Africa: Professor Jones himself, Dr Herbert Davies, who had been his House Surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and Mr Eames, one of the surgical dressers. Jones was an admirable and luminous teacher, a most dexterous operator, a singularly genial and straightforward man, and he may be said to have possessed the charm peculiar to the best type of Welshman. Dr Frederick Roberts wrote of him:- "Professor Thomas Jones, familiarly known to his students and friends as Tom Jones', has been, I might almost say, a protégé of mine since the commencement of his professional career, and I have watched his progress with affectionate interest. Coming from the same county in Wales as myself, I was well acquainted with his family, and to this fact is owing his first start in the profession, which I feel sure had a great influence in turning his attention to surgery, and in making him such a renowned and brilliant surgeon as he afterwards proved to be. After he had matriculated his father wrote to me asking my advice as to what he should do with him, as he thought him too young to go to London. I strongly recommended him to send the youth to the Liverpool Northern Hospital, to which I was at that time physician, as resident pupil, and he acted upon my advice. It so happened that the house-surgeons during the period of his residence were most proficient and skilful, especially one of them, and they took a particular interest in young Jones, teaching him the 'art' of surgery, in the way of setting fractures, bandaging, treating wounds, etc, and even allowing him to perform operations of different kinds. The consequence was that when he left Liverpool and went to Guy's Hospital as a first year's student he knew a great deal more about surgery, and was more skilful practically, than the large majority of students are at the end of their career. He was then one of the neatest bandagers I have ever seen, and to watch him put up a fracture was a treat." Professor Jones married in 1881 the daughter of Mr Boyd, of Cheadle Hulme. He was survived by his widow and an only daughter. Good portraits of him accompany his biographies in the *Lancet* (1900, ii, 60) and *British Medical Journal* (1900, i, 1617). The face is typically Cymric, and the portraits are interesting as showing the type of khaki uniform worn by army surgeons in the Boer War. Publications: *Diseases of the Bones: their Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatment*, 8vo, 16 plates, Manchester, 1887. This is his best-known book and is a valuable monograph, based on his own experiences and investigations. *Asepsis in General Surgery*. Address delivered on the occasion of taking the Chair as President of the Manchester Medical Society, Feb 4th,1891; 8vo, Manchester, 1891. "Resection of Ankle for Accident and Disease." - *Brit Med Jour*, 1883, 908. "Total Extirpation of Larynx for Epithelloma." - *Lancet*, 1884, ii, 191. "Clinical Remarks on Gastrostomy." - *Ibid*, 1884, ii, 223. "Successful Gastrostomy in Non-malignant Stricture of Oesophagus." - *Ibid*, 1882, i, 14. "Injuries and Diseases of the Ankle-joint" (with J E PLATT) - *Encyclop Med*, 1899, etc. He published many papers in the medical journals, especially in the *Med Chronicle*, of which he was one of the first and most zealous promoters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002391
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Harcourt, Richard Eugene (1858 - 1921)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374294374294
Occupation General surgeon Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Born in New Jersey, USA, and educated at Queen's College, Belfast, at Liverpool, and at King's College Hospital. After acting as House Surgeon at the Royal Southern Hospital under Sir Robert Jones, and at the Manchester Ship Canal Hospital, he was for ten years Medical Officer to the Buenos Ayres Port Works and Police. He also practised at Las Conchillas, Uruguay. He returned to England in 1898, and practised first at Warrington and then at Wavertree, Liverpool. Later he devoted himself to ophthalmology, and was appointed in 1911 Pathologist to the Liverpool Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he became Assistant Surgeon. He was also Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Bootle Education Committee, Assistant Surgeon to St Helen's Hospital, and Demonstrator of Ophthalmic Pathology in the University of Liverpool. During the War (1914-1918) he acted as Surgeon to St Paul's Eye Hospital. He suffered from dysentery which induced pernicious anemia, from which he died at Stoneleigh, near Oakfield, Anfield, Liverpool, on May 19th, 1921. He was survived by his wife, two sons, and three daughters. Publication:- "Fits due to Uncorrected Errors of Refraction." - *Liverpool Med. Clin. Jour.*, 1913.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002111
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Goldney, Harry ( - 1849)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Goldstone, Robert ( - 1858)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Good, Samuel ( - 1850)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374182374182
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was gazetted Assistant Surgeon in the 3rd Fusilier Guards on Feb 20th, 1806, and rose to Battalion Surgeon - a title in the Foot Guards dating from 1805 - on December 25th, 1813. He was present at the Battle of Waterloo. He became Surgeon Major on February 24th, 1837, was retired on half pay on July 25th, 1845, and was appointed Surgeon in Ordinary to the Prince Consort. He died at his house in the London Road, Worcester, on January 22nd, 1850.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001999
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Goodall, Abraham (1801 - 1892)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374183374183
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in August, 1801. He joined the Madras Army as Assistant Surgeon on April 21st, 1829, was promoted Surgeon on April 25th, 1844, Superintending Surgeon on January 1st, 1859, after seeing active service in Burma in 1852, for which he received the Medal. He retired on February 22nd, 1861, and died at 24 Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, on January 21st, 1892.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002000
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Butler, Michael Frank (1924 - 2013)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Christopher M Butler
Publication Date 2012-02-09 2014-01-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374184374184
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Mike Butler helped establish and develop general surgical services in the Isle of Thanet, Margate and Ramsgate, Kent. He was born on 21 January 1924 in London, the third child and first son of Frank Butler and Ailsa Butler née Beckwith. His father served in the First World War and was a dentist, originally in Harley Street and then in Finsbury Square in the City of London. He was also a keen and gifted amateur musician: his wide circle of musical friends included Gustav Holst, who was a regular visitor to the family home. Mike's early appreciation and love of music was to stay with him for the rest of his life. He was educated at Tollington Preparatory School in London and, from 1937, he was a boarder at Bishop's Stortford College in Hertfordshire. He played both cricket and rugby in the school first teams. He entered St Mary's Hospital to study medicine at the age of 17, in 1941. He gained a prize in anatomy and the Meadowe's prize in obstetrics, and qualified in 1945, at the age of 21. His first post was as a resident obstetric officer at St Mary's, and this was followed by a spell as a house surgeon at the Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton. In addition to surgical duties, the house surgeon was also expected to give anaesthetics for procedures such as tonsillectomy or cystoscopy. In 1946 he joined the RAF for his National Service and was appointed medical officer to RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland. The posting proved quiet enough for him to complete the reading and study required to pass the primary FRCS in 1948. After leaving the RAF in early 1948, he took a further house job in surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Bournemouth. After passing his final fellowship in 1949, he was appointed as a junior registrar to W J Lytle in Sheffield. The position provided ample experience and training in elective abdominal, thyroid, breast, hernia, prostate and basic children's surgery. He felt that he learnt from Lytle the basis of a sound and safe surgical technique and a practical common sense approach to surgical problems and administration. This was to provide the basis for his surgical practice for the rest of his career. After a further year as registrar in Sheffield, he was appointed to the Westminster Hospital in London as a middle grade registrar to E Stanley Lee and George Macnab. The work involved not only the usual general and urology cases, but also major head and neck and breast cancer surgery with Lee and some brain surgery with Macnab. There was a weekly combined clinic led by Sir Stanford Cade, which usually had a remarkable collection of cancer cases to consider. In 1954 he was appointed as a senior registrar to Kingston Hospital with Richard Franklin, a post he held for two years, before rotating back to Westminster as senior registrar to Lee, Macnab and the newly-appointed thoracic surgeon, Charles Drew. Drew was ploughing a fairly lonely furrow developing his technique for open heart surgery using profound hypothermia, at a time when most cardiac surgeons were using and developing the heart-lung machine for these cases. Mike was interested to see the development and practice of the technique, and recognised the heart-searching that the pioneering Drew endured - particularly in the early days when fatalities were not uncommon. During the latter part of his time at Westminster he took a post as a clinical assistant to the urological surgeon David Wallace at St Peter's and St Paul's. Early in 1960 he rotated into the post of research assistant to Charles Drew. Some unsuccessful attempts at heart and lung transplants in greyhounds and feasibility studies on the possibilities of coronary artery endarterectomy using cadaveric hearts were undertaken. Although he found research work interesting, Mike didn't see his future as an academic surgeon: he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon to the Isle of Thanet Hospital group in 1960. His sessions were all based in Thanet, with colleagues from Canterbury having sessions in Thanet and covering some of the emergency rota. Initially he covered general surgery for the hospitals in Margate and Ramsgate. A true general surgeon, he could turn his hand to most operations, including chest and urology. As sub-specialisation developed in general surgery he was able to drop urology. He developed an interest in the newly-developing peripheral vascular surgery and was able, by visiting London centres, to train himself to a good standard. He helped develop and rationalise surgical service provision in Thanet with the gradual upgrading of the Margate site and the closure of Ramsgate Hospital to acute admissions. It was not until the 1990s, after his retirement in 1989, that the development of hospital services in Thanet was finally completed with the opening of the new Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospital. In 1947 Mike married Marjorie (née Parsons), a theatre nurse from the Royal South Hants. They had two children, Christopher, a surgeon, and Nigel, a general practitioner. An accomplished pianist and choral singer, Mike also enjoyed dinghy sailing, wind surfing and skiing. A keen and devoted family man, during his retirement he enjoyed watching his seven grandchildren grow up and taught them all to sail and surf. In 2010 his knowledge of anatomy was still good enough to help one grandchild pass his MRCS examination. He was a very fit man and enjoyed good health for most of his life, with the only significant surgery being a successful coronary artery bypass operation after a myocardial infarction in 2001. The last few months of his life were frustrating as the effects of a failing tricuspid valve made him rather short of breath and not able to attend to his large garden as he wished. He was spared any significant failing of his mental faculties and died suddenly but peacefully on 16 August 2013, aged 89, with his wife of 66 years by his side at home in the house that they had shared together for 53 years on the cliff top at Broadstairs. He was survived by his wife, two sons, four grandsons, three granddaughters and two great granddaughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002001
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Diggory, Peter Lionel Carr (1924 - 2009)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Michael Pugh
Publication Date 2012-02-09 2013-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374185374185
Occupation Gynaecologist
Details Peter Diggory was a consultant gynaecologist at Kingston and the Royal Marsden, who, as medical adviser to the Liberal MP David Steel, played a significant role in the passing of the Abortion Act in 1967. He was born in Titley, Herefordshire, the fourth child of Edwin Ernest Diggory, a stationmaster, and Ada Ann Diggory née Noun. As a child he contracted polio and was treated in a plaster cast so that his mobility was limited, but he read extensively. He won a scholarship to Worcester Royal Grammar School and then proceeded to University College London (at that time evacuated to Bangor). He read maths and physics and graduated in 1942. He was then selected by C P Snow, the distinguished scientist and novelist, to join his team, which was developing radar during the Second World War. After the war Snow wanted him to continue working with him, but Peter wanted to be a doctor and he secured a place at University College Medical School. While he was a medical student he was elected president of the British Medical Student Association. He qualified in 1950. He first pursued general surgical training, in the course of which he took both the Edinburgh and English fellowships. Immediately before starting his first resident post in obstetrics at Queen Charlotte's he was acting as a consultant surgeon at the Mayday Hospital. On the morning of the day he was due to start his new post, he had to send a message that he would be late as he was engaged on an emergency colectomy, which greatly impressed his fellow residents! His gynaecological training was at the Hospital for Women, Soho, and Westminster, proceeding to consultant appointments at Kingston and the Royal Marsden, which reflected his skills in the treatment of gynaecological cancer. However, it was in the management of the common emergency problem of abortion that Peter made ground breaking progress. Spontaneous abortion occurs in about one fifth of pregnancies and, if managed properly, is not a cause of concern, but the catastrophic disasters arising from procured (criminal) abortion, or as he called them 'botched operations', have major and frequently fatal consequences. When he arrived at Kingston the hospital was admitting over 400 cases of septic abortion a year and nothing was really being done to deal with the cause or the management of this awful situation until Peter made his contribution. Contraceptive advice was not readily available in hospitals and changing the law on abortion based on the 1861 Act found little favour with the president and fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Peter took the courageous step of joining the Abortion Law Reform Association. At that time management of unwanted pregnancy was influenced by the 'Bourne case' in 1938, when the judgement of Mr Justice McNaughton defined that an instrument could not be used illegally to procure an abortion, but could be used legally. A legal nicety with words, but to do this required a psychiatric opinion and limited this option to patients who had access to this approach. To change the law required an Act of Parliament. A Liberal MP, David (later Lord) Steel, was sympathetic to this and Peter was his adviser throughout the process of steering the Bill through Parliament, which became the Abortion Act of 1967. Leading up to this, Peter gave a lecture in 1966 to the Family Planning Association conference on abortion. He gave a personal account of his experience of 1,000 cases managed in the NHS and his private practice, at that time a courageous statement. It was the first time such an account had been given so openly. He compared women having safe NHS and private operations with those having illegal procedures when soap, whisky and even toothpaste had been injected into the uterus. The substance of this lecture was published in the *Lancet* in 1969 as 'Some experiences of therapeutic abortion' (*Lancet* 1969 Apr 26;1[7600]:873-5), and included the memorable phrase: 'like death and taxes, abortion will always be with us'. Peter Diggory was a larger than life figure, a big man, always cheerful and of a most gentle nature, which almost concealed his passionate desire to protect the welfare of women and their wish to choose whether or not they were pregnant. During his time as a student he met and married Patricia McConnell, who became a social worker. They had an interest in theatre, especially the fringe, and were trustees of a children's theatre company, Quicksilver. Sadly, Patricia died in 2002 and his later years were clouded with diabetes and vascular dementia, but even then he could play an excellent game of chess. They had two children, Paul and Jane. Paul is a consultant physician specialising in the care of the elderly. Peter Diggory died of heart failure on 22 November 2009 aged 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002002
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Crymble, Barry Templeton (1921 - 2002)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2013-02-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374186374186
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Barry Crymble qualified in medicine in Belfast in 1945. He passed the FRCS in 1951 and practiced as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon for the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority. He was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association and the Ulster Medical Society. He died on 17 June 2002, aged 81.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002003
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bentley, John Philip (1916 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by R M Kirk
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2015-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374187374187
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Philip Bentley was a consultant general surgeon at the Connaught, Harrow and Wanstead hospitals. He was born on 5 January 1916 in Bexleyheath, Kent, the son of Roland Cunard Bentley, a chartered secretary, and Margaret Bentley née Budd, the daughter of a medical practitioner. John was the third child and the second son. His great grandfather was William Budd, professor of medicine in Bristol and a pioneer in epidemiology. John was educated at Upton College, Bexleyheath, Christ's Hospital and then Charing Cross Hospital Medical School. He qualified MRCS LRCP and MB BS in 1938 with prizes in medicine and surgery, and a medal as the best student in his year. As a house surgeon he was influenced by Norman Lake, the senior Charing Cross Hospital surgeon. In 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and served until 1946. He reached the rank of wing commander and, in 1942, gained his FRCS with the Hallet prize for the primary examination. In 1947 he won a Commonwealth Fund travelling fellowship, and became a lecturer at Columbia University, New York. He returned to London in 1948 and became a senior registrar at the Charing Cross Hospital, where he was highly admired. Like many surgeons of his era, he acquired consultant appointments in a number of places: small peripheral hospitals had high reputations for providing excellent training. John was on the staff of the Connaught Hospital in Walthamstow, Harrow and Wanstead. He named his leisure activities as swimming and golf, and was also a member of a French-oriented food and wine society. He married Daphne Kathleen Renwick in 1946 and they had a son. John Philip Bentley died in 2011.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002004
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bhattacharjee, Nitya Gopal (1931 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2013-08-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374188374188
Occupation General surgeon
Details Nitya Bhattacharjee was a consultant surgeon who worked in Manchester. He died on 14 August 2010 aged 79 years, survived by his wife, Christa and sons Jonathan and Nicholas.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002005
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fishbone, Harold ( - 2008)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2013-08-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374189374189
Occupation General surgeon
Details Harold Fishbone was a surgeon who worked at the Brooklyn-Cumberland Medical Centre, New York and was a Professor of Surgery at State University of New York. He qualified MB BS in London in 1946 and passed the Fellowship in 1952. He moved to New York and was awarded the Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons in 1963. He died on 17 December 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002006
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lane, Thomas Moore (1797 - 1844)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Lang, Basil Thorn (1880 - 1928)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Langdon, Thomas Charles (1835 - 1905)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Harkin, Alexander (1818 - 1894)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Lowes, Frederick John ( - )

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-07-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374754374754
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St George's Hospital, and practised at Gosport, latterly in partnership with Warren Meade, the address of both being 'Anglesey'. He was Medical Officer of the Coast-Guard at Stokes Bay, Medical Referee to the West Life and Medical, Legal and General Assurance Societies, and a member of the Medical Society of Paris. Removing to London, he practised at 72 Park Street, Grosvenor Square, and then at 18 Lexham Gardens, South Kensington, where he died on April 25th, 1887. Publications: "On the Use of Strychnine in Paralysis." - *Med Times and Gaz*, 1847-8, xvii, 92. "A Cyst of Scalp in a New-born Infant." - *Ibid*, 1852, xxv, 528. "Successful Treatment of Traumatic Tetanus." - *Ibid*, 1853, I, 517.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002571
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ellis, Frank ( - 2005)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2015-05-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374191374191
Occupation General surgeon
Details Frank Ellis was a consultant surgeon in Darlington and Northallerton. He studied medicine in Durham, qualifying MB BS in 1948 and gained his FRCS in 1955. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a registrar at the Newcastle Regional Thoracic Surgical Centre and a senior surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, and at University College Hospital, London. He was a member of the North of England Surgical Society. Frank Ellis died on 8 June 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002008
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Chaudhuri, Maitreyee (1910 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-02-10 2015-02-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002000-E002099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374192374192
Occupation General surgeon
Details Maitreyee Chaudhuri was born on 19 May 1910 and died on 6 June 2010, at the age of 100. She gained her FRCS in 1947.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002009
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Langshaw, James Pearson (1814 - 1896)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Langton, John (1839 - 1910)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-20
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002400-E002499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374663374663
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on September 27th, 1839, the youngest of three sons of Henry John Langton, a wholesale chemist, and of Anne Earnshaw Ellis, the daughter of John Ellis. He was born at Denmark Hill, on the site now occupied by King's College Hospital, and was sent to the Church Hill School at Brighton, then kept by the Rev Dr Butler, where he remained from 1849-1852. From Brighton he went to Cassel, where he lived in the house of the Court Chaplain from 1853-1856, attending school and learning German. In 1857 he was articled to John Henry Hewer, his brother-in-law, who practised in Highbury New Park. In the same year he matriculated at the London University and entered as a student at St Bartholomew's Hospital. Here he dressed for Edward Stanley (qv), for whom he had a warm affection. In 1862 he passed the 1st MB examination for the University of London, but never completed the course. In 1861 he became a MRCS Eng, and then was appointed House Surgeon to Sir William Lawrence (qv). Shortly afterwards Langton began to coach in anatomy; he soon made his mark as a successful teacher, and in 1865 was appointed Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical School. In 1868 he was elected Assistant Surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital on the resignation of Thomas Wormald (qv). In addition to his work as Demonstrator of Anatomy, he was Demonstrator of Operative Surgery and Demonstrator of Diseases of the Eye in conjunction with George Callender (qv). In 1873 he became Joint Lecturer in Anatomy with Sir Thomas Smith, and Demonstrator of Diseases of the Ear and Surgeon in Charge of the Aural Department. In 1881, on the retirement of Luther Holden, he became full Surgeon, holding that office till 1904, when he retired on reaching the age limit of 65, and was made Consulting Surgeon and a Governor of the hospital. In 1864 Langton was appointed Surgeon to the City of London Truss Society and held that post for forty-three years, retiring from it only three years before his death. At first he was the junior colleague of John Abernethy Kingdon (qv), a godson of John Abernethy, for whom he had an immense admiration. Later he worked with Jonathan Macready, W McAdam Eccles, and G E Gask as his juniors. This work he never tired of: he attended the Truss Society at Finsbury Square six mornings a week, leaving his home at 8 am, travelling by the Metropolitan Railway from Portland Road to Moorgate Street Station. In this way he acquired an unrivalled experience of hernia, of which he said in 1908, at the Medical Society of London, that he had seen about 250,000 cases. In addition to these activities, Langton was also Consulting Surgeon to the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases, to the City of London Lying-in Hospital, to the Prince of Wales's Hospital, to the Mildmay Mission Hospital, to the Friedenheim Home for the Dying, to the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, and to the London Female Guardian Society. At the Royal College of Surgeons he filled many positions. He was a Member of the Board of Examiners in Anatomy and Physiology from 1880-1884, and a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1884-1894. He was Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology in 1889-1890 ; a Member of the Council from 1890-1906, a Junior Vice-President in 1896, and Senior Vice-President in the centenary year of 1900. He was Bradshaw Lecturer in 1900, when he took as his subject, "The Association of Inguinal Hernia with Descent of the Testis". Langton was an active member of the Medical Societies, filling many offices at the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, at the Medical Society, of which he was President in 1904 and later Treasurer, and at the Clinical Society. In 1871 he married Sophia, the second daughter of John Scott, JP, of Dulwich and afterwards of Bickley, by whom he had six children, of whom three sons and two daughters survived him. John Langton was a fine upstanding man, six feet in height, rather portly late in life, clean-shaven, with fine-cut features and a mobile mouth. His parents being evangelical puritans, he was brought up, in the manner of those times, to observe the Sabbath strictly and to regard the theatre with abhorrence. This early training coloured his life and led him to be regarded by those who knew little of him as hypocritical. This he was far from being, he enjoyed life to the full, and with his ready smile and generous help endeared himself to his friends and patients. As a teacher he was first-rate. He was at his best in the wards and out-patient department, where with question and answer, and many a jest and story, he would keep a large class of students interested for two to three hours at a time. When he entered the lecture theatre his manner changed, and he became pedantic and dull. He was an excellent surgeon, devoted to his work, and imbued with the principle that the patients of the hospital are individuals, each with his own body and soul and wants and cares, to be treated kindly as men and women and not as cases. Every day of the week he came to hospital, including Sundays, and if he could catch his house surgeon in bed on Sunday morning he was delighted. As a researcher, as a pioneer in advancing the knowledge of science and of surgery, and as an author Langton was not so successful. His knowledge of hernia was unrivalled - he probably saw more cases of hernia than any living man - and he had at his command a mass of notes and of information. He intended to write a book on the subject and to give the world something out of the store of his experience, but death came and the work had not been done. He died on September 4th, 1910, after some two years of failing health, and was buried at the East Finchley cemetery. Publications: Langton edited the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th editions of Holden's *Manual of the Dissection of the Human Body*. *The Association of Inguinal Hernia with Descent of the Testis*.- Bradshaw Lecture, Dec 12th, 1900. Editor of *St Bart's Hosp Rep*, 1881-6, xvii-xxii. Articles on "Hernia" in Heath's *Dictionary of Surgery*.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002480
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lannelongue, Odilon Marc (1840 - 1911)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002400-E002499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374664374664
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Castéra-Verduzan (Gers) in Gascony, the son of a local practitioner. He studied medicine in Paris, becoming interne in 1863, and serving under Jarjavay, Denonvilliers, Gosselin, and Cusco. He graduated MD in 1867 with a thesis on the internal circulation of the heart. Based on his own researches, it became a classic. In 1869 he became Professeur Agrégé, and in that year was appointed Surgeon to the Hospitals. During the siege of Paris he took charge of the ambulance at the Luxembourg, organized by Madame Remusat, whom he afterwards married. While doing this patriotic work he met, and became intimate with, Gambetta, ultimately attending the great statesman in his last illness. His first hospital appointment was that of Surgeon to the Bicetre, where he studied the surgical diseases of old men. He was also on the staff of the Trousseau Hospital for Children, and remained there twenty-five years. He worked at the surgery of the bones and joints and congenital malformations. He was one of the early adherents of Pasteur and recognized the part microbic infection played in necrosis. His ambition was to reduce to order the chaos of different forms of necrosis ; lie classified them in three principal groups - namely, osteomyelitic, tuberculous, and syphilitic infections. Turning to the study of congenital malformations, he published, in collaboration with his favourite pupil, Achard, a volume on congenital cysts. Next, in collaboration with Ménard, he published in 1891 a book on congenital malformations of the head and neck. He was the first surgeon in France to open the skull for relief of compression of the brain. In the fifty-nine craniectomies done by him for this purpose there was only one death. His researches on bone procured him admission to the Academy of Medicine in 1883. In 1884 he became a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine; in 1895 he was elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences. He was President of the Academy of Medicine in 1911, and founded a prize for the widows of doctors, also one at the Academy of Sciences and one at the Faculty of Medicine for the assistance of students from his own part of France. At the Society of Surgery, of which he was one time President, he founded a quinquennial prize for the surgeon who by his work had done most to advance the cause of science. This prize was first awarded to an Englishman, Sir Victor Horsley (qv), in 1911. Lannelongue was held in high esteem by his colleagues, and this is shown in his selection as President of the International Congress of Medicine held in Paris, and of the International Congress of Tuberculosis in 1905. At the age of 68 he made a voyage round the world, and published a book on his experiences. He died after an illness of three days on December 21st, 1911, having only just retired from the Presidency of the Academy of Medicine. The funeral was attended by the President of the Republic, and his body was afterwards taken to his native town, where it was buried. Lannelongue's portrait, with an autograph letter, is in the Honorary Fellows' Album; it is an engraving after a painting, probably by Carolus Duran, and in the letter the great surgeon modestly suggests to Sir William MacCormac, who had asked him for it on the occasion of the Centenary of 1900, that it may be cut down in size.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002481
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pritchard, Graham Cleverly (1913 - 2010)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-14 2014-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373772373772
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Graham Cleverly Pritchard was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at King's College Hospital. His father was a general practitioner in Highgate, London. He studied medicine at Clare College, Cambridge, and King's College Hospital, London, qualifying MB BChir in 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the RAMC and was allowed to continue training in ophthalmology. He passed the diploma in ophthalmic medicine in 1942 and was initially posted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. He then saw service in France, Italy, Burma and India, ending the war in Hong Kong. He returned to the UK and was demobilised in 1947. He returned to King's College Hospital as an ophthalmic registrar, and in 1953 gained his FRCS. He remained at King's for the rest of his career, retiring as a senior consultant in 1978. He also held appointments at the Royal Eye Hospital, Dr Barnado's homes, St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea, Cheyne Children's Home, Dulwich, and St Giles' Hospital. In addition, he had a private practice in Harley Street and from his home in Dulwich. He moved to Cumbria when he retired, where he held weekly clinics at local opticians in Carlisle and Whitehaven until he was in his late eighties. Graham Cleverly Pritchard died on 23 March 2010, at the age of 96. Predeceased by his wife, Rosemary (née Newton), a former nurse he had met at King's College Hospital, and whom he married in April 1943, he was survived by two sons, two daughters, seven grandchildren and a great granddaughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001589
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sanford, Denis Astley (1912 - 2006)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-16 2014-06-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373773373773
Occupation General surgeon
Details Denis Astley Sanford was a senior general surgeon in Sunderland. He qualified MB BS in 1936 and, after a house physician post at University College Hospital, London, became a resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Sunderland. He served as a wing commander in the RAF and then, after the Second World War, returned to Sunderland, where he became a consultant, working between Ryhope and Sunderland General hospitals. He was a clinical tutor at Sunderland Medical Postgraduate Centre and an RCS tutor. He also served on the Ministry of Health's advisory committee on management efficiency. In 1976 he was awarded an OBE. He was chairman of the Sunderland Council of Voluntary Service and of Sunderland Old People's Council (later Age Concern), and a member of the Rotary Club of Sunderland for more than 40 years. He was married twice. His first wife, Eluned 'Lyn' Woodford-Williams, was a pioneering geriatrician who, with Oscar Olbrich, helped establish geriatric services in the Sunderland area. Sanford's second wife was Evelyne. He moved to her home town of Cozes in France in 2000 and died there, aged 94.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001590
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watkins, Kenneth Harold (1903 - 1938)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-12-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004700-E004799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376930376930
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 16 September 1903 at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, the elder of the twin sons of Harold Ernest Watkins, MRCS, LRCP, medical officer of health for Newton-in-Makerfield, Lancs, and his wife, *née* Smith. He was educated at Oundle School, Northants, at the Manchester University, and at St Thomas's Hospital. Whilst still a student he was awarded the Bradley memorial scholarship in clinical surgery in 1926, and the prize in clinical medicine in the following year. At Manchester he graduated with second-class honours at the MB ChB examination, and at the London University he was placed in the honours list with distinction in medicine and surgery. He then acted as house surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and, having decided to practice as a genito-urinary surgeon, became house surgeon to the genitourinary department of the Salford Royal Infirmary. In 1932 he was attached as a Rockefeller Fellow to the Brady Urological Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, and when the Fellowship expired he spent some time in Europe visiting the various urological clinics. At Freiburg he met the lady who afterwards became his wife. Returning to England he acted as resident surgical officer at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and as resident medical officer at the Christie Hospital, whilst at the Northern Hospital and at Crumpsall he organized urological units. He acted, too, as medical officer and registrar at the Radium Institute, where he was able to study the effects of irradiation on growths in the urinary tract. In 1933 he was appointed surgeon for genito-urinary diseases at the Manchester Northern Hospital and urological assistant at the Royal Infirmary, Manchester. In 1934 as Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons he took "The bladder function in low spinal injury" as the subject of his lecture. He married Irmgard Herrmann on 21 April 1935, who survived him with a son and a daughter. He was killed on 15 September 1938 whilst being driven in a motor car, which skidded on a slippery road between Neubrandenburg and Neustrelitz, Germany; he was buried at Newton-le-Willows, Lancs. Watkins was a great loss to genito-urinary surgery. He was skilful as an operator, and his contributions to the specialty show him to have been full of ideas, which would have led him far had he lived. He was universally admired, respected, and beloved. He spoke ill of none and none spoke ill of him. Publications: A preliminary note on temperature variations during general anaesthesia, with S R Wilson. *Brit J Anaesth* 1927, 4, 201. The clinical value of bladder pressure estimations. *Brit J Urol* 1934, 6, 104-118. Paralysis of the bladder and associated neurological sequelae of spinal anaesthesia (clauda equina syndrome), with Fergus R Ferguson. *Brit J Surg* 1938, 25, 735. An experimental investigation into the cause of paralysis following spinal anaesthesia, with A D Macdonald. *Ibid* 1938, 25, 879.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004747
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watkinson, Wilfred (1877 - 1944)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Watson, Archibald (1849 - 1940)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-12-04 2017-05-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004700-E004799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376932376932
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born in 1849 at Riverina, New South Wales, son of Sydney Grandison Watson, RN, pastoralist on the Upper Murray. He was educated at the Scotch College, Melbourne, where he won the scripture prizes and was noted as an athlete. He was destined for the Church, but after a visit to the Pacific islands, where he lived at the court of Thackabu, King of Fiji, he decided to study medicine, and went to Europe for the purpose in his middle twenties. He studied at Bonn and Göttingen, qualifying MD *cum laude* from the latter in 1878, with a thesis *Ueber das Fibro-Adenom der Mamma*, and in Paris where he received the MD in 1880 for his thesis *Étude sur le traitement des hernies étranglées inguinales et crurales vulgaires*. Here he made friends with Pierre Marie (1853-1940), the neurologist and describer of acromegaly, whose career he followed with admiration. Coming to London, he took the LSA in 1880, the Membership of the College in 1882 and the Fellowship in 1884. He was for a time demonstrator of anatomy at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, and taught at the London School of Anatomy kept by Thomas Cooke at Handel Street, Brunswick Square. He also took a course at Moorfields. In 1883 he went to Egypt to study cholera. In London he had made the acquaintance of Edward Stirling (1848-1919), like himself a native of Australia, who returned to Adelaide in 1881 as lecturer in physiology, afterwards becoming professor and FRS and a knight. When Sir Thomas Elder endowed a chair of anatomy in 1884 at Adelaide University, Watson was appointed on Stirling's advice as the first professor. Watson held the chair from 1885 to 1919, when he retired with the title of emeritus professor; he had also taught pathology, surgical anatomy, and operative surgery. A dispute at the Adelaide Hospital and the consequent retirement of many of the staff led to his appointment as surgeon there, and he subsequently became consulting surgeon. He eagerly applied his anatomical knowledge to surgical problems, and his surgical teaching was influential throughout Australia, while he criticized surgery "throughout the world". He had a passion for the preservation of the tissues, and would denounce the unnecessary destruction of even the smallest subcutaneous vein. Watson had an unusual appreciation of the anatomical planes of the body and the possibilities they gave of a bloodless approach or mobilization of a viscus. He drew attention to, if he did not discover, the value of the division of the lateral blade of the mesentery of the colon as a means of mobilizing it. His anatomical knowledge of the blood supply of the uterus, and his teaching that the vessels could be exposed by division of the peritoneum, made hysterectomy a precise and safe operation. He was also associated with Professor Stirling in the pioneer work on hydatid disease. During the South African war, Watson served as consulting surgeon to the Natal Field Force in 1900, and in the first world war was pathologist to the Australian Imperial Forces in Egypt, 1914-16. Watson was an imaginative talker and a dramatic lecturer. He was a man of many interests, a student of electricity, a good linguist, and an experienced sailor with a knowledge of the migrations of fish. In 1935 his past pupils presented him with his portrait painted by W B Mclnnes, and founded the Archibald Watson annual prize of six guineas in applied surgical anatomy, for an undergraduate of the Adelaide University Medical School. The portrait shows him as a bearded man of fine presence. Watson travelled widely in the outlying parts of Australia and Australasia. His exploits and adventures became legendary even in his life-time. He died at Thursday Island off Cape York, the northern-most point of Queensland, on 30 July 1940. He left a legacy of £1,000 to the pupils who had subscribed for his portrait; they used it to endow a scholarship in the University.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004749
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, William (1807 - 1866)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Jones, William (1812 - 1885)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Fuller, Charles Chinner ( - 1902)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-01-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374100374100
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Educated at University College, London, and practised at 160 Albany Street and at 29 Albany Street, Regent's Park, NW. He was Surgeon to the North-West London Free Dispensary for Sick Children. Later he was appointed Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology at the Metropolitan School of Dental Science. At the time of his death he was practising, as he had done for many years, at 10 St Andrew's Place and at 33 Albany Street, and was Hon Surgeon to the Royal Society of Musicians and to Trinity College, London. He was a Fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical, Obstetrical, and British Gyaecological Societies. He died on November 5th, 1902.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001917
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, Henry (1810 - 1895)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Hutchinson, Joseph (1809 - 1872)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-05-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002300-E002399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374494374494
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied at St Thomas's Hospital and at the Webb Street School. He practised in partnership under the name of Hutchinson & Earle at Cheetham Hill, Manchester, where he was District Medical Officer, Medical Officer of the Prestwich Union Workhouse, and Medical Referee of the Gresham and the London and Provincial Law Assurance Societies. He was also an inventor of instruments for examining the uterus, fauces, and ear by the aid of light. He died at Cheetham Hill on May 28th, 1872.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002311
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, John (1782 - 1855)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374309374309
Occupation General surgeon
Details Came of a West Country family which held property in Cornwall and Devon and used coat-armour from the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was one of eight children, and in 1810 married Miss Delpratt, a Huguenot, by whom he had two sons. He was educated near Plymouth, was apprenticed to Samuel Luscombe from 1798-1802, and learned surgery afterwards under John Sheldon, who lived in Exeter after his retirement as a teacher in the Hunterian School in London. Harris was elected Surgeon to the Devon and Exeter Hospital on May 23rd, 1815, in succession to Peter Radford, and died at his house at Southernhay as Senior Surgeon on June 30th, 1855. He was in partnership with Mr Cornish, a well-known surgeon of Exeter, and was the first of the hospital surgeons to take part officially in the municipal affairs of the city. He was sheriff twice, mayor once, and was for many years the senior magistrate and deputy mayor. He was a member of the old 'Chamber' and was one of the Charity Trustees, as well as a Surgeon to the Exeter Dispensary and Lying-in Charity. Brought up as a Quaker, he became a staunch member of the Church of England. He passed for a wit, was an excellent draughtsman, and was a lover of the animals which Wombwell often brought to the city. He became a singularly graceful operator, with a vein of originality, both in carrying out operations and in planning treatment. He is described as "rather tall, of pink complexion, with comical eyes and a laughter-provoking expression". His portrait in oils hangs in the Hospital, having been given in 1889 by his grandson, J Delpratt Harris, Surgeon to the Devon and Exeter Hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002126
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, James Penn (1817 - 1892)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374310374310
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at West Cowes, Isle of Wight, on May 2nd, 1817. After an apprenticeship he studied at University College Hospital in Liston's time, John Marshall being a fellow-student and friend. He commenced in Liverpool as House Surgeon to the old Northern Hospital in Leeds Street; then he practised, first in Clarence Street, and afterwards in Rodney Street. He acted as Surgeon to St Anne's Dispensary, the Ear and Eye Institute, and the Asylum for Orphan Boys. At the St Anne's Dispensary, subsequently known as the Liverpool Eastern Dispen¬sary, he had as colleague John Nottingham, who became Surgeon to the Royal Southern Hospital. He was besides a member of the Medical Institute, a Fellow of the Liverpool Northern Medical Society, and a member of the Royal Archaeological Institute of London. In connection with these societies he published addresses which he had delivered. Some three years before his death he was seized with a severe illness in Naples, perhaps typhoid fever. He retired from practice and died on May 20th, 1892, after a long and painful illness. He was survived by his widow, but there was no issue of the marriage. There is a photograph of him in the Fellows' Album. He is described as a tall and handsome man, reserved and retiring in disposition, but courteous in manner and of much personal dignity.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002127
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, Samuel (1794 - 1865)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Harris, William (1808 - 1896)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Harris, William ( - 1878)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-03-29 2012-04-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002100-E002199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374313374313
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied at University College Hospital; was Surgeon to the Surrey House of Correction; served as Assistant Surgeon to the 88th Regiment in the Crimean War, and was awarded the Medjidie Medal and Crimean War Medals. He later practised at Truro, and died between November 2nd, 1878, and 1879.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002130
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wells, Harry Vernon (1900 - 1949)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Markwick, Alfred (1822 - 1887)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-07-31
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002600-E002699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374840374840
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied at University College Hospital and in Paris, where he was at one time Extern at the Hôpital du Midi, at another Surgeon to the Western German Dispensary. In later days he practised at 32 Ventnor Villas, Hove, and died there on March 12th, 1887. He was the introducer of spongiopiline as a substitute for poultices, which gained an Exhibition Prize Medal in 1851. Publications: Translation of Henri Bell's *Essay on Diabetes*, 8vo, London, 1842. *A Description of the Structure and Functions of the Human Skin*, London, 1847.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002657
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McCabe, William Alexander Bowes (1862 - 1887)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-07-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374775374775
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Victoria College, St Helier's, Jersey, and in the Science Faculty of University College, London. In 1880 he entered University College Hospital and in 1885 was appointed House Surgeon. In October, 1886, he was made an Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy and passed the FRCS examination. But signs of phthisis developed and he set out on a voyage to Australia. He arrived at Sydney moribund and died on April 18th, 1887.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002592
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wesson, Arthur Sewell (1904 - 1946)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-12-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004700-E004799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376942376942
Occupation Consultant in physical therapy
Details Born on 5 May 1904 at Richmond, Surrey, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then still at the Charterhouse, EC, and at University College Hospital, where he served as house physician to T R Elliott, FRS, house surgeon to Gwynne Williams, FRCS, and resident medical officer. After a period as pathologist at Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, he was appointed deputy medical superintendent of the LCC Mile End Hospital, East London. Wesson decided to specialize in the developing field of physical therapy, with particular interest in rheumatic diseases, especially arthritis. He had taken the Physicians' Membership and the London Doctorate in 1928, and to equip himself thoroughly he took the FRCS in 1936. He was elected the same year to a Bilton Pollard Fellowship by University College Hospital, which enabled him to spend some months in America and Sweden, before becoming the first physician in charge of the department of physical therapy at the hospital. He developed his department with marked ability and success, demonstrating the value of physical methods for diagnosis as well as treatment. He held a similar post at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. In this period he wrote several important papers on his specialty. On the outbreak of war in 1939 Wesson was commissioned in the RAMC, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel. He saw active service with the Central Mediterranean Force in North Africa and Italy, as physical medicine specialist, and was mentioned in despatches. He was appointed officer in command of the first Army Physical Development Centre and, later, officer in command of rehabilitation. He made a great success of this work and wrote a valuable report on it. He was elected FRCP in 1944. Wesson fell ill on his return from the war, and died in University College Hospital on 8 May 1946, aged 42. He was unmarried. He was a small man, of great personal charm, humour, and cheerfulness, and an excellent team-worker, as modest as he was competent. Publications: Sciatica, the orthopaedic aspect. *Reports on chronic rheumatic diseases*, 1938, 4, 41. Postural and occupational factors in rheumatic pain. *J Roy Inst Publ Hlth* 1938, 1, 733. Discussion on manipulation in rheumatic disorders. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1939, 32, 273.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004759
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leaf, Cecil Huntingdon (1864 - 1910)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002400-E002499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374680374680
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Norwood on February 19th, 1864, the son of Frederick Henry Leaf, of Burlington Lodge, Streatham Common, Surrey, and was educated at Marlborough, at Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1882, and at the London Hospital, where he was House Surgeon, House Physician, and later on, Demonstrator of Anatomy. In 1899 he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Cancer Hospital and to the Gordon Hospital for Diseases of the Rectum. He remained actively connected with both institutions for the eleven years preceding his death. He became full Surgeon at the Gordon Hospital in 1904 and to the Cancer Hospital in 1905. Leaf's personality was one of great charm. At the London he had been affectionately known as 'Daddy Leaf', and throughout life he evinced a fine generosity of spirit and was popular with his colleagues, one of whom, at the time of his death, notes that he had the characteristics of a visionary and idealist, and that they meet with a poor return in a strenuous professional life. He was a fine athlete, was in the Gymnasium Eight and the Cricket Eleven at Marlborough, and in after-life excelled as a racket player. In 1908 he won the singles racket handicap at Queen's Club, starting from scratch, and had been in 1906 and 1907 in the semi-final ties with one of his brothers for the Amateur Doubles Championship. He was a Captain in the London Division of the RAMC (Electrical Engineers). He practised at 75 Wimpole Street. At one time he was Clinical Ophthalmic Assistant at Moorfields and at the London Hospital, and Clinical Assistant at Golden Square Hospital. He died of cancer at Eastbourne, after a long and painful illness, on October 5th, 1910. He was survived by Mrs Leaf, his devoted nurse, and by his daughter. Publications:- *Surgical Case Book Charts for Rectal Diseases*, London. *The Surgical Anatomy of the Lymphatic Glands*, 8vo, coloured plates, London, 1898. *The Clinical Causes of Cancer of the Breast and its Prevention, with Analysis of a Hundred Cases*, 8vo, London, 1904. *Lancet Experiments with Chloroform*, 1903, of which he was joint-author. He edited and made a translation of Delamere, Poirier, and Cunéo's *The Lymphatics*, 8vo, 117 illustrations, London, 1903. "New Treatment for Inoperable Cancer of the Breast." - *Edin Med Jour*, 1901, NS ix, 452. *Cancer of the Breast Clinically Considered*, 8vo, plates, London, 1912. He was also sub-editor for Rectal Diseases to the *Med Times and Hosp Gaz*; and in the *Lancet*, 1910, i, 440, described "An Illuminating Mouth-Gag", accompanying his note with an illustration.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002497
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leah, Thomas Cooper (1820 - 1890)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Edwards, William Henry ( - 1899)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

First Title value, for Searching Edwards, William Thomas (1821 - 1915)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373782373782
Occupation Educationalist Physician
Details Born at Caerphilly on December 6th, 1821, the son of a medical man who had an extensive country practice, which he conducted on horseback; he was proud of his stable, and his son had the advantage of an active outdoor life in his boyhood and after his apprenticeship to his father. William Edwards (1719-1789), his great-grandfather, was the bridge-builder of European reputation, who in the middle of the eighteenth century spanned the Taff at Pontypridd with the largest one-span stone bridge then known. After serving his apprenticeship at Caerphilly, William Thomas Edwards completed his professional education at University College Hospital and graduated brilliantly at the University of London. In 1844, after a brief period of practice at Llanfabon, he settled at Cardiff, then a town of little more than 10,000 inhabitants, and possessed of neither docks nor railways. In 1849 he was appointed Out-patient Medical Officer to the Infirmary, which was a small institution admitting in a year 113 in-patients and 2360 out-patients. From 1851-1860 he was Hon Surgeon, then Consulting Surgeon, but in 1862 was appointed Physician to the Infirmary, becoming eventually Consulting Physician. From an early period of his residence in Cardiff Edwards showed a keen interest in education. Beginning in a small way and assisted by a few friends, in 1847 he built a substantial single-story building known for many years as the British School. It provided elementary education for children of the working classes, the only other school in the town being one maintained by the Church of England. What his objection to the excellent old National School can have been is not stated, but we find him an early member of the Cardiff School Board and its Vice-Chairman in 1890. He was Governor of the Craddock Wells Charity till its absorption under the provisions of the Technical Education Act, and he laboured in the cause of higher education. In 1872, when the question of founding a university college in South Wales was under consideration, he strongly supported the scheme and urged that the college should be established at Cardiff. When this was decided upon he made a donation of £500, and as a Life Governor and in other capacities he ever afterwards laboured loyally and unostentatiously for the college, of which he was eventually elected Vice-President. He was elected President of the British Medical Association at its Cardiff Meeting in 1885, and then advocated his long-felt desire for the establishment of a medical school in Cardiff. He offered £1000 to found a school in connection with the University College, and his pupil and friend, Dr William Price, also of Cardiff, made a gift of the same amount. Other contributions followed, and it was one of Edwards's proudest memories that he had been instrumental in bringing the school into being, as he foresaw its utility in the future as part of the University of Wales. He was for many years a member of the Cardiff Town Council and was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Glamorgan and the County Borough of Cardiff. He was made a Life Governor of University College, London, in 1871. He was also Vice-President of the Liberal Association, and took a considerable part in the establishment of the English Congregational Union of Wales, which has built chapels where English services are held. He joined in the jubilee of the Union the year before his death. At the time of his death he was, in addition to his other distinctions, Hon Physician to the *Hamadryad* Seamen's Hospital. He died on April 11th, 1915, and was buried at Caerphilly. His address latterly was at Springfield House. He left estate valued at over £80,000. On the cessation of certain trusts, the testator bequeathed £7000 for the University College of South Wales and £5000 for Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire Infirmary. His donations to University College, Cardiff, amounted during his lifetime to £8000. In 1902 the jubilee of his services at the infirmary was celebrated at a banquet given by his local confreres.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001599
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Edye, Stonard ( - 1910)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001600-E001699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373783373783
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Exeter and at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He practised for many years at Exeter, where he was at one time Surgeon to the Dispensary and Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for the Heavitree and St Leonard's Districts. Later he was Medical Officer to the Western District of the Exeter Incorporation, Hon Secretary to the South-Western Branch of the British Medical Association and to the Devon Poor Law Medical Officers' Association, Surgeon and Secretary to the Exeter Lying-in Charity, Surgeon to the Deaf and Dumb Institute and to the West of England Eye Infirmary. He either resided or practised at Monte Video, Uruguay, from 1883 till his death in about the year 1910. News of his decease did not reach the College till 1925. John Edye, who was Surgeon to the Devon and Exeter Hospital from 1846-1865, went to South America in the latter year "where he had some interests and where members of his family lived".
Resource Identifier RCS: E001600
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lee, Henry (1817 - 1898)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-21
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374685374685
Occupation General surgeon Pathologist
Details The son of Captain Pincke Lee, of Woolley Firs, Maidenhead Thicket. He entered King's College, London, as a student in 1833, but transferred to St George's Hospital in 1834, where he became one of the first, if not the first, Surgical Registrar, and later Curator of the Museum and Lecturer in Physiology. Seeing that promotion was slow at St George's Hospital, he gladly took the opportunity of connecting himself with the newly-founded King's College Hospital, where he was appointed Assistant Surgeon in 1847. About the same time he also became Surgeon to the Lock Hospital, and laid the foundation for his reputation as a syphilologist. In 1861 there were two vacancies on the staff at St George's Hospital, caused by the simultaneous resignation of Caesar Hawkins (qv) and E Cutler (qv). Henry Gray (qv) proposed to stand, but died from confluent small-pox. Lee consented then to transfer back to St George's Hospital, and he and Timothy Holmes (qv) were elected. Two years later, in 1863, Lee became full Surgeon and retired in 1878, at the age of 60, to make way for junior men, his immediate successor being T Pickering Pick (qv). Lee's connection with the Royal College of Surgeons was long and honourable. He was awarded the Jacksonian Prize in 1849 with a dissertation "On the Causes, Consequences and Treatment of Purulent Deposits"; he was a Member of Council 1870-1878, and in 1875 delivered the Museum Lectures on Surgery and Pathology as Hunterian Professor, his subject being "Syphilis and Local Diseases affecting principally the Organs of Generation". Lee is to be remembered as a pathologist, a syphilologist, and a surgeon. He was a disciple of Brodie, and an ardent admirer and follower of the teaching of John Hunter. His contemporary and old friend, Holmes, who wrote his obituary notice in the *Lancet*, was of the opinion that his works most likely to stand the test of time were his treatise on practical pathology, his lectures on syphilis at the Royal College of Surgeons, and his treatise on venereal diseases in Holmes's *System of Surgery*. In addition to these he was the author of many works and contributions to scientific journals. He was always interested in the diseases of veins, and revived one of the most successful of the palliative operations which were in use for the treatment of varicocele and varicose veins in the period before the introduction of antiseptic surgery enabled surgeons to use the methods of excision and injection. This method consisted in blocking the circulation in the vein in two places by pins thrust under its course with a figure-of-eight ligature wound about each, and then dividing the vein subcutaneously between the pins. In 1856 he read a paper at the Medico-Chirurgical Society on "Calomel Fumigation in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Syphilis", which was claimed as a real and important improvement on the current practice of the administration of mercury. Lee retired in 1878, living for twenty years afterwards. He died at his residence, 61 Queensborough Terrace, Hyde Park, on June 11th, 1898. He was twice married, and was survived by his widow and by daughters of both marriages; his only son predeceased him. A fine portrait of Lee, by James Sant, RA, hangs in the Secretary's room of the Royal College of Surgeons, and his bust by Brock is in the Hall. Publications: *On Diseases of the Veins, Haemorrhoidal Tumours, and other Affections of the Rectum*, 8vo, 2nd ed, London, 1846. "Statistical Analysis of One Hundred and Sixty-six Cases of Secondary Syphilis observed at the Lock Hospital, 1838-9," 8vo, London, 1849; reprinted from *Lond Jour of Med*. *On the Origin of Inflammation of the Veins, and on the Causes, Consequences and Treatment of Purulent Deposits*, Jacksonian Prize Essay, 1849, 8vo, plate, London, 1850. The original MS of this essay is in the Royal College of Surgeons' Library. *Pathological and Surgical Observations, including a Short Course of Lectures delivered at the Lock Hospital, and an Essay on the Surgical Treatment of Haemorrhoidal Tumours*, 8vo, 2 plates, London, 1854. *An Essay on the Surgical Treatment of Haemorrhoidal Tumours; read before the Medical Society of London*, Feb 11th, 1854, 8vo, London, 1854. *On the Radical Cure of Varicocele by Subcutaneous Incision*, 8vo, London, 1860. *On General Principles in Medicine: an Introductory Address, delivered at St George's Hospital*, 1863, 8vo, London, 1863. *Lectures on Syphilitic and Vaccino-syphilitic Inoculations: their Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment*, 2nd ed, 8vo, 5 plates, London, 1863; translated into French by EMILE BAUDOT, 1865, and into Portuguese by MARQUES, 1863. *Lectures on some Subjects connected with Practical Pathology and Surgery*, 2 vols, 3rd ed, 8vo, London, 1870. *Lectures on Syphilis, and on some Forms of Local Disease affecting principally the Organs of Generation*, 8vo, London, 1875. *On Syphilitic Inoculation*, 1862. "Syphilis" and "Gonorrhoea" in Holmes's *Surgery*, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions; also "Venereal Diseases" in 3rd edition. "Phlebitis" and "Diseases of the Veins" in Cooper's *Surgical Dictionary*. *Phlebitis*, 1850. "Secondary Deposits and Mortification from Diseases of the Arteries." - *Brit and For Med-Chir Rev*, 1857, xx, 214. "Mercurial Fumigation in the Treatment of Syphilis." - *Med-Chir Trans*, 1856, xxxix, 339. "Abscesses and Purulent Infiltration of Bone." - *Lond Jour of Med*, 1851-2. "On Repair after Injuries to Arteries and Veins" (with L S BEALE). - *Med-Chir Trans*, 1867, 1, 477. "On the Tapetum Lucidum and the Functions of the Fourth Pair of Nerves," 8vo, London, 1887; reprinted from *Med-Chir Trans*, 1886, lxix, 239, and *Lancet*, 1886, i, 203.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002502
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Elliot, John (1808 - 1873)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001600-E001699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373786373786
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's Hospital. He for many years carried on a good country practice inherited from his father at Kingsbridge, Devon, but retired shortly before his death owing to increasing deafness, and was succeeded by his son. He was a sound and judicious practitioner, and a local patriot, being at all times ready to throw his house open to his neighbours from far and near when any public matter was under discussion. For many years he was Vicar's Warden at the church. His love for horticulture was pronounced, and he often judged at flower shows. He was especially successful as a fruit-grower, always endeavouring to grow the newest and best kinds. His advice was much sought in local matters. He died at his residence, Tresillian House, Kingsbridge, on January 29th, 1873, the cause of death being subacute pneumonia. His last illness lasted only sixteen hours. He left a widow and a family of eleven.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001603
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, Wintour (1807 - 1889)

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First Title value, for Searching Elliott, Arthur Bowles ( - 1925)

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First Title value, for Searching Marshall, John (1783 - 1850)

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First Title value, for Searching Marshall, Peter (1809 - 1877)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-08-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002600-E002699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374847374847
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Aberdeen on March 8th, 1809; he studied at Aberdeen, also in London at the School in Great Windmill Street, and at Joshua Brookes's in Blenheim Street. He became one of the foremost London practitioners, practising first in Greek Street, Soho, then at 3 Bedford Square, London, WC. In conjunction with Dr John Snow he began the administration of anaesthetics, and at Charing Cross Hospital tried bichloride of methylene and published *Experiences with Bichloride of Methylene* in 1868. He was for long Treasurer of the Medical Society and in 1869 its President. He constantly took part in debates, and his quiet courtesy and earnestness were a set-off to a certain nervous anxiety to express himself fairly. He acted as Referee and Inspector to the British Home for Incurables, also as Surgeon to the Recruiting Staff, East India Company's Depot, Soho. In 1870, owing to failing health, he moved to East Cowes Park, Isle of Wight. A long-standing affection of the heart and aorta, complicated towards the last by inflammation of the lungs, caused his death on March 12th, 1877, and he was buried in Whippingham Churchyard.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002664
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leggatt, Alfred (1815 - 1880)

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First Title value, for Searching Talalla, Andrew (1924 - 2000)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374692374692
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details Andrew Talalla, a neurosurgeon, was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 29 November 1924. His father, Hewage Benjamin Talalla, was an industrialist who married Lily Olga Fernando. There were two older brothers, both of whom served in the RAF in the second world war, the elder being killed flying a Typhoon in the Normandy campaign. Two younger brothers were respectively a diplomat and a high court judge. Andrew Talalla remained in Malaysia when it was occupied by the Japanese. When some Japanese ships were sunk, the family were accused of espionage and imprisoned. Talalla himself, who was 16 at the time, was kept in solitary confinement for 18 months. When the war was over, he went to England to complete his education. On leaving school, he went to Queen Mary College, London University. He entered the medical school at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, from which he graduated with the conjoint qualification. He did not take the MB BS, an omission which caused him considerable trouble later. His pre-registration house appointments included general medicine, general surgery and neurosurgery. In the latter he took a precocious and keen interest under the influence of D W C Northfield and J V Crawford, the two consultants in the neurosurgical department at the London Hospital. He determined on a career in the specialty, undertook the FRCS examination, which he obtained in 1962, and shortly afterwards was appointed registrar and senior registrar at Atkinson Morley's Hospital, Wimbledon. At the time, under the direction of Sir Wylie McKissock, this was the most distinguished department in England and knowledge of the natural history and treatment of subarachnoid and intracerebral haemorrhage in particular was greatly increased by systematic studies carried out there. McKissock was a hard taskmaster, but those who succeeded with him were in a very strong position in applying for consultant posts. Talalla did not relish any of the appointments available at the time and decided to go to the United States. He was appointed, in 1967, as associate professor of surgery (neurological surgery) at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, but to his dismay, on taking up the employment, found that his basic qualification was not acceptable, as it had not been awarded by a university. All efforts to get around this problem failed, and he had to take the MD in Los Angeles. He remained in Los Angeles until 1972, during which time he became interested in microsurgery, which was well developed in that department. He formed an association with Robert Pudenz of the Huntingdon Institute of Applied Medical Research, who had done much original work on the mechanism of head injuries and devised one of the earliest and most successful ventricular shunts for the treatment of hydrocephalus. With Pudenz he wrote on the local effects of electrical stimulation of the brain. He was a keen teacher of undergraduates and was largely responsible, while in Los Angeles, for formulating an integrated clinical course in neurosurgery, which won an award. In 1972, he left to take up an appointment as associate professor in the department of surgery at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, where he remained until his retirement, becoming Professor in 1982. He brought with him to McMaster the use of the operating microscope and, after spending sometime with Irving Cooper in 1980, introduced cryogenic stereotaxic surgery. The MD programme at McMaster was an innovative one and Talalla continued his interest in student teaching while there. At the time of his death he was compiling a teaching manual for students and residents. His scientific work at McMaster was concerned with the control of bladder function by electrical stimulation of the sacral nerves, about which he wrote extensively, the effects of pinealectomy, the use of intrathecal Baclofen in the control of spasticity, and vagal stimulation of epilepsy. During his time at McMaster, he was visiting professor in New York Medical College, Westchester, New York, and spent six months working in his old hospital, the Royal London. After retirement, he continued to practise neurosurgery as a locum in the Northern Ontario Underserved Area. Andrew Talalla married Mary Fisher, a nursing sister from the London, and there were two sons, Dominic and Piers, and a daughter, Andrea. He was a person of considerable personal charm and elegance of appearance and manner. A keen sailor, he owned a yacht on which he sailed from the Great Lakes down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico in 1997. His health in later life was affected by diabetes and vascular disease, and he died of a stroke following recurrent cardiac surgery on 27 May 2000.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002509
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hinman, Frank (1915 - 2011)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2012-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374116374116
Occupation Artist Urologist
Details Frank Hinman was a renowned American urologist, educator and skilful artist. He was chief of the urology service at San Francisco General Hospital from 1959 to 1977, and chief of urology at the Children's Hospital, San Francisco, from 1959 until his retirement from clinical practice in 1985. In addition to his busy clinical workload, he was active in teaching students and residents. He was born on 2 October 1915 into a medical household, the oldest of five sons of Frank Hinman senior, the first trained urologist in California, and his wife Mittie née Fitzpatrick. After attending Grant and Galileo public schools, Frank junior started his medical education in San Francisco and graduated *magna cum laude* from Stanford University in 1937. Completing an MD at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, he remained in Maryland for internships from 1941 to 1942, before undertaking two years of surgical residency at the University of the Cincinnati College of Medicine under Mont Reid. Enlisting in the US Navy, he served initially with the Seabees, the construction battalions, in the Pacific sector of the Second World War. He was later a medical officer on the aircraft carrier *Intrepid*. Following his demobilisation, he undertook a urological residency on the University of California rotation, before joining his father in private urological practice and gaining hospital appointments. In addition to a heavy clinical workload, he was active in research. His studies of bladder defence mechanisms, supported for over 17 years by a National Institutes of Health grant, led to a better understanding of many aspects of urinary infection. In the paediatric field his work on bladder dysfunction led to the recognition of the 'nonneurogenic neurogenic bladder' now called the 'Hinman syndrome'. Frank Hinman was a prolific writer, and his clinical and laboratory work resulted in the publication of over 250 scientific articles. Numerous books bear his name, including the comprehensive book *Benign prostatic hypertrophy* (New York, Springer, 1983), and he personally wrote three definitive atlases: *Atlas of urologic surgery* (Philadelphia, Saunders, 1989), which was translated into German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, *Atlas of urosurgical anatomy* (Philadelphia/London, W B Saunders, c.1993) and *Atlas of pediatric urologic surgery* (Philadelphia/London, Saunders, 1994), all with his own original drawings in conjunction with illustrator Paul Stempen. He was a specialty consultant to *Stedman's medical dictionary*. Many honours came his way including the pediatric urology medal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Barringer medal of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, the Valentine medal of the New York Academy of Science, the distinguished alumnus award from Johns Hopkins and honorary membership of the Gold-headed Cane Society of the University College of San Francisco. The American Urological Association honoured him with the Hugh Young award and the Ramon Guiteras medal, and he received the William P Didusch award for his contributions to medical art. He was a trustee of the American Board of Urology, a founding member and president of the Society of University Urologists, vice president of the American College of Surgeons and president of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, to name a few prestigious positions. During quieter moments during his wartime naval service, Frank Hinman took up painting, which he continued to enjoy for the rest of his life. One of his works was published in *Life* magazine, two were used as cover illustrations for the *Journal of the American Medical Association*, and he held two 'one-man' exhibitions. In later life he switched to acrylic paint - 'because it dries quickly'. He married Marion Modesta Eaves in 1948: they had no children. Marion shared her husband's love of sailing, and Frank was named yachtsman of the year in 1998 by the San Francisco Yacht Club. He was a keen member of the Bohemian Club and the St Francis Yacht Club. Frank Hinman died on 22 May 2011 in San Francisco, the city of his birth and his outstanding career. His wife, Marion, predeceased him in 2006, as did all his brothers over the years. The family name survives through one sister-in-law, Mrs Alice Hinman and her children Alanson Jr, William, Robert F and Frank II. There is another surviving sister-in-law, Mrs Sally Lewis and her two children, Windermere Tirados and Dixie Lewis. Frank Hinman's body was cremated and his ashes were scattered on his beloved Pacific Ocean. A celebration of his life was held at the St Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001933
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leigh, Henry Thomas (1807 - 1876)

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First Title value, for Searching Leigh, John (1819 - 1884)

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First Title value, for Searching Lennander, Karl Gustav (1857 - 1908)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374696374696
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Christianstad in 1857, and matriculated in 1875 at the University of Upsala. After he had completed his preliminary studies he went for clinical work to the Carolinska Institut and Serafimer Lasarett in Stockholm. In 1888 he was appointed Docent in Surgery and Obstetrics at the University of Upsala, and in 1891 was named Professor in these subjects and became Chief Surgeon at the Upsala Hospital. Here he reorganized the scientific side of the hospital work, at that time in need of much improvement. Lennander was an assiduous worker and a voluminous writer. He is best known for his work on the sensory nerves of the peritoneum. In recognition of his researches he was made a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, a much coveted distinction. He was one of the Hon Fellows elected on the occasion of the Centenary of the Royal College of Surgeons, while the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him its Doctorship of Laws, and he was made an honorary member of numerous societies. From youth up he had suffered from cardiac troubles, which increased as the years went on, so that the performance of his duties often involved much difficulty. He spent long periods in sanatoria, and latterly had to perform operations sitting in a chair. He died at the comparatively early age of 51, on March 15th, 1908. There is a portrait of him in the Hon Fellows'Album, and the same portrait is the frontispiece to his "Collected Works", published by the University of Upsala in three volumes in 1912. These volumes contain some seventy of his contributions to transactions, etc, illustrated by plates, and many are written in English. The papers forming the contents of the three volumes are his bibliography. The University presented the book to the Royal College of Surgeons' Library. Lennander is best known for his writings on peritoneal innervation and acute peritonitis, but he wrote also on tracheotomy in croup, the relations between croup and diphtheria, operations for myoma and diseases of the bile passages, the treatment of perforated duodenal and gastric ulcers, surgical measures in nephritis, and on local anaesthesia. He was a contributor to German, English, and American text-books and works of reference.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002513
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching White, Edwin Francis (1858 - 1945)

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First Title value, for Searching Lestourgeon, Charles (1808 - 1891)

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First Title value, for Searching Lewis, Edward John (1859 - 1925)

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First Title value, for Searching Lewis, James (1817 - 1890)

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First Title value, for Searching Harrison, Thomas Sunderland (1800 - 1864)

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First Title value, for Searching Gant, Frederick James (1825 - 1905)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001900-E001999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374120374120
Occupation General surgeon Pathologist
Details Born in Acton Place, Kingsland Road, NE, in December, 1825, and, as he has set on record in his *Autobiography*, "two months before I was due." His father was Lieut-Colonel John Castle Gant, of the King's Own 2nd Light Infantry. Young Gant, an only child, was puny and weakly, and as a little boy was sent to Eastbourne, where there were as yet only two houses, and then to Hastings, where he acquired a deep love of nature, and eventually more than average strength. He was educated at King's College School, London, was for a time assistant to a chemist in Shoreditch, and received his professional training at University College, where, in the medical department, he was entered as house pupil to Richard Quain. He took honours in several of the classes, and was then appointed Assistant Curator of the Museum of Anatomy and Pathology under Professor William Sharpey. After qualifying Gant was for a time in straightened circumstances owing to the financial failure of his father, but as his prospects brightened he took rooms at 13 Old Cavendish Street and in 1852 began to practise as a consulting surgeon. He lectured on physiology, and then on anatomy, in the Hunterian School of Medicine, Bedford Square. When this institution was closed he migrated with the students to the Royal Free Hospital, which was at first unable to obtain recognition as a teaching school from the Royal College of Surgeons, owing to the ill equipment of its museum, The students therefore, about fifty in number, were transferred to the Middlesex Hospital in 1854, and Gant remained as Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, having been appointed Assistant Surgeon in 1853. During the last year of the Crimean War he was a Civil Staff Surgeon to Military Hospitals and served both in the Crimea and at Scutari, returning home via Athens and Rome in May, 1856. For his services he received the Crimean Medal and Clasp. In the following year he was struck with the sights of monstrous obesity tending to suffocation at the Smithfield Club Cattle Show. He purchased at various butchers' shambles, where the prize beasts were subsequently slaughtered, their hearts, livers, etc., demonstrated that the tissues had largely undergone fatty degeneration, and showed that the prizes were given for bulk and weight of fat, and not according to the quality of the meat. For this report he received letters of thanks from the Prince Consort, the Duke of Richmond, and other leading exhibitors and breeders. Gant was actively connected with the Royal Free Hospital for some thirty-seven years, and took an important part in its development. The museum grew under his hands and he acted as the Pathologist. In 1878 the London School of Medicine for Women became associated with the Royal Free Hospital for clinical instruction, and from that date till his retirement Gant lectured to the students on clinical surgery. In 1890 he resigned his position as Senior Surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital, and among the addresses presented to him was a very cordial one from the women students, whose higher medical education he had not originally advocated. He was President of the Medical Society of London in 1881, having been Orator in 1872 and Lettsomian Lecturer on "Excisional Surgery of the Joints" in 1871. He was at one time Vice-President and Member of Council of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, and was a member of the Harveian and Clinical Societies. A man of most varied interests, Gant became associated with two famous pedestrians. These were E Payson Weston, the Canadian, who in 1876 walked 500, 550, and once even 600 miles in six days; and William Gale, from Wales, who, walking a quarter of a mile in every ten minutes or quarter of an hour during successive days and nights, covered 1000, 1500, or even more miles on different occasions in 1877 and 1881. He looked after these athletes during their performances. "Whenever asked by 'ped' or 'patron' I readily gave my professional services," he says in his *Autobiography*, "or when symptoms of a breakdown might occur, about the third day in a long-distance walk, or the patient got into foot difficulties." Gale, a man of 50, smaller than Weston in stature, performed in the open air at Lillie Bridge, and Gant often accompanied him for one or two hours at night, when a lantern was carried alongside the walkers. Gale was a bookbinder and presented Gant with a bound copy of Thomas à Kempis, whose austere teaching possibly appealed to the man of endurance. At the College Gant was to the last a well-known figure in his long old-fashioned coat of some blue material, and yellow or light-coloured widely-opened waistcoat and trousers of the same hue. He wore the thick whiskers and short-cut moustache of the old Crimean officers, and his manners were of the agreeable old-world order. Gant obtained leave from Sir William Fergusson, the President in 1870, to attend the oral examinations in surgery for the Membership and Fellowship of the College. He noted the questions asked and the pathological specimens shown, and in 1874 published a *Guide to the Examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons of England*. In this *Guide* he gave the full College Museum descriptions of the specimens which students were expected to identify, with a detailed account of the questions asked during the examinations. Professor Flower, then Conservator of the Museum, wrote to the medical papers pointing out that Gant's *Guide* gave more information than was desirable. The method of examination was modified and the *Guide* is now of historical value, as it shows the scope of surgical knowledge expected of a student at the time it was published. Incidentally it did not render Gant a *persona grata* with the College authorities. No mention of this episode is made by Gant in his *Autobiography*, though his numerous works, various interests, and romantic beginnings from the day when he was beaten with a vine stick at a dancing school are entertainingly discussed in this ill-written but fascinating little book, which *longo intervallo* reminds one of *David Copperfield*. Gant possessed the poet's temperament, though he wrote no poetry. His prose is melancholy, but his book is arresting, if only because it lays bare the workings of a strangely vivid and passionate spirit - prone to take offence and to misunderstand, but evidently keenly sensitive and affectionate. He was a bitter enemy of the Council and mishandled College History to his heart's content whenever possible, especially as it touched the Fellows. He was an early supporter of the Association of Members, and a Member of its Committee. During the last decade of his life Gant was a great sufferer, and declared in his *Autobiography*, "I generate uric acid as fast as Arabian trees their medicinal gum." He underwent lithotrity when very old. His death occurred at his residence, 16 Connaught Square, W, on June 6th, 1905. He was buried in the cemetery at Richmond, Surrey, on June 10th, in the same grave as his wife (d.1899). On the tombstone he had some years before obtained leave to have inscribed these words: "To the unspeakable distress of her husband, his age and bodily affliction debar him from ever visiting her grave, at a distance of 10 miles from London." He married in 1859 Matilda, the sixth daughter of Richard Crawshay, of Ottershaw Park, Surrey. The story of his marriage is romantically told in his *Perfect Womanhood*, where his wife appears as the bride (Mabel Vernon) of a struggling young practitioner. In his *Autobiography* he describes how he first met her in the house of her uncle, George Crawshay, of the Manor House, Colney Hatch, after the latter gentleman had offered him a lift in his carriage and taken him home to dine. Crawshay, indeed, became his first patient to the tune of £300, which enabled him to start in consulting practice. He retained his affection for his childless wife, and as an old man he would visit his friends late at night to talk of her physical charms. The lettering on the tombstone was not, therefore, a mere form of words. He was an innocent, garrulous old person of no great judgement. It is more than probable that the College incident proceeded from a real desire to help the medical student to pass his examination, and was without any ulterior motive. The College possesses good portraits of Gant, including photographs in the Council and Fellows' Albums. He bequeathed £500 to the Royal Society of Medicine for the purchase of books. He also left a sum of money to the Medical Society of London, the interest to be spent in rebinding books in the Library. It is known as 'The Gant Bequest'. Publications: "What has Pathological Anatomy done for Medicine and Surgery?" - *Lancet*, 1857, ii, 239, etc., a series of ten papers; republished as *The Principles of Surgery, Clinical, Medical and Operative: an Original Analysis of Pathology systematically conducted, and a Critical Exposition of its Guidance at the Bedside and in Operations*, 8vo, London, 1864. *Evil Results of Over-feeding Cattle: a New Enquiry, illustrated by coloured engravings of the Hearts, Lungs, etc., of Diseased Prize Cattle*, 8vo, plates, London, 1858. *The Irritable Bladder, its Causes and Curative Treatment*, 8vo, London, 1859. *The Science and Practice of Surgery*, 8vo, woodcuts, London, 1871; 3rd ed., 2 vols., 1886. This was a very popular students' handbook, and was used to supplement Erichsen's *Science and Art of Surgery*; it contains perhaps the earliest account in a text-book of the then new Listerian methods. Gant's precepts in the matter of antiseptics are said to have been better than his practice - at any rate in those early years - 1871. *Modern Surgery as a Science and Art*. The Lettsomian Oration delivered before the Medical Society of London, 8vo, London, 1872. *Mock-Nurses of the Latest Fashion, A.D. 1900, Professional Experiences, in Short Stories, and the Nursing Question*, 8vo, London, 1900. *Modern Natural Theology with the Testimony of Christian Evidences*, 8vo, London, 1901. *Autobiography*, 12mo, London, 1905. A good portrait forms the frontispiece. *Guide to the Examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons of England*, 12mo, London, 1874; 6th ed., *A Guide to the Examinations by the Conjoint Board in England: and for the Diploma of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons*, 12mo, London, 1889; 7th ed., revised by WILLMOTT H. EVANS, 1899. *Diseases of the Bladder, Prostate Gland and Urethra: including a Practical View of Urinary Diseases, Deposits and Calculi*, 8vo, illustrated, 5th ed., London, 1884. This is the 5th ed. Of the *Irritable Bladder*. *The Students' Surgery: A Multum in Parvo*, 8vo, London, 1890; American edition, 12mo, Philadelphia, 1890. "Excisions of the Joints, especially Knee, Hip and Elbow; 20 Typical Cases and Results." - *Med.-Chir. Trans.*, lvi, 213, and lxiii, 303. "Pelvic and Parietal Tumour of Abdomen - Removal by Operation - Recovery." - *Proc. Med.-Chir. Soc.*, 1884, N.S. I, 247. "Excisional Surgery of the Joints," Lettsomian Lectures, *Lancet*, 1871, I, 638, 736. "Lithotrity and Lithotomy." - *Ibid.*, 1887, I, 1220. "Infra-Trochanteric Osteotomy in Anchylosis of the Hip-joint, with Malposition of the Limb." - *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1879, ii, 320, 606. "Buccal Operation for Extirpating the Tongue." - *Trans. Clin. Soc.*, 1884, xvii, 168. *The Lord of Humanity: or the Testimony of Human Consciousness*, 12mo, London, 1889; 2nd ed., with Supplement on the "Mystery of Suffering", London, 1891. *From our Dead Selves to Higher Things*, 12mo, London, 1893; 2nd ed., 1895; 3rd ed., 1904. *Perfect Womanhood: A Story of the Times*, 2nd ed., 8vo, London, 1896. *Its Sequel, the Latest Fruit is the Ripest*, 1897; 2nd ed., 1898.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001937
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Laws, William George (1862 - 1936)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-07-06 2013-08-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002600-E002699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374783374783
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Born at the Manor House, Barrasford, near Chollerton, Northumberland, 14 June 1862, the second child and second son of William George Laws, civil engineer, and Ellinor Shields, his wife. He was educated at the Newcastle Grammar School and at the University of Durham, where he was an associate in science, scholar, and exhibitioner. He received his medical education at Edinburgh and at St Thomas's Hospital, acting as ophthalmic house surgeon and afterwards becoming a clinical assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields. Deciding to specialize in eye work he settled at Nottingham, where he soon became popular and was appointed surgeon to the Nottingham and Midland Eye Infirmary. He gave up practice in 1929 and retired to King's Langley, Hertfordshire, where he died 26 May 1936. He married, 27 December 1893, Helen Maria, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, Lady Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge, who survived him with a family of two boys and a daughter, the eldest son having been killed in action during the first world war. Laws was a member of the council of the Ophthalmological Society 1909-11, president of the section of ophthalmology at the Nottingham meeting of the British Medical Association 1926, and assistant editor of the *Ophthalmic Review*, 18-28, 1899-1909.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002600
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lidderdale, John (1802 - 1863)

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First Title value, for Searching Liddon, William (1836 - 1893)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-06-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002500-E002599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374706374706
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Taunton, the son of Henry Liddon of that town, which is the home of the Liddon family. He was educated at Fallands under Mr G Rogers, and was the friend and fellow-pupil of the famous General Gordon. He was afterwards at King's College School, London - of which his cousin, Dean Liddon, had become a notable alumnus in 1841 - and in time he was entered as a student in the Medical Faculty of King's College. Here his career was one of distinction, and he was successively Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, Physician-Accoucheur's Assistant, and House Surgeon to the Hospital. After qualifying he studied ophthalmology for a year as Assistant under Sir William Bowman, and in 1859 joined his father in practice at Taunton, spending the rest of his life there. He gained a great reputation in Somersetshire as an accomplished surgeon, and as an operator who was at once brilliant, skilful, cool, and resourceful. He was early elected Surgeon to the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, and only resigned two months before his death. He was also at one time Surgeon to the County Gaol, and for several years surgeon to the 3rd Battalion of the Somerset Regiment. He was very popular, being kindly, courteous, and so unselfish that he hastened his end by overwork in the service of others. Moreover, he was a man of wide general culture. He was in failing health for some two years, but continued in active work till within a few months of his death, which occurred at Taunton on January 8th, 1893. His cousin, Dr Edward Liddon, of Taunton, was a contemporary.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002523
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lindop, Willliam ( - 1875)

2026-08-01T19:20:38Z