Search Results for - Narrowed by: Urologist

First Title value, for Searching Teevan, William Frederic (1834 - 1887)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Ferguson, Alexander Fergus (1925 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by The Ferguson family
Publication Date 2013-03-20 2014-03-14
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/375912375912
Occupation Urologist
Details Fergus Ferguson was a consultant urologist in Wellington, New Zealand. He was born in Auckland to David Ferguson, a solicitor, and his wife, Hazel (née Buckland), the family moving to Wellington when he was four. He had three sisters - Barbara, Janet and Susan. He attended Wadestown Primary School and Wellington College, where his good academic achievements allowed him to pursue a career in medicine. Fergus studied at Otago University, becoming a demonstrator in anatomy in 1950. In addition to his medical studies he represented the university in hockey from 1945 to 1947. Fergus worked as a house surgeon at Wellington Hospital from 1951 to 1952 and in 1953 travelled to England, working initially as a house surgeon at Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children (working with Denis Browne) and St Thomas' Hospital in London. He then obtained a registrar position at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey. From 1957 to 1958 Fergus worked at Newcastle General Hospital, as a senior urological registrar to John Swinney and Keith Yeates, completing his time there as a research registrar in 1960. In Newcastle Fergus met and fell in love with Shirley Warriner in a whirlwind romance - they were engaged and married three weeks later. Fergus returned to New Zealand in 1960, with Shirley and their first child, Catherine, who was just a few weeks old. A son, Bruce, was born in Wellington and the family further increased when, following the death of Fergus' sister, Janet, in 1975, her son, Stephen, joined the family. The family settled in Khandallah, Wellington, where they lived for over 50 years, renovating a house and establishing a beautiful garden. Shirley became a GP. On his return to Wellington, Fergus initially became a senior admitting and casualty medical officer at Wellington Hospital. He obtained his fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1961 and was appointed as a visiting assistant surgeon (urology) and later a visiting urologist, a position he held until 1992. Fergus served as head of the department of urology from 1981 to 1992. In his role as urologist Fergus was the medical officer for the VD clinic from 1960 to 1971, and was an important contributor to the establishing of a spina bifida service in Wellington. Fergus developed a special interest in paediatric urology and renal stone disease. At an early stage he recognised the potential advantage of minimally invasive approaches to stone disease and learnt the technique of percutaneous access and stone removal. He arranged for European experts to visit the department to spend a few days demonstrating the surgery to local urologists - becoming an expert himself with the technique over time. With a keen interest in urology training, Fergus was highly regarded as a 'trainer' by his registrars - many urologists in current practice in Australasia learnt much of their craft from him. He was seen by his trainees as firm but fair. His philosophy in the operating theatre was that, wherever possible, the trainee should be the primary surgeon, with the consultant assisting: this 'hands on' approach was greatly appreciated. Fergus saw research as an important part of surgical training and he strongly encouraged his trainees to present their research projects at Australasian meetings. He was particularly proud of the Wellington trainees who contested (and won) the prestigious Keith Kirkland prize, awarded annually at the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand for the best urology registrar research presentation. Before computers became fashionable, he purchased an early Apple computer for the department to assist Wellington trainees in the generation of their projects. Fergus was a urology examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons from 1968 to 1976. Fergus encouraged a team approach in the urology department at Wellington Hospital. Multidisciplinary meetings were fostered and he was always keen to listen to the opinions of pathologists, radiologists, nephrologists and paediatricians, seeing the regular contact with allied specialists as a way of improving communication in the hospital and ultimately patient care. He was a man of generosity and a great host of dinners held regularly at his Khandallah home, believing in the 'complete' education of the young surgeon. His strawberry bowl punch at the annual Christmas party was legendary (and 'lethal'). A number of us who went on to do some training in the UK benefited from Fergus's membership of the Glyndebourne Opera; he was very generous with these hard to get tickets. Thursday was traditionally Fergus's golf day. To remove any doubt, he usually attended ward rounds first thing in the morning sporting his tartan golf pants. On this day it was best to delay any complex clinical issues for another time; Fergus worked hard for the urology department at Wellington Hospital and all members of the urology team were pleased that he was able to get some time for recreation. Fergus gave his time selflessly and whatever he became involved with, he would end up on the committee, as he always wanted to help. In the 1970s he was part of a group of doctors who were instrumental in re-energising the New Zealand Medical Assurance Society, which remains successful to this day. He was very active in the local Neighbourhood Watch for many years and was recognised for his efforts by a North Wellington Voluntary Service award in 2002. Fergus was strongly committed to and supportive of his family. He adored Shirley and was happiest when they did things together. They shared a great love of music, opera, gardening, travel and each other. The family enjoyed overseas holidays, travelling to fascinating places and engaging in exciting activities, and, in addition, spent many an idyllic holiday in Northland at Coopers Beach, boating and swimming. Fergus strongly encouraged both Catherine and Bruce in all their activities. In his later years he visited his mother every day for her last ten years in her home in Wadestown, and then in her convalescent room at Bowen Hospital. He was a wonderful grandfather of Nicola and Courtney, and is greatly missed. He died on 5 October 2012, aged 87.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003729
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hendry, William Forbes (1938 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Justin Vale
Publication Date 2012-10-17 2013-05-17
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003000-E003099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375220375220
Occupation Urologist
Details William Forbes 'Bill' Hendry was an internationally known urologist who spent his consultant career enhancing the reputations of St Bartholomew's Hospital, the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Urology in London. He also had a few sessions at the Chelsea Hospital for Women, and in addition served as a civilian consultant to the Royal Navy. He has been described as 'one of the UK's most influential urologists in the 1980s and 1990s'. Bill was born in Birmingham by caesarean section performed on 15 June 1938 by Dame Hilda Lloyd, later president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was the son of Duncan William Hendry and Edna Beatrice Hendry née Woodley. He had a younger sister, Joy, who was born after the Second World War - she became a professor of anthropology. His younger brother, Ian, became a Foreign Office lawyer. Bill's father was in general practice before the Second World War and, after war service, became a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Nuneaton. His mother was a nurse who trained and worked at the Royal Glasgow Infirmary. Bill was educated at Uppingham School, where he showed considerable academic promise and proceeded to Glasgow University for his medical studies, thus following in his father's footsteps. When he was at university Bill met Chirsty Macdonald, a nurse. They married at St Columba's Church, Glasgow, in November 1961. They had three children, Duncan Forbes, a gardener, Catherine Louise, a consultant haematologist at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, and Alexander Donald, a journalist in Hong Kong. Bill and Chirsty were superb parents, and placed great emphasis on a normal family life. After house appointments in Glasgow, Bill obtained a Fulbright scholarship to travel to the USA for two years, at a time when Duncan was just a year old. Bill spent his time working in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Boston City Hospital, being trained quite broadly in pathology. He always maintained that this was an excellent grounding for anyone thinking of taking up surgery. Bill's salary was supplemented by Chirsty, who worked as a nurse in Boston: American hospitals were always delighted to have UK-trained nurses working on their staff. Returning to the UK, Bill continued his surgical training in Glasgow. When he decided to specialise in urology, he was advised to move south. He became a senior registrar on a rotation between Portsmouth and the Institute of Urology in London. He gained good urological experience on the south coast under the supervision of John Vinnicombe and Forbes Abercrombie. Here he was able to see and be trained in the diverse disease patterns seen in a provincial hospital. He proved a rapid learner and much enjoyed this experience. Later he went to the Institute of Urology in London, where he was able to see and assist the many specialist urologists in their various fields. In 1973 he was appointed as a consultant at Bart's. A year later he joined the Royal Marsden. Working as a consultant urologist at Bart's, the Royal Marsden and the Chelsea Hospital for Women gave him ample opportunity to exercise his fertile mind. He was quick to spot the important connection between oncology and infertility, and the link between testicular cancer, retroperitoneal surgery and andrology. One of his trainees at Bart's said: 'He was always top of his game - whatever he set out to do it was always going to be as good experience for the patient and for the outcome as it could possibly be. He treated each new patient as a challenge requiring continuous refinement.' Towards this end he sought the collaboration of colleagues in clinical problems. He adopted this approach from the outset of his consultant career. One example of this was to challenge radiotherapy as the treatment of choice for bladder cancer. He began to perform total cystectomies, both as primary procedures and also after radiotherapy. Cystectomy was only performed by a few urologists in the UK at the time because of its difficulty and the high incidence of complications. He published the results of his studies in the *British Journal of Urology*, showing that the three- and five-year survivals were 10% better in those patients who had preoperative radiotherapy and cystectomy, compared with those undergoing radical radiotherapy ('Treatment of T3 bladder cancer: controlled trial of pre-operative radiotherapy and radical cystectomy versus radical radiotherapy' *Br J Urol*. 1982 Apr;54[2]:136-51). This article was only one of some 304 of his publications on urological oncology and male subfertility. The key to his considerable success in publishing was his care in collecting data and his honesty in publishing his results. From the start of his consultant career he took home nearly all the theatre patient call-cards and stored them in a Kardex system in his study. This made it easier to trace his patients for careful follow-up. Such a degree of introspection and self-critical analysis is most unusual in a surgeon. He was one of the first to show that, in cases where testicular cancer had spread to retroperitoneal lymph nodes, the removal of the nodes improved survival rate and guided further treatment. In this area, as well as pelvic surgery, he honed his techniques to limit damage to nerves connected with ejaculation. This was aided by studies he did in the post-mortem room. Another interest was in the area of male fertility and reversal of vasectomy performed for contraceptive purposes. He was interested in the role that anti-sperm antibodies played in poor results after vasectomy reversal. He recognised the part played by the use of steroids, while at the same time his publications conceded the complications of a high dose steroid regime. Bill was a patient and inspirational teacher, who became a role model for many of those passing through his department, be it in testicular cancer, bladder cancer or infertility. He was never late and was always at his desk in outpatients before the start time, and stressed the importance of this on those fortunate enough to work with him. They in their turn remember his many aphorisms. He used such phrases as 'most ureteric stones pass spontaneously if you ignore them', 'be nice to anaesthetists, we cannot do without them', 'don't rely on luck in surgery', and many others. He was president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) from 1996 to 1998 and St Peter's medallist in 1999, and president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in from 1993 to 1994. He was joint editor of the *British Journal of Urology* with Hugh Whitfield from 1992 to 1996, stepping down when he became president of BAUS. He was Hunterian Professor in 1989 and again in 1998, and Sir Arthur Sims Commonwealth Travelling Professor from 1989 to 1990, when his main visits were to Australia and New Zealand, and also to Zimbabwe. Bill Hendry gave his final address 'A humble shop floor worker' at a valedictory meeting held in his honour on 26 June 2000 at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He believed that a surgeon's skills had a limited lifespan and, as a clean break from a busy life in medicine, Bill and Chirsty moved to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides in 2000. They took up a croft next door to the Macdonald's, his wife's parents. Together they set up a herd of highland cattle, the second in Brue. In addition to helping to improve and renovate a community centre in Barvas, he organised the Westside Agricultural Show. Raising rare breed cattle became a passion. Bill and Chirsty remained a devoted couple throughout their married life. Chirsty developed Alzheimer's disease, and he cared for her over this difficult period, nursing her until she predeceased him by six months after a long decline. Typically, he was planning to write about his experience, and this would have been a unique and insightful lesson in caring for a life-long partner. Sadly he died on 3 October 2012, at the age of 75, after a heart attack, before he could carry out this task.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003037
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Powell, William Wyndham (1857 - 1944)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-10-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004400-E004499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376661376661
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Born 30 October 1857 at Penyfai, Bridgend, Glamorgan the fifth of the six sons and tenth of the twelve children of Griffith Powell, farmer, and Ann Jenkins, his wife. He was educated privately at Bridgend and at Mumbles near Swansea, and took his medical training at the Westminster Hospital. He won the Treasurer's exhibition in 1884 and was President's scholar in 1885. He served as senior house surgeon, senior house physician, demonstrator of anatomy, and surgical registrar. After a period of postgraduate study in Paris he specialized in genitourinary surgery and was for seven years chief clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. He was also surgeon to the Westminster General Dispensary. Powell was an honorary member of the American Urological Association. He practised at 28 Devonshire Place, W1, and lived at Wimbledon. During the heavy bombing of London in 1940-41 he moved to 4 Newton Villas, Porthcawl, Glamorgan, where he died on 2 July 1944, aged 86. He never married. Powell's brothers and sisters all lived long: one lived to be 92 and two others past 90. He was survived by one sister, Mrs Lloyd, a year younger than himself. Publications: Operative urethroscopy: an improved urethroscope. *Lancet*, 1921, 2, 175. Urethroscopy, in E R T Clarkson's *The Venereal Clinic*, London, Bale, 1922.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004478
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching MacDonald, Sydney Gray (1879 - 1946)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Barclay, Dorothy Margaret Somerville (1914 - 1964)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Pfeiffer, Gordon Harold (1896 - 1960)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Boreham, Peter Francis (1922 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2014-04-09 2014-08-11
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005200-E005299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377441377441
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Peter Boreham was a much-loved and highly respected general surgeon in Cheltenham with a major urological interest. He was born on 26 May 1922 in Szechuan, China, into a missionary family. He was the second son of the Reverend Frederick Boreham and his wife Mildred née Slater: an older brother, Douglas, died in infancy just six weeks after Peter was born. Peter's early years were not without hazard: he was shipwrecked at the age of two on the Yangtze River. He had two younger siblings, Cicely, who became a headmistress, and John, who was knighted, and was director of the Central Statistical Office. Frederick and Mildred Boreham returned to England from 1924 to 1929 to serve in various livings, including Norwich, where Frederick was priest at New Catton. It was here that Peter started his education in the kindergarten of Norwich High School for Girls. Later, in 1931, when both parents were back in China, he was sent as a boarder to Feltonfleet Preparatory School, where he was later joined by his sister and brother. Peter's departure from Feltonfleet was quite spectacular: he had an accident with a glass door and was taken away by ambulance with a tourniquet around one limb, never to return to his prep school! His secondary education was at Marlborough College, Wiltshire. Peter proved a good but not exceptional scholar, and excelled at swimming and athletics. Having decided on medicine as a career, in 1940 he went to Cambridge to study natural sciences and was resident in Jesus College. In Cambridge he became a member of Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union and made many friends through this organisation: this was an acknowledgment of his own Christian faith and his parental influence. He left Cambridge having obtained a BA degree, and went to Middlesex Hospital in 1942 for his clinical training until 1945. During these war years much of his training took place out of London at Aylesbury and Northwood, Middlesex and Harlesden. Having qualified MB BChir from Cambridge, in 1945 he worked as a house surgeon to Arthur S Blundell Bankart, a well-known orthopaedic surgeon on the staff of Middlesex Hospital who had paediatric and neurosurgical leanings. He was better known for his work on shoulder joint dislocation and his description of the 'Bankart lesion'. Peter observed a charming physiotherapist who was watching this famous surgeon operate and was also on his ward round. Peter went to a 'nurses hop' (informal dance), where he was happy to find Kathleen Edith Born, the physiotherapist who had caught his eye earlier. Some six weeks after they first met, Peter proposed and was accepted. On 18 January 1946 Peter and Kathleen (shortened to 'Ka' and pronounced 'Car') were married by Peter's father in West Alvington Church, Kingsbridge, Devon. Clearly during his training life was hard for the newly-weds. Peter was still doing house appointments in 1946 at Middlesex Hospital, working with two well-known surgeons, David Patey and Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor. Patey was a general surgeon with wide interests and was a superb clinical teacher, perhaps better known for his work on breast diseases: he was also founder of the Surgical Research Society. Gordon-Taylor built up a reputation as a fearless surgeon in the First World War and his knowledge of anatomy allowed him to attempt formidable operations. Peter then became a casualty officer at Middlesex Hospital, as accident and emergency experience was at the time a requirement for any doctor wishing to sit the FRCS examination. In mid-1946 it was time for him to do National Service, and he joined the RAMC. After preliminary training, he was posted to the British Army of the Rhine. Having already decided on surgery as a career, he used this period to engage in postal courses to progress his studies for the FRCS. In August 1947 Michael, their first child, was born in Torquay, and Peter was allowed two weeks 'compassionate leave' when Michael was ill. Following two years of National Service, Peter was discharged, later to join the Territorial Army with the rank of major when working as a senior registrar. Back in the recently-formed NHS in 1949, he took up a post as a resident medical officer at a mental hospital in Camberwell, Peter, Ka and young Michael living in a flat in Maida Vale. In May 1949, having passed the FRCS, he obtained a post as a registrar back at Middlesex Hospital, working with Sir Eric Riches and Cecil Murray. This was a popular firm with students and trainees alike: both were superb technicians and good teachers, Sir Eric in urology and Murray in general surgery, particularly in the days when partial gastrectomy was the preferred treatment for chronic peptic ulcer. He continued in this post until 1952, being elevated to senior registrar for the last two years. Their second child, Jenny, was born in December 1949, and this necessitated moving to larger living accommodation in Hampstead Garden Suburb early in 1950. On 1 March 1953, their third child, a second daughter, Judy, was born. After working for three years with Riches and Murray, Peter obtained a research post at Middlesex Hospital to work on 'implantation metastases in surgery'. This provided him with sufficient material for two papers. Already attending meetings of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine, he gave a short paper on 'The surgical spread of cancer in urology' (28 April 1955), which was then published in the *British Journal of Urology* (*Br J Urol*. 1956 Jun;28[2]:163-75). In this he described six cases of carcinoma of bladder recurring in the urethra. A second article on 'Implantation metastases from cancer of the large bowel' was published in the *British Journal of Surgery* (*Br J Surg*. 1958 Sep;46[196]:103-8. Short papers on rare cases increased the number of publications on his CV. He started applying for consultant posts, only to find that there were 60 or more applicants for each post in this post-war period: but was encouraged when short-listed for the odd one. It proved necessary to embellish his CV with a masters degree in surgery. The MChir Cambridge involved writing three papers each of four hours: one had four questions with no choice, another had two questions without a choice and one had one question, again without a choice! Senate House in Cambridge, where he sat to write papers, was not warm in the winter months and 'regular' candidates learned to bring rugs and hot coffee to help. Three vivas of half an hour each completed the examination. Peter obtained this highly prized degree at the second attempt. He next gained a year's appointment as a resident surgical officer at St Mark's Hospital, London. Although the post entailed becoming a 'house-surgeon' again, it was the best job at this stage of his career, enabling him to get concentrated experience in coloproctology. Working with W B Gabriel, O V Lloyd-Davies and Sir Clifford Naunton Morgan was a superb way of adding another 'specialty' to his already broad experience. Gabriel, often known as the 'Archangel Gabriel', was a man with an imposing presence and great physical and moral strength: he had a reputation for total patient care and long operating lists. Oswald Lloyd-Davies was a superb technician with an inventive mind who, with Naunton Morgan, perfected the technique of synchronous combined excision of the rectum for carcinoma. The lithotomy-Trendelenburg position, for which he developed special leg supports, is generally known as the Lloyd-Davies position. Naunton Morgan, also on the staff of St Bartholomew's Hospital, was a man of boundless energy and an enthusiastic teacher. Peter's next appointment was again at senior registrar level, although he effectively worked as a second consultant. It was at the Whittington Hospital, north London, where he worked with Neville Stidolph, a South African-born general surgeon with a major interest in urology, who also had an extensive private practice. Peter consolidated his knowledge and experience whilst applying for more consultant posts. Shortlisted for several, in 1958 he was at last successful in Cheltenham for a post advertised as a consultant surgeon with an interest in urology. This post he held until he retired in 1987. Peter and Ka were able to put down roots at last in Cheltenham. At their large Georgian home, the Borehams enjoyed tennis and eventually had a swimming pool built by Peter and his son, Michael. There were plenty of activities centred round their home and they were able to form many friendships in the neighbourhood. The family became active members of Christ Church, Cheltenham, and from 1960 to 1965 Peter was a churchwarden. Two further children were born in Cheltenham - Sarah in 1960 and Caroline in 1961. The enlarged family were able to enjoy holidays in the UK and abroad, camping in Spain and France. Peter was passionate about sailing his Wayfarer dinghy, using his children as ballast. On occasions they were tipped into the freezing Easter waters of Falmouth. As one of three general surgeons, in addition to looking after the majority of urological patients, Peter dealt with a third of the general surgical emergencies. He paid visits to Tewkesbury Hospital and developed a reputation amongst his juniors and colleagues as caring and compassionate to patients, but expecting others to adopt his high standards. As a surgeon he was calm, precise and workmanlike. Perhaps appearing a little stern to those who worked with him, they loved his intelligence, his wry smile and sense of humour which was never far away. He was a great supporter of postgraduate activities, and played a full part in hospital committees, including chairmanship of the consultant staff, whose business he handled with characteristic brevity and effectiveness. He was a consultant member of the former hospital management committee, disbanded during one of the first of the many NHS re-organisations. He served as a member of Gloucester Health Authority and of the South West Regional Higher Awards committee. An active member of the Gloucester branch of the British Medical Association, he became its president in 1975. He was a member and president of South West Surgeons Club and the South West Urologists group. In 1973 he was president of Cheltenham Rotary Club and during his presidency raised money to provide a Land Rover ambulance for a hospital in Kambia, Sierra Leone. In 1961 he was elected to the 1921 Surgical Travelling Club and was an active member for 25 years, serving first as secretary and later as president. Peter and Ka went on the twice yearly visits to most major surgical centres in Europe and a few in the USA. In retirement he wrote *Surgical journeys* (Merlin, 1990) - a history of this club. This was Peter's final publication and was a masterpiece of research. Retiring from the NHS in 1987, a large number of his junior staff came to a farewell dinner in his honour: they made a presentation of a silver salver, with their signatures engraved on it. Naturally, his family and many friends were delighted that all his work, both medical and voluntary, was recognised nationally by the award of an OBE in 1987. Peter and Ka went on a world tour visiting cousins in Canada and Australia, and former trainees with whom he had kept in touch. Peter was made chairman of the Kambia, Sierra Leone, appeal, and they both went to visit and work alongside doctors in the local hospital. Later they were able to welcome many Kambian staff who came to Cheltenham for professional training. Ill-health dogged the later years of his retirement. In 1994 he lost the sight in one eye due to polymyalgia rheumatica. Six years later, he needed major by-pass heart surgery in Bristol. After these health scares Peter and Ka moved out of their large Georgian house into a smaller, more manageable home. In 2002 he needed further surgery, this time for spinal stenosis and, some five years later, he underwent prostatic surgery. Developing very severe pneumonia in 2010, Peter was treated in Cheltenham General and Tewkesbury, the hospitals he had worked in for so many years. Eventually nursing care proved necessary, and he moved into St Faith's Nursing Home. Here, with failing eyesight and general vascular degeneration, he was visited twice a day by his dear wife Ka, who held his hand as they listened to the classical music he had enjoyed throughout his life. Although ailing, he never lost his faculties, and retained much of his excellent memory to near the end. Peter Francis Boreham died with all the family present on 8 March 2014, aged 91. He was survived by his five children, Michael, Jennifer, Judith, Sarah and Caroline, 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Several of the family have followed Peter into medicine.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005258
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rawlinson, James Keith McClure (1923 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2014-04-09 2014-12-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005200-E005299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377445377445
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Keith Rawlinson was a general surgeon with an interest in urology at Walton Hospital, Liverpool. He was born on 1 August 1923, the second son of James Herbert Rawlinson (always known as 'Rawli'), a pre-NHS surgeon who practised at the Liverpool Northern Hospital, and Mabel Rawlinson née McClure, a nurse. His mother died in 1930 when Keith was just seven, and he and his older brother were cared for by an aunt until Rawli remarried in 1938. His stepmother, the widow of a family friend, Henry Roberts, became known as 'Granny' George in the family. Keith's brother, J Geoffrey Rawlinson, worked in the chemical industry after serving in the Army during the Second World War, and then spent 25 years as a management consultant. The two brothers were close and in their younger days went on holidays together, fell walking and exploring the Lake District. Keith developed Perthes' disease of the hip in his early years: this was treated with bed rest and he was put in a frame. Although the osteochondritis settled down, he was left with a permanent and characteristic limp, and in adult life tended to use a stick. After preparatory school at Braeside, Hoylake, he went to Oundle School for his secondary education. Here he had a good academic record, winning several form prizes and an award for shooting. Other competitive sports and subsequent Armed forces enrolment were clearly out of the question in view of his previous hip disease. He entered Liverpool University for his medical training and served in the Home Guard whilst studying. He saw plenty of action during the wartime raids on Liverpool when incendiary devices were dropped on West Kirby and other areas. Medical students also cared for the returning wounded soldiers as part of their routine clinical experience. He qualified in 1947 and house appointments followed in the Liverpool area. His first house surgeon post was with Philip Reginald Hawe at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, who had a reputation as a good general and paediatric surgeon, and was a fine teacher. A house physician post to Leslie Cunningham followed, again at the Northern Hospital. Keith may have contemplated a career in orthopaedics, as he proceeded to an orthopaedic house surgeon post with E N Wardle for a year, and was upgraded to junior registrar. However, general surgery beckoned, and he returned to work with Hawe for two years as his registrar. By then his chief had developed a specialist interest in head and neck surgery, and thyroid diseases in particular. Keith was given three months' study leave to attend fellowship courses in London, including one at St Bartholomew's Hospital. During this time he passed the FRCS. He was now in a position to gain more general experience, this time with A Rose at the Royal Southern Hospital in Liverpool from October 1952 to September 1953, and then for two years up to March 1957 with J B Oldham, another excellent clinical teacher. His new chief was a perfectionist who ran an excellent unit, but could be outspoken at times. Keith's higher surgical training at senior registrar level was supervised by Charles Wells. Trainee and trainer were both born in Liverpool, and educated there as undergraduates. Wells was appointed to the Royal Southern Hospital as a general surgeon with interests in urology, inflammatory bowel disease and gastric surgery. He built up a large practice in the NHS and in private work and had an enormous capacity for hard work. Expecting his trainees to develop the same ethos, by the time Keith joined him Wells had already assumed full-time academic professorial status, and was attracting many able young trainee surgeons from all over the United Kingdom and from overseas. A hard taskmaster, he encouraged Keith in his research work for his masters degree, which he wrote up as 'Intestinal motility in the post-operative period'. Pending gaining a permanent consultant post, Wells encouraged Keith to undertake locum consultant positions. One of these was in 1958 on the Isle of Man: here he gained notoriety for saving the life of a motorcyclist who had been involved in a serious accident during the TT race and needed emergency neurosurgery. The following year, he worked in a more sedate post at Musgove Park Hospital, Taunton, for six months. In 1960 he was appointed as a general surgeon with an interest in urology to Walton Hospital, Liverpool: after 12 years he switched to practise pure urology and, initially with Norman Gibbon, ran the urology services at Walton for 17 years. He was very interested in urodynamic studies and explored the place of self-hypnosis in the management of urge incontinence. He engaged in private practice from Rodney Street, Liverpool, and operated from Park House with his friend and anaesthetist, Tom Forrest. Keith was a member of the Liverpool Medical Institution, being its secretary for a few years and becoming a life member in 1993. He and his wife enjoyed membership of the Grey Turner Travelling Surgical Club from 1963 to 2000, and he was the 'chronicler' of its travels at home and abroad for almost 20 years. He played an active part in the Innominate Club of Liverpool, founded in the 1930s as a dining/debating club for medical practitioners. Usually meeting each month in the winter, members gave talks to each other on non-medical subjects: some of Keith's subjects were on 'time', 'watch this space', 'Iona' and 17th century Swedish warships and astronomy. All these topics indicate that Keith was widely read: he felt it was important to find time during the day to pause and reflect on something outside oneself. He was a committed Christian, but questioning of matters relating to his personal faith. Family life was important to him. He met Griselda Carlisle, his future wife, at her 21st birthday party in August 1951. She was the youngest daughter of Henry Carlisle, a general practitioner, and was a talented pianist. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, taught in London and performed. They were married on 23 May 1954 at St Peter's Church, Heswall. Griselda gave occasional recitals and accompanied soloists in their early married life, but her professional life really took off again in the mid-1970s, once the family was established at school and university. She accompanied choral groups, and taught in schools and at Liverpool University. Keith and Griselda had three children, Nigel, Iain and Fiona. Nigel trained in surgery and was later ordained as a minister. Iain qualified as a lawyer and has worked in banking and as a company and charity director. Fiona trained as a GP and then became a consultant in palliative medicine. In spite of his hip disability, Keith became a member of the Caldy Golf Club, having been a member of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club as a boy, when he played with his father. He was an active member of Clwyd Anglers, and fished there most Wednesdays on his afternoon off work. He enjoyed trout fishing, and tied his own flies. In Scotland, Keith and Griselda fished on the Dee, but their main fishing was on the Polly River. Since the end of the First World War, Griselda's father had taken a month's holiday every year at Inverpolly Lodge and the extended family carried on this tradition up until 2013. A caravan also allowed the Rawlinson family weekend breaks away from the pressures of medical life. Keith enjoyed creating things, including the setting up a hydroponic system in his greenhouse to water lettuces and tomatoes. He made radio-controlled cars, boats and, rather ambitiously, an aeroplane. He built a dinghy in the glass house at home for the family to enjoy. Fond of classical music, Keith was a regular attender at Royal Philharmonic concerts. He played the organ at home: it had two manuals with a full pedal board. As the children learned to play recorders, not to be outdone, he joined them. When he started a new instrument he would take lessons and practise seriously. He was fond of his MGB sports cars, but rarely exceeded the speed limit. The evening meal was often delayed as Keith was frequently late back from work. Meals taken together were always dynamic times as conversation flowed back and forth. Griselda was always the rock underpinning and building 'Glenburn' in Heswall, Merseyside, their permanent home. This was the house to which the family returned, came for sanctuary, brought friends and partners, and in which life decisions were made. Keith retired in 1989, but was invited back to help with 'waiting list initiatives'. He continued to read the *BMJ*, quizzing his medical children on articles before they had time to read them! Keith and Griselda found more time to travel together. They toured New Zealand in 1992 and Canada and the Rockies in 1994 in a campervan, and they were able to visit their son Iain when he was living in South Africa. Keith continued exercising daily in the hope of staying as mobile as possible, and took up golf again, but he needed artificial joint replacements to both hips and both knees. He continued to be mentally agile and stimulation came from playing bridge. In later years, he tackled the intricacies of technology, learning to use Skype and latterly an iPad. As his general health began to deteriorate, adaptations were made within the house: inevitably with the 'Keith Rawlinson' touch of creativity. Keith Rawlinson died peacefully with his family present at his home on 12 March, 2014 aged 90. He was survived by his wife of 59 years, Griselda, his children Nigel, Iain and Fiona and his grandchildren Claire, Anna-Fleur, Sam, Adam, Tom and Kitty. Keith's passion for learning, his interest in life and his ability to extract the very most out of each day will be remembered by all who knew him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005262
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Roche, Alexander Ernest (1869 - 1963)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005300-E005399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377501377501
Occupation Urologist
Details Born in London in 1896 the son of Raphael Roche and Grace Simon he was educated at St Paul's School, Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he obtained a classical scholarship, and St Bartholomew's Hospital. After qualifying he held a series of house appointments at St Bartholomew's, culminating in that of chief assistant to the Surgical Unit which he held for five years, after which he became resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. When proceeding to the degree of MD in 1927 he was *proxime accessit* for the Raymond Horton Smith prize. With this very wide training behind him, he decided to specialise in urology and in 1931 he was appointed to the staff of the West London Hospital as assistant surgeon to Sidney MacDonald, whom in due course he succeeded. He was, in addition, in charge of the Genito-urinary Department at the Royal Northern Hospital and visiting urologist to Hounslow Hospital and to the Teddington, Hampton Wick and District Memorial Hospital and consulting surgeon to LCC Hospitals. He was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1951, giving an address on "Reflections on Nephrectomy", President of the Hunterian Society, giving the Hunterian Oration in 1963, and President of the West London Medico-Chirurgical Society. An original member of the Urological Club, an exclusive body limited to fifteen members drawn from throughout the British Isles, he was also an original member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, and much in evidence at their annual meetings. A gifted and fluent writer, he contributed many papers and works on his special subject notably *Pyelography, its History, Technique, Uses and Dangers* 1927, *Urology in General Practice* 1935, and *Practical Urology* 1956. Alex Roche was a remarkable personality, as surgeons who had the privilege of his friendship can testify. Of wide culture and education, a writer of essays and poetry, a fluent French scholar, he was above all else a man of outstanding wit, usually subtle and sometimes above the heads of those at whom it was directed. No slave to convention, his style of dress was highly individual. In the winter he wore under his short black coat and waistcoat a grey wool pullover the sleeves of which protruded round his wrists. Possessor of a prodigious memory for facts and faces, he showed in his lay writings, such as *An Anthology of Wit* 1935, a style reminiscent of Laurence Sterne. A brilliant raconteur he was in great demand as an after dinner speaker. A charming, delightful, conscientious and highly competent surgeon he was without an enemy and, in spite of indifferent health, always radiated good humour. As might be expected a member of the Savage Club, he listed his pastimes as literature, music and walking. He married in 1932 Cicely Mary only daughter of F W Briggs and they had three sons and a daughter. He died on 25 July 1963 at his home in Wimbledon, of a heart attack, aged 67. A memorial service was held in the Chapel of the West London Hospital on 7 August 1963.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005318
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching O'Flynn, James Dermot (1920 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-02-24 2016-04-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005000-E005099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377213377213
Occupation Urologist
Details Dermot O'Flynn was a consultant surgeon in the urology department at the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary, Dublin. He was born on 21 January 1920 and studied medicine at Cork, qualifying in 1942. After house jobs in Mansfield and Lincoln, he joined the RAMC, which took him to West Africa as a graded surgeon. He rose to the rank of captain and for a short time commanded No 52 Hospital in Kumasi. In Accra his commanding officer was the orthopaedic surgeon Herbert Edward 'Ding' Harding, and at the end of the war he joined Harding at St Stephen's Hospital, Fulham, as a casualty officer while studying for the fellowship. He gained the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1948 and in the same year became a registrar to David Band and Selby Tulloch in Edinburgh, two of the founding fathers of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. In 1952 he took the MCh in Edinburgh and in the same year was appointed as an assistant surgeon to the Meath Hospital in Dublin. In those days the Meath was renowned for transurethral prostatectomy thanks to the efforts of Tom Lane, who had gone over to the Mayo Clinic to learn the cold punch technique. When O'Flynn won the Ainsworth scholarship, Lane sent him to the Mayo Clinic to study the latest advances in the cold punch method. It was some time after his return to the Meath, and some 500 cold punch operations later, that a visitor came from Albany, New York, to give a demonstration of the hot wire resectoscope method. It was an instant conversion. In collaboration with his colleague, Victor Lane, O'Flynn made the Meath the centre of hot wire resection. Soon they showed that this new method could reduce mortality by a factor of ten. This was the first in a long list of innovations from the Meath, all based on the punch-card record system which O'Flynn had introduced. Thanks to this punch-card database, the Meath team produced one major contribution after another, covering subjects as diverse as testicular tumours, tuberculosis calculi, neuropathic bladder and bladder cancer. He was a visiting professor in the US, Australia and the Gulf. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland *ad eundem* in 1968, and went on to serve as president from 1992 to 1994. In 1993 he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was also a long-standing member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. In his spare time O'Flynn played golf and was a competitive sailor. He was at one time captain of the Dublin Bay Dragon Fleet, which follows a 900-year tradition of sailing dragon ships off the coast of Ireland. He was also a skilful and sensitive water-colour painter. O'Flynn died on 16 January 2014 at the age of 93. Predeceased by his wife Monica (née Kelleher), he was survived by his children, Desmond, Kieran, Dermot, Denise and Brian, and 16 grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005030
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wade, Sir Henry (1877 - 1955)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Goldschmidt, Lionel Bernard (1892 - 1955)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005400-E005499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377627377627
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in 1892 at Queenstown, Eastern Province, South Africa, he was educated at Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, and at the King's College Hospital, London. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he enlisted in the London Rifle Volunteers and saw service in France as a combatant, with the rank of corporal. He then completed his medical training, was commissioned in the Indian Medical Service, and served as medical officer in a troopship in the Mediterranean. After the war he held house appointments and was Sambrooke surgical registrar at King's College Hospital under Sir John Thompson-Walker and John Everidge. He began to practise as a urologist in London, but returned to South Africa in 1922. He set up as a urologist in Cape Town, and in 1930 was appointed surgeon to the Somerset Hospital. For many years before his retirement in 1947 he was head of the department of urology at the University of Cape Town and the Groote Schuur Hospital. During the war of 1939-45 he was Honorary Colonel in the 3rd Field Ambulance and a part-time urological specialist in the South African Medical Corps. He was also a Vice-President of the Boy Scout Association. Goldschmidt was active in the Medical Association of South Africa, at first in the Cape Western branch of which he was President in 1945, and thereafter on the Federal Council. He was prominent in the South African Red Cross Society, especially in connection with the Children's Hospital at Rondebosch. At the end of his life he was the prime mover in the incorporation of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of South Africa. He was an active traveller, huntsman and photographer of wild animals, a keen fisherman, and a good golfer. He was also interested in farming. He was at one time on the Board of Control for boxing, and served as President of the Cape Town Philatelic Society. He was a hospitable host at his home, Kingslyn, Hof Street, Cape Town. He married in England in 1918 Nora Rosalie Adlington of Worcester, who survived him with two daughters and two sons, Dr Basil Goldschmidt and Mr Reith Goldschmidt, who was a student at King's College Hospital medical school when his father died. Goldschmidt died on 18 August 1955 aged 63, and a memorial service was held in Cape Town Cathedral.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005444
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Brayshaw, Harold Currie (1896 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Peters, James Sturrock (1913 - 2010)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Vale Jim
Publication Date 2011-11-11 2015-03-27
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/373757373757
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Jim Peters died at home in Melbourne on 28 September 2010. The caption on his obituary in *The Melbourne Age* on 4th October epitomised his life: 'Amateur champion kicked goals on the field and as a medical specialist.' He loved his profession, his family and his sport. Jim grew up in Victorian country towns where his father, Victor - a WWI veteran, taught at various State primary schools. Jim was an outstanding footballer in his school days and as a boarder at St Patrick's College Ballarat, he kicked 141 goals in the 1930 championship side for which he was awarded a gold medal. A keen sportsman at Melbourne University he is pictured on the back dust jacket of *The Ties that Bind (History of Sport at Melbourne University)* hitting a six into the grounds at Ormond College in front of Trinity College wicket keeper, the future historian - Manning Clark. Resident at Newman College from 1931, a Freshman Blue for football Jim played in and was later Captain of the Newman side once kicking 18 goals against Queens in an Intercollegiate match in 1937. He played with the Melbourne University Blacks from 1931, Captain in 1934 and in the 1935 A Grade Premiership side and also captained various Intervarsity and Victorian Amateur Teams. In 2007 he was delighted to be inducted by the Victorian Amateur Football Association as one of the Inaugural Legends of the game. He graduated MB BS in 1937 the year he was president of Newman College Students Club. After residency at St Vincent's Hospital in 1938 and 1939, he served with the AIF 1940-1945, initially being posted to North Africa with the 6th Division and later with the 9th in Tobruk and El Alamein, retiring as Lieut Col MID. After the war he became a resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was awarded his Master of Surgery (Melb) in April 1946 and married Moira O'Collins. Shortly afterwards the newlyweds sailed for England where Jim became a Resident Surgical Officer at St James Hospital London and was admitted a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons on 12th June 1947. Following post-graduate studies in the United States they returned to Melbourne in 1948 and he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons on 5th December 1948. He was appointed Honorary Urologist at Prince Henry's Hospital in 1953 and the founding specialist in urology at the Repatriation Hospital Heidelberg (now part of the Austin Hospital) in 1957. He served as President of the Australasian Urological Society 1961-2 and as Adjoint Delegate to the International Society of Urology (SIU) 1967-1973. In 2008 the Austin Health Urology Unit honoured Jim, the first Urologist at the Repatriation General Hospital and as such - pioneer of their department by the establishment of the Jim Peters Fellowship for Urological Research. When he died the Austin in its obituary in *The Age* Oct 1st - noted how Jim had 'championed the training of Australian Urologists within Australia. His immense contribution is commemorated by the Jim Peters Fellowship in Urological Research'. For many years Jim enjoyed presenting papers and attending urological speciality meetings in Australia and overseas particularly in Rio de Janeiro (1961) when he was President of the Urological Society of Australia & New Zealand. Later conferences included Moscow, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Paris and Vienna. Jim valued the friendship of his colleagues, many of whom when visiting Melbourne stayed at his home in Toorak and later, when he retired, at the farm near Kilmore where he was able to show them the Angus cattle he and Moira bred as well as kangaroos and wombats! For relaxation he enjoyed playing golf at Peninsula Country Golf Club and Metropolitan Golf Club where on his death he was the longest serving member - 73 years. Initially playing off 5 in his early years he later went on to win events including Captains, Knox, Umphelby (2) at Metropolitan and five 1939-1945 Service trophies at Peninsula. He also had a keen interest in racing and with his friend the late Sir Maurice Nathan had many successes with his favourite horse, Penny Edition, including the 1981 Toorak Handicap. Jim and Moira had a family of five sons and three daughters. He constantly encouraged his children and was immensely proud of them: the doctors - Marion, Professor Medicine, UCSF and Justin, a Melbourne Urological Surgeon, the lawyers - Stewart, Joanna and James, the veterinarian - Bronwen, the stockbroker - Mark and the engineer - Stephen. Jim's Requiem Mass was held at Newman College Chapel, Melbourne University on October 6th where he was farewelled by his extended family and many friends including representatives from his medical, football, racing and golfing days. He is survived by Moira, his eight children, seventeen grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001574
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Addison, Oswald Lacy (1874 - 1942)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-03-20
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/375898375898
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 2 September 1874, the second child of Joseph Addison and Marianne Brown his wife. He was educated at Marlborough College and at University College, London. After serving as house surgeon to (Sir) Victor Horsley at University College Hospital, where he formed a friendship with George Waugh, qv, he was surgical registrar there and at the West London Hospital. He then succeeded Waugh as resident medical superintendent at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. With the West London and the Hospital for Sick Children he maintained a life-long connexion, retiring as consulting surgeon to each. He was also surgeon to the Infants' Hospital, Vincent Square, the Princess Louise Kensington Hospital for Children, and the Chiswick Cottage Hospital. He was an original member of the medical advisory board of the Treloar Hospital at Alton and was the second chairman of its executive committee. Addison was a painstaking and careful operator, gifted with dexterity and gentleness; though of good judgement he liked to defer to the opinion of his colleagues. He was particularly interested in the surgery of children, and a pioneer in the treatment of developmental errors of the genito-urinary system. He was an active member of the West London Medico-chirurgical Society. Addison married in 1909 Kate Brown, MB BS London 1908, who survived him less than three months, but without children. He was a keen salmon-fisherman and a student of the bird-life of the London reservoirs. He died at Bradfield Hall, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 8 January 1942, in his sixty-eighth year. Mrs Addison qualified from the London School of Medicine for Women. She was clinical assistant in the skin departments at University College Hospital, the Evelina Hospital, and the Royal Free Hospital; clinical assistant at the Hospital for Sick Children and St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin; and temporary physician to the Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Blackfriars Road. She died suddenly on 24 March 1942. Publication: *Cystoscopy, in Garrod and Thursfield Diseases of children*.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003715
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Albers, Alfred Gustave August ( - 1951)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-03-20
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/375903375903
Occupation Urologist
Details Born in South Africa, he was educated at the Diocesan College (Bishops) at Rondebosch, where he excelled as an all-round sportsman, and won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. Here he graduated in 1938, and also boxed for the university. He took his clinical training at Guy's Hospital, qualified in 1941, served as house surgeon, and then went home to South Africa. After war service in Italy with the South African Medical Corps, he came back to Guy's as surgical registrar in the genito-urinary department, under W D Doherty, FRCS. He took the Fellowship in 1949 though not previously a Member of the College, and then went home to practise as a urologist at Palmyra Road, Newlands, Cape Town. In the course of eighteen months he had begun to establish himself as an excellent professional man, with wide sporting and cultural interests. He was a convinced Liberal, and took an active interest in the improvement of the social condition of the less privileged groups in South Africa. "Allie" Albers was killed in a climbing accident on Table Mountain on 24 March 1951. He had married in Cape Town cathedral in July 1950 Prunella (Stack), widow of Lord David Douglas-Hamilton. Her first husband, a brother of the Duke of Hamilton, had been killed on active service in the Royal Air Force in 1944, leaving two sons. As Prunella Stack she had founded the Women's League of Health and Beauty. Albers was survived by his wife and his mother,
Resource Identifier RCS: E003720
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jeans, Frank Alexander Gallon (1878 - 1933)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-07-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004200-E004299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376436376436
Occupation Urologist
Details Born 15 June 1878 at Liverpool, the second child and second son of Sir Alexander Jeans, JP, then editor of the *Derby Reporter* and afterwards director and managing editor of the *Liverpool Daily Post and Echo* and Ellen Gallon, his wife. He was educated at Birkenhead School and matriculated from there at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in Arts in 1899, taking the degrees of MB BCh in 1906. He received his medical education at King's College Hospital and at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and was appointed house surgeon at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary where he was elected assistant surgeon in 1909, and succeeded Thelwall Thomas as surgeon in 1924. In the University of Liverpool he held a scholarship in surgical pathology, was a demonstrator of anatomy, and was lecturer on clinical surgery. He received a commission as temporary major, RAMC (T) on 2 January 1917 and was attached to the No 6 British Red Cross (Liverpool Merchants) Mobile Hospital. He served in France and was appointed senior surgeon, relinquishing his commission but retaining the honorary rank of major, on ceasing to be employed, from 16 December 1918. His special interest in urology brought him into considerable prominence, and he acted as consultant to the Liverpool Medical Research Organization. He was elected president of the urological section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1929. He was also a vice-president of the Liverpool Medical Institution. He married in 1907 Eveline (d 1928), daughter of Garrett James Barry. He died at Harrogate on 21 June 1933, survived by a son and a daughter. Jeans was looked upon as the best after-dinner speaker in Liverpool, a master of felicitous phrases with a fund of whimsical humour and rapier-like wit. But behind the wit and humour was sound judgment based upon wide knowledge, an understanding of human nature, and a great gift of charity. Publications: Ten consecutive cases of acute general or perforative peritonitis. *L'pool med chir J* 1910, 30, 108. Subphrenic abscess. *Ibid* 1912, 32, 130. Desmoid tumours of the abdominal wall. *Ibid* 1914, 34, 105. Treatment of acute peritonitis. *Lancet*, 1925, 1, 729.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004253
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Jones, Roger Barritt (1944 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-09-07 2014-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375030375030
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Roger Barritt Jones was a consultant surgeon and clinical director of surgery and urology at Rotherham General Hospital. He studied medicine at Manchester University, gaining a BSc in 1965 and graduating MB ChB in 1968. After house posts, he was an assistant lecturer in anatomy at Manchester University, and a registrar in surgery at the University Hospital of South Manchester. Prior to his appointment to his consultant post, he was a senior registrar in general surgery at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. Roger Barritt Jones died on 18 June 2012, aged 67. He was survived by his wife, Hilary, and sons Andrew, Richard and Paul.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002847
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Urquhart-Hay, Donald (1929 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-11-25 2017-01-19
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/373815373815
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Donald Urquhart-Hay was a well-known New Zealand urologist who enjoyed an enviable worldwide reputation. He had an excellent postgraduate training in the United Kingdom, mainly in London and organised by the Institute of Urology, and pioneered renal transplantation in Wellington, New Zealand. When serving in the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer as a commander, one of his many outside commitments was as an aide-de-camp to Sir (later Lord) Arthur Porritt when he was governor-general of New Zealand from 1967. Donald was born in Christchurch on 24 May 1929, the son of Walter Hay, a manager in the local Bank of New Zealand. He was named after Donald Urquhart, a captain who served with the New Zealand Shipping Company. His mother was Beryl Eunice née Robertson, the daughter of a draper. The family lived in Eltham in the province of Taranaki, and Donald was educated at Stratford High School, after primary schooling in Eltham. In addition to a good academic record, he developed a natural aptitude for woodwork and painting, and a lifetime interest in clocks. Graduating from University in 1954, he spent two years of house appointments in Auckland. Being drawn to surgery, he decided to travel to the UK and first spent 18 months training in orthopaedics, before taking on a busy post in general surgery with some urology at Southend General Hospital. Sir Eric Riches encouraged Donald to think seriously about the developing specialty of urology for his future career in surgery. Fortuitously, the Institute of Urology was developing a three-year training programme, based first at St Paul's Hospital, Endell Street, and rotating through the Royal Marsden and the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Working with Sir David Innes Williams, John Blandy and Richard Turner-Warwick, he had a good grounding for any surgeon wishing to specialise in urology. They emphasised to him the need for good basic research, as well as the necessity of well-organised training programmes. This was at the time when urology was developing as a specialty and separating from general surgery. Donald was influenced by many other urologists in the UK, including J D Ferguson, Howard Hanley and David Wallace. Donald then went to work with James Dempster, who nurtured his interest in renal transplantation. He met Geoffrey Chisholm, another New Zealand-born surgeon, who was at first senior registrar to Ralph Shackman at Hammersmith Hospital and the Postgraduate Medical School, and was then appointed to the consultant staff. Geoffrey was doing work in the field of organ preservation and transplantation. Urquhart-Hay's early research was on greyhounds, ideal for his research as they were 'obedient, thin and never barked!' All this work was made possible at the Hammersmith because of the existing renal dialysis programme set up by Eddie Kulatilake. Returning to New Zealand in 1966, Urquhart-Hay obtained a post as an admitting and outpatient medical officer at Wellington Hospital and, from 1967 to 1994, was visiting urologist to the hospital. He continued his research work on renal transplantation at Wallaceville Research Unit and performed the first human transplant in New Zealand at Wellington Hospital on 2 April 1969 (1). During this period, from 1966 to 1971, he also acted as medical officer to the clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. Following his baptism into urology, he pursued this specialty relentlessly as it split from its general surgical roots, and worked hard for its advancement in New Zealand. He was an ardent supporter of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, for whom he was an examiner over many years. He was unwavering in his support of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand, and designed and commissioned the Society's crest and its motto - *Juncta ad aquam* (joined across the water). Publications were numerous and included 'Comparison of epidural and hypotensive anaesthesia in open prostatectomy' (*N Z Med J*. 1969 May;69[444]:281-7), 'Voluntary sterilisation in the male'. (*N Z Med J*. 1970 Apr;71[455]:230-2) and papers on his experiences of renal transplantation. He had a great interest in medical and military history, and produced an entertaining and very readable book *Beyond the figleaf: essays on urology, sex and medical miscellania* (Wellington, Steele Roberts, 22009). This fluently written narrative covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from Florence Nightingale, the history of sex, to alcohol and the medical profession, as well as details of various urological societies. Naturally his superb work was recognised further afield, and in 1992 he became chief of urology and renal transplantation for the Ministry of Defence, Saudi Arabia. His fame spread in the Middle East and he became an adviser in urology and renal transplantation to the Department of Health in Dubai from 1993 to 1995, and during this latter period was also visiting professor in urology to the Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Outside his medical duties he enjoyed sailing and was a member of the Bentley Owners Club of England and of New Zealand. He was first a district surgeon to the Order of St John and, from 1981, was appointed chief commissioner, a role he continued for seven years. As a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society of England, he possessed a collection of some 200 clocks, which he wound lovingly each week. His most prized possession, a mantle clock given by Lord Nelson to his mistress, Emma Hamilton, was kept 15 minutes fast, in honour of Nelson's commitment to punctuality! He also had a fine collection of old surgical instruments. Donald retired from Wellington Hospital in 1994, to continue in several roles. He acted in an advisory capacity for the Accident Compensation Corporation, and from 1997 to 2002 was full time urologist to Palmerston North Hospital. In 2007 he served as a member of the Capital and District Health Board of Wellington. He also engaged in medico-legal work. After many years of living in Wellington, he moved with his wife to Ta Horo, near the Otaki River. Here they built an English style garden and Donald built a dry stone wall using the large supply of stones from the nearby river. Donald died on 13 August 2011 at Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington, at the age of 82. He was survived by his wife Pamela (née Bowden-Hennin), whom he had met while studying for the primary FRCS in 1957, their two sons (Simon and Timothy), daughter (Charlotte) and seven grandchildren. [(1) 1968 deleted, 2 April 1969 added. Confirmed by Renal History page, Capital and Coast District Health Board of Wellington.]
Resource Identifier RCS: E001632
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McCrea, Edward D'Arcy (1895 - 1940)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-09-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004400-E004499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376614376614
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 7 February 1895 at Altona, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, eldest son of John Harris McCrea, merchant, and Jeannette Seale, his wife. He was educated at Wycliff College, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated with a brilliant academic record in 1917, proceeding MD in 1920 and MCh in 1922. In that year he also gained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He had been commissioned as a temporary captain, RAMC, on 30 July 1918. McCrea was elected assistant surgeon at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, Dublin in 1919, but retired on moving to England in 1922. He settled at Manchester, becoming registrar of the department of urology at Salford Royal Hospital. He was elected assistant surgeon to the Hospital in June 1927, and surgeon in February 1935; throughout this period he worked with J B Macalpine. He took the Fellowship of the College in 1926, without being already a Member. He was also consulting surgeon to the Eccles and Patricroft Hospital, Manchester, and from 1 July 1935 consulting genito-urinary surgeon to the Infirmary at Leigh. At the time of his death he was senior honorary secretary of the section of urology in the Royal Society of Medicine. McCrea carried out some excellent anatomical and physiological research, in association with J S B Stopford and B A McSwiney. He first studied the innervation of the stomach, then became interested in the musculature of the bladder, and worked at various problems in bladder physiology at the Manchester Medical School. He subsequently transferred his interest to the diseases of the male genital tract. His monograph on Diseases of the urethra and penis, published six months before his death, was very well received. It was intended as the first of a series on the surgery of his special subject. The specimens and notes for this work, including a rich collection on the testicle, were destroyed in the bombing of his house in which he lost his life. McCrea was reserved and shy, with few non-professional interests, but he was a good talker and enjoyed the company of fellow-scientists, though preferring his home and his books. He was a first-class lawn-tennis player and had represented Ireland in the Davis Cup competition. McCrea married on 25 September 1925 Edith Florence Willock, who, like him, was a medical graduate of Dublin and a Fellow (1925) of the Irish College of Surgeons. Mrs McCrea was surgeon to the Manchester Babies Hospital. She had written on Anoxaemic atrophy of infants in the *Quarterly Journal of Medicine*, 1929, 22, 269, and was engaged on an exhaustive study of pyloric stenosis. McCrea, his wife, and their two children, a boy and a girl, were killed when a German bomb destroyed their house, The Cottage, Worsley, near Manchester, during an air-raid in December 1940. Publications:- Nerves of the stomach and their relation to surgery. *Brit J Surg* 1926, 13, 621. Musculature of bladder. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1926, 19, Urol. Sect., p 35. Early carcinoma testis. *Brit J Urol* 1934, 6, 46. Pre-sacral sympathectomy and the urinary bladder. *Brit J Urol* 1934, 6, 119. Epididymal cysts, their aetiology and treatment. *Brit J Urol* 1935, 7, 152. Treatment of undescended testis. *Lancet*, 1935, 2, 753. Dislocation of testis, spontaneous reduction. *Brit J Urol* 1938, 10, 251. Tuberculosis of male genital tract. *Irish J med Sci* 1938, p. 614. Urinary symptoms in disease of nervous system. *Med Press*, 1939, 201, 8. Factors influencing treatment of incompletely descended testis. *Urol Cutan Rev* 1939, 43, 239. *Diseases of the urethra and penis*. Bristol, 1940.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004431
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Attwater, Harry Lawrence (1885 - 1961)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Anthony, Rene Francis (1934 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2013-12-16 2015-12-14
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/376963376963
Occupation Urologist
Details René Francis Anthony was a urologist at the Dr Georges L Dumont and the Moncton City hospitals, New Brunswick, Canada. He was born on 10 August 1934. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1967. He was also a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. He died on 18 October 2013, aged 79.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004780
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Basu, Pradip Kumar (1942 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by I M Hutton
Publication Date 2013-12-16 2014-06-06
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/376964376964
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Pradip Basu was a urological and general surgeon in Lincoln. He was born on 4 January 1942 into a medical family in Calcutta, India, the sixth child of Bibhuti Bhusan and Durga Rani Basu née Sinha. His grandfather and father qualified in Calcutta; his father became chief medical officer to the east zone of India, and at one time worked for Eveready Batteries. Two of Pradip's sisters went on to become gynaecologists in Hull and Sheffield. In all 10 members of the family have been employed in the National Health Service. Pradip studied medicine in Calcutta, qualified in 1965 and then moved to the UK. His potential as a surgeon soon became apparent. He secured successive posts in Hull to registrar level, and then, in 1975, he was appointed as a registrar in general and paediatric surgery and urology in Rhyl, Wales. Appointments in Liverpool followed, as a senior registrar and honorary lecturer at Broadgreen, Whiston and Walton hospitals, where his expertise was further extended in vascular and endocrine surgery and urology. This period saw Pradip develop his research interests. These covered a wide range of topics, including those connected with renal transplantation. Studies were undertaken on bowel motility after ureteric implantation, the incidence of steroid-induced cataract, comparison of in-situ and reversed vein saphenofemoral bypass and myoelectrical changes in colonic disorders. He made many presentations to learned societies, including the British Transplantation Society, the British Society of Gastroenterology, the Association of Surgeons of India and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He wrote articles for the *British Medical Journal*, *Transplantation Proceedings*, the *European Journal of Cancer* and *Gut*. During this time, Pradip carried out 51 cadaveric renal transplants. His inevitable consultant surgical appointment was to the United Lincolnshire Hospitals in 1988, to which post he brought extensive experience. He immediately recognised the need for a specialist urological service, and set about constructing this with characteristic energy. Corridor meetings were always about 'equipment', and under his influence the department blossomed, replacing the previous mixture of general surgery to incorporate urology. This change was not at first welcomed by some colleagues, but Pradip always prevailed when difficulties were encountered. He was appointed as a PLAB examiner in 2000. He examined final year medical students at Nottingham and Leicester universities. For such a busy man, Pradip found as much time as possible for his family, to whom he was devoted. He had met Santa Biswas, his future wife, in Calcutta. They belonged to the same rifle shooting club. Santa went on to become the All-India 0.22 rifle shooting champion in 1965. During selection for the National Championships, Pradip had publically upbraided Santa for recommending certain pills to a friend for flu-like symptoms before a shoot, without medical qualification. This incident certainly brought him to her attention. In 1968 they married for love; arranged marriages were then the norm. Their two sons, Babu and Bobby, were very close to him, and he was immensely proud when Babu obtained an MBA, and Bobby qualified in medicine. Bobby worked in Rotherham, and frequently found himself in a urology clinic without senior support. Pradip made sure he was available for telephone consultations; Rotherham Hospital had an unpaid consultant! Pradip's outside interests were extensive. He and Santa continued with competition shooting: she became Lincoln women's champion, and he was always in the 'A' team, taking part in the National Shooting Championships at Bisley. His funeral was attended by the entire shooting team, and the coach. He loved cricket, and frequently got up in the early hours to watch test match cricket in other countries. He opened the bowling and batting for teams, including school, university, medical college and various hospitals. He was, in addition, an excellent character actor, taking part in many productions as a key member of a local theatre group. Pradip Basu was a gifted man, extremely dedicated to the hospitals in Lincoln and to those under his care. He was an outstanding colleague. His expertise was apparent from the beginning and his output was prodigious, in the days when this was permitted by management and nursing staff. He died on 4 November 2011, aged 69.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004781
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Donovan, Hugh (1897 - 1959)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-02-10 2022-01-21
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005000-E005099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377192377192
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 24 September 1897, son of Lieutenant-Colonel H L Donovan RAMC, he was one of a large family which contributed notably to medicine and the Services. Major-General Sir Patrick Hehir, Indian Medical Service, was an uncle, and three of Donovan's brothers became well-known Birmingham doctors. Educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, Hugh Donovan was a scholar, played in the XV and was colour-sergeant of the OTC. At Birmingham University his medical studies were interrupted by the first world war and he served as a surgeon-probationer in destroyers. His clinical studies were outstanding for he won all the medals, prizes and scholarships for his particular year. After qualifying in 1920 he was house surgeon to Seymour Barling before entering the Indian Medical Service. When he found that Service life was not to his taste he returned to resident hospital posts. Once Donovan had decided to be a surgeon he took the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1924 and the English in 1925. His main interest was urology, which he studied in London, and was a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital. Soon afterwards he was appointed assistant surgeon at the Queen's Hospital, Birmingham. In later life he decided to withdraw from general surgery and practise only as a urologist, and he became one of the leaders in his field. He built up a large department, with extensive out-patient services, which he aimed to make the urological centre for the West Midlands. Donovan was president of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1953-54, and vice-president of the Section of Surgery at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association in Birmingham in 1958. He accepted the presidency of the British Association of Urological Surgeons for 1960, but had to withdraw because of ill health. On 19 December 1932 Hugh Donovan married Mabel Thorburn Johnstone MD, of Letchworth, an old friend and former fellow-student. It was a most happy marriage, and when Donovan's wife died leaving two small children, it was a tragic blow for him. He threw himself even more into his work and eventually impaired his health. He was a man of independent views, and a lively conversationalist with a whimsical Irish charm. He lived at 1194 Warwick Road, Solihull and later at Green Acres, Copt Heath, Warwickshire. He died on 16 December 1959 at the age of 62. Publications: Speculation on the nature of the chemical structure which is the essence of the malignant cell. *Nature* 1943, 152, 509. Severe anaemia and hyperpiesia associated with prostatic obstruction. *Brit J Urol* 1947, 19, 126. Care of the urinary tract in paraplegic patients. *Lancet* 1947, 1, 515. **See below for additional obituary uploaded 19 January 2022:** Hugh Donovan was a consultant in Birmingham and one of the first surgeons to specialise in urology, becoming a leader in this field. He was born on 24 September 1897 in Burma, the son of a Hugh Latimer Donovan, a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and Rosabel Sinclair Donovan née Kirkwood, who was originally from Dublin. There were many doctors in the family, including two uncles, Sir Patrick Hehir of the Indian Medical Service and William Donovan, a senior doctor in Erdington. Hugh’s first cousin was Charles Donovan, professor of pathology in Madras, who independently discovered the causative parasite of kala azar but was pre-empted in publication by a few weeks by William Leishman. Three of Hugh’s brothers, Harry, Ivar and Edwin, were well-known Birmingham GPs. Hugh saved the life of Ivar when as a small boy he fell into a rainwater tank in a greenhouse. His sister Lillie Mary, who also qualified in medicine at Birmingham, married Kenneth Bernard Pinson, a senior anaesthetist in Manchester. Hugh was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, where he was a scholar, played rugby and was colour-sergeant of the officers’ training corps. At Birmingham University his medical studies were interrupted by the First World War, and he served as a surgeon-probationer in destroyers. His clinical studies were outstanding, and he won all the medals, prizes and scholarships in his year. After qualifying he was a house surgeon to Seymour Barling in Birmingham before entering the Indian Medical Service. When he found that service life was not to his taste, he returned to resident hospital posts. Once Donovan had decided to be a surgeon, he took the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1924 and of England in 1925. His main interest was urology, which he studied in London, as a clinical assistant at St Peter’s Hospital. Soon afterwards he was appointed as an assistant surgeon at the Queen’s Hospital, Birmingham and was subsequently appointed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham as a consultant in general surgery. After the Second World War, he gradually withdrew from general surgery and practised as one of the first pure urologists, becoming one of the leaders in this specialty. He built up a large department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, with extensive out-patient services, which he aimed to make the urological centre for the west Midlands. Donovan was president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1953 to 1954, and vice president of the section of surgery at the annual meeting of the British Medical Association in Birmingham in 1958. On 19 December 1932 Hugh Donovan married Mabel Thorburn Johnstone, of Letchworth, an old friend and former fellow-student. It was a most happy marriage, and when Donovan's wife died in 1941, leaving a daughter and a son, it was a tragic blow for him. He threw himself even more into his work, which eventually impaired his health. He was a man of independent views, a lively conversationalist with a whimsical Irish charm. He enjoyed hill walking, often with friends and colleagues, and suffered his first myocardial infarction whilst on such an expedition. He died from the effects of coronary artery disease on 16 December 1959 at the age of 62, before he could take up the presidency of the British Association of Urological Surgeons to which he had been elected. Ian Donovan
Resource Identifier RCS: E005009
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Macalpine, James Barlow (1882 - 1960)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-03-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005100-E005199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377294377294
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 11 February 1882 one of the four sons of Sir George Watson Macalpine Kt (1850-1920) of Accrington, a colliery owner, brick manufacturer and President of the Baptist Union, and of his wife Arianne, daughter of James Barlow JP of Accrington, he was educated at Mill Hill School and Manchester University. After qualifying with the Conjoint diploma and the degree of Manchester, he held office as house surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and then, for postgraduate study, he went to the London Hospital and to Vienna. After the first war he was appointed to the surgical staff of the Salford Royal Hospital and founded the genito-urinary department as its first head, which became famous attracting postgraduates from far and wide. He was also consulting urological surgeon to the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, being a pioneer in the use of radiotherapy for malignant disease of the urinary tract. He was one of the members of the original Urological Club and a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, being the first recipient of the St Peter's Medal in 1949. He had been President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1934, and was best known for his contribution to the knowledge of the pathology and treatment of bladder tumours, a subject upon which he delivered a Hunterian lecture in 1947. His book *Cystoscopy and Urography* first published in 1927, which ran to three editions, being translated into Italian in 1951, is a classic, and he regularly contributed articles to the *British Medical Journal* and other periodicals on urological subjects. "Jim" was a gifted attractive personality with a great sense of humour and, being a man of means, was able to devote all his time and energy to the furtherance of urology as a specialty in Manchester and he was appointed honorary lecturer in urology to the University. In his youth he was a Rugby full back and sprinter, and later enjoyed golf, yachting, the piano and billiards. He retired to the Lake District and died at his home Michael's Nook, Grasmere, Westmorland on 17 March 1960 survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005111
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wiggins-Davies, Walter Wiggins (1914 - 1974)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007000-E007099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379224379224
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 24 May 1914, Walter was the first son of William Theophilus Wiggins-Davies, a manufacturing stationer in Birmingham. He was educated at King Edward School in Birmingham and at Trinity College, Cambridge, before his clinical studies at St Thomas's Hospital. He became a senior surgical registrar at St Thomas's and then first assistant in the urology department where he developed his interest and career in urology. He served in the RAMC with the rank of Major as a surgical specialist before his appointment as a consultant in urology to the Portsmouth Hospital Group. He was a senior Fellow of the Association of Surgeons and also of the Association of Urological Surgeons. He wrote articles on diseases of the prostate gland and bladder, urethroscopy, the treatment of urethral stricture, sling operations, and embryological studies about the persistent mesonephric duct. In 1941 he married Ann Gilbert but they were divorced and, in 1958, he married Cynthia Lee, who was also MRCS. They had one son who is a farmer. Walter was keen on shooting, fishing and bird-watching. His latter years were overshadowed by progressive respiratory deficiency which eventually confined him to the house and the use of oxygen. He died on 19 February 1974.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007041
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jose, Sir Ivan Bede (1893 - 1969)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-08-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378043378043
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ivan Jose was born on 13 February 1893 in China where his father was an Anglican missionary. When he was ten years old the family moved to Adelaide, South Australia, where his father became first the Rector of Christ Church, North Adelaide, and later Dean of the Adelaide diocese. Ivan had two younger brothers, and all three of them were imbued from their childhood with a spirit of service, inherited no doubt from their father. Wilfred, the second son was killed in action in France in 1917, and Gilbert, the youngest, who qualified in medicine, served in the Australian Army Medical Corps in the second world war and died as a prisoner-of-war. Ivan went to school in Adelaide, first at Queen's School and then at St Peter's College, for which he had a lasting affection. At the outbreak of the first world war he was within a year of the final MB, but at once enlisted as a private in the AAMC. However, after two months in camp he was sent back to qualify, which he did in August 1915 and then rejoined the Medical Corps as a Captain. He served for a short time on the Suez Canal and then joined the 14th Field Ambulance in France, rose to the rank of Major, and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. Directly after the war he concentrated on surgical training, and in 1922 he obtained the Fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and of England; the MS of Adelaide in 1923; and the Australasian Fellowship in 1929. He was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1924, and served as surgeon to inpatients from 1930 till obligatory retirement in 1950, under the 20 year rule, after which he acted as honorary consulting surgeon. He was a general surgeon with a special interest in urology, but his outstanding contribution was to teaching, in which he excelled at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. He was made the first Director of Surgical Studies in the Medical School in 1936, and proved to be not only an inspiring leader, but also a capable administrator, introducing many improvements in the organization of surgical teaching in the school. He also served on the Council of the University of Adelaide from 1954 till 1966. He never looked for praise or renown, and his quiet almost shy manner masked an underlying resolution and determination which, usually by peaceful persuasion, gained his point and carried the day. It was therefore inevitable that he should be in demand for service on many medical bodies - President of the South Australian Branch of the BMA in 1954; on the Council of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons from 1945 to 1957 and President for the final two years of that period; Chairman of the South Australian Division of the Australian Red Cross Society and a member of the National Council, to which he made a distinguished contribution; President of the Australian Postgraduate Federation in Medicine, which involved coordination of interstate activities, and links with similar bodies overseas; a vigorous part in hospital building in Adelaide, both the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and St Andrew's Presbyterian Private Hospital; and he also assisted greatly in the development of the Blood Transfusion Service. It might be supposed that these "public" duties might have interfered with his own practice of surgery, but this was not so, and there were countless patients who were reassured by his own quiet confidence as well as profiting from his surgical skill. Furthermore, he managed to find time for relaxation on the golf course, though as a younger man he had done well at cricket and tennis, and latterly he derived great pleasure and satisfaction from converting an area of scrub land to the south east of Adelaide into first-class grazing property. In May 1919 he married Imogen Hawkes who throughout his career gave him tremendous encouragement and support, whether on so many happy occasions when she played her part as a most charming hostess, or during the grim long months of his final illness which he bore with characteristic fortitude. They shared the delight of the richly deserved honour of his knighthood in 1963, and of their golden wedding which gave them great joy. They had three children, of whom the youngest, John, is following in his father's footsteps as an urological surgeon. Ivan Jose died at the age of 76 on 23 November, 1969, leaving behind him a magnificent record of service to his country, his profession, his University, his College, and his fellow men.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005860
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barrington, Frederick James Fitzmaurice (1885 - 1956)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-01-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004800-E004899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377051377051
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Educated at University College Hospital Medical School, where he won a university scholarship in physiology when he qualified in 1907 and the Atkinson Morley surgical scholarship in 1908. After holding resident posts at University College Hospital and St Peter's Hospital for Stone he was elected to the staff of both hospitals and was ultimately surgeon to St Peter's and consulting surgeon for genito-urinary diseases at University College Hospital. He pursued his surgical work with distinction and gave particular care to his students and hospital patients, but cared little for private practice. He was at heart a scientist and field-naturalist. While still a student he frequented the pathology department of the Zoological Gardens; later at St Peter's he carried through a valuable research on the nervous mechanism of micturition. He was uncommonly well-read in the literature of anatomy and physiology, and was a regular visitor to the College library in search of out of the way German books and articles by the older writers in these fields. He also had a wide and deep knowledge of botany, zoology, and comparative anatomy. Barrington was a member of the Physiological Society and of the Société internationale d'Urologie. At society meetings he could demolish an ill-founded hypothesis, but he was generous of his own knowledge and ready to admit ignorance and to explore the background of any subject which he thought he ought to study. All who got past his shy, harsh manner held him in affection and admiration. He often spent an evening in animated conversation at the Athenaeum, and equally enjoyed a day's shooting or sailing for the opportunity of observing wild-life. His informed enthusiasm on these occasions was an inspiration to his companions. His tall figure and brisk movements were long familiar in the parts of London where he lived and worked, for he set no store by appearances, never wore a hat or great-coat, and always walked; he was a well-known figure at the Athenaeum. During the second world war he organised a large genito-urinary service at the Emergency Medical Service hospital at Colindale. He had previously lived at 10 Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, and after the war settled at 14A Upper Wimpole Street. He died suddenly on 23 March 1956. A memorial service was held at St Pancras Church on 19 April 1956. He left £1000 each to the Severn Wildfowl Trust, the Ray Society, the British Ornithologists Union, and the libraries of the Athenaeum Club, the Linnean Society and the Zoological Society. Publications: The nervous mechanism of micturition. *Quart J exper Physiol* 1914, 8, 33. The relation of the hind-brain to micturition. *Brain* 1921, 44, 23.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004868
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thomas, William James Charles (1931 - 1982)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379180379180
Occupation Urologist
Details William 'Bill' Thomas took up skiing at the age of 40 and, enjoying the challenge, soon made himself a competent skier by sheer hard work. He died suddenly while on a skiing holiday in St Moritz on 26 February 1982. He was educated at Dulwich College and Pembroke College, Oxford, completing his clinical studies at the Radcliffe Infirmary. His postgraduate training included posts in South Wales where he took part in pioneering renal transplantation and then a period at Pennsylvania State University before being appointed consultant urologist at Preston Royal Infirmary. He threw himself into his work with characteristic enthusiasm becoming head of the department. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, local BMA secretary and undergraduate tutor for Manchester University. He served on numerous committees helping to raise funds for kidney research. He was equally hardworking in many local activities in Preston including the Preston North End Football Club. Other interests included rugby, cricket and sailing. He was survived by his wife Dorothy and a daughter who was about to enter medicine. He was remembered for his enthusiasm, his kindness and his ability as a clinical teacher. He was very proud of his Welsh ancestry and a colleague remembers as typical of his kindness that he spent a long time calming the fears of an elderly Welsh patient by explaining to her in her own language what he was going to do.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006997
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fitzpatrick, John Michael (1948 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-06-13 2016-09-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005400-E005499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377635377635
Occupation Urologist
Details John Fitzpatrick, professor and chairman of the department of surgery, Mater Misericordiae Hospital and University College, Dublin (UCD), was an internationally-renowned urologist. The son of a prominent lawyer, he was born in Dublin on 15 July 1948. He was educated at Gonzaga College and won a place at Oxford University to study greats, but chose to study medicine at UCD instead. He qualified in 1971. Over the next few years he held junior posts at St Vincent's and Sir Patrick Dun's hospitals in Dublin. In 1977, he went to the UK for further training in urology. He was a registrar and then a senior registrar at St Peter's Hospital and the Institute of Urology, London. In March 1981, he returned to Dublin as a consultant urologist at Meath and St James' hospitals and as a senior lecturer at Trinity College. Five years later, he became a professor and chairman of the department of surgery at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and University College, Dublin, and a consultant urologist at Mater Misericordiae Hospital. In 2012, following his retirement, he became head of research at the Irish Cancer Society. His research interests included renal ischaemia, ureteric obstruction, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatic carcinoma, minimally invasive surgery, reconstructive urology, infertility and erectile dysfunction. With Bill Watson he established a major research programme in prostate cancer and was a founding member of the Prostate Cancer Research Consortium. He was one of earliest advocates for the use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) as a means of early detection of the disease. He was among the first in Britain and Ireland to embrace total surgical removal of the prostate when the cancer was still confined to the gland. He was a visiting professor at 45 leading academic centres worldwide. He wrote more than 280 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 100 book chapters and edited 18 textbooks. He was editor in chief of *BJU International* and was on the editorial board of 25 other academic journals. He was president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and of the Irish Society of Urology. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Urology Foundation and chairman of their scientific committee. In 2004 he was awarded the St Peter's medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1975. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and of the College of Urologists of South Africa. He was an honorary member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and of the American Urological Association, as well as an honorary member of the urological societies of Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, India, Hungary, Argentina, Greece and Georgia. John Michael Fitzpatrick died on 14 May 2014 from a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage. He was 65. He was survived by his wife Carol, a former professor of child psychiatry at UCD, and their children, Andrew, Emma and Gareth.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005452
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Murphie, Charles Ian (1911 - 1971)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005900-E005999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378144378144
Occupation Urologist
Details Charles Ian Murphie was born on 23 September 1911 in Birkenhead where his father was a partner in a family business. He was educated at Birkenhead School and Cheltenham College where he was a scholar. He then went to Wadham College, Oxford and came up to King's College Hospital for his clinical work, qualifying in 1937. At Wadham he was Bayliss exhibitioner, and at King's he held the Burney Yeo Scholarship, as well as distinguishing himself in athletics, particularly as a long-distance runner, and won the Victor Ludorum Cup in 1936. During the second world war he served in the RAMC, chiefly in the Mediterranean theatre, and was a prisoner of war for a short period. After demobilization he took the FRCS in 1948, and was surgical registrar at King's College Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital, the Metropolitan Hospital, and the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, and finally he became senior registrar at St Paul's Hospital after which urology became the dominant interest in his clinical practice, and he wrote on renal tuberculosis. He was senior research assistant at the Institute of Urology from 1950 till 1956 when he was appointed consultant to the German Hospital, and in 1961 to the East Ham Memorial Hospital where he established a special genitourinary department. Murphie preserved his interest in athletics and was one of the medical advisers to the Amateur Athletic Association. As a boy he was a good singer and in later life an active member of the Madrigal Society. He was very fond of clocks and of demonstrating their mechanism to his friends. Much of his spare time was devoted to committee work, and at the time of his early death he was chairman of his hospital management committee. In 1969 he became aware of failing health, but he did not allow this to interfere with devotion to his work, yet his death from a heart attack on 19 June 1971 at the age of 59 was not unexpected. He was twice married, and survived by two daughters of his first marriage, his wife and an infant daughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005961
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pearse, Robin (1886 - 1956)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-04-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005200-E005299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377429377429
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in 1886 at Exeter and educated at King's School, Canterbury and at St Bartholomew's Hospital, he qualified in 1909. He was house surgeon at the Great North Central Hospital and house physician at Mount Vernon Hospital for consumption. After a period as assistant pathologist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton he took the Fellowship in 1912 and emigrated in 1914 to Toronto. He served during the war of 1914-18 with the 4th Canadian General Hospital in France and later at Salonika, and then went back to Toronto, where he took a distinguished part in surgical affairs and became consulting urological surgeon to the General and Wellesley Hospitals, and Professor of Urology in the University. He was a charter Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a founder and first President of the Canadian Urological Society. He served as President of the Toronto Academy of Medicine, the Toronto Aesculapian Club, and the North-Eastern section of the American Urological Association. He practised at 711 Medical Arts Building and lived at 12 Hillhurst Boulevard where he died on 19 November 1956. He married Amy Christine Wilburn of Hove, Sussex, who survived him with two married daughters and four grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005246
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lumb, Norman Peace Lacy (1891 - 1957)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-04-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005200-E005299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377457377457
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in 1891, his medical education took place at St Thomas's Hospital. After qualification he obtained an appointment as clinical assistant in the skin department and then as casualty officer with a view to continuing as house surgeon. On the outbreak of war in 1914, however, he immediately joined the RAMC and served throughout the war being twice mentioned in dispatches and being demobilised with the rank of Major. After this he was resident physician at York Road Lying-In Hospital and a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. Having been admitted to the Fellowship in 1922, he joined a firm of general practitioners at Crewkerne as surgical partner with an appointment as surgeon to Crewkerne Hospital, but in 1927 he moved to Southsea as a practitioner, and in 1928 acted as surgical registrar at the Royal Portsmouth Hospital. In 1929 he was appointed honorary assistant surgeon and abandoned general practice, becoming a consultant, but acting as a referee under the Workmen's Compensation Act. His interest became more particularly concentrated in the field of urology, and he established a department of urology at the Royal Portsmouth Hospital and also at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital. In 1946 he was appointed consulting surgeon to the Ministry of Pensions Hospital at Cosham and Havant War Memorial, and in 1949 visiting surgeon to St Mary's Hospital which had become one of the Portsmouth group of hospitals. At one time he was secretary of the Southern Branch of the British Medical Association. He retired in 1954 and moved from Southsea to Chichester. He died on 6 September 1957 at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester survived by his widow, Connie, his son G N Lumb FRCS 1956, and his daughter Mary Saunders.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005274
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Allen, Leonard Norman (1929 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Robert J Ryall
Publication Date 2014-06-13 2014-11-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005400-E005499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377631377631
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Leonard Norman Allen ('Len') was a urological surgeon at Edgware General Hospital, Middlesex. He was born in the village of Brede, Sussex, on 30 April 1929, the youngest son of Norman Williams Allen and Mildred Kathleen Allen née Hoad. His father, a much-respected member of the local community, was a grocer and the village sub-postmaster for half a century. Len's mother, very protective of her last born, postponed her son's entry to the local primary school until his sixth year due to the severe visual impairment from which he had suffered since birth. His condition, severe myopia, was not finally diagnosed until he was nine years old. It is said that, on receiving his first pair of spectacles, he 'whooped with joy' on being able to see the world around him properly for the first time. Despite his delayed start, he won an entrance scholarship to Rye Grammar School, but his progress was again encumbered; with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he was, like many other children, evacuated, in his case to a kind, welcoming family on a farm near the comparative safety of Bedford. It was four years before he was able to return to Rye Grammar School, from which he again achieved scholastic success, and was awarded a state scholarship in his final term. This enabled him to enrol - after conscription for two years of National Service in the RAF - at University College Hospital Medical School. He qualified MB BS and MRCS LRCP in 1954. Len Allen's pre-registration posts were at Leicester General and Leicester Royal hospitals, where he first met a young newly-qualified Scottish doctor, Elizabeth Taylor. They married in 1957. Len chose to embark on a surgical career. He obtained his FRCS in 1959 and was shortly afterwards appointed as a junior registrar at his alma mater, University College Hospital, and then as a senior surgical registrar to Robin Sturtevant Pilcher and Doreen Nightingale, and, after that, upon the death of the former, to Charles Clarke. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon to Edgware General Hospital, where he spent the rest of his professional life. He brought with him a particular vision, influenced by the values of Beveridge and the optimism of the immediate post-war years, which saw the development of the welfare state and the NHS. He believed in the importance of working together, in a cross-fertilisation of all talents, that one person's amassing of awards, prizes or accumulation of research papers, pursued as a measure of merit, could be bettered by joint endeavour and shared recognition. Len, as a consequence, was elected chairman of the consultant surgical group by his peers. In his professional life, Len was an able, trustworthy and judicious surgeon to his patients; for his colleagues, he was a faithful friend, dependable in counsel and constant in support. In his personal life, Len was a stalwart, strong, good-humoured and ever-loving husband, a thoughtful and caring father, and the fondest of grandfathers. One of his children became a doctor, two became veterinary surgeons and another is a qualified nutritionist, while three of his eight grandchildren are studying medicine: there can be no greater compliment paid to a doctor from his family. In his final illness, which was sudden and unanticipated, he showed staunch courage, boundless fortitude and tenacious good cheer, borne up throughout by his steady faith, the love of his wife and family, and the constancy of his friends and colleagues. Leonard Norman Allen died on 6 February 2014, aged 84. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Allen, two sons, Peter and Michael, two daughters, Jennifer and Penelope, and eight grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005448
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thompson, Arthur Ralph (1876 - 1955)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005400-E005499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377599377599
Occupation Anatomist Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 3 September 1876 son of Vincent Thomas Thompson QC, Assistant Recorder of Leeds, he came of a family many of whose members distinguished themselves through three or four generations in law, medicine, and administrative or academic work; they were related by marriage to similar prominent professional families such as the Brodies and de Morgans. Reginald Thompson FRCP, physician to Brompton Hospital, was his uncle. He was educated at Leeds Medical School and Guy's Hospital, and studied in Paris. While at Guy's he was a strong "forward" in the Rugby XV and later played for Barbarians. Qualifying in 1901 he was a house surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Children, Shadwell, and at Guy's successively demonstrator of anatomy, anaesthetist, surgical registrar, and the first resident surgical officer. While demonstrator of anatomy he wrote a classic paper on dislocation of the hip in infants. Under the influence of Arbuthnot Lane, then the outstanding personality at Guy's, he kept up his anatomical studies, gave a Hunterian lecture at the College in 1908 on the anatomy of long bones in relation to fractures, and became a vice-president of the Anatomical Society. He was appointed in 1910 to be the first surgeon-in-charge of the new genito-urinary department at Guy's, a post he held till retirement in 1936, when he was appointed a consulting surgeon emeritus, for he had built up the department admirably to the highest standards. During the war of 1914-18 he also served at the Grove War Hospital, Tooting. He was President of the Section of Urology in the Royal Society of Medicine in 1931-32, and a member of the International Society of Urology. He examined in anatomy for the Primary Fellowship 1918-23, and was secretary and vice-president of the Chelsea Clinical Society. His great ability and experience were offset by faults of social character. Absolutely honest, he was absolutely without tact, cultivated his prejudices, and was so blunt of speech that he was nicknamed "Rudy". When asked why he wore a bowler hat in the wards, he replied "To annoy the Matron". His uninhibited comments lost him friends and virtually destroyed his private practice, but he was his own only enemy; to those who could bear his mannerisms he was an amusing well-informed companion, and he did acts of kindness by stealth. During the years 1944-53 he was an assessor to the Ministry of Pensions, and a frequent visitor to the College. He had practised at 143 Harley Street and 31 Queen's Gate Terrace. He married in 1906 Florence Wansey who survived him with their two sons and two daughters. He died in Guy's Hospital on 16 October 1955, aged 79, and a memorial service was held in the Hospital Chapel on 28 October. Publications: Joint author with Sir Alfred Fripp: *Human anatomy for art students*. London 1911. Excision of the hip-joint. *Guy's Hosp Rep*. 1905, 59, 347. Relationship between the internal structure of the upper part of the femur and fractures through the base of the neck of the femur. (Hunterian Lecture) *J Anat*. 1907-08, 42, 60. Figures relative to congenital abnormalities of the upper urinary tract, and its surgical anatomy. 1913-14, 48, 280. The capacity of, and pressure of fluid in the urinary bladder. *J Anat*. 1918-19, 53, 241. Primary union in operations on bladder and prostate. *Proc Roy Soc Med*. 1923, 16, Urology, p. 47. Some features of the elbow joint. *Journal of Anatomy* 1923-24, 58, 368. Some points in connection with the successful issue of simple prostatectomy. (Presidential address, Section of Urology.) *Proc Roy Soc Med*. 1931-32, 25; 907. Homer's surgery. *Manchester Univ Med Sch Gaz*. 1954, 33, 238; summary in *Proc Roy Soc Med*, History section, 1953, 45, 765. Recollections. *Guy's Hosp Gaz*. 1951, 65, 347, 363, 384, 409, 425, 447, 466, 494; 1953, 67, 277; and 1954, 68, 73. These "Recollections" show Thompson at his best: generous, amusing, but never unkind character sketches of surgeons and anatomists whom he had known since his student days, with sufficient technical detail to make them interesting as a record of the surgery which he had seen or practised.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005416
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Raper, Frederick Peter (1913 - 1966)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378238378238
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in 1913 at Grassington, Yorkshire, he was the elder son of Professor H S Raper DSc, FRS, Professor of Physiology in Leeds from 1917 to 1923 and in Manchester from 1923 to 1946, when he became Dean of the Faculty until his death in 1951. Raper was educated at Giggleswick School and the medical school of Leeds, which he entered in 1931. After qualification he held appointments as house surgeon and receiving room officer culminating in his appointment in 1941, after being admitted a Fellow, as resident surgical officer in the General Infirmary, holding this position until 1944. He then entered the RAMC serving until 1947 as a surgical specialist in India. Returning to Leeds in 1947 he was appointed surgical tutor to the University and in 1950 was awarded a travelling scholarship by the United Leeds Hospitals, tenable at Ann Arbor, Michigan for further training in urological surgery. Returning to Leeds in 1951 to the post of senior registrar in the United Hospitals and St James's Hospital, in 1952 he was appointed consultant urological surgeon. In April 1964 he became senior consultant and senior clinical lecturer on the retirement of Professor L N Pyrah. He held many appointments in addition to those in the hospital and university. A member of the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons from 1959 to 1962 and secretary of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1956 to 1957, becoming Vice-President from 1957 to 1961, he was secretary of the Leeds and West Riding Medico-Chirurgical Society from 1957 to 1961. He was also President of the Leeds Medical Sciences Club from 1964 to 1965. As a surgeon Raper was an expert craftsman, gentle and dexterous, and was at the same time an able diagnostician. Although he had had a very thorough grounding in general surgery, when it was decided in 1948 to form a department of urology in Leeds, he expressed a desire to become attached to it and to abandon general surgery. His year's experience at Ann Arbor convinced him of the correctness of his decision. Latterly he had become deeply involved with F M Parsons in the problems of renal transplantation, particularly the feasibility of using cadaver kidneys. As a member of the planning committee of the new teaching hospital in Leeds, he had devoted many hours to the consideration of the problem associated with the integration of a new medical school adjacent to both hospital and university. He was a popular teacher with both under and postgraduate students: possessing considerable powers of exposition aided by a dry sense of humour. Outside his profession he had many interests. A painter in water colours from early days, and a lover of music, he was an enthusiastic walker in the Yorkshire Dales from his cottage at Malham. Raper died suddenly in the General Infirmary on 31 January 1966 at the early age of 52, leaving a widow and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006055
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stanley, Bruce Edward Crawford (1915 - 1964)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005500-E005599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377752377752
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Educated at St Mary's Hospital, he qualified as war broke out, served in the RAMC in charge of the surgical division of a General Hospital, was mentioned in dispatches and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After a term as resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone and then as assistant in the surgical unit at St Mary's Hospital, he settled in practice at 9 New Road Avenue, Chatham and was surgeon to the Medway and Gravesend Hospitals group. He was an Associate Member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Stanley lived at 70 Tonbridge Road, Maidstone and died on 23 August 1964 aged 49. Publication: Traumatic pararenal pseudo-hydronephrosis. *Brit J Surg* 1947, 34. 431.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005569
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Williams, Robert Edward Duncan (1927 - 2004)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2006-12-21
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/372360372360
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Bob Williams was a distinguished urological surgeon based in Leeds. He was born on 18 December 1927 in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, the son of Robert Williams, a steelworker, and Janet McNeil. He was educated at Dalziel High School, Motherwell, and Glasgow Medical School. After house jobs in Glasgow he did his National Service in the RAMC, serving as resident medical officer to the Northumberland Fusiliers in Hong Kong. On his return, he received his general surgical training under Sir Charles Illingworth in Glasgow and John Goligher in Leeds, before deciding to specialise in urology, which in those days was emerging as a separate entity. He became senior registrar to Leslie Pyrah in Leeds, who had set up a pioneering stone clinic. There he carried out a painstaking and far-reaching study of the natural history of renal tract stone, which won him his MD. After this he went to work with Wyland Leadbetter at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, in 1964, where he carried out research on total body water and whole body potassium, which was to win him a commendation for his MCh thesis. On his return he was appointed to the consultant staff of the University of Leeds urological department in 1966. He had many interests which were shown in his numerous publications, most notably on urinary calculi, bladder cancer and lymphadenectomy. He followed Leslie Pyrah in the energetic pursuit of the establishment of urology as a separate discipline in the British Isles, which won him the admiration and respect of his colleagues. Bob was president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1989 and a very active member of BAUS, of which he was president from 1990 to 1992. He was awarded the St Peter’s medal of the Association in 1993. He examined for the Edinburgh and English Colleges, and was an invited member of Council of our College from 1989 to 1992. In 1958 he married Lora Pratt, an Aberdeen graduate who was a GP and part-time anaesthetist. They had a son (Duncan) and two daughters (Bryony and Lesley), all of whom became doctors. A genial, cheerful and amusing colleague, Bob was struck down by renal failure caused by polycystic disease of the kidneys, but continued with great courage to work and publish and play an active part in BAUS, despite the need for regular dialysis. A renal transplant unfortunately underwent rejection, and he was, reluctantly, obliged to retire in 1991. He died on 26 August 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000173
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Morris, Sir Henry (1844 - 1926)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-11 2012-03-13
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/372406372406
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Petworth on January 7th, 1844, the son of William Morris, surgeon of that place, and grandson of a Morris practising in North Wales. The surname Morris has been traced in particular to families of mixed Welsh and Jewish descent who settled on the Welsh border after the explusion of the Jews from England by Richard I. Morris in his prime, black-haired, fresh-complexioned, dignified, and a fluent speaker, seemed to point to a mixed Welsh and Jewish descent. He was educated at Epsom College, being one of the first hundred boys admitted to that Institution under the Rev. Dr. Thornton. He then went to University College, London, where he graduated B.A. in 1863 with philosophy (i.e., the philosophy dominant in the early part of the eighteenth century) as his special subject. He proceeded M.A. in 1870, and was throughout life ruled by opinions acquired during this philosophic studies. He studied at Guy's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon after graduating M.B. Lond. For a short time he was Resident Medical Officer of the Dispensary, Stanhope Street. In January, 1870, he was appointed Surgical Registrar at Middlesex Hospital; in August, 1871, was elected Assistant Surgeon, and Surgeon in the Out-patient Cancer Department; from 1879 until 1889 he was Surgeon to the Hospital and was in charge of the Cancer Department. He retired at the age limit in 1905. He was appointed Lecturer in Practical Surgery in 1871, but it was as Lecturer in Anatomy from 1872-1881 that he distinguished himself the most. It gave origin to his most original and permanent publication, *The Anatomy of the Joints of Man* (8vo, 43 plates, 1879; 8th American edition, Philadelphia, 1925). He followed this up later by acting as the editor of *A Treatise on Human Anatomy*, by various authors, 1893. Morris wrote on "The Articulations", other contemporaries contributing. The work ran through a number of editions. In 1881 he became Lecturer on Surgery. In 1880 a domestic servant, aged 19, was diagnosed by the physician, Sydney Coupland, to have a calculus in an undilated kidney, the diagnosis being made from the signs of pain and hæmaturia only. Morris removed the stone on Oct. 22nd, 1880, and the case was reported, as the first designed operation of its kind in this country, in the Clinical Society's *Transactions* (1881, xiv, 30), the stone being preserved in the Hospital Museum. The patient made a complete recovery. This brought him an extended practice and gave him the opportunity of publishing a number of books on genito-urinary surgery; he was for a time the leading authority, until examination by X-rays and the cystoscope expanded the methods of diagnosis. In the latter part of his life he was known outside Middlesex Hospital as a medical educationalist and politician. He became dogmatic and dictatorial in manner, long-winded in speech, influenced by rather an antiquated philosophy, and unsympathetic with novelties which could not be squared with his ingrained views. He believed that the Middlesex Medical School should continue to teach all the subjects of the curriculum, and he opposed with a donation of £1000 the Medical Schools Amalgamation University of London scheme in 1906. Great efforts were made to endow the Medical School and the fund amounted in 1927 to £130,000. He took a lifelong interest in his old school, Epsom College, was for many years Treasurer, and by visiting constantly was practically Manager. As the Surgeon-in-charge of the cancer wards at Middlesex Hospital, he wrote much on the subject, including the Bradshaw Lecture, 1903, before the experimental and radiological developments of the subject. The Imperial Cancer Research Fund was originated in his house, No. 8, at the north-east corner of Cavendish Square, and he acted as Treasurer and Vice-President. In connection with the British Medical Association he was Secretary of the Section of Surgery at Manchester in 1877, and in 1889 Vice-President at Leeds. In 1895 he was President of the Section of Anatomy and Histology in London. In 1893 he delivered the Cavendish Lecture, and in 1908 the Sir William Mitchell Banks Memorial Lecture. At the College Morris held the following posts: 1884-1889, Examiner in Anatomy for the Fellowship; 1893-1914, Member of Council; 1894-1904, Member of the Court of Examiners; 1898, Hunterian Professor (three lectures on Renal Surgery); 1899, Examiner in Dental Surgery; 1903, Bradshaw Lecturer; 1904-1917, Representative on the General Medical Council, and was for ten years (1907-1917) Treasurer; 1906, Member of the Committee of Management of the Conjoint Board; 1906, 1907, President; 1909, Hunterian Orator. He took for the subject of his oration John Hunter in his relation to eighteenth-century philosophic literature, and delivered it in the presence of T.R.H. the Prince and Princess of Wales, shortly after King George V and Queen Mary; in 1918 he was elected a Trustee of the Hunterian Collection. He also examined in Anatomy at the University of Durham and in Surgery at the University of London. During his last years he led a lonely life; his wife, a Russian dancer, predeceased him and bore him no children. After leaving his house in Cavendish Square he lived at 42 Connaught Square, ailing and afflicted by a slight facial tic. He was definitely ill for some three weeks, and died on June 14th, 1926. He left estate to the value of £44,000. A fine portrait of him in his prime and in the full-dress President's gown by W. W. Ouless, R.A., hangs on the College staircase. There are others at different ages in the College Collection. PUBLICATIONS:- In addition to those already noted Morris wrote: - *Surgical Diseases of the Kidney*, 12mo, 6 plates, 1885. *Injuries and Diseases of the Genital and Urinary Organs,* 8vo, London, 1895. *Hunterian Lectures on Renal Surgery*, 8vo, London, 1898. *Surgical Diseases of the Kidney and Ureter*, 2 vols., 1901. *The Profession of Medicine: Introductory Address at the Middlesex Hospital Medical College, 1st October,* 1873, 8vo, London. "Clinical Lecture on Rupture of the Bladder and its Treatment." - *Med. Times and Gaz.*, 1879, ii, 603. "Remarks on Epithelioma and Ichthyosis of the Tongue." - *Med. Soc. Proc.*, 1881-3, vi, 194. *On the Treatment of Inoperable Cancer*, 8vo, London, 1902. *Essentials of Materia Medica*, 7th ed., Philadelphia, 1905. *The Etiology, Symptoms and Treatment of Gallstones, *1896. "Statement of Further Evidence proposed to be given before the Committee on the London Ambulance Service by the President R.C.S.," fol., London, 1908. "Statement prepared for the Royal Commission on Vivisection by the President R.C.S.," fol., London, 1908. "The Darwin Centenary - an Address from the Royal College of Surgeons to the University of Cambridge, 1909," 8vo, 1909. "On the Need of the Medical Representation in Parliament." - *Outlook*, 1918, Oct.5.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000219
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching O'Donoghue, Patrick Desmond (1922 - 2004)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Hilary Keighley
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2015-09-14
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/372357372357
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Patrick Desmond O'Donoghue was a surgeon in Kenya. He was born in Kaiapoi, New Zealand, on 12 May 1922, the second son of Michael and Eva O'Donoghue. His father was a teacher and later schools inspector. Pat attended Christchurch Boys' High School, where he excelled in classics, sciences, literature, languages and sport, particularly cricket and rugby. He had a formidable intellect and he loved to write poetry and prose. He went on to study medicine at the University of Otago. He spent two years in house jobs in Christchurch, where he developed his particular interest in urology, and then, in 1949, sailed to England as a ship's doctor to specialise in surgery. He did a number of junior posts, including one at the Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich, and then became a registrar to Sir Cecil Wakeley at King's College Hospital. There he met Brenda Davies, an anaesthetics registrar at King's, and they were married in 1952. He went on to be a surgical registrar to Neville Stidolph at the Whittington Hospital for two years, gaining extensive experience in genito-urinary surgery, before going on to be RSO at St Paul's under Winsbury-White, Howard Hanley and David Innes Williams. This was followed by six months at the Brompton Hospital under Sir Clement Price Thomas and Charles Drew, who, in 1955, supported him with enthusiasm when he considered applying for a vacancy at St Mary's. However, at the same time a vacancy came up in Nairobi, for which he opted after much deliberation. His first appointment there was as a locum for Sir Michael Wood with the East African Flying Doctor Association, which cemented his love for the country and its people, and his desire to make a life for himself and his family in Kenya. From this he went on to become a partner in the Nairobi Clinic, where he rapidly developed an outstanding reputation as a very professional, capable and compassionate surgeon. He developed free outreach clinics for the Flying Doctor Service, covering remote areas of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where surgery was often difficult and performed under the most basic conditions. He described operating in Tanzania where the humidity was so great that the door of the room had to be kept open, despite the many onlookers. There were times when the throng of patients delayed the departure of the flying doctor and when the runway lights were switched off at the small airport in Nairobi they had to land unannounced at the international airport, pursued by a meteor of which they were unaware, which landed close behind them. Pat was also chief surgeon at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, doing pro bono surgery for missionaries and many others. The bulk of his work was at the Nairobi Hospital, where he was well respected and liked by colleagues and nursing staff. Although he specialised in urology, he remained a very general surgeon, dealing with a wide variety of injuries, including severe mauling by leopards, buffaloes, rhinos and elephants. People were also flown in with spear injuries from inter-tribal battles and he also treated casualties from the ANC (African National Congress) bombing of the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi. Occasionally he was asked to escort patients back to their homes in other countries, including a cardinal who needed to be taken back to Rome, where Pat had an audience with Pope John XXIII. In 1968 he became president of the East African Association of Surgeons, and was instrumental in setting up the equivalent of a coroner's court, essential to protect both surgeons and patients in the ever-increasing world of litigation, a move which was approved by the attorney general in 1969. Pat led a very full and productive working life. He loved his surgery. Even after retirement he continued to read his medical and surgical journals with great interest, and wanted to be up to date with the evidence emerging from recent research. Golf was among his many interests: he continued to play until he could no longer walk round the course (he scorned the use of buggies). He loved to learn, particularly poetry and literature. He would often quote, among others, Keats, Yeats, Manley Hopkins and Dylan Thomas. He remembered passages from Virgil - he loved Latin. Pat and Brenda raised their four daughters (Gillian, Jenny, Geraldine and Hilary) in Nairobi. In 2002 Brenda unexpectedly died whilst on holiday in England. This was a terrible blow for Pat. He had described Brenda as his 'life's navigator'. He returned to Kenya for one more year and then moved to be with his daughter Hilary in Cooma, Australia. Pat made Cooma his home for a further year, before he passed away on 22 December 2004, aged 82. He had a strong Christian faith throughout his life and he had a wonderful, quiet sense of humour that remained with him until the day he died. He was an inspirational person.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000170
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bowsher, Winsor Graham (1957 - 2004)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-14
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/372213372213
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Winsor Bowsher was a consultant urological surgeon at Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. He was born on Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, the son of Graham Walter Bowsher, an art teacher, and Marjorie Wilfred née Munday, who taught public speaking. He was educated at Brockenhurst Grammar School and then Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he won a blue for golf. He did his clinical studies at the Royal London Hospital and was house surgeon to John Blandy, who inspired his interest in urology. He completed his general surgical training at Nottingham and Cardiff, before starting the senior registrar rotation at the Institute of Urology and St Bartholomew’s. He was then a lecturer and senior registrar at the Royal London, where he completed the research for his MChir thesis. In 1990 he was awarded the Shackman and Sir Alexander McCormack travelling fellowships of our college, going to St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, as visiting fellow and later staff consultant. There he carried out innovative laparoscopic surgery and radical prostatectomy for cancer. Shortly after his return he was appointed to the Royal Gwent Hospital in 1993 with Brian Peeling, where he rapidly established a reputation. He set up a trial of radical prostatectomy, published widely, edited *Challenges in prostate cancer* (Malden, MA, Blackwell Science, 2000), and was on the editorial board of the *British Journal of Urology*, *Prostate* and the European Board of Urology *Update* series. He set up a support group for prostate cancer patients called Progress, which was the first of its kind in the UK, and in 1996 was medical adviser to the BBC series *The male survival guide*, which won six BMA gold awards. He was married to Pauline and had three children, Harry, Abigail and Nicholas. A man of great charm and enthusiasm, Winsor was a keen fly fisherman, skier and mountaineer. In his last years he had a brief but successful battle with alcohol, but, having completely recovered, died suddenly from cardiac arrhythmia on 12 May 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000026
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Johnston, James Herbert (1920 - 2003)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22
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/372440372440
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Herbert Johnston was a pioneer of paediatric urology, determined to make what had been a peripheral interest a specialty in its own right. Appointed first as a general surgeon to a leading children’s hospital, Alder Hey in Liverpool, he soon saw that the urogenital problems required a much closer attention than had been accorded them, and by years of dedicated practice and research he built for himself an international reputation and inspired a succession of young disciples. James Herbert Johnston, known to his intimates as ‘Herbie’, was born on 26 February 1920 in Belfast. His father, Robert Johnston, was in the linen business, his mother, Mary née McCormack, a science teacher. He was always destined for a career in medicine and distinguished himself as an undergraduate by gaining several surgical prizes. He graduated from Queens University, Belfast, in 1943, and after a house job became assistant to the professor of surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital and at the Children’s Hospital. After military service, from 1946 to 1948, he returned to Belfast, taking the FRCS Ireland in 1949 and the English Fellowship in the following year. He then crossed the Irish Sea, theoretically for a short spell, but actually for the rest of his life, taking up senior registrar posts in Liverpool. There he came under the powerful influence of Charles Wells, who not only trained his registrars but directed them to their consultant posts. Thus it was that in 1956 Herbert was appointed surgeon to the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Although Charles Wells was much concerned with urology, Herbert had had no specialist training and, curiously, he was at first given responsibility for the management of burns. With this in mind he went to a famous burn unit in Baghdad, but this venture was abruptly ended by the Suez War. At Alder Hey Isabella Forshall and Peter Rickham were making great strides in neonatal surgery, but had no particular interest in urology and Herbert saw both the need and the opportunity to make that field his own. As Hunterian Professor in 1962 he lectured on vesico-ureteric reflux, the topic then exciting all paediatric urologists, and went on to produce a long series of papers illuminating important, or neglected, aspects of children’s disorders. He joined with Innes Williams in writing the standard British textbook on this subject and his published work soon brought him an international reputation, with invitations to deliver eponymous lectures in the USA and elsewhere. In 1980 he was awarded the St Peters medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons in recognition of his many contributions. In spite of all this evidence of enthusiasm Herbert did not at first acquaintance give an impression of liveliness. Deliberate in speech, he could at times look positively lugubrious. However, he became a popular lecturer, making his points with logic and a clarity laced with dry wit and self deprecating humour. To those who knew him well he was a delightful companion who could make fun of all life’s problems. His hobbies were few, though he was a keen golfer if not an outstanding performer in this field. In 1945 he married Dorothy Dowling, who made a happy home for him and their son and daughter, who are now in the teaching profession. His retirement was marred by a stroke which left him with considerable disability, but he was lucky to have Dorothy to look after him so well. He died on 4 February 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000253
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Clarke, Samuel Henry Creighton (1912 - 2004)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-14
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372224372224
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Henry Clarke was a consultant urological surgeon in Brighton and mid Sussex until his retirement in December 1976. He was born in Derby on 1 January 1912, the son of Samuel Creighton Clarke, a general practitioner in Derby and the son of a gentleman farmer from Newtownbutler, Ireland, and Florence Margaret Caroline née Montgomery, a descendent of the Montgomery who accidentally killed Henry II of France in a jousting match in 1559. Clarke was educated at Monkton Combe junior and senior schools, and then went on to St Bartholomew’s medical school, where he was a medical clerk to Lord Horder and a surgical dresser to Sir James Paterson Ross. From 1937 to 1938 he was a casualty officer, house surgeon and senior resident at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. He enlisted in July 1939, joining the 4th Field Hospital, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In 1940, at Dunkirk, he organised the evacuation of men on to the boats, under aerial attack. He left Dunkirk on one of the last boats out. In 1942 he was sent out to North Africa, and was present at the Battle of El Alamein. At the end of the North African campaign, as part of the 8th Army, he took part in the invasion of Italy. He ended the war as a Major in the RAMC. After the war, he returned to Bart’s, where he was much inspired by A W Badenoch. After appointments at Bart’s, as a chief assistant (senior registrar) and at St Peter’s Hospital for Stone (as a senior registrar), he became a consultant in general surgery at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital in 1950. In 1956 he was appointed as a consultant urological surgeon to the Brighton and Lewes, and mid Sussex Hospital groups. He was a member of the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons from 1961 to 1964, and a former Chairman of the Brighton branch of the BMA. He married Elizabeth Bradney Pershouse in 1947 and they had a daughter, Caroline Julia Creighton. There are three grandchildren – Rachel, Brittany and Alexander. He was interested in rugby, tennis and golf, and collected liqueurs and whiskies. He retired to St Mary Bourne, and became an active member of his parish. He died from heart failure on 15 September 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000037
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Mortensen, Peter James (1926 - 2007)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2009-03-13 2012-03-13
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/372786372786
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Jim Mortensen was a urological surgeon in Melbourne, Australia. He was born in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia, on 15 May 1926, the only child of Henry Newman Mortensen and Lorna née Bray, who were both general practitioners. His father went to England in the early 1930s to specialise in surgery and passed the FRCS Edinburgh, returning in 1937 to Melbourne to found the urological unit at St Vincent's Hospital. He was also president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand on three occasions and, in 1964, was the first Australian to be made an honorary member of British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). His mother Lorna specialised in anaesthetics, was a Nuffield scholar at Oxford and subsequently returned to the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a consultant anaesthetist. Jim was educated by the Jesuits as a boarder at Xavier College, where he rowed in the first VIII and became a school prefect. He studied medicine at Melbourne University, residing at Newman College. After qualifying, he was a resident at St Vincent's Hospital, where he received permission to marry at the end of 1950. After three years as a resident he went to England, to work at St Peter's Chertsey, where he passed the FRCS. He returned to Melbourne as assistant urologist on his father's unit. In 1959 he won the Babcock travelling fellowship to Ann Arbor, Michigan, then led by Reed Nesbit, the doyen of transurethral resection. There he learned the new Bricker technique of ileal conduit urinary diversion. He returned to St Vincent's in 1966 to become head of the department, remaining in charge until he retired in 1988. Under his leadership St Vincent's became one of the leading urological units in the world, developing transplant surgery in the 1960s and installing the first extracorporeal lithotriptor in Australia. He was also consultant urologist to Williamstown and Box Hill hospitals from 1957 to 1973, worked at Swan Hill District Hospital from 1970 until he retired in 1994, and also worked in Indonesia and India, encouraging young surgeons from those countries to visit St Vincent's. In 1969 Jim followed his father by becoming president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand. An excellent golfer and tennis player, Jim enjoyed reading, music and his garden. For a time he bred Murray Grey cattle, and he and Margot (née Collins) made several trips by Land Rover to central and Western Australia to see wild flowers in the outback. He and Margot had a long and happy marriage, with eight children and 18 grandchildren. By a sad irony he succumbed to cancer of the prostate which led to spinal cord compression from a metastasis. He died on 28 September 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000603
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Philip, Peter Forbes (1922 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by R M Kirk
Publication Date 2009-12-17
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/373004373004
Occupation Urologist
Details Peter Forbes Philip was a consultant urologist at Charing Cross Hospital and a prime mover in organising the hospital’s rebuilding. Philip was born on 6 January 1922 in Walthamstow, where his father, George Stuart Bain Philip, was a general practitioner who had qualified at Charing Cross. His mother, Janet Mallinson, had been a nurse. He went to St Aubyn’s Preparatory School and then to Bancroft’s School in Woodford. He did his preclinical training at King’s College, London (then at Leeds), and Birmingham University, before winning the David Livingstone scholarship to Charing Cross Hospital. There he was influenced by Stibbe and McDowall, Norman Lake, Jennings Marshall, David Trevor and Gordon Holmes. He qualified in 1945 and was house surgeon at Ashridge Base Hospital (part of Charing Cross) and then in the Strand to Norman Lake and Jennings Marshall. He was then a resident surgical officer at Lincoln County Hospital, where G A B Walters inspired his interest in urology. He then joined the RAF as a graded specialist in surgery at Ely Hospital and Nocton Hall with the rank of squadron leader. On demobilisation, he was senior surgical registrar at Harold Wood Hospital in Essex for two years during which time he was seconded to Tilbury, Orsett and Billericay. He was then resident surgical officer at St Peter’s Hospital for the Stone. He was appointed as a consultant urologist at Charing Cross Hospital in 1951 and was assistant director to the professorial surgical unit. Later he was also a consultant urologist at the Bolingbroke Hospital and the Royal Masonic Hospital. He published on urethral strictures and urinary diversion and edited the section on urology in Bailey and Love’s *Short textbook of surgery* from 1967 to 1983. He played a major part in organising the rebuilding of Charing Cross Hospital and described this colossal undertaking in the *Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England* 1973:53;335. In 1947 he married Joyce Audrey Grant, a nursing sister at Charing Cross. They had three children: Susan Jane, John Stuart Forbes and Jane Elizabeth. He was a skilled cabinet maker and enjoyed rebuilding old Alfa Romeo cars. He was a quiet caring man who was liked by all and respected for his optimistic, pragmatic, good nature and honesty. An anaesthetist colleague summed him up: “No histrionics, no prima donna acting to the gallery to impress the students, no temper tantrums, just elegant surgery performed in an atmosphere of friendly co-operation for the benefit it the patient.”
Resource Identifier RCS: E000821
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Glashan, Robin Wattie (1933 - 2003)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372249372249
Occupation Urologist
Details Robin Wattie Glashan was a consultant urologist at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. He was born in Aberdeen on 8 September 1933, the son of Gordon Mitchell Glashan, a bank manager, and Alexandra née Wattie, an art teacher. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, where he excelled at his academic work and at athletics. He went on to study medicine at Aberdeen University, graduating in 1958. He then held house jobs at Aberdeen City Hospital and at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He initially moved to Shaftesbury in Dorset, where he worked as a general practitioner, but then resumed his hospital career. He was a senior house officer for a year at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin and then, from 1961 to 1962, taught anatomy and physiology at Queen's College, Dundee. He was then a senior house officer at Bristol Royal Infirmary. From 1963 to 1968 he was a registrar in surgery and then a senior registrar at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. In 1968 he was appointed to the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary as the first consultant in urological surgery, where he faced an enormous workload. He later organised a service for workers in the chemical and dyeing industries who were at risk of developing bladder cancer, working with experts in the field of occupational medicine. He was a founder member of the Yorkshire Urological Cancer Research Group in 1974, and of the urological group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). He wrote many publications, including contributions on the use of cytotoxic chemotherapy for the use of invasive bladder cancer and on the epidemiology and management of occupational bladder cancer in west Yorkshire. He was an examiner for the final FRCS for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1980 to 1986, and was on the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) from 1982 to 1985. He met his wife Wilma, a nurse, while he was at university and they married in 1959. They had two sons and two daughters - Robert, Susan, Moira and Angus. He retired due to poor health in 1991 when he was 57 and returned to Scotland, where he fished for salmon on the Dee. He died shortly before Christmas 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000062
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Richards, Brian (1934 - 2003)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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/372304372304
Occupation Urologist
Details Brian Richards was a nationally recognised researcher into bladder cancer. He was born on 20 August 1934 in Cambridge, the son of Francis Alan Richards, a consultant physician, and Mary Loveday née Murray, the daughter of a professor of divinity. He was educated at Kingshot Preparatory School, Epsom College and St John’s College, Cambridge, and then went to St Bartholomew’s Hospital for his clinical studies. After junior posts at Bart’s and the Whittington he specialised in surgery. He was much influenced by Alec Badenoch. He was appointed to York District Hospital in 1970, at first as a general surgeon, but he soon devoted himself to urology, concentrating on cancer of the bladder. Brian helped set up the Yorkshire Urological Cancer Research Group in 1973, which collaborated with the European Organisation for Research in the Treatment of Cancer (EOTRC) and became one of the most active instruments for clinical trials in the UK. His talent for organisation and diplomacy led the EOTRC to ask him to lead the evaluation of all its clinical research groups, as Chairman of the Breuer committee. Later, he served on the Medical Research Council’s working party on the management of testicular tumours. In York, his practical skills and formidable intellect made him a valued colleague. He had a total lack of pretension, and seemed to have an uncanny ability to follow his many talents and maintain his many interests. He dabbled in self-sufficiency, making his own methane from slurry and his own electricity from a windmill in his garden. Sadly, Parkinson’s disease forced him to give up medicine and later the clarinet, but instead he became the ‘fixer’ for the York concerts of the British Music Society and the Guildhall Orchestra. He married a Miss Gardiner in 1964 and they had three daughters, one of whom is qualified in medicine. He died on 6 June 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000117
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Story, Harold Frederick Rowe (1924 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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/373231373231
Occupation Urologist
Details Harold Story was a urologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and at the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria. He was born in Melbourne on 8 November 1924 and was educated at Melbourne University High School and Melbourne University, where he was awarded a prosectorship and Dwight’s anatomy prize. On qualifying, he was a resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (from 1947 to 1948) and then became a demonstrator in anatomy while studying for the primary, at which he won the Gordon Taylor prize in 1949. He did junior posts at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, as a demonstrator in clinical surgery, in anatomy and in pathological histology. He then went to England to study for the final FRCS. Having passed the fellowship, he became a urological registrar at the Whittington Hospital and was later a clinical registrar and then a senior surgical registrar (resident surgical officer) at St Peter’s Hospital for Stone (from 1955 to 1956), where he worked under Alec Badenoch, John Sandrey and David Wallace. He then returned to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, at first as an associate assistant to J B Somerset and later as an honorary surgeon. He was the first urologist at the Austin Hospital, where he set up a urological department and remained its head for more than 40 years, becoming an expert in the treatment of urological tuberculosis and spinal injuries, and in particular the treatment of the large staghorn stones, which occurred in these patients. He was also the first urologist at the Peter MacCallum Clinic (Cancer Institute). He was a wing commander in the Specialist Reserve for the Royal Australian Air Force He married Jean Lesley McKenzie and they had two sons, Rowan (an oral and maxillofacial surgeon) and Ian. His many interests included the history of surgery and of surgical instruments, and he was the honorary curator of the collection at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In 2005, a Harold Story Memorial annual lecture was inaugurated. He died on 12 July 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001048
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tooms, Douglas ( - 2007)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Osborne, David Robert (1943 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-07-10 2015-09-14
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/372808372808
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details David Osborne was a consultant surgeon who established the first urological department in Basildon. He was born in Weston-super-Mare on 12 December 1943, the son of Alan John Osborne, a leading aircraftman, and his wife, Tilly Fleming née Straiton. He was educated at Hazelcroft Primary School and then Weston-super-Mare Grammar School. He studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School from 1963 to 1968, winning the Ruth Bowden anatomy prize and the George Quist surgery prize, and playing in the first XV rugby team. After qualifying, he was a house officer at Hampstead General Hospital and then at St Andrew's Hospital. In 1970 he was a casualty officer at the Royal Free. He then held senior house officer posts at Luton and Dunstable, and at Frenchay and Southmeads hospitals, Bristol. He was then a registrar in general surgery at Cheltenham and Gloucester. From 1976 to 1983 he was a lecturer in surgery at the Royal Free Hospital. In 1983 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon with an interest in urology to Basildon and Thurrock hospitals. In 1985 he became a consultant surgeon to South Ockendon Hospital and in 1991 became head of the department of urology with full-time responsibility for urology services. He established a specialist urology department with three surgeons, each with a subspecialty interest. He was interested in reading, gardening, walking and painting, and loved fine wines. In 1969 he married Brenda Mary Cornforth, a general practitioner and a fellow student at the Royal Free, who was the daughter of Sir J W Cornforth FRS KBE. They had one son, Andrew John (a GP in New Zealand), and a daughter, Catherine Jane (a marketing manager). He died on 17 October 2008. His love of surgery was so great that he continued seeing patients and operating until three weeks before he died.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000625
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Weaver, John Patrick Acton (1927 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-23 2014-04-07
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/374061374061
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Patrick Acton Weaver was a consultant urological surgeon at Dundee Royal Infirmary and a senior lecturer in surgery at the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee. He was born in Oxford, the son of John Reginald Homer Weaver, professor of history and president of Trinity College, and Stella Mary Georgina Weaver née Acton, an author. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Ampleforth College, and then studied medicine at Oxford and Guy's. He was a house surgeon to Sir John Conybeare at Guy's and an anatomy demonstrator. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, as a medical officer to the Gurkhas in Hong Kong and the King's Own Regiment 4th of Foot. He was a registrar at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, working with George Feggetter. In 1967 he joined Sir Donald Douglas' surgical academic team at the University of St Andrews at Dundee. He gave outstanding service, particularly when the unit moved to the new Ninewalls Hospital and medical school, and he ran the department during the time Douglas was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His surgical interests gradually moved into urology, and he became a consultant urological surgeon in 1976, moving back to Dundee Royal Infirmary. He pioneered innovative techniques for the treatment of female incontinence. He was an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and secretary and then president of the 1921 Surgical Club. After retiring in 1992 he did locums in England, Scotland, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. He also worked with the Egyptian Army Medical Corps. He was recognised as an excellent surgeon and teacher. He took a particular interest in developing the careers of his junior staff, especially encouraging female house surgeons to continue in surgery and achieve their full potential. Outside medicine, he was interested in gardening, furniture restoration and art. In 1959 he married Mary Catherine Bainbridge ('Wendy') Robinson, who trained as a nurse at Guy's Hospital. They had three children - Elizabeth Anne, George William and Matthew John. John Patrick Acton Weaver died on 10 July 2011, aged 83.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001878
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lumb, Geoffrey Norman (1925 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12 2012-03-14
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/372283372283
Occupation Urologist
Details Geoffrey Lumb was a consultant urologist in Taunton, Somerset. He was born in Crewkerne, Somerset, on 1 January 1925, the son of Norman Lumb, a urologist in Portsmouth. He was educated at Marlborough and St Thomas's Hospital. After junior posts he did his National Service in the RAFVR, reaching the rank of Squadron Leader as an anaesthetist. On demobilisation he went to Bristol to work under Milnes Walker and John Mitchell, the latter kindling his interest in surgical diathermy, upon which he became an expert, writing many articles and a textbook in collaboration with Mitchell. After a sabbatical year in Boston and Richmond, Virginia, he was appointed as a consultant surgeon in Taunton in 1965. There he worked hard to set up an independent department of urology, achieving that aim in 1979. Taunton became the first district general hospital training department in the south west. Under his guidance research programmes flourished, and he set up a pioneer teaching programme using video endoscopy and laser surgery. He was also an enthusiastic proponent of transrectal ultrasound examination of the prostate. It was sadly ironic that he should die from the complications of cancer of the prostate. A talented and compassionate surgeon, he had a mischievous sense of humour. His many interests included model railway engineering, and he was an excellent craftsman, photographer, gardener, fisherman and golfer. He married Alison Duncan, a staff nurse at St Thomas's. They had a daughter, Christine (who became a theatre sister) and two sons, Hugh and Roger. He died on 25 April 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000096
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Magri, Joseph (1926 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-09
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/372475372475
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Joe Magri was a consultant urologist at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford. He was born in Valletta, Malta, on 2 March 1926, the son of Francesca and Tancred Magri. He was educated at the Jesuit College and Malta University, where he qualified in 1949. He then moved to England to specialise in surgery. He was a house surgeon in orthopaedics and accident surgery at the City Hospital, Sheffield, and then a surgical registrar in Barnsley, where, with the help of only an anaesthetist and a house physician, he dealt with all the emergencies that arose in that busy mining town. He went on to become an anatomy demonstrator in Sheffield, passed the primary and final FRCS, and became a surgical registrar in Leicester. He was RSO (senior registrar) at St Peter’s Hospital in 1959 and was appointed consultant urologist, Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, in 1963. There he published a review of partial cystectomy for bladder cancer and a few years later a ‘no-catheter’ technique for prostatectomy. A genial, friendly man, Joe Magri’s many interests included bridge, sailing, skiing and the opera. He attended Covent Garden regularly. He also built his own Gilbern car from a kit. He met his Swedish wife Margareta Johansson while on holiday in Malta, where she was working as a private secretary in an architect’s office. Together they refurbished a house in Mill Hill. They had no children. He died of metastatic carcinoma on 6 April 2005. He is survived by his widow.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000288
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Pyrah, Leslie Norman (1899 - 1995)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-11 2014-07-18
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/372650372650
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Leslie Norman Pyrah was born at Farnley, near Leeds, on 11 April 1899, the son of a headmistress. Unfortunately no further details of his forbears are available. He was educated at Leeds Central High School and served in the army during the final stages of the first world war. He then read medicine at Leeds University, interrupting his course to take an honours degree in physiology. On qualification he did a wide variety of resident training posts during the next five years, notably with Berkeley Moynihan at the Leeds General Infirmary, where he became surgical tutor. In 1932 he secured a travelling scholarship to visit urological centres in Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, Innsbruck and Paris, and was then appointed assistant surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary and Public Dispensary in 1934. He was also visiting surgeon to a number of neighbouring hospitals and lecturer in surgery to Leeds University. Following appointment as consultant surgeon to St James's Hospital in 1940 and to the Infirmary in 1944 he built up a large general surgical practice. In 1948 he was elected to the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) which had only formed three years earlier. He then co-founded the Urological Club, comprising urologists from the teaching hospitals. His consuming interest in urology led him to give up his general surgical practice and start a department of urology in Leeds. By 1956 he was appointed professor of urological surgery in his outstandingly successful department which had attracted researchers of the highest calibre. In the same year he became director of the Medical Research Council Unit in Leeds and set up the first renal haemodialysis unit in the UK with Dr Frank Parsons as its head. He and Professor Bill Spiers persuaded the Wellcome Foundation and other benefactors to fund a four storey research building for the Infirmary which was completed in 1959. Pyrah did outstanding and tireless work in promoting urology and urological specialist centres throughout Britain. He was President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1958; President of BAUS from 1961 to 1963; a member of College Council from 1960 to 1968 and was appointed CBE in 1963. In his youth Leslie Pyrah was a gifted pianist (at one time considering a possible career as a concert pianist) as well as a formidable tennis player. He enjoyed good food and wine and was an excellent cook with a particular taste for sauces. He also collected Chinese porcelain and Dutch paintings. Affectionately known as 'Poppah Pyrah' he had a somewhat portly figure and, even in the hottest climate, he always wore a mackintosh and a crumpled grey felt hat. He was a true Yorkshireman of rugged independence, friendly and approachable, never pulling rank and notably hospitable at all times. Pyrah married Mary Christopher Bailey in 1934. She died in 1990 and they had a son and a daughter who survived him when he died on 30 April 1995, another son having predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000466
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Anikwe, Raymond Maduchem (1935 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2008-09-11
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/372736372736
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Raymond Anikwe was a leading urological surgeon in Nigeria. He was born on 5 June 1935, the son of Chief Lawrence Akunwanne and Helen Oyeigwe Anikwenze in Nnobi, Anambra State, Nigeria. He was educated at St Mary Primary School, Umulu, and St Joseph Primary School, Onitsha. In 1951 he entered the Government College, Umuahia, where he excelled at sports, as well as his studies, winning a Nigerian Central Government scholarship to the Nigerian College of Technology, Ibadan. After two years there he won a scholarship from the Government of Italy to study medicine at the University of Rome. He learnt Italian, and obtained the degree of MD in July 1964. After qualifying he served as a pre-registration house officer and senior house officer in general surgery in Turin, and then went to the UK as a senior house officer at Dudley Guest Hospital. He was later a registrar in surgery (urology) at the Central Middlesex Hospital. From there he went to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a research fellow, studying urodynamics with a special interest in urethral resistance. In 1973 he returned to Nigeria as a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and consultant surgeon at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. He rose through the academic ranks to become professor of surgery (urology) in 1978. He served on numerous committees: he was chairman of the medical advisory committee, director of clinical services and training at Enugu (from 1978 to 1980), chief executive and medical director (from 1982 to 1985), provost of the college of medicine and medical sciences and deputy vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria Enugu campus in 1986. In 1987 he went to Saudi Arabia as professor of urology and consultant urologist at the King Faisal University and King Fahd Hospital. In 1999 he returned to Nigeria to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, until he established his own private hospital, the Galaxy Urology Specialist Hospital, Enugu, which was equipped with the latest endoscopic facilities. He published extensively and was a member of numerous learned societies. In 2007 he received the prestigious D’Linga gold award by Corporate and Media Africa Communications Ltd for his contribution to nation building through the medical profession. In 1974 he married Gladys Ngozi (née Ojukwu) and they had six children, of whom two became doctors. He died on 17 May 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000553
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bastable, John Ralph Graham (1923 - 2003)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-07 2007-06-14
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/372209372209
Occupation Urologist
Details John Bastable was a consultant urologist at York. Born in 1923, he spent his childhood in Cornwall and studied medicine at Birmingham. He qualified in 1945. After National Service, he was a registrar to Alan Perry at Poplar Hospital and then at the London Hospital, where he became senior lecturer on the surgical unit under Victor Dix, and where David Ritchie supervised his MCh thesis on the effect of vagotomy on the oesophago-gastric junction. He specialised in urology, spending a year as resident surgical officer at St Paul’s Hospital and then at the London. In 1966, he was appointed consultant urologist at York, and remained there until he retired in 1988. At York, he developed a department of urology, introduced day surgery facilities, and also undertook parathyroid surgery, and was involved in the planning committee for the new district general hospital. He married Morag Millar, an anaesthetist. They had three children. In his retirement he found time for music, travelling, walking and history of art. He died after a stroke on 28 May 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000022
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Taube, Martin (1950 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Harold Ellis
Publication Date 2011-02-10
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/373320373320
Occupation Urologist
Details Martin Taube was a consultant urologist at West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen. He was born on 27 June 1950 in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He was sent to Peterhouse School in Zimbabwe for his education, proceeding to University College, London, and then to Westminster Medical School for his clinical studies. He qualified in 1975 and obtained the Begley prize in the same year for his MRCS. He obtained the Hallett prize in the primary FRCS examination in 1976. His training posts in surgery were at the Westminster group of hospitals and also at Watford, Kingston and Wycombe general hospitals. Taube carried out experimental studies on the effects of jaundice on wound healing under Harold Ellis at Westminster and was awarded the MS for his thesis in 1988. The following year he was appointed as a consultant urologist and surgeon to the Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli, and then, in 1997, as a consultant urologist at the West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen, until shortly before his death from lung cancer (although a non-smoker) on 16 March 2008. In addition to Taube's clinical work, he acted in numerous other capacities, including as a surgical tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons and as treasurer of the Welsh Urological Society. Taube was survived by his wife, Lorraine, an ex-Kingston Hospital nurse, and by their two sons, Jonathan, born in 1990, and James, born in 1993. Both are still students. Outside his heavy clinical studies, Taube enjoyed his garden and sailing.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001137
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Perera, George Nelson (1915 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-03-03
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/373323373323
Occupation Urologist
Details George Nelson Perera was a pioneer urologist in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. His consultant career spanned the years 1957 to 1971, first as a general surgeon and then as a specialist in genito-urinary surgery. He had to overcome considerable opposition from his general surgical colleagues in order to switch to urology as they still regarded the discipline as an integral part of their own work. He served the General Hospital in Colombo faithfully, training many of Sri Lanka's present generation of urologists. He was born on 14 November 1915 in Moratuwa, in what was then Ceylon, the son of Cornelius Sylvester Martin Perera. His father was the first Ceylonese to be appointed as a superintendent of a British-owned tea estate. His mother, Stella née Dharmaratne, was a housewife. Educated first at Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa, Perera moved to St Joseph College, Colombo, passed the London University matriculation examination in 1935 and went on to study medicine at the Ceylon Medical College of Colombo from 1936 to 1941, qualifying with first class honours. As a medical student he served from 1939 in the Ceylon Medical Corps and was demobilised at the end of the war with the rank of captain. Much of his own training was under the guidance of the Milroy Paul, doyen of surgery in Ceylon, a man of great presence and striking appearance, who had strong connections with the College. When George Perera went to England in 1953, he worked with, and was much influenced by, Charles Wells in Liverpool, a friend to many aspiring surgeons from the Commonwealth. Perera built up the urology unit with great care and patience. He equipped the theatres with state of the art instruments, established a dedicated male ward, a recognised number of female beds, and sent two male nurses to train at the Institute of Urology in London. The first endoscopic resection of the prostate was done using a McCarthy resectoscope by his registrar, Lalith Perera (no relation), who was guided through the operation by his mentor. George Perera was a keen teacher who inspired many trainees to continue in surgery, some entering urology as a career. He retired in December 1971 from the state sector, but continued to work in private practice for a few years. He was a keen member of the BMA (Ceylon branch) and the Ceylon (now Sri Lankan) Medical Association, and became a patron of the Sri Lanka Association of Urological Surgeons. Outside medicine, he enjoyed power-boat racing, water-skiing and fishing. He was a member of the Catamaran Club, as well as the Power Boat Association of Sri Lanka. He enjoyed a game of golf and was a member of the Royal Colombo Club. He married Phoebe née Peiris in 1942 and they had a family of three. Their daughter, Lahari, born in 1943, is married. Their elder son, Gayan, born in 1944, became a doctor, while their youngest, Sarath, born in 1955, is an engineer. Perera died on 27 January 2009 and was survived by his wife and three children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001140
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jenkins, John Dudley (1931 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-12-21 2014-12-23
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/373989373989
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Dudley Jenkins was a consultant urologist in Southampton. A proud Welshman, he was born in Swansea on 7 August 1931. His father, John Gerwyn Jenkins, was the director of wage negotiations for British Steel in South Wales. He was also 'Roy Allan' in the thirties BBC programme 'Roy Allan and his Premier Dance Band', playing his trombone and French horn. His mother, Dorothy Mary Jones, was a talented pianist, an enthusiastic naturalist and an avant-garde cook. John was educated at King Henry VIII Grammar School, Abergavenny, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he sang in the college and university choirs, and played rugby for the university second XV and for Caius. His clinical training was at University College Hospital, where he continued to play rugby and starred in Christmas shows. He achieved 'international fame' as Dirk Bogarde's double on the rugby field in the film *A doctor in the house*. After junior jobs at UCH, he took a three-year commission in the Royal Navy, where he qualified as a naval diver and did research in the deep pressure diving school at HMS Haslar. He served at sea during the 'cod war'. After further posts in Cardiff and Addenbrooke's, he spent a year doing research under William Stahl in Bellevue Hospital, New York. On his return, he became senior registrar at the Royal Infirmary Leeds under Leslie Pyrah, Philip Clark and R D Williams. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon with an interest in urology in Southampton in 1969. At first he shared the emergency general surgical rota with one other general surgeon. He was later joined by a former trainee, Christopher Smart, and together they established a specialised department of urology. He was a member of the councils of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine and the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He carried out research, in collaboration with the neurosurgical department, into bladder function in spinal disease. John was an immensely sociable man with a wide range of knowledge, a love of music and the literature of the first world war, which he shared with his colleague John Garfield. Together they went on many walking holidays of the war cemeteries on which they lectured together, and which resulted in Garfield's monograph *The fallen* (London, Leo Cooper, 1990). He married Siân Reynolds, a dental surgeon, in 1963. They bought a house in Bursledon with a windmill in the garden, which served as a shed for many years. They handed it over to Hampshire County Council, which restored it as the only working windmill in Hampshire. They often entertained at the Mill House. They had four children, of whom the eldest became a general practitioner in Cardiff. In 1989 they bought a house in France and began restoring it, but sadly increasing illness prevented this from becoming a retirement home. They moved to Cardiff in 1997. He died at home on 4 August 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001806
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stidolph, Neville Edsell (1911 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30
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/372486372486
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Neville Stidolph was a consultant in urology and general surgery at Whittington Hospital, London. He was born in Mossel Bay, South Africa, on 31 October 1911. His father, Charles Edward Stidolph, was a magistrate. His mother was Florence née Hinwood. He was educated at Grey High School, Port Elizabeth, where he was head boy. In 1929 he was Eastern Province champion in sprinting and hurdling and in 1930 South African champion in the 440 yards hurdles. From the University of Cape Town he won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford in 1932. There he won the Theodore Williams scholarship in pathology and the Radcliffe prize in pharmacology, and went on to St Mary’s Hospital for his clinical training. On qualifying he was house surgeon in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Mary’s and house surgeon at the Radcliffe Infirmary. In 1938 he became a ship’s doctor and travelled all over the world, but in August 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force, rising to the rank of wing commander. He was senior medical officer at RAF Scampton in 1943 at the time of the Dam Busters raid. Later he served with the ground forces in Burma, and was flown to Bangkok to organise the repatriation of prisoners of war. In 1948 he was appointed consultant in urology and general surgery at the Whittington Hospital, where he created a special senior registrar post for Commonwealth surgeons and set up a structured training course for the FRCS. At the College he was the Penrose May tutor from 1963 to 1968 and a member of the Court of Examiners from 1968 to 1974. A handsome, athletic man, Neville Stidolph had great charm and presence. He married Betty Rhodes in 1941, and had two sons, Chip and Paul. Betty predeceased him in 2004. He died on 15 November 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000299
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Glenn, James Francis (1927 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2009-10-21
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/372900372900
Occupation Urologist
Details Jim Glenn was an internationally celebrated urologist, a former chief of urology at Duke University and dean of Emory University school of medicine. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and educated at the University High School there, from which he went to Rochester University and afterwards to Duke University to study medicine, qualifying in 1952. He specialised in urology and completed a surgical residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and trained in urology at Duke University. He served briefly on the academic staff at Yale and at Wake Forest University, before returning to Duke in 1963 as a professor and later a chief of urology. He went on to Emory University in Atlanta as dean of the medical school and was later president of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He then returned to Kentucky, where he was director of the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky from 1989 to 1993 and chief of staff at the University of Kentucky Hospital from 1993 to 1996. He was acting chairman of surgery at the University of Kentucky from 1996 to 1998. He was a born organiser, becoming president of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons in 1993. A past president of the Société Internationale d’Urologie, in 2007 he received that organisation’s highest honour. He was a former governor of the American College of Surgeons and a former president of the American Urological Association. He received the Association’s lifetime achievement award in 1994. He was a frequent visitor to England, and always went out of his way to welcome visitors from the UK. He was made an honorary fellow of our College in 1987. He was awarded the St Paul’s medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons in 1996. He died on 10 June 2009, leaving his widow Gay née Elste Darsie, two sons (Cambridge F Glenn II and James M Glenn), two daughters (Sarah Brooke Glenn and Nancy Carrick Glenn) and seven grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000717
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Christmas, Timothy John (1956 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-12-19 2014-04-02
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/373957373957
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Timothy (Tim) Christmas was a consultant urological surgeon at Charing Cross and the Royal Marsden Hospitals in London and, at his untimely death, was "widely regarded as one of Britains's great urological surgeons". Born in Cheltenham on 2 February 1956, he was educated at Bournemouth School. He won a scholarship to study at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London and stayed on after qualifying to work as house surgeon to Richard Turner Warwick. It was probably this experience that inspired him to specialise in urology. Progressing to registrar posts in Nottingham and Cambridge he spent some time assisting Sir Roy Calne before returning to London to research reconstructive urological surgery and interstitial cystitis at University College and the Middlesex. In 1992 Tim was appointed consultant urological surgeon to the Westminster and Charing Cross Hospitals. By then he was concentrating on urological oncology and reconstructive surgery and he spent 3 months at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles studying a pioneering technique in the use of orthotopic ileocystoplasty. One of his obituarists noted that "he developed a reputation for complex renal surgery, bladder reconstruction and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, attracting referrals from all over Southern England, Wales and overseas.....many of his referrals were for difficult cases and for patients who had previously been declined surgery." It was said of him that he performed more than 1000 open radical prostatectomies in his career. In the year 2000 he was also appointed as a consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He was the author of more than 100 papers (including a landmark publication on Fowler's syndrome), eight books, 20 book chapters and well over 100 printed abstracts. Colleagues remembered him for his skills and his keen sense of humour, with a wit which could be somewhat acerbic in the case of those he considered to be taking on too much private work. The other great passion of Tim's life was ornithology and he held bird ringing permits for the UK and Ireland. A member of the RSPB, the British Trust of Ornithology and Birdwatch Ireland, he travelled far and wide on bird ringing expeditions. He produced detailed documentation of these trips to places that included the Falkland Islands, Iceland, North Queensland and Guyana, and closer to home, was planning to ring a pair of peregrine falcons that had set up a nest at Charing Cross Hospital. His death at the age of 55 from a brief illness was a great shock to his family, friends and colleagues. He was survived by his wife, Dr Eithne Mannion, who was a consultant uro-pathologist at Charing Cross and his young son, Dermot.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001774
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Quartey, John Kwateboi Marmon (1923 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30 2007-12-12
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/372483372483
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details ‘Kwashie’ Quartey had an international reputation for his work on the surgery of urethral stricture, and was one of the father figures of surgery in his home country, Ghana. He was the sixth of the seven children of Peter David Quartey snr, headmaster of the Government Junior School in James Town, and Elizabeth Abigail Quartey (née Marmon). He was educated at the Achimota Secondary School, where he was senior prefect, and won colours for cricket and hockey. In 1942 he was awarded a Gold Coast Government medical scholarship to Edinburgh, travelling there in convoy at the height of the U-boat war. At Edinburgh he captained the hockey team, became involved with the Student Christian Movement and graduated in 1948. After junior posts, which included a spell at Wilkington Hospital, Manchester, and passing the Edinburgh and English fellowships in 1953, he returned to the Gold Coast. On the ship home to the Gold Coast he met his future wife, Edith Sangmorkie Saki, who was a nurse. Quartey then worked in Ministry of Health hospitals in Kumasi, Tamale and Accra, returning to do a course in tropical medicine in London in 1954 while Edith returned to England to study theatre work. They married in 1955. He was appointed a surgical specialist in 1958 and in 1961 he was awarded a Canadian Government fellowship in urology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, where he is remembered with respect and affection, and where strenuous attempts were made to arrange a full residency for him. On his return Kwashie set up the urology unit at the Korle Bu Hospital in Accra. The following year, 1963, he set up the anatomy department of the new Ghana Medical School, in the absence of any basic medical scientists. He was extremely active in the work of the surgical department, fostering its department of plastic surgery. In April 1978 there was an order for his arrest on charges of treason and he went into exile in Lome, Togo, for six months, during which time it was arranged that he should become a WHO consultant in surgery to the Government of the Gambia. He returned home after the palace coup in which General Acheampong was ousted. In 1981 he described his method of urethroplasty based on his own careful anatomical studies that used a pedicled flap of penile skin, which had the advantage of being non hair-bearing. The method was widely publicised and earned him an ChM from Edinburgh University. He travelled widely and was a visiting professor in Iran, Johannesburg and Mainz. He was a founding member of the Ghana Medical Association and of the West Africa College of Surgeons, of which he became president, and was the recipient of numerous honorary distinctions, including the unique posthumous award of the St Paul’s medal by BAUS. He was still busy with the Operation Ghana Medical Mission at the age of 82, and it was when returning from one of these outreach visits that he was involved in a fatal head-on road collision on 27 August 2005. Only two of the 10 occupants of the two vehicles survived. A state funeral was held in the State House in Accra in the presence of the President. Kwashie had an ebullient, irrepressible personality, which won him friends throughout the world of surgery and urology. He left a son (Ian Malcolm Kpakpa), daughter (Susan Miranda Kwale) and six grandchildren (Alexis Naa Kwarma, Smyly Nii Otu, Arthur Nii Armah, Nana Akua, Obaa Akosua and John Nii Kwatei).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000296
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rennie, Christopher Douglas (1948 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30
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/372491372491
Occupation Urologist
Details Christopher Rennie was a consultant urologist at Bromsgrove. He was born in Port Dixon, Malaysia, on 10 April 1948, the first son of Douglas David and Kathleen Mary (Dinah) Rennie. Douglas was an insurance underwriter for Manufacturers Life for the majority of his working life and Dinah was a GP in the same practice as her father, James Alexander Brown. She later worked in family planning in the Birmingham area. Chris was educated at Edgbaston Preparatory School and at King’s School in Canterbury. Influenced by his grandfather, whom he frequently accompanied on rounds from the age of five, he decided on a medical career. He went to medical school in Birmingham, obtained a BSc in anatomy in 1969 and graduated in 1972. He gained his FRCS in 1977, and initially trained as a general surgeon in the West Midlands, switching to urology as his chosen specialty in the early eighties. Chris became the sole urologist in Bromsgrove in 1985 and, before his early death, was instrumental in the transition to an amalgamated unit of five consultants. He was programme director for the West Midlands training programme in urology and was keen on expanding all aspects of training. Chris married twice, to Bridget (née Main) and Yvette (née Downing). He leaves a partner, Helen Kingdon, and a son, Alexander Harry James. Chris died suddenly from a heart attack on 14 September 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000304
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dawson-Edwards, Paul (1919 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2009-06-23
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/372804372804
Occupation Urologist
Details Paul Dawson-Edwards was appointed consultant surgeon to the United Birmingham Hospitals in 1957 and became a well-regarded urologist based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and a teacher at the University of Birmingham. His interest in urology was fired by Hugh Donovan, and he formed an excellent unit with his colleague Guy Baines and then, up to his own retirement in 1984, with Michael Hughes. Paul was born in Coventry on 28 October 1919. Albert John Edwards, his father, was an engineer who worked for many years with the ‘Alvis’ racing team and his mother, Gladys Dawson, was a milliner. He was educated at Centaur Road Junior School and then, from 1930 to 1938, at King Henry VIII School, Coventry. There he excelled at most sports and became the school’s leading sportsman. For his medical studies he entered Birmingham University, where he had a good academic record and obtained a clinical prize in surgery. Again he excelled in a wide variety of sports. As vice-captain of the University Rugby XV he played mainly as a wing-three quarter and was a valued member of the athletics team. He also played for both Coventry and Moseley first XV teams. After qualification and house appointments, Paul married (Elizabeth) Jean Button, a nurse, on 14 April 1944. For two years he was a resident surgical registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he gained good general experience. At this time he became a flight-lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and later at RAF Northallerton, where he specialised in trauma and orthopaedics. He went abroad from 1946 to 1947 as a squadron leader (orthopaedic specialist) in charge of Surgical Unit No 10 General Hospital, Karachi. Returning to the UK, surgery was obviously his ambition and Paul Dawson-Edwards commenced higher training as a demonstrator of anatomy at Birmingham University for a year before returning to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a surgical registrar. This was followed by a four year rotating appointment at senior registrar level in Birmingham. On becoming a consultant in 1957, he obtained study leave for a year in Boston, Massachusetts at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, where he was an assistant in surgery and carried out research at Harvard University. An interest in renal transplantation was fired by Francis D (Franny) Moore. He did animal research work with Joseph Murray, a pioneer in this field, who was awarded a Nobel prize in 1990. Paul was fortunate to be under the wing of Hartwell Harrison, who became a lifelong friend. Returning to Birmingham, the kidney unit was set up as an offshoot of the urology unit. By 1962 a minicoil artificial kidney had been developed by Denys Blainey and permission was given to start renal transplantation at the end of 1967. Paul carried out his first renal transplant in May 1968. He was associated with dialysis and transplantation for many years, before returning to full time ‘general’ urological practice. He amassed a large series of patients with benign and malignant retroperitoneal fibrosis, publishing on this subject, as well as the minicoil artificial kidney and the clinical aspects of renal transplantation. Although he was a fine surgical technician and natural teacher, he was regarded by some as a hard task-master. Certainly he did not suffer fools gladly, but was more than happy when all the ‘team’ pulled together. Paul and his wife, Jean, hosted regular ‘firm’ parties: at one of these he told students that they were more staid than those of his generation. The Dawson-Edwardses woke the next morning to find the entrance to their drive had been bricked up. He was a member of British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) and served on its council (from 1970 to 1974) and on that of the Urological Club of Great Britain and Ireland. He was a founder member of the Midlands Urological Group who met each year at different centres to learn what other urologists were doing. Sport and cars played an important part of his life, although he was not as adept at maintaining the latter as was his father. After giving up rugby, he took up squash and tennis seriously and also enjoyed sailing and mountain walking. All these activities were continued until his knees needed replacing. His love of mountain walking inspired him to set up the Vacancy Club: once a year a group of registrars persuaded their consultant bosses to climb a peak in Snowdonia, perhaps in the hope of creating a vacancy! Paul was a formidable mixed hockey player and always enjoyed the traditional Boxing Day match against the General Hospital. Retiring in 1984, Paul and Jean were able to spend more time at their cottage in north Wales. He was a keen photographer and took up painting late in life, no doubt tutored by his friend and colleague, Arnold Gourevitch. Predeceased by his wife, Jean, he lived in his old home until his health forced him to enter a nursing home. But he enjoyed hearing from his friends and chatting with them at length over the phone: his intellect and memory remained sound. Paul Dawson-Edwards died of heart failure on 6 December 2008 and is survived by his three children (Elizabeth ‘Liz’, a retired company director, John, a civil engineer, and Sarah, a consultant radiologist in Norwich) and by his four grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000621
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shuttleworth, Kenneth Ernest Dawson (1922 - 2006)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2009-07-10 2010-12-09
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/372809372809
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ken Shuttleworth helped establish the urology department at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was born on 30 April 1922 in Bradford to Frederick and Edith Shuttleworth. His father won a scholarship to Oxford from Bradford Grammar School to read mathematics: his mother was at Girton College, Cambridge. His father won the Military Cross in 1918 for successfully evacuating his gun crew despite a severe wound to his leg. After the war, he became a chartered accountant at Deloitte's, despite his disability, but for a long time it was Ken's mother who kept the family afloat by teaching mathematics at Queen's College in Harley Street. Ken was educated at Watford Grammar School. Despite some early experience in hospital, where he had fainted at the sight of blood every day for a fortnight, he entered St Thomas' Hospital to study medicine in 1939. He qualified in 1944 and at once joined the RAMC, serving in Italy, Egypt and Palestine, an experience which included taking out the appendix of the son of a sheikh, who rewarded him with a feast including the traditional sheep's eyes. On demobilisation, he returned to St Thomas', at first at Midhurst, where he married Phillippa Hartley, and then as a surgical registrar in Lambeth. He was put in charge of an audit of the results of hernia repairs in a large number of policemen, mostly using the nylon darn method, which he published in 1962. He was an exchange fellow at McGill University at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, where he carried out research into intravenous fat therapy and the metabolism of glyceride clearance under Gavin Miller, and took the opportunity to tour America and visit Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic. On his return he was appointed to the staff of St Thomas' and awarded a Hunterian Professorship in the College in 1962. From the days of Cheselden, the urological tradition at St Thomas' had always been a strong one, and at this time was being upheld by R H O B Robinson and Walter 'Gaffer' Mimpriss, who had taken the trouble to visit the United States to learn the technique of transurethral resection with the cold punch from Gershom Thompson at the Mayo Clinic. Both Robinson and Mimpriss continued with general surgery until they retired in 1962 and 1970 respectively. Shuttleworth replaced Mimpriss as a general surgeon, but at once realised the necessity of setting up a specialist department of urology, entirely separate from that of general surgery. Such specialisation in London was at that time exceptional, and he faced opposition from some colleagues who were keen for the overlap between urology and general surgery to continue. But Shuttleworth stuck to his guns and eventually won the day. He realised too that a specialist department must be seen to be carrying out research if it was to be credible, and if its trainees were to gain higher degrees in surgery. At this time at St Thomas' Brian Creamer was breaking new ground with his measurements of the pressure changes in the oesophagus, and this stimulated Shuttleworth to do the same thing in the urinary tract, long before urodynamics had been dreamed of. He sent several of his brighter protégés to San Francisco to learn the latest techniques from Frank Hinman Jr. He extended these studies to the upper urinary tract in the physiology of the ureter and hydronephrosis. The theoretical advantage of combining of hyperbaric oxygen with external beam irradiation was then being developed at St Thomas', and Shuttleworth was keen to offer its advantages to men with carcinoma of the prostate, among whom were some very distinguished people. He was president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) from 1982 to 1984, at a time when many in the surgical subspecialties were urging the surgical Royal Colleges to set up a higher surgical qualification which would indicate when a candidate had been fully trained in his or her specialty. The Edinburgh College had led the way by setting up specialist assessments in neurosurgery and orthopaedics, and approached Ken on the feasibility of a similar examination in urology. Representatives from BAUS visited Edinburgh to observe the assessment in orthopaedics, which impressed and persuaded them of the need for a comparable assessment in urology. BAUS were persuaded to support this concept, but not without some difficulty and only on condition that it would be set up jointly by all four surgical Royal Colleges. The invention by Dornier of the method of extracorporeal shock wave destruction of urinary stones came at a time when the NHS budget was under unusual strain and the Department of Health asked for bids from different London hospitals. The competition was intense, but Shuttleworth put forward a scheme which won the prize, and for the next decade large numbers of renal calculi were referred to St Thomas' for the new treatment. The results of the first thousand cases were published in the *British Journal of Urology* [1986 Dec; 58(6):573-7]. His publications included his Hunterian Lecture [*Ann Roy Coll Surg Eng* 1963; 32:164-179] and a chapter on urological surgery for De Wardener's textbook, *The Kidney*. In committee he was often dogmatic and, as a consequence, nearly always got his way, although not when he was outvoted in the appointment of the first female surgical registrar! (In his view a surgical career was for men.) Because of his strong personality and strong views he had many detractors in the hospital, and strained relationships were also apparent in relation to his somewhat turbulent private life. He was a lover of sunshine and of Italy, owning a villa in Tuscany, where he retreated each summer and produced his own wine. He had three marriages, all of which failed, and from each of which there were children. This was unusual in the then conformist establishment of St Thomas' and some of his more puritanical colleagues were distinctly disconcerted. He also attracted a circle of devoted supporters. In retirement he moved permanently to his Tuscan farmhouse, where he was happy growing his own vegetables, harvesting his hay field, picking his own grapes and making wine, and entertaining friends who visited him from England. Left alone after the death of his partner Pamela, he continued to be a generous host and kept in touch with several of his family. A hip replacement in London did not slow him up and it was only when he suffered progressive amnesia that his family brought him back to England to a nursing home. He was then diagnosed with prostate cancer from which he eventually died on 8 March 2006. His supporters felt that it was sad there was no memorial service for him at St Thomas', as was customary for a departed senior member of the consultant staff.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000626
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kilpatrick, Francis Rankin (1908 - 2005)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-02-01
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/372518372518
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Francis Rankin Kilpatrick, known as ‘Kilp’, was a urological surgeon in London. He was born in Windsorton near Kimberley in Cape Province, South Africa, on 18 September 1908. His father had been a draper’s assistant who emigrated from Northern Ireland to South Africa in 1897, where he flourished, ending up as the owner of his store. He returned only once to Ireland, to bring back his wife, Annie Rankin. He died in 1923, leaving Annie to bring up Kilp (then only 14) and three other children. Kilp and his brother John went to England before the war to study medicine at Guy’s Hospital. Kilp qualified in 1933, and held house jobs and junior surgical posts. He left Guy’s to be RMO at Putney Hospital for a few years, where his reputation grew, and he was invited back to Guy’s. But for the war he would have been appointed to the staff (according to his backer, Nils Eckhoff). Instead he was appointed surgeon to the Emergency Bed Service, working at Guy’s and the Wildernesse (where he was surgeon superintendent). At the outbreak of war Hedley Atkins was responsible for the surgical organisation: Kilp and Sam Wass were the surgical registrars who took turns to deal with the emergency surgery throughout the Blitz, the anaesthetics being provided by another South African, Abe Shein. Those days have been vividly described: the casualties were operated on in an improvised four-table operating theatre in a cellar. The operations went on day and night, even though the hospital itself was heavily damaged. On five occasions the daily total of admissions was more than 100. This intense activity was to be repeated later in the war during the V1 and V2 attacks of 1944 and 1945. After the war Kilp was appointed consultant surgeon to Guy’s in 1946 and to St Peter’s Hospital in 1948. At St Peter’s Kilp was worshipped by the younger RSOs for his meticulous technique of retropubic prostatectomy, which in his hands was notably gentle and bloodless, and for the endless pains he took in teaching. In a day when some surgeons were famous for their arrogance, few people were so courteous and friendly to people of every walk of life. His juniors like his patients regarded him as their friend. He married Eileadh Morton, a radiographer, in 1939. They had three children – Stewart, Bruce and Fiona. He retired to Fittleworth, where he developed a keen interest in bird-watching and photography. He died on 19 August 2005, aged 96.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000331
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Blacklock, Sir Norman James (1928 - 2006)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-17
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372618372618
Occupation Urologist
Details Sir Norman Blacklock combined several careers; as a distinguished surgeon in the Navy, later as professor of urology at the University of Manchester, and as medical adviser to the Queen on her official trips abroad. He was born in Glasgow on 5 February 1928, the son of John William Stewart Blacklock, professor of pathology at Glasgow University and subsequently St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, and Isabella née Roger, a nursing sister. After the High School in Glasgow was bombed, Norman moved to the McLaren High School in Perthshire. He trained in Glasgow and was awarded the Rankine memorial prize and the Asher Asher gold medal. He graduated MB ChB in 1950. At the Western Infirmary he was influenced by Sir Charles Illingworth in surgery and William Snodgrass in medicine. At the Royal Infirmary professor of surgery, J A G Burton, and Arthur Jacobs awakened a lifetime interest in urology. National Service called and he volunteered for the Royal Navy, serving on HMS aircraft carriers *Theseus* and *Warrior*, where he dealt with injuries from flying training and crash landings. Back in civilian life, he became a surgical registrar and lecturer in surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He then moved to Ipswich, and subsequently the Royal Masonic and St Bartholomew’s hospitals in London. He was asked to rejoin the Royal Navy and was posted to the Royal Naval Hospital Chatham and then, in the true service pattern, to Royal Naval hospitals Plymouth, Malta and Haslar (the principal Navy teaching hospital). There he developed a department of urology with a keen interest in urinary tract stone disease. He was always happy to advise patients from the other services. In 1972 he was appointed the Royal Navy director of surgical research and was appointed OBE two years later. In 1976 the Queen’s honorary surgeon was unable to accompany her to Luxembourg, so Norman was nominated in his place. For the next 17 years he accompanied the Royal party on their trips overseas, duties which had to be fitted into his busy clinical and academic career. Norman carried his ‘black bag’, which contained a range of urgent remedies, pills and potions, first aid instruments and equipment, including a miniature resuscitator/defibrillator. Fortunately these were not required and, apart from mild gastric problems in the Far East, the Queen did not require medical advice, though her staff often did. The Duke of Edinburgh christened him ‘Dr Hemlock’, but never reported sick. Norman was knighted after his last trip with the Queen, to Hungary in 1993. In September 1978 he retired from the Royal Navy as a surgeon captain. Unusually for a service surgeon, he was appointed to an academic post, as professor of urology at the University of Manchester, working at the University Hospital of South Manchester. He developed lithotripsy in the north, obtaining the machine and training a team to use it. This pioneering enterprise reflected his long interest and experience of renal stone formation. Microanatomy of the prostate and causes of hyperplasia formed other research interests in his department. He published extensively in refereed journals from 1965 until his retirement. Outside medicine, he was interested in gardening, bread-making and cooking, and travelling in a motor caravan. He married Marjorie Reid in 1956. They had a son, Neil, and a daughter, Fiona. Both are medical graduates. Sir Norman died on his 50th wedding anniversary, after falling and hitting his head.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000434
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Choi, William Hong (1968 - 2016)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-20 2017-10-19
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/373967373967
Occupation Urologist
Details William Hong Choi, known as 'Bill', was a consultant urologist at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent. He was born in Hong Kong, the third and youngest child of a naval officer. At the age of four the family moved to the UK, to Manchester. Choi was educated at William Hulme Grammar School in Manchester and then moved to London, where he studied medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School, Tooting. He gained his MB BS in 1991. He held junior posts in south west London and then trained in urology as a specialist registrar in the south Thames region. During this period, he spent some time at King's College Hospital researching the safety of laparoscopy. He obtained his FRCS (Urol) in 2002. He later also studied for a law degree. In 2004, he was appointed as a consultant urologist at the William Harvey Hospital, where he set up a regional centre for laparoscopic renal surgery in east Kent. He was the network lead for renal cancer and in 2014 he became the clinical lead for urology. He was a keen trainer and supervisor of specialist registrars. Bill Choi died following an accident on a family skiing holiday in La Plagne, France, on 21 March 2016. He was 48. He was survived by his partner Abbey, his two sons (Alex and Xavier) and a stepdaughter (Phoebe). His wife, Debbie, had died from breast cancer seven years earlier.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001784
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First Title value, for Searching Swan, Russell Henry Jocelyn (1876 - 1943)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-11-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004600-E004699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376839376839
Occupation General surgeon Genito-urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born 20 July 1876 at Gosberton, Lincs, the second son of Richard Jocelyn Swan (1849-1925), MRCS 1870 (see *Lancet*, 1925, 2, 1257), and his wife Ana Elizabeth, elder daughter of Robert Russell Harper, MRCS 1875, of Holbeach, Lincs. R J Swan was the second son of John W Swan, MRCS 1835, of Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny; he practised till 1879 at Northleach, Glos, then for six years at Gosberton, and at Camberwell from 1885 till his death in 1925; his brother, Robert Lafayette Swan, was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1899. Both the Swans and the Harpers had many medical forbears. R H J Swan was educated at Wilson's School and Guy's Hospital Medical School, where he was demonstrator of anatomy and of biology. He took first-class honours in medicine at the London MB examination when only twenty-two, and served as house surgeon and obstetric registrar at Guy's. He played Rugby football for the Hospital, and was an elusive half-back. He then served as house surgeon at St Peter's Hospital for Stone, where he acquired the interest in genito-urinary surgery which coloured his whole career. In 1902 he took the London MS and the Fellowship, though not previously a Member of the College. He was elected to the staff of the Royal Cancer Hospital, Fulham Road, where he served successively as surgical registrar, assistant surgeon, surgeon, and finally surgeon emeritus. He became also consulting surgeon to St Paul's Hospital for Genito-urinary Diseases, to the Walton Cottage Hospital, and to the Watford Peace Memorial Hospital, and he served on the grand council of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. During the first world war Swan was commissioned a temporary major, RAMC on 1 February 1917, and served as district consulting surgeon in the Eastern Command. He was surgeon to the Royal Herbert Hospital at Woolwich and to the American Red Cross Hospital for Officers, and later surgeon to the RAF hospitals. He was mentioned in despatches and created OBE for his services. At the outbreak of the second war in 1939 he gave up his large private practice and became divisional surgeon in the emergency medical service at Park Prewett, Basingstoke, where he carried on his duty even when his health began finally to fail. Swan was an excellent all-round surgeon, whose main interests were in cancer and genito-urinary diseases. He was also specially interested in the surgery of peripheral nerve injuries. His operations on the breast were models of technique, for he was a fine operator, careful and thorough, of sound judgement and calm decision. He served on the editorial board of the *British Journal of Urology*, and was president of the section of urology at the Royal Society of Medicine. He was also a member of the Société internationale d'Urologie. In 1917 he operated successfully upon the King's aunt, HRH the Duchess of Albany. Swan married twice: (1) in 1908 Una Gladys, daughter of A Waterlow; she died in 1924 of an obscure malignant disease, leaving a son and three daughters; (2) in 1927 Joyce Hazel, younger daughter of H M Thornton of Purley. Mrs Swan was taken severely ill on their honeymoon and was paralysed for some months; she recovered and survived him, but without children. Swan died in London on 2 March 1943, aged 66. He had practised at 75 Wimpole Street. A memorial service was held at the Royal Cancer Hospital on 9 March. He was a man of great charm, gentle, and considerate. He was a good player of golf and lawn-tennis. Swan had travelled much and took cinematograph films of the places he visited. He was a good raconteur, and also made a valuable collection of postage stamps. Publications: Genito-urinary diseases, in French's *Index of differential diagnosis*, Bristol, 1911. Primary unilateral renal tuberculosis. *Guy's Hosp Rep* 1910, 64, 39. Some reflections upon villous-covered tumours of the urinary bladder. *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1925-26, 19, urol p 1. New growths of the kidney. *Brit med J* 1933, 1, 606.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004656
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kock, Nils Gustav Johannes (1924 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2012-09-07 2015-03-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375031375031
Occupation Colorectal surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Nils Kock, professor of surgery and chief of the department of surgery II, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, was an eminent colorectal surgeon, widely known for his development of the 'Kock pouch', a continent pouch formed by using the terminal ileum after colectomy. Known as 'Nicke' to his friends, Nils Kock was born on 29 January 1924 in the Finnish town of Jakobstad ('Jacob's city'), to use its Swedish name, and Pietarsaari ('Peter's Island') in Finnish. This town in Ostrobothnia, western Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia, is an important Finnish port and industrial centre with some 20,000 inhabitants. Nils Kock's family were Finnish-Swedish in origin. His father, Emil Kock, owned an equipment store in Jakobstad: his mother, Aili Kock née Lönnmark, was a housewife. Nils had one older brother, Sven, who became a professor of economics, and an older sister, Auda Andersson, a language teacher. The first four years of Nils' school life were spent in the Jakobstad Folkskola, or elementary school, followed by eight years at the Jakobstad Samlycéum or secondary school. His teenage years were interrupted by the Second World War. Drafted into the Finnish Army, he was involved in the confrontations between Russia, Germany and the Western Allies. Entering the Army as a private in the heavy artillery, by the end of the war he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant. His home town of Jakobstad was bombed by the Russians during the war years. Nils Kock was always modest about his war-time experiences, but these years remained important to him for the rest of his life: he was very proud of belonging to the Finnish Second World War veterans. Demobilised after the war, Nils applied for entrance to Helsinki University to study medicine. As his school grades were not all that outstanding, even after being given extra marks for exemplary military service, his first application was turned down. Clearly disappointed at the outcome, he entered what he felt was the second best option, the dental school. Within a year he re-applied for a place on the medical course at Helsinki University and was successful. He was further compensated for this early upset by meeting his future wife, Birgit Bretenstein (known as 'Bie'), a student of languages. She was born in Tampere in southern Finland. Their romance led to their wedding in 1950 at a small family ceremony. They had a very happy and successful life together. The first of two daughters, Anki, was born in Helsinki in May 1952. Nils graduated in 1951 and held post-qualification house appointments in Helsinki, but to realise his ambition of specialising in surgery, he decided to move to Sweden in the hope of gaining entrance to a residency programme. Travelling in the autumn of 1952 with his wife and daughter, he studied hard in order to pass the Swedish qualifying examination in the spring of 1955. By now the Kocks had another daughter, Maria, who was born in Gothenburg in January 1955. Having a Swedish licence to practice, he managed to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder as an assistant in surgery in the department of surgery I, Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The period of higher surgical training within the University Hospital was to last another five years or more. He was to remain in Gothenburg for the rest of his professional life: from 1974 to 1990, when he retired as professor of surgery and chief of the department of surgery II, Sahlgrenska University Hospital. He formed the opinion that to progress in his chosen career of surgery, basic science education must work hand-in-hand with clinical work. Supervised for two to three years by Bjorn Folkow, head of the department of physiology at Gothenburg, Nils worked towards a PhD thesis. Entitled 'An experimental analysis of mechanisms engaged in reflex inhibition of intestinal motility', he defended his thesis before the adjudicating panel, receiving his doctorate in 1959. At this early stage of his training he had established a laboratory for 'urodynamic' studies, and adapted the apparatus for pressure studies on intestinal segments as bladder substitutes on both canine and feline models. This was just the beginning of his future clinical research, with projects that led to innovations in continence-preserving urological and colo-rectal techniques in patients undergoing cystectomy and procto-colectomy. For years those patients with conditions requiring radical colectomy accepted the need for a permanent opening or ileostomy, for which external appliances/bags were required over the stoma to collect faecal waste. There was still a degree of patient satisfaction of 'conventional ileostomy', as popularised by Bryan Brooke of Birmingham, who had founded the Ileostomy Association in 1956 in the UK. Similarly, urine drainage bags were acceptable in patients after total cystectomy with ileal conduits, and continued to prove satisfactory. However, in 12% of patients the continuous flow of faecal material/urine over the abdominal wall caused skin erosion, and prolapse of the ileostomy and para-stomal hernias were also significant problems. Clearly, other approaches were needed. During his animal experiments that were part of the evolution of the 'continent ileostomy', Kock discovered that graded filling of the sigmoid colon as well as small bowel segments induced strong pressure waves, even when low volumes of fluid were introduced. Such pressures were sufficient to overcome sphincter tone and allow leakage of fluid. But by detubularising of the intestinal segments using a new double folding technique and suturing together the opened terminal ileum, a spherical 'reservoir' could be constructed virtually free of pressure on filling. A satisfactory 'bladder/reservoir' capacity with minimal leakage therefrom resulted after years of experimental work. This unique invention meant that patients whose colon and rectum had been removed could be offered an alternative to an external appliance. Stimulated by these promising experiments, in 1967 Kock began a clinical study using low-pressure reservoir continent ileostomy after procto-colectomy in patients with ulcerative colitis. The reservoir was constructed on a distal 15cm of ileum and the outlet or stoma from the pouch passed through the rectus abdominis muscle at an acute angle to form a flat cutaneous ileostomy. It was hoped that rectus muscle tone would be sufficient to gain continence. Sadly, in many cases it proved insufficient to stop leakage from the internal pouches, and alternatives were sought. In 1969, Nil Kock published a landmark article on this, the 'Kock pouch', or continent ileostomy ('Intra-abdominal "reservoir" in patients with permanent ileostomy. Preliminary observations on a procedure resulting in fecal "continence" in five ileostomy patients' *Arch Surg*. 1969 Aug;99[2]:223-31), describing a surgical method for achieving continence by creating an internal reservoir in the form of a sphere. Fashioned from the lower end of the patient's own small intestine it led to an opening or stoma on the patients' abdominal wall. Several times a day the patient would sit on the toilet, insert a catheter via the stoma and into the pouch and drain out waste material. It was only necessary to place a small dressing over the stoma to absorb mucus in between regular self-catheterisations. A 'nipple valve' constructed by intussuscepting a short outer segment of the efferent limb at the stoma achieved a greater degree of continence: some valves required stapling in order to increase stability. But evacuation difficulties, stenosis, slippage of the valve or leakage still remained the Achilles heel. None of these problems and complications were ignored by Kock and the many other investigators who were attracted to this revolutionary concept. Solutions were found whenever possible. Needless to say, long-term studies are being done on continent ileostomies, with or without valve mechanisms. The incidence of pouchitis, improvements on the nipple valve and, most important of all, pouch durability and need for revisions are being researched. Many studies were done by Nils Kock himself, assessing quality of life and patient satisfaction. Kock's method spread world-wide, and specialist centres in North America and other parts of Scandinavia began to report good or improved results. A Canadian devotee, Zane Cohen, set up a clinic at the University of Toronto after first visiting Kock at St Mark's Hospital, London, where he held a fellowship. He described him as 'an amazing individual who was kind, clever, committed and creative'. Cohen and his colleagues modified and worked on the Kock pouch procedure at the University of Toronto, and the Scandinavian experience has been shared and improved throughout other parts of the world. Nils was a charismatic tutor and skilled clinician who generously shared his skills and ideas with others: he also very much preferred to 'go his own way'. In so doing he expressed a slight distrust of hospital administration and bureaucracy in general. On joining the permanent staff of his old medical school, he set up a private clinical and experimental gastroenterological research unit with a staff of research nurses and graduate assistants, who constituted the cornerstone of his research activities. From this laboratory emanated a large number of original papers and academic theses in gastroenterology and urology. Over the years he himself had over 300 publications, including those detailing modifications necessary to overcome problems with the Kock pouch. As an early part of his own training, and to broaden his experience of other systems of healthcare, in 1968 he and his family went for a year to the USA. In Buffalo, New York, he worked with Bud Schenk in laboratories attached to the Edward J Meyer Memorial Hospital, doing research work on intestinal circulation. No doubt he imbibed the cut and thrust of discussions on 'grand rounds', so common in USA institutions. Nils had numerous invitations to lecture and demonstrate his techniques abroad. In 1973 he was asked by the thoracic surgeon, Ake Senning, to spend a sabattical year and to establish a new clinic for gastrointestinal surgery in Zürich, Switzerland. In 1986 he went to work in the urological department of the University of Mansoura, Egypt, for several short periods. A common problem in this country is the development of carcinoma in bladders infested with bilharzia. Working with Mohammed Ghoneim, who became a great friend, he developed a Kock reservoir which would avoid a stoma after cystectomy. They started a trial using the low pressure pouch provided with an anti-reflux valve that was anastomosed directly to the urethra, a technique which is now used widely. Nils Kock was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1978, at an annual general meeting held in Swansea. At the meeting he also gave a Moynihan lecture entitled 'A new look at faecal and urinary diversion procedures'. Throughout his career he was presented with numerous awards, including, in1988, the Söderberg prize in medicine - the so-called 'small Nobel prize' - for his ground-breaking research and clinical development of continence-preserving surgery. In 1997 he received the Société Internationale d'Urologie award in recognition of his great contributions to urology. Although he was in many ways a workaholic, Nils had many interests outside medicine. He was fond of sailing his yacht round the islands of southern Sweden. In 1969 he, with two other surgeons, bought properties and land on Ljusterö, an island located in the northern part of the Tjust archipelago on the east coast of Sweden. It became a favourite place to which he could escape with his closely-knit family. His original mind led him to carpentry for relaxation, befitting a surgeon who was a good technician. He was widely read on diverse subjects, and visited the library near his home in Gothenburg on a regular basis to borrow books to read at home. Following his retirement in 1990, he and his wife lived for part of the year in southern France, where they enjoyed the French cuisine and wine. In addition they and the members of the family were able to meet up more frequently on Lustjerö. Anki, the older of the two daughters, is married and has two children, My Ernevi and Jonas: she followed her mother into the study of languages. The second daughter, Maria, has followed her father into medicine. She is an anaesthetist and specialist in intensive care at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg. She is married and has three children - Björn, a trainee cardiologist, Olaf, an intern in medicine, and Tove, who is studying psychology. Nils Kock died as he would have wished, peacefully, on 24 August 2011, at his home in Gothenburg whilst waiting to go out for lunch. He was 87. He did not wish for any fuss at his memorial service, which was non-religious. He was known to have cardiac problems, so this was presumably the cause of his sudden death. He was survived by his wife of 61 years, their two daughters and five grandchildren. As the coloproctologist Sir Alan Parks described him at the time of his election to the honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, he was 'A giant of a man in all ways, a great Scandinavian, and a great European'. His colleagues, Leif Hultén and Helge Myrvold, end their tribute: 'We who had the privilege to work and interact with "Nicke" have a lot to thank him for and have great memories to look back on. We remember him for his dedication, his curiosity, his thoughtfulness and humour.'
Resource Identifier RCS: E002848
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Currie, John Alexander ( - 1984)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-06-28 2014-06-27
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/374726374726
Occupation General practitioner Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Alexander Currie was a consultant urologist in Cape Town, South Africa. He was the son of James Oswald Currie, a medical practitioner, and was educated at Diocesan College ('Bishops') in Cape Town. During the First World War he was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery. He then went on to study medicine at Guy's in London, gaining his MRCS LRCP in 1923 and his MB BS in 1924. He returned to South Africa, where he was a general practitioner in Wynberg, Cape Province. He then went back to London to study urology and obtained his final FRCS in 1938. In the same year he was awarded his masters in surgery. During the Second World War, he served in the South African Medical Corps. After the war he established a private urological practice in Cape Town. He was also appointed to the staff of Groote Schuur Hospital and Victoria Hospital, Wynberg. Currie was president of the Medical Association of South Africa in 1961. After retiring from his private practice in Cape Town, he became a general practitioner on the island of St Helena for a year or so. He was married to Gertie, a former nurse, whom he had met at Victoria Hospital. Currie died on 23 August 1984.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002543
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Wade, Robert (1798 - 1872)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-01-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003300-E003399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375550375550
Occupation Apothecary General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on November 23rd, 1798, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, in which town his father carried on business as a brewer. He received his early education at a neighbouring school, and having been duly apprenticed came to London when 20 years of age. He had expected at once to attend lectures and hospital practice, but his father having become involved in difficulties, young Wade was thrown upon his own resources. Of a robust frame, strong will, and a hopeful disposition, he looked to the future with confidence. He became assistant to one of the 'top apothecaries' in the West End, and for some years was a veritable drudge. He made up all the medicines, attended most of the night cases and all the lower class of midwifery. He entered St George's Hospital about the year 1817, passed the College of Surgeons in 1819, and the Apothecaries' Society in 1820. The office of Apothecary to the Westminster General Dispensary falling vacant, Wade became a candidate for it and was elected by a small majority. He fulfilled the duties of his appointment with great credit to himself and benefit to the institution for some years. About 1828 he commenced practice on his own account, at 68 Dean Street. For some time he eked out a somewhat scanty income by taking pupils, who always spoke of him afterwards with affectionate respect. Wade, on his retirement from the office of Apothecary to the Dispensary, was unanimously elected Surgeon to the institution, and this office he held to the day of his death, performing the duties with such fidelity and punctuality that he was presented by the Governors with a handsome piece of plate in recognition of his services. The name 'specialist', when he took the office of Surgeon to the Dispensary, was all but unknown, but circumstances drove him, as it were, to choose a particular line of practice. Amongst the crowd of patients which attended on his 'days', numbers were affected with stricture of the urethra in all its forms. He soon found that some of them could not be successfully treated by simple dilatation, and he directed his mind to discover some means by which they could be treated with safety. Shortly before, the system of treatment carried out most extensively by Sir Everard Home had fallen into discredit, in consequence of the disastrous results ensuing from it. Home had recourse to the nitrate of silver, and no doubt was very successful in many cases, but he carried his practice to a degree of heroism which ended in its downfall. Thomas Whateley, after the failure of the lunar caustic, practised and advocated the use of the potassa fusa in the more intractable kinds of stricture. He had but a limited success, and at his death no one seemed desirous to become his successor. Then a new system of treatment was practised by some surgeons of more or less eminence, G J Guthrie (qv) and R A Stafford (qv) being foremost amongst them. This consisted in what was termed internal incision: a bougie armed with a knife was inserted into the urethra, and when the seat of the obstruction was fairly reached, the knife, being worked by a spring at the handle of the instrument, was protruded and the stricture freely divided. For a time all went well, but cases of severe haemorrhage were common, and fatal results occasional, so this variety of internal urethrotomy lost ground and died with Stafford, who, notwithstanding all its dangers and drawbacks, contended to the last that it was, on the whole, the most efficient and the safest that could be employed. Wade had opportunities of trying these plans of treatment, and after a long and anxious trial came to the conclusion that Whateley's was the best remedy; but he was soon convinced that the caustic potash had been used too freely by Whateley, just as the lunar caustic had been too freely employed by Home. He accordingly commenced his application of caustic potash in very minute quantities, and gradually increased them. He soon found that all the benefits of this agent could be obtained without resorting to the more powerful, and sometimes dangerous, amount employed by Whateley. Always cautious and painstaking, he hesitated long before he gave his views to the profession. At length, fortified by an experience of several hundred cases in public and private practice, he ventured to stand forth as the advocate of the use of that remedy in cases of irritable and intractable stricture. He denounced at first in unmeasured terms the 'perineal section' of Syme; but he was not a bigoted antagonist, and when he found he was wrong he acknowledged his error. One instance will suffice. Thomas Henry Wakley (qv) proposed and practised a most ingenious plan of treating stricture by gradual dilatation. In one edition of his work Wade strenuously opposed this plan, believing that it would cause laceration and danger; but he felt bound to satisfy himself on that point, and after some trial of the plan was convinced that in certain cases it might be employed with safety and advantage. In the very next edition of his work on stricture, he not only acknowledged his error, but actually gave a lithographic illustration of Wakley's instruments, and spoke of them with approbation. This is to his honour; for the *Lancet*, which represented the interests of Wakley, had attacked him with a rancour which was neither just nor justifiable. In 1834 he delivered a course of lectures on pathology at the Little Windmill Street School. He took few holidays - 'work to him was leisure'; but he annually rented a house at Hampstead for a 'little change', where he walked and talked with his family and friends amid the quiet lanes, the fertile fields, and the wooded heights of that suburban 'paradise'. A great appreciator of everything beautiful in nature, and a lover of the arts, he was anxious to obtain some works of William Henry Hunt (1790-1864). It was not, however, till 1851 that his means allowed him to indulge in what he then regarded as an expensive outlay. This was done with much caution and misgiving. The drawings by this distinguished artist at this period were but one-tenth of the value which they afterwards realized at public auctions. In an interview with William Vokins, who at this time had the majority of Hunt's works from the easel, and while contemplating a drawing of a 'Bird's Nest', the price of which was but twenty-two guineas, Wade expressed his great desire to purchase, but added: "I am but a poor surgeon, and though I should like it much, I hardly feel justified in doing so; but tell me honestly, should it so occur that I am unable to retain it, is it likely I may get my money again?" Being perfectly assured on this point, Wade bought the picture, and it was the nucleus of a collection of drawings of fruit, flowers, etc, entirely by this master - not large, but admitted to be unique in quality by everyone acquainted with the matter who had seen them, either on his walls or at the loan exhibitions, to which he was at all times a willing contributor. The possession of these drawings led to his acquaintance with the artist, and he became his medical adviser, attending him in his last illness. The collection - a remarkably fine one - was subsequently sold by Christie & Manson, and fetched enormous prices. Wade died at his house in Dean Street, Soho, two hours after a cerebral haemorrhage, on January 16th, 1872. Publications:- *Observations on Fever*, 8vo, London, 1824. *Practical Observations on the Pathology and Treatment of Stricture of the Urethra*, 8vo, London, 1841; 2nd ed, greatly enlarged, 1849; 4th ed, 1860. *Conservative Surgery of the Urethra...Treatment by Potassa Fusa*, 12mo, London; 2nd ed, 1868.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003367
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bultitude, Michael Ian (1936 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2011-12-20 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/373964373964
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Michael Bultitude was a much respected urologist at St Thomas' Hospital who helped set up the first public lithotripter service in the UK for renal stones and also made significant contributions to the study of urodynamics. He was born on 29 September 1936 in Withernsea, Yorkshire, the only child of Frank and Millicent Bultitude. When only a few months old his father, a serving Army officer, was posted to India and for the next several years the family lived in that country. Sadly, his father died when Michael was only seven years old and so the family returned to England and Michael attended the Royal Masonic School, where he excelled academically, winning a place at Trinity College, Cambridge, to study medicine. He was a keen oarsman, and in later years would proudly still display his oar from his Cambridge days. He proceeded to London for his clinical studies at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1965. House appointments were at Shoreham Hospital and Worthing Hospital, before he became a senior house officer on the urological unit at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey. A rotating registrarship on the Wolverhampton circuit was followed by a seminal year as a resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone, London, which was the acknowledged centre for postgraduate urology. After a research urology post back at St Thomas' he was appointed as a senior registrar in urology and, in 1977, consultant urologist at both Lewisham Hospital and St Thomas', where he worked with Kenneth Shuttleworth and Wyndham Lloyd-Davies as colleagues. He left Lewisham in 1981 to work exclusively at his alma mater. Michael set up a urodynamics unit developing and equipping a cystometrogram unit for the investigation of functional disorders of micturition. He pioneered the use of prostaglandins in the atonic bladder and the use of sub trigonal injections of phenol for urge incontinence, publishing a number of papers on these areas. Other areas of research interest were urinary tract infection in relation to prostatectomy and the use of capsaicin for patients with chronic renal pain. This latter subject unusually resulted in a paper where the authors were father and son (for his son Matthew was then a medical student at St Thomas' and helped his father in the research) ('Loin pain haematuria syndrome: distress resolved by pain relief.' *Pain*. 1998 May;76[1-2]:209-13). In the early 1980s St Thomas' was the first NHS hospital in the UK to install an extracorporeal shock wave lithotripter for the treatment of urinary calculi and Michael was closely involved with the development of this service. In 1986 he was a co-author of a paper detailing the treatment of the first 1,000 patients by this machine ('Report on the first 1000 patients treated at St Thomas' Hospital by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy.' *Br J Urol*. 1986 Dec;58[6]:573-7). Outside of urology his interests included sports cars and especially boating. His motor boat named *Shockwave* (after the lithotripter) was moored near Rochester and many a weekend was spent with his family either sailing it or tinkering with it. Holidays were spent in the sunshine of Lanzarote, where he owned a villa for some 20 years. Happily married to Margaret, a former radiographer, they had four children, three sons (the eldest Matthew, who also became a consultant urologist, Sam and Richard) and a daughter (Jessica). Retiring from St Thomas' in 1999 because of ill health, he moved from the London suburb of Dulwich to the sea air of Worthing, where he enjoyed a relaxed life despite battling with various illnesses which he bore with stoicism and fortitude. He died on 19 February 2011, aged 74.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001781
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hart Hansen, Ole (1938 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-12 2015-03-06
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/373898373898
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ole Hart Hansen was a consultant urological surgeon in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was born on 7 November 1938. He trained in surgery mainly in Copenhagen, becoming a specialist in surgery in 1974 and, in 1976, in gastroenterology. In 1980 he defended his thesis on cellular renewal in the human gastric mucosa. From 1979 to 1984 he was a consultant and chief surgeon at Saint Lucas Hospital, Copenhagen, and, from 1984 to 2004, at Hillerød Hospital (north of Copenhagen). He retired at the age of 65. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died two years later, in October 2009. He was 70.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001715
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sreenevasan, Datuk Gopal Ayer (1922 - 2010)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2012-01-11 2014-11-07
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/374027374027
Occupation Urologist
Details Datuk Gopal Ayer Sreenevasan, or 'Sreeny' as he was affectionately known to his friends and colleagues, was a pioneering Malaysian surgeon and a powerful force in the development of the medical services in the country as a whole. It was largely due to his enthusiasm, hard work and expertise that the specialty of urology separated from general surgery in Malaysia, following the trend in more developed countries. He was responsible for training the first generation of pure urologists in the country and may therefore be regarded as Malaysia's 'father of urology'. Gopal Ayer Sreenevasan was born in what was then Malaya on 21 November 1922, of parents and forebears from southern India. He was the son of Gopal Ayer Ramaswamy, an assistant commissioner for labour in the state of Selangor, and Mangalam Seetharama Ayer. Sreeny's father was awarded the MBE and OBE for his work. Sreeny obtained his primary education at Batu Road School, Kuala Lumpur, and then went on to study at the Victoria Institution. He wrote: 'My schooldays were unimpressive except for participation in inter-school debating competitions and winning several prizes for my school.' Having decided to enter medicine as a career, and financed initially by his father, Sreeny turned to Australia, a country that was already developing undergraduate links with Asian countries, for his further education. In 1947 he sailed to Perth, where he completed the first year of a science degree at the University of Western Australia. He then entered the University of Adelaide in 1948, and was resident at St Mark's College for his clinical studies. Sreeny received tremendous encouragement from the master of the college, Bob Lewis and his wife, Betty. Just prior to sitting the fifth year exams in October 1951, he received the news that his father had died unexpectedly and he was urged to return home to Malaysia without delay. It seemed unlikely that Sreeny would ever return to complete his medical degree. He turned to Bob Lewis for fatherly advice when he noticed advertisements in the local press requesting suitable applicants for the newly introduced Colombo Plan scholarships, which were designed to help students in less developed countries to study in Australia, Canada, USA and the UK. Lewis offered assistance without hesitation, sending the necessary recommendation and appropriate references to Kuala Lumpur. Sreeny was selected for an interview and was awarded one of the first Colombo Plan scholarships. He returned to Adelaide, passed his fifth year at a supplementary examination and then entered the final year. He graduated MB BS in February 1952. After graduation, Sreenevasan took house appointments at the Royal Perth Hospital, Australia, during 1953 and 1954, before returning home to Malaya when he joined the government medical services. He was posted to Seremban General Hospital in the state of Negeri Sembilan, situated to the south of Kuala Lumpur. He worked with a general surgeon who had an interest in urology. After three years in progressive posts, in 1957 he obtained a government scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies in England, specifically to prepare for the FRCS diploma. By this time, the Federation of Malaysian states had gained independence from British rule. In the UK, he attended postgraduate courses and was attached to surgeons in Liverpool who supervised his overall training in the UK. Arrangements were made for him to work in the urology unit at the Manchester Royal Infirmary under the watchful eye of Thomas ('Tommy Tucker') Moore, a general surgeon turned urologist. Sreeny increased his experience in urology, also keeping in touch with general surgery. In 1962 he passed his FRCS England, FRCS Edinburgh and FRCS Ireland, and obtained the ChM Liverpool - an impressive list! When Sreenevasan returned to Malaysia with the ambition of specialising in urology at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, he found that the majority of general surgeons still regarded urology as well within their own capabilities, and had to overcome a degree of prejudice. During a visit to Kuala Lumpur by the charismatic and well-known Australian surgeon, Sir Edward ('Weary') Dunlop, Sreeny mentioned his dream of the separation of urology from general surgery to the distinguished visitor. With his help and that of the Australian-Asian Association of Victoria, Sreeny went to Melbourne so that he could prepare for the Australasian fellowship in urology. Australia and Canada at the time were the only two countries in the Commonwealth offering this type of specialist training leading towards a recognised diploma. He took unpaid leave and, after studying at St Vincent's and the Royal Melbourne hospitals, he gained the fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in urology in 1965. Sreenevasan therefore became the first pure urological surgeon with a specialty-registered diploma in Malaysia, his state work being performed at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. He had a vision that urology and nephrology should work together in geographical proximity, and that renal dialysis could benefit hundreds of patients. Perhaps at a later date even renal transplantation would become a reality. He received great encouragement from John Swinney of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with whom he discussed his plans during a visit by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's examining team to Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, founded in 1870, underwent rapid expansion in four planned stages from 1962 to 1975 under the Malaysian Ministry of Health. The potential for gaining increased facilities for 'his' urological unit was not lost on Sreenevasan. He and a handful of other enthusiastic doctors seized the opportunity to start a urology unit at the hospital in the older buildings as they were vacated. Sreeny was given an allocation of two beds for males and another two for females. By dint of hard work and many long hours, and with the help of S M A Alhady and Ten Yoon Fong, and using a Kolff dialysis machine, haemodialysis was performed in the evening, after a busy day's work. With the help of the Ministry of Health and another colleague, R P Pillay, Sreenevasan started the Institute of Urology and Nephrology in 1968, again in the old hospital. As the surgical units moved into their newer premises, separate male and female urological wards and operating theatres became a reality with the provision of offices and other much-needed areas. Sreeny and his colleagues, based at the Institute of Urology and with modest expectations, started Saturday morning teaching sessions in the form of a 'journal club' and clinico-pathological and radiological conferences, in which pathologists and radiologists willingly participated. In mid-1968, with the help of a Fulbright award, Sreeny went for a year to the USA. Six months were spent in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, mainly at the Massachusetts General Hospital with Wyland F Leadbetter. He then went to the west coast of the USA for a further six months to UCLA, working in Willard E Goodwin's unit. On hearing of the May 1969 race riots in Kuala Lumpur, one of the professors at UCLA offered Sreeny a position in the unit, but such was his commitment to his native Malaysia and the embryonic urology Institute in Kuala Lumpur, that he graciously declined the offer and returned home to continue his pioneering work. He sat and passed the examination for the fellowship of the American College of Surgeons and arrived back in Malaysia in time to help many of the injured who were still in hospital after the riots. He was instrumental in obtaining a fellowship for one of his younger colleagues, Hussein Awang, to go to Sydney, Australia, to be tutored in renal transplantation, thus completing the unit's expertise. Between 1975 and 2010, some 650 patients received new kidneys. The year 1974 represented a major milestone in the development of urology in Malaysia. Apart from the opening of the Institute of Urology and Nephrology at the General hospital, Sreeny also helped establish the Malaysian Urological Association (MUA). At a time when there were only four urologists in the country, Sreenevasan became its first president and continued in office until 1987, and David Chelvanayagam was its secretary. The other two urologists were Hussein Awang, a close associate of Sreenevasan, and E Proehoeman. The MUA now has 100 members and holds meetings similar to those of other urological associations and societies worldwide. Needless to say the repertoire of Malaysian urologists has expanded over the years and embraces modern non-invasive and robotic techniques. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England Gopal Ayer Sreenevasan was awarded a Hunterian professorship in 1973 for his work on 'Bilateral renal calculi'. In his lecture he emphasised the place of renography, which greatly facilitates the decision as to which kidney should be operated on first. This lecture was published in *Annals* of the Royal College of Surgeons (*Ann R Coll Surg Engl*. 1974 Jul;55[1]:3-12), and was later included in the book *Classic papers in urology* (Oxford, Isis Medical Media, 1999). He was the second Asian surgeon to be appointed Moynihan Lecturer: Sreeny gave this prestigious lecture during the RCS visit to Kuala Lumpur in 1989. Once again it was on urinary stones, this time on the future use of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. Sreeny ended his Moynihan lecture by quoting from a specially-taped interview with Leslie Pyrah, the doyen of British urology, who had worked with Moynihan. Pyrah described him as 'a charming man with a magnificent presence, always punctual - a very good teacher - a very good operator - very, very hardworking, very energetic. He once said a surgeon needs to have the wisdom of Aristotle, courage of a lion and gentle hands of a lady.' Sreeny held many prestigious offices, including master of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia (AMM) (from 1973 to 1976), president of the Malaysian Medical Association (from 1976 to 1977) and president of the Malaysian Urological Association (from 1975 to 1987). He was involved with the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia since its inception, and became the longest-serving chairman (from 1974 to 2002). Many honours and awards also came his way, including honorary membership of the Singapore Urological Association (1993), the distinguished alumni award of the University of Australia (1994) and the foundation fellowship of the Academy of Sciences in Malaysia (FASM) (1995). From the Malaysian state he received two honours: the Johan Setia Diraja (JSD) (in 1969) and the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN or Order of the Defender of the State - Knight Commander) in 1988. Sreeny retired from state medical practice in 1974, but continued in private urological work at the Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya, Selanagor, until 2001 and at the Pantai Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur until 2009. Gopal Ayer Sreenevasan married Visalakshi Subramaniam in April 1954 in Madras. They had been introduced to each other by a very close family friend. Sreeny brought his wife from south India to Malaysia, and so unfolded a '56-year-old love story', as one of their daughters recorded. Visalakshi had obtained a BA degree in Sanskrit in from Benares University and then an economics degree at the Presidency College, Madras. They had two daughters - Swarupini (a university teacher) and Ambiga (a human rights lawyer) - and a son, Gopal (a barrister). Gopal Ayer Sreenevasan died on 3 February 2010 after a short illness. He was 87. His wife Visalakshi died in May of the same year. He was survived by his three children and seven grandchildren (Gayathri, Gowri, Vidhya, Gokal, Sharanya, Anya and Milan). With his death the Malaysian medical fraternity lost its most illustrious man, a professional giant and a deeply religious man, who never looked for rewards in anything he did.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001844
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Carroll, Raymund Noel Patrick (1938 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by David J Farrar
Publication Date 2011-11-10 2013-06-26
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/373741373741
Occupation Urologist
Details Ray Carroll was a urologist in Manchester. He was educated at Belvedere College in Ireland, where he excelled at sport, particularly rugby and cricket, and in his final year was appointed captain of the school. He followed his father into medicine, qualifying from University College Dublin, where he obtained the gold medal in surgery and subsequently chose urology as his specialty. He moved to England in 1964, working at Hammersmith Hospital and, on completion of his urological training in 1974, he was appointed as a consultant urologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) and as a clinical lecturer in surgery at Manchester University Medical School. In 1972, whilst still a senior registrar at Manchester's Christie Hospital, Ray became the first president of the Urostomy Association, which had its origins at the Christie, fulfilling this role until 1983 with his customary enthusiasm. This enthusiasm and attention to detail pervaded his clinical, teaching and administrative work throughout his professional life. At the MRI he was active in setting up a range of new clinical services and was largely responsible for the commissioning of a new surgical wing there in 2001. Ray also had a wide ranging and successful medico-legal practice, which he continued to develop after his retirement from the NHS in 1999. In 2001 he obtained a master of laws degree in the legal aspects of medical practice from Cardiff Law School at the University of Wales Away from medicine, Ray's passion for rugby never dwindled. He was a keen follower, both at home and abroad, and was a fund of sporting knowledge, enhanced by his collection of some 1,400 rugby books and memorabilia, which he generously donated to Belvedere College. Lewy body disease sadly forced his retirement from both private and medico-legal practice in 2007. Throughout his professional life in England and after he was loyally supported by his wife Liz, an ex-nurse, with whom he had three children, Andrew, Peter and Katherine. He was also the proud grandfather of Camela, Sofia, Niamh and Rory. He died on 26 July 2011, at the age of 72.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001558
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Considine, John (1925 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by David Arkell
Publication Date 2011-09-28
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/373618373618
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Initially trained as a general surgeon, John Considine later specialised in urology and spent his consultant career at Heartlands Hospital (formerly East Birmingham Hospital) in the West Midlands. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, on 30 January 1925 and was educated at University College Dublin. After graduating in 1949 he trained in Glasgow and London before his appointment as consultant urologist to East Birmingham and Solihull health authorities. Although quietly spoken, with an unassuming manner, he possessed a sharp analytical mind. He was a keen and enthusiastic trainer of surgical registrars, many of whom were initiated into urology under his guidance. His calm and patient approach converted many a young surgeon to take up the specialty as a future career. He published articles on the retrocaval ureter (whilst in training) and developed a suction diathermy electrode for the cystoscopic treatment of superficial bladder tumours. His interest in bladder cancer led him to participate in numerous trials as a member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), but even this did not dissuade him from continuing to enjoy smoking his pipe. In the days when it was still allowed in hospitals he was easy to track down by the clouds of smoke issuing from the consultant's room! He was a very private individual, rarely mixing socially with colleagues. However, those that did meet him found him to be a true gentleman, always stylishly dressed and a most intelligent conversationalist. His French wife Marie predeceased him. They had three children, two sons, Vincent and Laurence, and a daughter, Marie. He died following a severe chest infection on 27 December 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001435
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Gibbon, Norman Otway Knight (1918 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-02-13 2015-05-29
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/374193374193
Occupation Urologist
Details Norman Gibbon was a distinguished urologist in Liverpool who made outstanding contributions to the management of the bladder in spinal injury. He was born on 12 October 1918 in Glasgow, the son of a marine engineer. His mother was a teacher. He was educated at Greenock Academy and then studied medicine at Liverpool Medical School. He qualified in 1941, the day after the May Blitz on the city. After house jobs at Walton Hospital he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and was posted to the flagship HMS *Duke of York* at Scapa Flow. There he successfully treated the captain's ischiorectal abscess, making it unnecessary for him to give up his command. Later Norman found himself on tank-landing craft during the Normandy landings. On demobilisation he returned to Liverpool as an assistant to Charles Wells, where he became interested in urology and was assigned the task of managing the paraplegic patients at the Southport Spinal Injury Centre. He began to study their urodynamics using a home-made cystometer, and wrote extensively on the subject. He was among the first to realise the dangers of the high pressures generated in the neuropathic bladder, and their effect on the upper urinary tract. For this he devised a simple endoscopic operation by which to divide the external sphincter. At the same time he became concerned with the prevention of infection and invented his own, beautifully simple catheter - now known by his name - which was narrow, easy to pass and to keep in place and did not irritate the urethra. He became the director of the Liverpool Regional Urology Centre and was known internationally for his work. He was awarded the St Peter's medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Much sought-after as a visiting professor, Norman travelled widely, an experience which made him appreciate the value of travel. For this he endowed a travelling scholarship for urologists from Merseyside. He was president of the Liverpool Medical Institution. He was married to Eileen (née Hares), a nurse, and they had five children. She predeceased him and in 2000 he married Sheila. Norman Gibbon died on 11 November 2008, aged 90. At his funeral a jazz band played at his request.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002010
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hudson, Horace Noble Guthrie ( - 2006)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-12-19 2015-06-26
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/373956373956
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Horace Noble Guthrie Hudson was a urological surgeon for the North East Metropolitan Regional Health Board. He studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, qualifying with the conjoint diploma in 1937. He gained his FRCS in 1942. His previous appointments included working as a surgical registrar at West London Hospital and as a senior surgical registrar at Westminster Hospital (All Saints Urological Centre). He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He died on 14 April 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001773
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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 Jennings, Melvin Calverley (1939 - 2006)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Michael Pugh
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2014-01-10
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/374002374002
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Melvin Calverly Jennings ('Mel') was a urologist and general surgeon at East Surrey Hospital. He was born on 21 June 1939, into a surgical family. His father, Calverly Jennings, was a fellow of the college and a GP surgeon who worked at Epsom Cottage Hospital before the advent of the NHS. His mother Josephine ('Jo') Jennings was a nurse. Mel's elder brother, Nigel, became a barrister. Mel was educated at Epsom College, where he played rugby and was captain of the school team, and then went on to St Bartholomew's to study medicine. Whilst a student he continued his enthusiasm for rugby, playing for Bart's and Harlequin Wanderers, eventually becoming captain of the hospital team. After qualifying in 1963, he was a house surgeon to Robin McNab Jones in the ENT department at Bart's. His aim, however, was to specialise in urology. He held appointments in the renal unit at Hammersmith, as a surgical registrar at Redhill Hospital, and as a senior surgical registrar rotating between Portsmouth and Southampton under the tutelage of urologists Forbes Abercrombie and John Vinnicombe. He was appointed as a consultant at the East Surrey Hospital (formerly Redhill Hospital) as a general surgeon with an interest in urology, before creating a urology department. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) and a keen supporter of the annual alpine workshop of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. He also continued to support Bart's Rugby Club and was elected president. He benefited from the enthusiastic support of his wife Deanna née Layton ('Dee'), a specialist in sports medicine, whom he had met when they were students at Bart's. Together they arranged tours to Hong Kong for the Bart's rugby team and, before Bart's merged with the London Hospital, they took a touring side to South Africa to play in Cape Town and Durban. Mel and Dee had three sons, all of whom became fellows at the college: Andrew is a urologist, Simon an orthopaedic surgeon, and Robin a general surgeon. Whilst on holiday in 2004 Mel was diagnosed with a cerebral tumour, which was treated surgically, but he died on 25 June 2006, aged 67.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001819
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Noronha, Reynold Francis Xavier (1940 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Jay Morris
Publication Date 2014-08-15 2015-03-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378005378005
Occupation Urologist
Details Reynold Francis Xavier Noronha or 'Rey' as we all knew him, was born on the island of Mombasa, in Kenya, on 3rd December 1940, the second son of a family of four (an older brother, Edwin, and younger sisters, Lydia and Bevinda). His parents, born and raised in the Portuguese colony of Goa (speaking Konkani and Portuguese), on the west coast of India had moved to Kenya (learning English and Swahili). Rey went to primary and secondary school in Mombasa, where his Catholic upbringing remained a central aspect of his life. He was a very capable student, at the age of 15 years passing the Cambridge School Certificate with a First Grade rating and immediately entering Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda, for pre-clinical medical studies. Rey loved sports, playing cricket, soccer, tennis, table tennis and squash. He also acted in high school plays and wrote a play called "Two Gentleman of Makerere" for the Makerere Residence Halls English Competition. Rey excelled at Medical School and graduated in March 1963 at the age of 22. He was the youngest graduate and top of his class with the highest achievements by any graduate up to that time at Medical School. Rey returned to Mombasa for his internship year (1963-1964) at The Coast Province General Hospital (six months medicine and six months surgery). He then returned to Kampala to pursue a surgical career having been offered a registrarship at Mulago Hospital. He started with general and orthopaedic surgery, but after three months was offered a lectureship in anatomy at his medical school. This kindled a love of research and he collaborated with his colleagues and the Professor of Anatomy, David Allbright, to publish his first paper on Skeletal Muscle Rejuvenation by Satellite Cells. (It was Allbright who suggested his name be abbreviated to 'Rey'.) After eighteen months as a lecturer in anatomy, Rey landed in London on a cold, February day, having enrolled for a three month course at the Royal College of Surgeons to study for the primary FRCS. However, as the primary examination was being held within a week of his arrival Rey decided to have a go, and passed. Using the money refunded from his course Rey joined a group of doctors and nurses on a ski holiday in Switzerland! Rey commenced his UK experience by securing a position in the Accident and Emergency Department at the Radcliffe Infirmary where he became interested in urology. Following six months of neurosurgery at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, six months general and vascular surgery at Dartford, Kent and a two month course at St Thomas' Hospital, at the age of 26 years Rey passed the RCS Fellowship examination at his first attempt. Rey returned to Dartford as a Resident Surgical Officer where the influence of Mr Tuffill, Urologist, finally cemented Rey's deepening interest Urology. Keen to pursue an academic career, Rey applied for and was offered a lectureship in surgery in Dunedin by Professor G Frankel. Rey arrived in New Zealand in August 1969 as a junior consultant in the Dunedin General Surgery Department with an associated University of Otago appointment. Within six months of Rey's arrival Professor Frankel had resigned to go to Adelaide with Alan Clarke being appointed to succeed him. Rey, at this stage, was fortunate to meet Murray Goodall, the Director of the Hugh Adam Cancer Research Department, and this was the start of a long, deep friendship and a productive research association. His work on endocrine modulation of nitrosamine carcinogenesis in mice and rats, resulted in the award of MD (Distinction) Otago. While working at Dartford Ray had met Yvonne Masters, a student nurse, who in 1970 was persuaded to emigrate to New Zealand. They married after a year and their first child, Devi, was born one year later. Working as a consultant general surgeon, Rey recognised that specialised urologists were needed at Dunedin Hospital and, determined to sharpen his skills in this field, he secured an attachment at the St Louis University Medical School for two years with Professor Shoenberg and the family set off. The time in USA was prolonged when Rey accepted an Assistant Professorship at St Louis Medical School and Hospital, as a full-time academic urologist involved in research and the training of Residents. Rey was elected FACS (1978) and following examination became FRCS (Canada) in urology in 1979. After a further five years and two more children, Nazir and Kiri, Rey and Yvonne decided that New Zealand was a better place to raise the children. So in 1980, to the amazement of his American colleagues, they left St Louis and returned to Dunedin, Rey initially working as a Senior Research Fellow with Murray Goodall in Cancer Research. He started growing stem cells in cultures, and together with Murray, initiated a number of laboratory and clinical research projects. Rey continued this work despite the difficulties created by the closure of the Cancer Research Department in 1986, the resignation of Murray Goodall and a lack of support from the Surgery Department. Rey accepted the position as Senior Lecturer in Urology and Head of the Department of Urology in 1983. A good lateral thinker with a wry sense of humour, Rey was a widely experienced clinician and became a very supportive colleague of Jerry Walton, who was the sole urologist in Dunedin at that time. In 1995 Rey resigned his Dunedin Hospital and University position and commenced full-time private practice, which quickly flourished. Rey had never been happier in his work, his stress-levels were reduced, and he enjoyed working with the staff and patients at the Mercy Hospital. Rey was a dependable and loyal friend; a respected doctor and colleague, who saw the comic side of life in his own journey and had a joke for every occasion. Rey enjoyed the company of people - friends and patients alike. He had a remarkable memory, never forgetting a face and treating everyone equally. A builder working on Rey's rooms said that Rey was the only professional man ever to make him a cup of coffee! With a thirst for knowledge and the ability to converse on any topic from American politics to rugby, Rey was outspoken, fearless and not intimidated by anyone and championed the underdog. He retained a keen interest in sport and was a proud supporter of the All Blacks and the Black Caps. Throughout his life he enjoyed tennis, squash and golf, but he especially enjoyed travel, good food, movies and the company of family and friends. Unfortunately in 2005 Rey discovered he had Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis which forced him to retire from clinical practice. Gradually this disease limited his respiratory function and progressively restricted his activity. Rey faced his illness the way he faced life, with courage, determination and a sense of humour. He planned his own funeral, wrote his own death notice, eulogy and obituary. When told you don't write your own eulogy, other people eulogise you, Rey said he wanted to make sure they got it right! Sadly on Friday 18th May, Rey passed away at Otago Hospice, surrounded by his family. Rey is survived by his wife, Yvonne, and children Devi, Nazir (wife, Octavia), and Kiri (husband, Jay). Regrettably, Rey did not live long enough to meet his two grandsons, Rex and Saben. Rey was a man of great compassion who stood for truth and justice, come what may. Like his father, he was a gregarious man who never saw a stranger, but only an undiscovered friend.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005822
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Parkhouse, Helen Fitzmaurice (1956 - 2010)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2011-11-11 2014-06-10
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/373759373759
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Helen Parkhouse was a well-respected urological surgeon, a senior lecturer with honorary consultant status in the department of urology at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Born in Manchester into a non-medical family on 5 February 1956, Helen was the only daughter of Austin Fitzmaurice, a shopkeeper, and Margaret Fitzmaurice née Graham, a housewife. She had two younger brothers, Anthony and David. She was educated at St Hugh of Lincoln Primary School and then Loreto Convent School in Manchester. Here she had a good academic record and gained the school prize for physics and became deputy head girl. She then proceeded to Birmingham University for her medical education. When qualified she became a house physician at the Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton, to W A Hudson, a consultant cardiologist, and followed this with her first surgical posts, as a house surgeon to J B Marczak, a general surgeon, and then to J W Jowett, a thoracic surgeon. With the intention of training in surgery, she spent six months as a senior house officer at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, gaining experience in the accident and emergency department under the supervision of R B Duthie and J Cockin, J Spivey, D J Fuller and J Kenright. She studied for the primary FRCS while she was a resident medical officer at the London Clinic. In order to gain more experience in the generality of surgery, Helen spent a year as a senior house officer at Kingston General Hospital with WJ (Bill) Bradfield, Paul Jarrett, Graham Farrington and Muriel Waterfall. She then gained valuable experience at registrar level in general surgery at the Cheltenham General Hospital working with Peter Boreham, John Fairgrieve and S Haynes. It was during this post that she was successful in the final FRCS examination, and met her future husband, then a houseman. Helen then entered a two-year rotating registrar post based at St Thomas' Hospital from 1982 to 1984. The first year was spent at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where she worked in general surgery with Michael Williams, Robert Heddle and Richard Collins. She gained her first experience of pure urology at St Thomas' Hospital with Kenneth Shuttleworth, Wyndham Lloyd-Davies and Michael Bultitude. This confirmed Helen's desire to specialise in urology. To this ends, she wisely obtained a two-year research post at the Middlesex Hospital under the guidance of Richard Turner-Warwick and Euan Milroy, until April 1986. It was during this period of research that she investigated bladder dysfunction in Parkinson's disease and various aspects of urinary incontinence. Some of her early papers were written at this time, and numerous presentations were given to learned societies at home and abroad, particularly in the USA. She was the main author of some of these. She then had a spell as a senior house officer in paediatric surgery at Great Ormond Street for Sick Children, working with Philip Ransley and Patrick Duffy. In July 1986 she became a clinical lecturer at this institution, a post she held for over a year. She was then a senior registrar in paediatric urology for eight months. This broadened her urological experience, and made it possible for her to publish further papers and give lectures. In 1989 she was a Hunterian professor, the same year as her husband. Proceeding to a further senior registrar appointment at St Bartholomew's Hospital, she worked with Bill Hendry, Hugh Whitfield and Roger Kirby. She passed the relatively new diploma of FRCS (Urol) during this year, and the stage was set for her to apply for consultant posts. She first became a senior lecturer with consultant status at St Thomas' Hospital. The following year she was appointed to Mount Vernon Hospital for three years, having some sessions at Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge. In 2002 she held a consultant urologist post at Benenden Hospital, Cranbrook, Kent for a year. As a consultant she was joint author of *Color atlas of urology* (second edition, London, Wolfe, 1994) and, with Krishna Sethia, produced *Urology* (London, Mosby-Wolfe, 1995). After 18 years in the NHS, she then decided to practise exclusively in the private sector, specialising in female urology. She was initially based at the London Clinic and then had rooms in Harley Street and was a consultant urologist at King Edward VII's Hospital (Sister Agnes) in Beaumont Street, London, and the Lister Hospital. She also consulted at the McIndoe Surgical Centre, East Grinstead, Sussex, and the Nuffield Hospital, Haywards Heath. She also carried out medico-legal work, and was a practising member of the Academy of Experts from 1990. Helen was a member of numerous learned societies, including the British Association of Urological Surgeons, the International Society of Urology and the International Continence Society, and was an associate member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She was a regular contributor at all of them. From 1985 to 1996 she read some 20 papers and had three poster presentations, both at home and abroad. She was a strong supporter of the urology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and became a member of the council. Helen was a good athlete and excelled at tennis at club level. She enjoyed skiing, particularly at the yearly 'uro-ski' meetings of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. Other outside interests included the governorships of two schools, Cumnor House School, Danehill, and Burgess Hill School for Girls. She enjoyed opera and was a regular supporter of the Glyndebourne Festival. She had a passionate interest in helicopter flying and held a commercial pilot's licence. She married Nicholas Parkhouse, a plastic surgeon, in 1986. They had four children - Emma, Clare, James and Tom. Perhaps Helen would have described her role as a mother as being her finest achievement. Tragically, she died in her sleep at home in Chelwood Gate, near Haywards Heath, on 30 June 2010, aged just 54. This was almost certainly due to a sudden and complete heart block. Nick awakened in the morning to find his wife dead by his side.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001576
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thomson-Walker, Sir John William (1871 - 1937)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-11-27
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/376895376895
Occupation Urologist
Details John William Thomson Walker was born at Newport, Fife on 6 August 1871, the second child and second son of John H Walker, chairman of the Caldrow jute works, Dundee, and Isabella Thomson, his wife. He was educated at the Dundee High School and at the Edinburgh Institution. He then matriculated at the University of Edinburgh, where he won medals and prizes in chemistry, physiology, gynaecology, and medicine. He served the post of house surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and at the Dundee Royal Infirmary. Proceeding to Germany for a postgraduate course he studied at Jena and Vienna where, coming under the influence of Professor Zuckerkandl, he became interested in urology. He was appointed pathologist to the Paddington Green Children's Hospital on his return to England, and in December 1891 was appointed surgical assistant to E Hurry Fenwick at St Peter's Hospital for Stone in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, becoming assistant surgeon in 1893, and remaining upon the full staff until ill-health compelled him to retire in 1932. He was a Hunterian professor at the College in 1907. In 1919 he was appointed senior urologist and lecturer on urology at King's College Hospital, a position which led him to retire from the office of surgeon to the Hampstead General Hospital, which he had held for many years. At one time he held a commission in the London Scottish regiment but resigned before 1914, and during the European War he was attached, with the rank of temporary captain, RAMC, to King George V Red Cross Hospital, to King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, and as consulting urologist to the Star and Garter Home for disabled soldiers. Ill-health compelled him to retire from practice in 1929, and he lived at Burntwood, Goring-on-Thames. He married in 1909 Isabella, daughter of Sir Michael Nairn, Bt. She survived him with a son and a daughter. He died suddenly on 5 October 1937 at Aviemore, Inverness-shire. Sir John Thomson Walker was a leader in modern urology and a fitting successor to such a man as Sir Henry Thompson, for he was highly cultivated, had many interests, and was insistent that a specialist should have had a training in general surgery. His operative skill was of a high order and was especially shown in connexion with removal of the prostate. He was able to reduce the mortality which had previously been high to two per cent. Amongst his patients were Philip Snowden, David Lloyd George, and Robert Baden Powell. He occupied many important positions and received many honours. He was president of the fifth congress of the Société internationale d'Urologie, president of the Medical Society of London in 1933, where he had delivered the Lettsomian lectures in 1930, and was Silvanus Thompson lecturer in 1926 at the Roentgen Society. His international reputation was attested by his membership of the urological societies in America, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and of the Academy of Medicine of Rome. He was fond of shooting and gardening, but during his professional life he was chiefly interested in collecting prints of medical men. He succeeded in amassing about 2,500, all in a first-rate state. He hyphened his name in 1922, when he received the honour of Knight Bachelor. Publications: The surgical anatomy of the operation of suprapubic prostatectomy. *Arch Middx Hosp* 1905, 4, 27. On the surgical anatomy of the prostate. *J Anat* 1906, 40, 189. The Hunterian lectures on the renal function in its relation to surgery. *Lancet*, 1907, 1, 711 and 792. *Surgical diseases and injuries of the genito-urinary organs*. London, 1914; 2nd edition, by Kenneth Walker, 1936.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004712
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sharma, Chandra Maulishwar Prasad (1933 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-18 2014-06-06
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/373800373800
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Chandra Maulishwar Prasad Sharma was a consultant general and urological surgeon in Patna, India. He qualified MB BS in Patna in 1958 and gained his FRCS in 1965. He was a senior surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and a surgical registrar at West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen. He then became a consultant general surgeon for Dyfed Area Health Authority. In 2009 the Royal College of Surgeons was notified of his death.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001617
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jacobson, Isaac ( - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-06-28 2014-07-04
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/374729374729
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Isaac Jacobson was a urological surgeon in Cape Town, South Africa. He was educated at SACS (South African College Schools) in Newlands, Cape Town, and then went on to study medicine at the University of Cape Town, qualifying in 1935. He travelled to London intending to train as a surgeon, but, with the intervention of the Second World War, joined the RAMC. He served in the Army for six years and was imprisoned in France. He worked in hospitals in France and Germany caring for fellow prisoners of war, until he was banned from practising medicine because he was Jewish. After three years he was repatriated to London, where he was based until his demobilisation in 1945. He gained his FRCS in 1947 and returned to Cape Town in 1948. He joined Groote Schuur Hospital as a urologist and a lecturer at the University of Cape Town. During his 54 years' service at Groote Schuur he helped found the uro-oncology combined clinic and advanced stoma therapy in Cape Town. In 1998 he was made an honorary member of the South African Urological Association. Outside medicine, he enjoyed reading literature and playing the violin. In 1940 he married Joan. They had three daughters, Carolyn, Linda and Mandy, six grandchildren and a great grandchild. Isaac Jacobson died on 10 July 2002. His family survived him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002546
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart (1820 - 1904)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-12-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003200-E003299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375423375423
Occupation General surgeon Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist Public health reformer
Details Born at Framlingham, Suffolk, on August 6th, 1820, the only son of Henry Thompson, a tradesman who kept the village shop, by his wife Susannah, daughter of Samuel Medley (1769-1857), the artist who painted the portrait group of the founders of the Medical Society of London, and was one of the founders of University College, London. He was educated under Mr Fison, a Nonconformist minister at Wrentham, and early engaged in mercantile pursuits, as his parents, who were uncompromising Baptists, dreaded a scientific education and disliked the idea of a profession. Coming to London he was, however, apprenticed to George Bottomley, a medical practitioner at Croydon, in January, 1844, and in October he entered University College, London, to study medicine. Here he won the gold medal in anatomy in 1849, the gold medal in surgery in 1851, and took the MB degree. From June, 1850, he acted as the first House Surgeon to John Eric Erichsen (qv), who had recently been appointed Surgeon to University College Hospital. Joseph Lister (qv) was one of his dressers, and it was partly on Thompson's advice that Lister went to Edinburgh to work under James Syme. Thompson entered into partnership with his former master, George Bottomley, at Croydon, in January, 1851, but after a few months returned to London and began to practise surgery at 35 Wimpole Street, where he lived the rest of his life. He acted for a short time as Surgeon to the St Marylebone Infirmary, but in 1863 was elected Assistant Surgeon to University College Hospital, becoming full Surgeon in 1853, Professor of Clinical Surgery in 1866, Consulting Surgeon and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery on his retirement in 1874. Thompson determined to devote himself particularly to genito-urinary surgery and visited Paris in July, 1858, to study the subject under Jean Civiale (1792-1867), who was the first to remove a vesical calculus by lithotrity. Beginning life thus as a pupil of Civiale, Thompson adopted his methods and at first crushed stones at repeated intervals, leaving it to nature to void the fragments, until in 1866 J T Clover (qv) invented the rubber evacuator and evacuating tubes. When Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890) recommended crushing at a single sitting and removal of the fragments by operative measures, Clover's apparatus came into general use. He also began to advocate the discredited operation of suprapubic cystotomy about 1886, and it has since come into general use. He was thus a pioneer in the removal of tumours from the urinary bladder. Thompson's successful crushing operations at University College soon attracted attention, and in 1863 he operated upon Leopold I, King of the Belgians, completing the work Civiale had begun eighteen months previously. In July and December, 1872, Thompson treated Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, at Camden Place, Chislehurst. He performed the operation of lithotrity upon him under chloroform on Jan 2nd, 1873, and again on January 7th. A third sitting was arranged for midday on January 9th, but the Emperor died of uraemia at 10.45 am, an hour and a quarter before the operation was to have begun. Thompson's attainments and interests were exceptionally versatile. He was not only pre-eminent in his own branch of surgery, but his zeal for hygiene made him a pioneer in the cause of cremation. He was also an authority on diet, a devoted student of astronomy, an excellent artist, a collector of china, and a man of letters. He first drew attention to cremation by an article in the *Contemporary Review* in 1874. Experiments had then been made recently in Italy, but it was not until 1874, and chiefly by Thompson's energy, that a Cremation Society was founded in England. From that time onwards he was its President and did all in his power to promote the practice both here and on the Continent. A crematorium was built at Woking in 1879: its employment was forbidden by the Home Secretary and it was not used until March, 1885. The Government had in the meantime brought a test case against a man who had cremated his child in Wales, and Sir James Stephen decided that the practice was not illegal if no nuisance was caused. In 1902 Thompson took a leading part in the formation of a company which erected the crematorium, under the guidance of Mr Eassie, CE, at Golder's Green near Hampstead Heath, then an outskirt of London. Astronomy occupied much of Thompson's leisure, and he built an observatory at Molesey, where he had a country house. He presented some fine instruments to the Greenwich Observatory, the last being a telescope twice the size of any previously in use. It was manufactured at Dublin by Sir Howard Grubb, and was erected in 1897. Thompson doubtless inherited his artistic faculties from Samuel Medley, his maternal grandfather, but his original talent was fostered by study under Edward Elmore, RA, and Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, RA. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865, 1870, annually from 1872-1878, and again in 1881, 1883, and 1885. Two of his pictures were afterwards shown in the Paris Salon, and to this exhibition he contributed a landscape in 1891. He was also an eminent collector of china and acquired many fine specimens of old white and blue Nankin. A catalogue illustrated by the owner and James McNeill Whistler was issued in 1878, and the collection was sold at Christie's on June 1st, 1880. Besides numerous articles in magazines Thompson wrote two novels under the name of 'Pen Oliver'. *Charlie Kingston's Aunt*, published in 1885, presents the life of some fifty years earlier. *All But, a Chronicle of Laxenford* (1886) is illustrated by twenty full-page drawings by the author, in one of which he portrayed himself as he was in 1885. Cultured society had great attractions for Thompson. As a host he was famous for his 'octaves', which were dinners of eight courses for eight people at eight o'clock. They were commenced in 1872, and the last, which was the 301st, was given shortly before his death. The guests were as carefully chosen as the food, and for a quarter of a century the most famous persons in the worlds of art, letters, science, politics, diplomacy, and fashion met at his table in Wimpole Street. King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, dined there once, and his son, King George V, when Prince of Wales, attended Thompson's 300th octave. There is a portrait group of one of the octaves in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, No 116, with the original studies by W J Solomon, RA. Thompson received the honour of knight bachelor in 1867 and was created a baronet on February 20th, 1899. He married on December 16th, 1861, Kate Fanny, daughter of George Loder, of Bath. Lady Thompson was well known as a pianist. She was paralysed for some years, but survived her husband, dying on August 30th, 1904, leaving a son, Henry Francis Herbert, and two daughters. Sir Henry Thompson died at 35 Wimpole Street, W, on April 18th, 1904, and was cremated at Golder's Green. A three-quarter-length portrait painted by Sir J E Millais, RA, in 1881 hangs in the Tate Gallery. There is a bust by F W Pomeroy, RA, in the Crematorium at Golder's Green. A cartoon portrait by Ape in *Vanity Fair* (1874) is subscribed 'Cremation'. There are numerous photographs in the College Collection, and an excellent one in University College, Gower Street. Publications: *The Pathology and Treatment of Stricture of the Urethra both in the Male and Female*, 8vo, London, 1854; 4th ed, London and Philadelphia, 1885. Translated into German, München, 1888. *The Enlarged Prostate, its Pathology and Treatment*, 8vo, London, 1858; 6th ed, London and Philadelphia, 1886. Translated into German, Erlangen, 1867. *Practical Lithotomy and Lithotrity*, 8vo, London, 1868; 3rd ed, 1880. Translated into German, Kassel and Berlin, 1882. *Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Urinary Organs*, 8vo, London, 1868; 8th ed, 1888. Translated into French, 1874, and again in 1889. Translated into German, Berlin, 1877. *On Tumours of the Bladder*, 1884. *Lectures on some Important Points connected with the Surgery of the Urinary Organs*, 8vo, London, 1884. *On the Suprapubic Operation of Opening the Bladder for the Stone and for Tumours*, 8vo, London, 1886. *Traité pratique des Maladies des Voies urinaires*, a collected edition of Thompson's surgical works, was published in Paris in 1880. *Cremation*, 16mo, London, 1874; 4th ed, 1901. *Modern Cremation, its History and Practice*, 12mo, London, 1889; 4th ed, 1901. Thompson was also part-author of the article on cremation in the *Encyclopaedia Britannica* (9th ed). *Food and Feeding*, 8vo, London, 1880; 12th ed, enlarged, 1910. *Diet in Relation to Age and Activity*, 1886; 4th ed, 1903; revised edition, 1910.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003240
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cadzow, William Hamilton (1931 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Marilyn Bitomsky
Publication Date 2014-08-15 2015-02-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377988377988
Occupation Urologist
Details Dr William Hamilton Cadzow, who was senior visiting urologist at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital from 1986 to 2001, died on 13 September. Bill was a urologist at that hospital almost continuously from 1966 until his full retirement 40 years later. Bill gained his MB BS from the University of Queensland in 1955, FRCS from Royal College of Surgeons England in 1961, and FRACS from Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1964. Bill's distinguished career included resident medical officer at Brisbane General Hospital 1956-57, government medical officer at Finschaven and Talasea in Papua New Guinea 1958-59, resident surgical officer at Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary 1960-61, surgical registrar at St Thomas's Hospital in London 1962, consultant surgeon at Port Moresby Hospital 1963, urology registrar at Royal Brisbane Hospital 1964-66, visiting urologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital 1966-86, consultant urologist at Al Hada Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia 1986, senior visiting urologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital 1986-2001, and emeritus consultant in urology at Princess Alexandra Hospital 2001-07. Bill was born in Brisbane on 26 July 1931. When a teenager, he became a member of the formidable *Quiz kids*, a national radio quiz show presented by John Dease during the 1940s and 50s. Bill enjoyed a challenge, nowhere more evident than in his early career in the tiny outpost of Talasea in New Britain. The population there in the late 1950s was seven, including children. Food and other supplies arrived by sea. The nearest airstrip was two days' travel away. The operating theatre was a small thatched building. Anaesthesia was supplied by ether. As there was no reliable electricity supply, lighting was by gas lamps despite the risk of a "big pela" explosion. It was in this operating theatre that he successfully removed stingray barbs that had penetrated 15 cm into the liver of a seven-year-old child. He wrote an article about this which was published in the *Medical Journal of Australia*. In 1987, after a year working in Saudi Arabia, he visited the Dornier establishment in Munich where he researched equipment later to be purchased by Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital, which on his advice became the first public hospital in Queensland to obtain a lithotripter. Bill was erudite without being a know-all. He loved to read - history, biographies, novels, short stories, and poetry. Very few other 82-year-olds could flawlessly recite "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or "Clancy of the Overflow". Bill taught many of today's senior urologists. He was an endlessly patient and generous teacher, not just in urology but in other pursuits such as photography, fishing, and woodwork. He was very serious about his work, taking pride in doing the best possible job for his patients. For the last few years, Bill suffered a rare neurological condition, progressive supranuclear palsy. Bill's wife, Marilyn Bitomsky, and his daughters with first wife Diana - Jane, Elizabeth, Belinda, and Susan - feel a huge void in their lives with his death.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005805
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Holmes, Alan Boyd (1926 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Ian Middleton
Publication Date 2014-08-15 2015-03-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377997377997
Occupation Urologist
Details Alan Boyd Holmes was a giant of surgical practice in Tasmania and a pioneer of urology in the state. He died on 13 December 2013, at the age of 87. Three weeks earlier he was snorkelling with his family in Queensland. Alan grew up in Sydney, where he was dux of Artarmon opportunity school, and then attended North Sydney High, where he was equal top matriculant in NSW. He graduated from Sydney University in 1950, and did his initial post graduate training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he became a life-long friend of another urology pioneer, Bruce Pearson. After a brief stint in general practice in Brisbane, he completed his surgical training in Launceston, Tasmania, where he obtained his FRACS, before working in the UK at Guy's Hospital, where he obtained his FRCS. In 1956 he worked as the Urology Registrar at Preston Hospital, where he developed an interest in pursuing urology as his main specialty. He and wife Wilga then returned to Launceston, where he worked as a VMO at Launceston General Hospital, and established a general surgical and urological private practice. Alan was always keen to keep abreast of the latest developments in urology, and spent much of 1962 travelling through the US, where he visited a number of units and worked with some of the doyens of urology, including Whitmore and Leadbetter. In 1964 he took up the position as the first full time urologist in Tasmania at The Royal Hobart Hospital, and remained the only urologist serving a population of about a quarter of a million people for the next 15 years. He thrived on work, and gained a reputation as a shrewd physician and a superb technician. He eventually retired from The Royal Hobart Hospital in 1991, but only because the rules at the time dictated retiring from the public system at the age of 65. He continued in active private practice until his retirement at the age of 75. Alan was active in the Urological Society and well known for years as the person to beat in the annual Society tennis tournament. He was also a keen skier and Life Member of Rotary International. On a personal note, he was one of my mentors as a junior resident, and again as a consultant urologist, and contributed significantly to my own decision to follow a career choice of urological surgery. He is survived by Wilga and children Tony, Phillip and Neroli.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005814
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Loughnane, Farquhar McGillivray (1885 - 1948)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-08-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004300-E004399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376547376547
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born 5 February 1885, fourth child and third son of Denis Joseph Loughnane, collector of customs and excise, he was educated at Clapham College, King's College, London, and St Thomas's Hospital, where he won the entrance and Peacock scholarships and the Treasurer's gold medal. He was casualty officer and house surgeon at St Thomas's, and held resident posts at Camberwell Infirmary, at the Royal Sea-bathing Hospital, Margate, and at Salford and Leicester. During the war of 1914-18 he served at first with the Red Cross in France and then as captain, RAMC, at No 40 General Hospital in Mesopotamia, where he achieved success in the open treatment of fractures in desert conditions. Loughnane's interest lay in urological surgery. He introduced the radical operation in urogenital tuberculosis, and was a pioneer in the perurethral treatment of the enlarged prostate. He was particularly skilful in the employment of the cystoscope and intra-vesical instruments. After serving as assistant urologist at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham, he became surgeon to All Saints' Hospital for Genito-urinary Diseases, and to St Mary's Hospital for Women and Children at Plaistow, serving also on the board of governors there 1920-48. He was consulting urologist to the London County Council at Bethnal Green Hospital from 1933, and consulting surgeon to Hampton Cottage Hospital. Loughnane was president of the section of urology at the Royal Society of Medicine, and a chairman in 1938-39 of the Marylebone division of the British Medical Association, serving also on the Representative Body for eleven years. He married in 1927 and his wife survived him, but without children. He died in St Mary's Hospital, Plaistow on 14 July 1948, aged 63, after a long illness. Loughnane was a member of the Irish Golfing Society, but his chief pleasure was the restoration of cottages and gardens in Kent and the company of fishermen on the Kentish coast. He had practised at 80 New Cavendish Street and later at 29 Devonshire Place. He had a deep sense of duty, and hid a warm, affectionate nature under a courteous, reserved manner. Publications: *A Handbook of renal surgery*. London, 1926. Perurethral treatment of enlarged prostate. *Practitioner*, 1933, 131, 71. Retention of urine. *Brit med J* 1935, 1, 1115.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004364
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Owen, Kenneth (1920 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2013-07-24 2013-12-16
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004200-E004299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376460376460
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Ken Owen was a well-known urologist in London with an international reputation, particularly in the Middle East and throughout Europe, especially in Scandinavia and Italy. His first consultant appointment was as a general surgeon to the Royal Northern Hospital in 1957, succeeding McNeill Love, who smoothed his passage into consultant life. After two years he obtained his main sessions at St Mary's Hospital, initially as a general surgeon. With the blessing of his colleagues, he switched to urology and founded the urology unit. He retained a strong interest in parathyroid surgery, and also developed the renal transplantation programme, thereby using his unique training in vascular surgery. Shortly after his appointment to this famous teaching hospital, he was made a member of the staff of St Peter's Hospital for Stone. Here he valued the contact with a broad spectrum of specialist urologists. He was born on 11 June 1920 in Wallasey, Cheshire, the son of Albert Edward Owen, a timber merchant. His mother, Ada née Holmes, was a housewife. She had major problems with chest infections, and doctors and nurses were constant visitors to the family homes. Her medical condition undoubtedly influenced Ken's choice of career. He also had one brother, Jack, who also had health problems and died prematurely. Ken's primary education was somewhat disrupted due to family moves, but his secondary education at Wallasey Grammar School was stable, productive and very happy under an inspiring headmaster, F L Allen. Ken's academic interests were spread equally between the arts and sciences, demonstrated by his choice of an anthology of poems for a chemistry prize. Music became an interest at school, and remained throughout his very full life: he loved a broad range of classical music and operetta. A very keen sportsman, he enjoyed rugby and all forms of athletics, particularly middle-distance running. In 1936 he attended the Berlin Olympics on a school trip. He had to study botany and zoology at a crammer in order to gain exemption from the first MB examination. Plans to go to Cambridge were shelved in view of the certainty of war, and he was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at St Mary's Hospital, known for its encouragement of sport. The war with Germany made for shorter courses in all medical schools, many of which were evacuated from London for preclinical teaching. Ken's first term at medical school was in Manchester: this proved a bonus, as he could go to performances of the Hallé orchestra. Sector hospitals such as Harefield and Basingstoke played a part in his clinical years, but much of his training was in London, where air-raids and their casualties were an accepted part of student life, together with fire-watching and Home Guard duties. For a time he lived in the bacteriology wing of St Mary's as a participant in the emergency blood transfusion unit. Instead of drips, the students injected blood using large triple nozzle syringes. There were no disposable items, and Ken had to sharpen and sterilise his own needle, gaining considerable experience in venepuncture. He was also actively involved in the emergency care of patients. Outstanding teachers during these formative years included Charles Pannett, George Pickering and the colourful surgeon Arthur Dickson Wright. They all encouraged active thinking, as opposed to learning by rote. Ken passed the primary FRCS early and this led to demonstrator positions in anatomy and physiology. He then worked for three months prior to qualification with Lawrence Abel and Kenneth Heritage at the Princess Beatrice Hospital. Immediately after qualification, he was appointed for a short period as house physician to George Pickering and then as a house surgeon to Arthur Dickson Wright and Valentine Ellis, both stimulating teachers. Dickson Wright's surgical throughput was enormous and ranged from brain tumours to rectal carcinoma and the 'cottage industry' of varicose vein surgery. In these war years, and as part of the Allied European invasion plan, Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, was designated as a clearing hospital with supporting staff from St Mary's. As a base hospital it received large numbers of severely wounded soldiers. Dickson Wright chose to work in London during the day and drove Ken down to Basingstoke to deal with night casualties. His mentor's driving expertise did not match his surgical skill, and the journeys were even more stressful than a potential 24 hour shift. Ken's next training post was at Basingstoke as an orthopaedic house surgeon to Valentine Ellis, James Ellis and Heber Langton, all hard-working and skilful surgeons. He had volunteered for the RAF at the beginning of the war, but had been advised to continue his medical training. Following the end of the war, he decided to go to the Sudan, a post that fulfilled his requirement to carry out National Service. He was based initially in Khartoum, at the Kitchener Medical School, but spent most of his time at Wad Medani, in Al Gezira state. Often with limited facilities, he dealt with conditions varying from smallpox and tetanus to hip diseases, mastoid operations and camel bites, to name but a few. Surgery was performed using spinal anaesthesia or an Oxford vaporiser. However, sporting opportunities did arise: he played tennis and was introduced to polo playing. With independence for Sudan looming, Ken decided to return home. For a time he was a private assistant to Dickson Wright, before spending a year at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, working with a delightful Canadian born-surgeon, Hugh Blauvelt. Finally, he obtained a senior registrar post at St Mary's, first on the Handfield-Jones and Porritt firm. He then worked with Dickson Wright and John Goligher. Ken admired the latter for his surgical skill and honesty: they kept up a friendship after Goligher moved to Leeds. Like many St Mary's trainees, Ken's next move was to Boston, Massachusetts, with the aid of a Fulbright scholarship. He worked with the dynamic Francis D Moore, Mosley professor of surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham hospital and Harvard Medical School, well known for his studies on the metabolic response to surgery. Ken also taught operative techniques to medical students under the watchful eye of Carl Walter, the inventor of the Fenwal bag used in blood transfusions. Working in the Harvard Medical School laboratories with Robert Desautels, he did animal work on post-traumatic renal failure and established the role of osmotic diuresis in reducing the severity of organ failure. He made good use of the opportunity to witness the superb skills of Richard Cattell at the Lahey Clinic, and went to the Massachusetts General Hospital as often as he could. He also visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and its adjacent hospitals, witnessing the skilful work of Ollie Beahrs and others. Shortly after returning from the USA, Ken was appointed as assistant director to Charles Rob on the professorial unit at St Mary's and became involved in the burgeoning vascular surgery, as well as doing research on prosthetic materials. The work in Boston and a longstanding interest in renal physiology directed his future to urology, and he spent a year as a senior registrar at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. He found he was drawn into administrative work in an attempt to improve working conditions at St Mary's. This proved frustrating, with plans often repeatedly thwarted by politicians and administrators reneging on promises. However, promoting the cause of urology on the European and International scene was gratifying. He was a founder member of the European Society of Urology and the British representative on the Societé International d'Urologie. This gave him contact with established urology units run by well-known urologists such as Peter Gammelgaard in Copenhagen, Lars Rohl in Heidelberg and also Cesare Bartorelli of Milan, who shared Ken's interest in renal hypertension. A writer of many publications in varied journals, he wrote many monographs and sections in postgraduate textbooks, the main topics being renovascular reconstruction, renal transplantation, adrenal surgery (at which he excelled), as well as parathyroid surgery. For some 10 years, from 1967, Ken was a member of the Travelling Surgical Club (now the Travelling Surgical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). He was an active member of many other organisations, including the British Association of Urological Surgeons (he also served on council). He was president of the urological section of the Royal Society of Medicine and later an honorary life fellow. While president, he conceived the idea of 'uro-ski' meetings, where skiing and science were mixed, and members were joined by European colleagues. He was a freeman of the City of London, through the Society of Apothecaries. He was president of the Hunterian Society, and a council member and secretary of the Medical Society of London. Ken met Barbara Caroline Lewis, a nurse, during his early years at St Mary's and they married in 1947. She was very supportive of his multi-faceted life: without her help he could not have achieved so much. They made their home in Bancroft Avenue, London, where they brought up their family of three - Deborah Ann, Timothy Clive and David Christopher. Ken was happy to relax of an evening with family and friends, perhaps with a glass of homemade beer and Italian cheeses, eating his homemade bread: at some time he read the daily avalanche of journals coming through the letter box. In addition to his care of the garden, Ken found time to look after two allotments. The family also had a holiday home in the Algarve, where Ken grew grapes, oleander trees and exotic shrubs. When Barbara inherited Brynbanc, a smallholding in Wales, Ken turned it into a viable, modern dairy farm, with the help of local farm managers and quick weekend visits. Ken retired in stages, starting in 1980: he left his last consultant appointment (at King Edward VII Hospital) in 1990. In 1985 Ken and Barbara moved to Hillside Farm in Adelstrop in the Cotswolds, where they lived happily for 25 years. An inactive retirement was never on the cards. In addition to creating a beautiful garden, Ken now became a sheep farmer. He also found time to ride with local hunts, and began to study languages (he graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2000 with a BA in modern languages). He also had the opportunity to spend quality time with his family, their partners and the grandchildren. Kenneth Owen died on 7 June 2013, just short of his 93rd birthday. He was survived by his wife, Barbara, his children and grandchildren. At a thanksgiving service for his life, his children summarised him as being risk-averse, yet someone who seized opportunities, opinionated, yet remarkably open-minded, and conventional, yet fascinated by innovation. Those of us who were privileged to be his colleagues found him approachable, likeable and someone who became a true friend.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004277
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shaldon, Cyril (1927 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Harold Ellis
Publication Date 2012-02-17 2014-02-24
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/374224374224
Occupation Urologist
Details Cyril Shaldon was a consultant urologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. After preclinical studies at Cambridge, Shaldon joined the Westminster Medical School for his clinical work, qualifying in 1951. He was a surgical registrar at St James' Hospital, Balham, a Rockefeller fellow at the Mayo Clinic, and a senior lecturer at the London Hospital and at Bristol, where he worked with Robert Milnes Walker. He was appointed as a Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and gave his lecture 'Dynamic aspects of portal hypertension' in March 1962. In 1964 he became a consultant urologist in Exeter and carried out the first renal transplant in the south west in 1969. He took early retirement from the NHS at the age of 60, but continued to operate for some time in private practice. His main interest outside surgery was golf. Sadly, he developed progressive dementia. He died on 3 November 2008, aged 81, in a nursing home. He was survived by his wife Dorothy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002041
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Paton-Philip, Philip (1922 - 2009)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

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
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First Title value, for Searching Browne, Sir George Buckston (1850 - 1945)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003900-E003999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376095376095
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born 13 April 1850 in Manchester, the elder son of Henry Browne, MD (1819-1901), physician to Manchester Royal Infirmary, and Ann, his wife daughter of George Hadfield, MP for Sheffield. Henry Browne's father and grandfather had practised at Manchester since the latter, George Buckston Browne (1756-1811), qualified as a Member of the Company of Surgeons of London on 11 March 1779. He was the younger son of Theophilus Browne (born 1715), apothecary of Derby, and Margaret daughter of George Buckston of Bradbourne Hall. Theophilus was the son and grandson of clergymen, both Cambridge graduates; he was friend of Erasmus Darwin; his elder son Henry succeeded to his practice as an apothecary and was twice mayor of Derby. Sir Buckston Browne was thus the fifth medical man in direct paternal descent from Theophilus. He was educated at Amersham Hall School Reading, and at Owens College, Manchester, and in 1866 matriculated at University College, London. He won medals in anatomy, chemistry and midwifery and a gold medal in practical chemistry, and served for a time as demonstrator of anatomy to Professor G V Ellis. At University College Hospital he won the Liston gold medal in surgery, and was elected after open practical competition house surgeon to Sir John Erichsen. He had qualified MRCS in 1874, but before opportunities for further hospital appointments appeared he was invited by Sir Henry Thompson to become his private assistant. This position Browne held for fourteen years, and in 1884 he also started his own consultant practice. In those days elderly men who would now undergo excision of the prostate had to suffer partial operation followed by a "catheter" life under the personal supervision of their surgeon. Thompson had the largest practice of this nature in London. He was also a man of great social distinction, a connoisseur, an artist, and a famous host. Buckston Browne profited both professionally and intellectually from their long association. Although holding no hospital appointment and the Membership as his sole qualification, he achieved through great dexterity, skill and assiduous work, supported by modest, straightforward self-reliance the leading practice in this line of surgery. He never took a holiday though he often walked twenty or thirty miles out of London and back. Among his distinguished patients were R L Stevenson and George Meredith, as Meredith recorded in an appreciative letter afterward published. Meredith dedicated his novel *Lord Ormont and his Aminta* 1894: "Gratefully inscribed to George Buckston Browne, surgeon. Browne has recorded (*Rationalist annual*, 1938) how he used to walk from Wimpole Street to breakfast with his patient at Box Hill, twenty-six miles south of London. Another patient was Sidney Cooper, RA, who lived to be 100 years old. In 1901 Browne delivered the Harveian Society's lectures, speaking on twenty-five years of urinary surgery in England. He had been a member of the society since the year in which he qualified, but he felt that the invitation to deliver the lectures was of great professional benefit 'to one who had so long practised without public recognition'. He was also a member of the Clinical and Pathological Societies, and of the Medical Society of London of which he was ultimately elected an honorary Fellow. In 1909, when Browne retired, he found himself a very rich man. He had spent much on pictures and objects of art, a taste fostered by Sir Henry Thompson's example, from whom also he acquired appreciation of the worth to professional men of dining together in amity. His first relaxation was a voyage round the world, during which he was shipwrecked off the New Zealand coast. Soon his life was clouded by bereavement. He had married in 1874, the year of his qualification, Helen Elizabeth, daughter of George Vaine of Sparsholt, Hampshire. During the first great war their only son, Lieutenant-Colonel George Buckston Browne, DSO, RFA, was killed, and in 1924 their only grandson, George Buckston Browne, the sixth, died of enteric fever. Mrs Browne died in 1926. Their only daughter married Sir Hugh Lett, Baronet, sometime PRCS. Lady Lett survived her father. Buckston Browne now devoted himself to public benefactions, especially to those destined to furthering mutual accord within his profession and to the promotion of surgical science. His benefactions were partly prompted by fear that his name might be forgotten, as he had outlived his son and grandson, but at the same time he was sincerely modest and took real pleasure in small private acts of generosity for which he always "begged no acknowledgment". In 1927 Browne endowed at the College an annual Buckston Browne Dinner at which fifty Fellows and fifty Members should sit down together in amity within the College house. The Buckston Browne Dinner was warmly welcomed and encouraged by successive Councils and was a most potent force in bringing the generality of Members back into contact with the College's affairs. Browne himself usually made one of his excellent speeches, simple, direct, and very clearly enunciated, at the dinner. He spoke at the wartime Buckston Browne Luncheon in 1944, when already in his ninety-fifth year. At several of the dinners he gave each guest a small parting present, and in 1938, when his son-in-law Sir Hugh Lett was President, it took the form of a silver snuff-box suitably inscribed and full of "Kendal brown" snuff. Browne had long been a total abstainer from alcohol and smoking, though a generous host providing excellent wine and cigars for his less abstemious friends. But he had long taken snuff which he recommended as a sure prophylactic against the common cold. In 1928 Browne endowed an annual dinner for the Harveian Society, which became one of the best-liked social foregatherings of the profession. But he did not neglect the more serious work of the Society or the College. At the Harveian Society he endowed a biennial Buckston Browne prize in memory of his son, to be awarded for an essay based on original work, and accompanied by a Harveian medal designed for him by the Royal Mint, at the suggestion of his friend Sir D'Arcy Power, FRCS, from Faithorne's engraved portrait of William Harvey. The Society elected him its life-president. His benefactions to the College were even more princely the building and endowment to a value of £100,000 of a surgical research-farm under the direct control of the College. Browne who had been brought up in the high day of Victorian agnosticism had one particular hero, Charles Darwin, next to whom he ranked John Hunter, Edward Jenner, and Joseph Lister. In 1928 Sir Arthur Keith, FRCS, when president of British Association, appealed publicly for the preservation of Darwin's house at Downe, Kent, which was for sale. Browne immediately bought it, presented it to the British Association to preserve as a national Darwin memorial, and proceeded with characteristic thoroughness to re-collect Darwin's furniture for it. He was successful in securing the co-operation to this end of the Darwin family, but also placed in the house some his own family portraits, as a memorial to his wife and son. In 1931, when Keith suggested to him the need for young surgeons to have some retreat comparable to John Hunter's farm at Earl's Court, where their researches would be uninterrupted by the pressure of metropolitan interests, Browne bought thirteen acres adjoining the Darwin estate, built the Buckston Browne research farm, and presented it to the College. He had been elected a Fellow in 1926 as a Member of twenty years standing, and in 1931 was awarded the honorary medal of the College. In 1932 he was created a Knight Bachelor. He was also awarded the honorary doctorate of laws by Aberdeen University. Browne was a generous benefactor to University College Hospital where he equipped the senior common room with fine furniture and pictures of his own collecting, and also endowed a bed in memory his wife. To Wesley College, Cambridge, he presented a previously unknown portrait of John Wesley, and to the Royal College of Surgeons a charming eighteenth-century portrait of John Hunter which he believed to be by Gainsborough. In 1931 he paid for and personally supervised the restoration of the Hunterian museum pictures. He was elected a freeman of the Society of Apothecaries in 1938, and in 1944 an honorary licentiate. At one of his last public appearances (1944) he gave the Society a gift of silver in honour of his son-in-law's Mastership. Browne's interests and benefactions were not confined to his profession. He served as president of the Old Owensian Association and as vice-president of the Dickens Fellowship. At Sparsholt, his wife's old home, he endowed two cottages in her memory. To the Victoria and Albert Museum he gave a bust of King Charles II and a Chippendale barometer, and also made gifts to the National Portrait Gallery. He had given away during his lifetime very considerably more than £100,000. His pictures and art collections were sold at Christie's in April and his books at Sotheby's in May 1945. Browne continued active till the close of his life. In his eighties, he would frequently walk the fifteen miles between his house, 80 Wimpole Street, and his "farm" at Downe, and always went about London on foot. He still wrote an excellent, bold hand, and was a fairly frequent contributor to the medical journals and to *The Times*. He lived in London almost throughout the war of 1939-45, being with difficulty persuaded to take refuge at Sparsholt for some months, though in fact he had by then lived through the worst of the air-raids in London. He broke his femur early in the new year of 1945 and died in University College Hospital on 19 January 1945, three months before his ninety-fifth birthday. Portraits:- Painting in oils by E Bundy, ARA, at the Farm; painted in 1915. Bronze bust by C Hartwell, commissioned in 1931 by the Council of the College, at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Painting in oils by Robin Darwin, great-grandson of Charles Darwin, at Downe House; painted about 1933. Miniature by P Buckman, exhibited at the Royal Academy 1934. Bronze bust by J N Gosse at the Farm, presented by Dr A H Gosse 1935. There are several photographs in the College collection, which show better than the formal portraits his air of genial independence. Publications:- Twenty-five years' experience of urinary surgery in England. Harveian Society's lectures 1901. Urinary surgery, in Heath's *Dictionary of surgery*. Edward Jenner. *Med Press* 1934, 137, 206; reprinted in *British masters of medicine*, edited by Sir D'Arcy Power, 1936. The rise of the medical profession (speech at Buckston Browne luncheon, Royal College of Surgeons, 12 February 1942). Privately printed. Reminiscences. *Rationalist annual*, 1938. *University College Hospital medical school. Senior common room. An illustrated description of the pictures and furniture presented by Sir Buckston Browne*. 44 pages, portrait, and 14 plates. Also an unillustrated edition, 12 pages.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003912
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Broadfoot, James (1920 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Diana Broadfoot
Publication Date 2013-02-20 2013-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003500-E003599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375776375776
Occupation Urologist
Details James Broadfoot was a urologist in Sydney, Australia. He was born in Townsville, Queensland, on 17 March 1920, the eldest son of James and Emily Broadfoot, who had left the UK to settle in Australia. He spent his early years in Townsville, and then, at the age of five, moved with his family to Sydney, New South Wales. He went to Lindfield Public School (which was later attended by his four children and three of his grandchildren) and then North Sydney Boys High School. During these formative years he participated in rugby, swimming and pursed his passion for amateur radio. James attended Sydney University Medical School and graduated in 1943. He undertook his junior residency at Lismore Base Hospital in rural New South Wales and his senior residency at Royal North Shore Hospital. In 1946 he spent a year in the Merchant Navy as a ship's surgeon aboard *The Erin*, a refrigerated ship of 7,500 tons under control of the Royal Navy which supplied fresh produce to various naval vessels. Upon completion of his naval adventures, he returned to Royal North Shore Hospital as a surgical registrar. During this time he was exposed to the various surgical specialties and had to make a difficult choice between obstetrics/gynaecology and urology. He chose urology. In March 1949 he married Elizabeth Helen Nalder and they travelled to the UK, where he undertook further specialist training. He worked at St Peter's and St Paul's and Hillingdon hospitals whilst undertaking his studies at the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1950 he sat for the primary exams of the English and Edinburgh colleges, eventually gaining his fellowship of both. In 1952 he returned to Australia and settled in Lindfield, a northern suburb of Sydney. He was appointed as a junior honorary urologist at Royal North Shore Hospital in 1953 and commenced practice in Macquarie Street, Sydney. He was also appointed to Hornsby Hospital as a junior honorary urologist in 1954. James had a special way of teaching, and spent over 20 years teaching and tutoring senior medical students at Royal North Shore Hospital. In recognition of his contributions to teaching senior medical students, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1972. He retired in 1979 and was appointed emeritus consultant urologist at Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital in recognition of his years of service. Outside medicine, James was a keen golfer, as well as an avid fan of Fats Waller. He took great delight in listening to his large collection of Fats Waller recordings and took up learning to play the piano in his fifties in the hope that he would one day be able to play the music of his idol. James was survived by his wife Helen, his children James, Jane, Matthew and Diana, and his seven grandchildren (Amani, Saneia, Deborah, Robert, Anthea, Richard and Edwina) and four great grandchildren (Rhys, Josie, Hamish and Harvey). As his daughter, I had the good fortune to work alongside many of his medical and nursing colleagues after his retirement, and I was always immensely proud to hear how well he was regarded, as a surgeon and as a gentleman.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003593
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kidd, Francis Seymour (1878 - 1934)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-07-31
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004300-E004399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376503376503
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Brooklands, Blackheath Park, SE on 30 March 1878, the second child of the marriage of Joseph Kidd, MD, with Frances Rouse, his second wife. His father, the seventeenth of a family of eighteen, was a well-known homoeopathic physician in London; a brother by a previous marriage was Percy Kidd, MD (1851-1942), see *Lancet*, 1942, 1, 184, who was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital and became physician to the London Hospital, and his elder sister by the second marriage was Beatrice Mary Kidd, MB, who practised at St Leonards-on-Sea. Two others of his father's fifteen children, Walter and Leonard Kidd, also practised medicine. Frank Kidd was educated at Stratheden House, Blackheath, at Winchester College, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated on 30 June 1896. He entered the London Hospital and was awarded the surgical scholarship in 1903, subsequently filling the posts of house physician, house surgeon to E Hurry Fenwick, surgical registrar 1906, assistant surgeon 1910, surgeon 1917; the latter post he resigned on 8 November 1920. He was demonstrator of anatomy in the medical school attached to the Hospital during the years 1910-11. Under the influence of Hurry Fenwick he devoted himself more especially to genito-urinary surgery. He was appointed out-patient clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for Stone in February 1908 and was reappointed at six-monthly intervals until February 1910, after which he did not seek reappointment. He then became attached to St Paul's Hospital in Endell Street, WC, of which he was consulting surgeon at the time of his death. During the war he served in France as captain, RAMC, 1917-19. In March 1929 he was one of the founders and the first editor of the *British Journal of Urology*. He was president of the urological section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1927-28; a member of the International Society of Urology, and the Association française d'Urologie; a corresponding member of the Berliner urologische Gesellschaft, of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons and an honorary member of the American Urological Association, as well as a corresponding academician of the Royal Medical Academy of Rome. At Winchester, where he was in Sunnyside house, he was in the association football XI 1900-04, and later played hockey for the South and was reserve for the England hockey XI. He married in July 1909 Stella, daughter of W Williams of Langland; she survived him with three sons. He died very suddenly of coronary thrombosis on 12 May 1934 at Bransbury Mill, Barton Stacey, where he had been fishing. Kidd was fortunate in his period, for he specialized in urinary surgery at a time when there was much improvement in the technique of ureteric catheterization, when there were improvements in the surgery of the prostate, and when the introduction of X-ray examinations and the development of bacteriology made it possible to discover the cause of most urinary symptoms and to treat the cause with greater safety than was possible for the older generation of surgeons. He held that no urologist could hope to be successful or even competent unless he was fully acquainted with venereal disease and diseases of the urethra. To this end he started a genito-urinary department at the London Hospital. Men only were treated in it at first, but it was afterwards enlarged to admit women and children. He was a clever and dexterous surgeon who used instruments with a minimum of pain and discomfort to the patients, but, being of a nervous temperament, he took things unduly to heart when any contretemps occurred in the after-treatment. Publications: *Urinary surgery*. London, 1910. *Common diseases of the male urethra*. Ibid, 1917. *Common infections of the kidneys with the colon bacillus and allied bacteria*. Ibid. 1920. *Common infections of the female urethra and cervix*, with A M Simpson. Ibid, 1924. He edited the *British Journal of Urology* from 1929 to 1934, with H P Winsbury White.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004320
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fenwick, Edwin Hurry (1856 - 1944)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-06-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004000-E004099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376225376225
Occupation Urologist
Details Born at North Shields, 14 September 1856, in the family of five sons and three daughters of Samuel Fenwick, MD (1821-1902), then in practice at Newcastle, afterwards physician to the London Hospital, and FRCP, and of Amy Sophia, his wife, daughter of Captain Bedford Pim, RN. All five sons entered the medical profession, among them Bedford Fenwick (1855-1939), MD, MRCP, gynaecologist, and William Soltau Fenwicke, MD, MRCP, internist, who died in February 1944, three months before Hurry Fenwick. Hurry Fenwick was educated at the London Hospital, where he served as house surgeon, house physician, and surgical registrar, and took postgraduate courses at Leipzig and Berlin. In 1883 he was elected assistant surgeon to the London Hospital, becoming in due course surgeon and lecturer in clinical surgery, and ultimately consulting surgeon. He was also consulting surgeon to the West Herts Hospital at Hemel Hempstead. He examined in physiology for the Conjoint Board 1885-88. While practising as a general surgeon, Fenwick paid special attention to urological surgery, and was elected to the staff of St Peter's Hospital for Stone and Urinary Diseases, where he was succeeded as surgeon by J S Joly, who died a few months before him. In 1887 he won the Jacksonian Prize for his essay on "Tumours of the bladder", afterwards published with additions. Fenwick ultimately became professor of urology in the University of London, and an internationally recognized authority in this specialty. He was one of the first in England to use and advocate the electrically-lit cystoscope, invented by Max Nitze (1848-1906) of Dresden at the end of the eighties, and ten years later was a pioneer in adapting the Roentgen rays for the use of the urinary surgeon. In 1905 he devised the first ureteric bougie opaque to X-rays. He was a dexterous surgeon, specially skilled in operating for urinary calculus and vesical tumour. In 1913 Fenwick served as president of the section of urology at the 17th and last International Medical Congress, and in his presidential address praised Nitze and Roentgen for enabling the surgeon no longer to "grope in the dark" when dealing with urinary and vesical disease. Fenwick himself had, in fact, played no small part in advancing the visual examination of the bladder. During the war of 1914-18 he served as officer commanding the Bethnal Green Military Hospital and the military section of the London Hospital, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel dated 14 April 1915, and was promoted brevet major on 3 June 1917; he had been commissioned captain d la suite on the formation of the RAMC(T) on 23 December 1908. He was mentioned in despatches and created a CBE for his war-time services. In 1919 Fenwick became the first president of the Société internationale d'Urologie, a chair he held till 1925. He was a vice-president of the International Association of Urologists, a member of the Société internationale de Chirurgie, and a corresponding member of American, Belgian, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish urologic associations. Fenwick married on 16 December 1886 Annie, daughter of Captain John Fenwick, an Elder Brother of Trinity House. Mrs Fenwick died on 12 October 1937, as the result of an accident. Hurry Fenwick died on 5 May 1944 in his house at 53 Bedford Gardens, London, W8, aged 88, survived by a son and a daughter. In earlier life he had practised at 14 Savile Row, London, W. Publications:- The venous system of the bladder and its surroundings. *J Anat Physiol*. 1885, 19, 320. *The electric illumination of the bladder and urethra, as a means of diagnosis of obscure vesico-urethral diseases*. London, 1888; 2nd edition, 1889. *Atlas of electric cystoscopy*, with Emil Burckhardt. London, 1893. *A handbook of clinical electric-light cystoscopy*. London, 1904. *The cardinal symptoms of urinary disease, their diagnostic significance and treatment*. London, 1893. *Urinary surgery*. London, 1894. Diseases of the urine, in *Twentieth century practice*. New York, 1895, 1, 525-659. *Obscure diseases of the urethra*, with J W Thomson Walker. London, 1902. *Tumours of the bladder, their pathology, diagnosis, and treatment*. Jacksonian prize essay of 1887, rewritten with 200 additional cases. London, 1897. *Operative and inoperative tumours of the bladder*. London, 1901. *The value of ureteric meatoscopy in obscure diseases of the kidney*. London, 1903. The value of the use of a shadowgraph ureteric bougie in the precise surgery of renal calculus. *Brit med J*. 1905, 1, 1325. *The value of radiography in the diagnosis and treatment of urinary stone; a study in and operative surgery*. London, 1908. Expectation of life after nephrectomy for urinary tuberculosis. *Brit med J*. 1944, 1, 621.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004042
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Phadke, Gangadhar Martand (1901 - 1964)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-04-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005200-E005299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377436377436
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Phadke was born in 1901 and educated in East Khandesh, India. His clinical medical training was received at University College Hospital. London, and he graduated in 1927. Returning to India he became surgeon at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Bombay, an appointment he held until his retirement, but continued as consulting surgeon until his death. He had an extensive practice in Bombay, was honorary surgeon to the Bombay Hospital and National Hospital, and was honorary surgeon and director to the Family Welfare Bureau of Bombay. He was President of the Association of Surgeons in India in 1957 and chairman of the Association's urology section in 1962. Phadke was a member of the Senate of the University of Bombay, and a member of Faculty of the University of Maharashtra. He was an examiner for the Master of Surgery degree in five universities - Bombay, Maharashtra, Nagpur, Gujarat, and Madras. One of India's most pressing problems - family planning - gave him great concern and he played a vital part in trying to solve this problem. He became a member of the Family Planning Board of the State of Maharashtra, the Central Family Planning Board of the Government of India, and the Scientific Committee of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. He published papers advocating sterilisation of the male, and devised a simple operative procedure for this, thus making mass vasectomy possible on a country-wide scale. He won the Bhansali award of the Bombay Medical Union in 1961. Phadke was unassuming and charitable; his recreations were Indian music, Marathi literature, and golf. He lived at Vadoda, East Khandesh and died on 14 September 1964, survived by his wife, daughter and son who was a surgeon.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005253
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Scott, Walter McCausland (1912 - 1964)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005300-E005399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377582377582
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in Dublin on 15 October 1912, son of a well-known naval architect, he was educated at St Peter's School, York, Emmanuel College, Cambridge and St Mary's Hospital, London. He was senior surgical registrar at St Paul's Hospital for Genito-urinary Diseases, supernumerary surgical registrar and house surgeon at St Mary's, and senior surgical registrar at the Royal Free. During the second world war he served in the Royal Navy and was in HMS *Cossack* when she was sunk. He was also PMO at hospitals in Alexandria and Cairo, and retired with the rank of Surgeon-Commander. Scott went to Doncaster in 1953 as consultant to the Royal Infirmary and the Montagu Hospital, Mexborough. He was secretary of the group medical committee and was widely respected. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the International Society of Urology. "Scottie" as he was known to his friends had a keen sense of humour and quiet charm. He served many good causes at Doncaster and was an active member of the Parish Church. He was an excellent horseman and acting field-master of Badsworth Hunt. Scott lived at 94 Thorne Road, Doncaster, but died suddenly on 3 May 1964 aged 51 while on a cruise at sea after a severe illness. During the cruise he had successfully performed an emergency abdominal operation on a fellow passenger; he was buried at sea. He married in 1934 Aileen Despard Kilpatrick, who survived him with their two daughters, one of whom was in medical practice. Publications: Giant haemangioma of rectum, with N E Brand. *Brit J Surg* 1957, 45, 294.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005399
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jones, William Warner (1872 - 1952)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Hammond, Thomas Edwin (1888 - 1943)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004100-E004199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376330376330
Occupation Urologist
Details Born on 5 August 1888 at Penrhiwfer, South Wales, son of Edwin Hammond, colliery owner, and Jane Jenkins his wife. He was educated at Cheltenham College, and at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1907, where he won a junior scholarship in anatomy and physiology and the Treasurer's and Foster prizes in anatomy. He also won University scholarships in anatomy and physiology at the London intermediate MB. He qualified for the Fellowship in April 1913, four months before reaching the legal age of twenty-five. He served as house surgeon and house physician at the West London Hospital 1912-13, and as resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for genito-urinary diseases 1913-14. He served through the first world war in the RAMC, being gazetted lieutenant 20 December 1915. He served with a field ambulance in France, September 1914 to February 1915, and as medical officer in the South Wales Borderers, May 1915 to January 1916. He was wounded at the evacuation of Gallipoli, and was mentioned in despatches. He was surgeon to the Alderhey Orthopaedic Hospital, Liverpool, and to Newport Military Hospital under Sir Robert Jones, 1916-18. From 1918 to 1921 he was clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital, London, where in 1919-20 he was personal assistant to Sir John Thomson-Walker. Returning to his native country he soon made his mark in his chosen specialty. He was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Cardiff in 1924, becoming surgeon and consulting urologist in 1934. He was one of the first assistants in the surgical unit of the Welsh National School of Medicine. He became also consulting urologist to the Welsh National Memorial (Tuberculosis) Association and to the Royal Hamadryad Hospital. Hammond took a prominent part in the activities of professional societies, becoming president of the Cardiff Medical Society and of the section of urology, at the Royal Society of Medicine, to which he had previously been secretary 1928-29. He was also a Fellow of the Association of Surgeons and a member of the Association internationale d'Urologie. He was in the habit of taking frequent postgraduate courses abroad and had studied under Wildbolz at Bern 1921, Victor Pauchet and Legueu in Paris 1924, Lichtenstein in Vienna 1926, and Lichtenberg in Berlin 1931, besides visiting many continental clinics in other years. He died in hospital at Northampton on 25 March 1943, aged 55, and was buried at Cefn, Merthyr, South Wales, after a service in the chapel of Cardiff Royal Infirmary. He was unmarried. Hammond was a man of serious, emphatic views, which he often aired in the local press. He was much interested in the study of the integral human organism. He also believed in the paramount influence of idiosyncrasy in determining the reaction to infection, rather than in any special nature of the invading organism. He wrote several books on these subjects, besides many valuable professional papers, in particular on genital tuberculosis. Select bibliography:- Treatment of nerve lesions of upper extremity. *J orthop Surg*, Boston, 1919, 1, 320. Tuberculosis of the genito-urinary system. *Tubercle*, 1925, 6, 490. The function of the testes. *Proc Roy Soc Med*. 1925-26, 19, Urology section, p 53; also *Brit J Urol*. 1934, 6, 128. Cancer of the prostate. *Brit J Urol*. 1933, 5, 131. The treatment of genito-urinary tuberculosis. *Surg Gynec Obstet*. 1934, 58, 745. *The constitution and its reaction in health*. London: Lewis, 1934. *Principles in the treatment of inflammation*. London: Lewis, 1934. The care of the feet. *Practitioner*, 1934, 132, 718. Euthanasia. *Practitioner* 1934, 132, 485. Some principles in the surgery of tuberculosis. *Tubercle*, 1934, 15, 251. Coli infections of the urinary tract. *Clin J*. 1935, 64, 317. Genital tuberculosis in the male. *Brit J Urol*. 1941, 13, 43. *Vitality and energy in relation to the constitution*. London: Lewis, 1936. *Infections of the urinary tract*. London: Lewis, 1936.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004147
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Smart, John Gordon (1926 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2013-03-20 2014-07-18
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/375917375917
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details John Gordon Smart was appointed to the Leicester Royal Infirmary as a general surgeon with an interest in urology in 1965. Later he became the first pure urologist to the hospital and was responsible for building up the urology unit to become the largest in the Trent region. Possessing an administrative flair, he also started the day unit service and directed it after its inception in 1979, being responsible for the planning and later the running of the definitive day stay unit at Leicester's City General Hospital. Eleven specialties used the unit and it boasted one of the largest through-puts in the country. He was born in London on 5 June 1926, the second son of John McGregor Smart, a merchandise buyer and importer, and Margaret née Edwards, a seamstress. His older brother, Donald, also studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital and became a general practitioner. Gordon started his secondary education at William Ellis School in Highgate, north London, and continued at Highgate School (for some of the war years the school was evacuated to the country). He was extremely athletic in these schooldays, a fast sprinter and good at both rugby and soccer: indeed, he was approached to have a trial for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Training at Middlesex Hospital, he graduated in 1949 and served six months as a house surgeon under R Vaughan Hudson, then a senior surgeon at Middlesex Hospital. National Service followed in the medical branch of the RAF from 1950, when he was stationed at RAF Scampton with 617 Squadron ('The Dambusters'). After a year he was promoted to squadron leader for his work on high altitude flying. Already developing an interest in art, Gordon particularly admired the pencil drawings drawn by many of the airmen who lost their lives during wartime operations: he felt that they received scant recognition. Returning to civilian life, although electing to pursue a career in surgery, he first needed to obtain a post in medicine and became a house physician at Willesden General Hospital. Following this, he benefitted from a six-month spell in general practice as he covered his older brother Donald's absence on sick leave. After studying on the Royal College of Surgeons' course and passing the primary FRCS, he commenced his surgical training as a casualty and receiving officer at senior house level to the Dreadnought Seaman's hospital. This post was a requirement for those sitting the final FRCS examination at the time. He furthered his experience at senior house officer level in general surgery and urology at St James' Hospital, Balham, being privileged to gain experience with Norman Tanner in gastroenterology, and was introduced to urology by H K ('Pop') Vernon and H Burke. After attending a postgraduate course at St Thomas' Hospital, he passed the final FRCS examination in 1957, before continuing his general surgical experience as a registrar for a year to H L Cochrane at Fulham Hospital. He broadened this good base at registrar level in a two-year rotating post, starting with R W ('Bob') Nevin at St Thomas' Hospital, then at the Hydestile branch, the Royal Waterloo Hospital, before gaining further experience in the casualty department back at St Thomas'. A locum senior registrar post for a year at St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, added to his overall experience as he worked with two general surgeons, Bernard Williams and J W Younghusband, and also W Wiggins-Davies, whose main interest was in urology. Gordon felt he needed further experience in the developing specialty of urology and obtained a rotating senior registrar training post at St Thomas' Hospital and St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey. Starting in Chertsey, he worked with a most delightful general surgeon, Murray Pheils, who was an excellent teacher. In 1965 Pheils left this post and a lucrative private practice to take up a newly created position as professor of surgery at the Repatriation Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales. Back at St Thomas' Hospital, Gordon worked with the urological surgeon T W Mimpriss, achieving his aim of concentrating on urology. He saw and treated a lot of urothelial tumours of the bladder and upper tracts and published a paper on 'Renal and ureteric tumours in association with bladder tumours' (*Br J Urol*. 1964 Sep;36:380-90). Further research work into the use of radioactive phosphorus in prostatic cancer led to a South West Regional Board prize and a paper 'Radioactive phosphorus treatment of bone-metastatic carcinoma of the prostate' (*Lancet*. 1964 Oct 24;2[7365]:882-3). He was able to drop some clinical commitments and, with the aid of funding from the regional board, he set up a laboratory and employed a technician for studies on urinary infection. This valuable experience in research led to a thesis for the MS degree and to his election as Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. He delivered a lecture on 'The diagnosis and localisation of urinary infections' at the College on 10 March 1966. His successful application for the post of consultant surgeon with an interest in urology in Leicester was supported by T W Mimpriss, Murray Pheils and R W Nevin, the highly respected general surgeon and long-time dean of the St Thomas's Medical School. Once in post, he showed the determination and eloquence he had exhibited back in his schooldays. In 1943, as a schoolboy, he had taken part in a BBC Home Service programme presented by the eminent sociologist Karl Mannheim, discussing a variety of topics, including 'Why do we agree over right and wrong?', 'Can society survive without common values?' and 'The power of society to influence man's behaviour'. As a consultant surgeon, Gordon showed he was clearly a person who had strong opinions on what he felt was best and proved outspoken in committees. He was supported by his consultant colleagues in the development of the urology unit and day care facilities. Not afraid of hard work, he worked up to the last moment before enjoying family holidays - something appreciated by his patients who recognised his personal care. He did not suffer fools gladly, but was very supportive of all the clinical staff, particularly the nurses. He assumed many roles even before he became a consultant. From 1962 for six years he was an examiner for the Royal College of Nursing and tutor in anatomy for the Association of Occupational Therapists for two years. After his consultant appointment, from 1974 to 1982, he was a Royal College of Surgeons tutor for the Leicester area. From 1986 he represented all surgical specialties and day services on the management board. His colleagues thought so highly of his endeavours that he was elected chairman of the Leicester area consultants committee for two years from 1976, after less than 10 years as a consultant. He enjoyed his membership of the Punch Club, an informal group of urological surgeons, and was a supportive member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the urology section of the Royal Society of Medicine, being an elected member of both councils. As a mark of esteem his colleagues in hospital and general practice elected him president of the Leicester Medical Society from 1989 to 1990, having served as secretary some 10 years previously. During his training, at a party, he met Joanna ('Jo') Brenchley, a nurse at Middlesex Hospital. They married in Ospringe, Kent, in 1956, and she supported Gordon during much of his surgical training, undertaking a variety of jobs herself, ending up studying at the Bar. After moving to Leicester, she became a Justice of the Peace, working on the criminal and domestic benches. Jo was also a member of the Police Authority, being heavily involved in a charity which supported prisoners in their rehabilitation once they had served their sentence. Fiona, their only child, was born in 1966, after Gordon had taken up his consultant post. She became a civil servant and then set up her own company. Gordon and his wife were very fond of travel, visiting India, Pakistan, Israel and Jordan. Gordon was also interested in arts and antiques. Having collected many paintings, he enjoyed painting himself in both oils and acrylic. He was a great admirer of Turner's works. In his own painting, he was a perfectionist, just as he was in his distinguished surgical career. Sadly, shortly after his retirement, Jo was diagnosed with advanced myeloma. Gordon supported her during her various treatments, and nursed and cared for her until she died in 2004. Fiona, always encouraged by her father throughout various stages of her life, was equally supportive of him in his later years. J Gordon Smart died peacefully at his home in Wymeswold, Leicestershire, on 22 February 2013 aged 86, with Fiona by his side.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003734
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Burgess, Arthur Henry (1874 - 1948)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003900-E003999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376102376102
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Stretford, near Manchester, on 2 February 1874, the second child and eldest son of John Henry Burgess, a merchant, and his wife, nee Sharrocks. He was educated at Rose Hill School, Bowden, Cheshire and, after a year in a shipping office, at Owens College, Manchester, where he won the Dalton natural history prize and graduated in zoology in 1892. In the medical school he was Dauntesey scholar 1892, junior Platt physiology exhibitioner 1893 and senior 1894, university scholar 1894, Turner scholar and Dumville surgical prizeman 1896. He had taken the MSc in physiology in 1895 and qualified in medicine and surgery in 1896, taking the Conjoint examination the same year, which was his only divagation from a wholly Manchester education. He was appointed resident surgical officer at Manchester Royal Infirmary, took the Fellowship in 1899, and became assistant surgeon to the infirmary in 1905. He was promoted surgeon in 1910, and consulting surgeon in 1934. He was surgeon to the Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, and the Manchester Union Hospital, Crumpsall, at both of which he had held resident posts, and to the Christie Cancer Hospital. As lecturer on surgery in the Victoria University, he was remarkable for his careful and detailed teaching, and he was elected professor of clinical surgery in 1921. Burgess joined the territorial RAMC on its formation in 1908. During the war of 1914-18 he was consulting surgeon to the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, and in charge of No 33 General Hospital, having previously been surgeon to the officers' section of the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester. He was consultant in surgery to the Ministry of Health emergency medical service in the war of 1939-45. At the College he was a member of Council from 1925, a vice-president in 1934-36, Bradshaw lecturer 1933, and Hunterian orator 1941. Owing to the bomb damage to the College house, his oration was delivered in the rooms of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was president of the British Medical Association when it met at Manchester in 1929, and of the Association of Surgeons in 1933. He was elected an honorary Doctor of Manitoba University as immediate past president of the BMA at the Winnipeg meeting in 1930, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons when he delivered the J B Murphy oration at Chicago in 1931. Burgess was technically a supreme general surgeon. As a young man he set out to achieve complete efficiency, and was never content without the greatest care in preparation and all other details. He achieved safety and. ease in all kinds of abdominal operations. Urology was always a main interest, but he also undertook thyroid surgery, and was an early practitioner of spinal analgesia and of electro-surgery. He always took advantage of whatever any of the ancillary sciences could provide to help, the surgeon. Burgess married in 1901 Elspeth, second daughter of Thomas Robinson of Leek, Staffordshire. Mrs Burgess died on 31 August 1941. Burgess died suddenly at Edinburgh, where he had gone to attend the annual meeting of the Association of Surgeons, on 6 May 1948, aged 74. He was survived by four sons and a daughter. He had lived at Ashlea, Cheadle, Cheshire, and practised at 17 St John Street, Manchester. Burgess was a tall, very upright, good-looking man, somewhat stiff in manner but essentially friendly and hospitable. He was a sound musician and took an active interest in the Manchester College of Music. He had travelled widely, and often took his holidays in Ireland, where he claimed to have visited every county. Publications:- 500 consecutive cases of acute appendicitis. *Brit med J*. 1912, 1, 415. The debt of surgery to the ancillary sciences (presidential address BMA). *Brit med J*. 1929, 2, 131. Electrosurgery (Bradshaw lecture RCS 1933). *Lancet*, 1933, 2, 1355 and 1411. Charles White (Hunterian oration RCS 1941). *Lancet*, 1941, 1, 235.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003919
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Everidge, John (1884 - 1955)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005300-E005399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377537377537
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Son of James Walter Everidge, he was educated at King's College School and King's College Hospital, where he was junior scholar in 1904, senior scholar in 1907 and Alfred Hughes anatomy prizeman. He qualified in 1908, and in 1912 became Sambrooke surgical registrar and surgical tutor at King's College Hospital. During the first world war Everidge served as a surgical specialist in France and was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the OBE. He held the rank of Major RAMC and was subsequently nicknamed "The Major" by several decades of students. After the war Everidge returned to King's as junior urological surgeon, and in 1929, when his chief Sir John Thomson-Walker retired, he became senior urologist and lecturer on urology. Beyond his own hospital he held numerous appointments, including those of consultant to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank and to the London County Council. He was President of the Listerian Society of King's College Hospital 1922-23. During the second world war Everidge was one of the senior staff at Horton Emergency Hospital, and in 1939-40 he was President of the Section of Urology at the Royal Society of Medicine. At the end of the war, when he was due to retire from the staff of King's, Everidge was appointed active consulting urological surgeon and in 1953 the title of emeritus lecturer was conferred on him in recognition of his long and valuable service to the medical school of King's College Hospital. In 1950 he had been made a Fellow of King's College, and he was a member of the Association Internationale d'Urologie. Everidge wrote numerous papers on his specialty and contributed articles to the leading textbooks. For some years he was Chairman of the editorial committee of the *British Journal of Urology*. He was a member of council and a former treasurer of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, but he refused the Presidency because of slight deafness. Everidge was a keen sportsman: in his youth he was an enthusiastic lawn tennis player and later he took up golf and fishing and was a member of the Flyfishers' Club. John Everidge was one of the leading urological surgeons of his time: he was a pioneer in transurethral prostatic surgery from 1927, and played a part in the development of the modern resectoscope. Everidge married Kathleen I Robertson and they had one son and one daughter. He always remained young by keeping up with new surgical procedures and by his liking for student activities, dances and fast cars. He died on 8 June 1955 after a long illness at his home, 7 Wimpole Street, aged 71. Publications: Urinary surgery in *Modern Operative Surgery*, ed G Grey Turner, 2, 1934. Nephroureterectomy, *Proc Roy Soc Med* 1940, 33, 295.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005354
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Chapman, Thomas Lightbody (1903 - 1966)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378230378230
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 16 June 1903, Chapman received his medical education at Glasgow University where he graduated in 1928. He was appointed a senior house surgeon at the Western Infirmary, and later was a demonstrator of anatomy at the University. Coming to London for postgraduate study he worked at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and became a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. On his return to Glasgow he was appointed to the surgical staff of the Victoria Infirmary, taking up urology as his special interest and building up a urological department there. In 1948 he was elected FRFPS and in 1949 proceeded to the degree of ChM. with high commendation. He was, in addition, an honorary lecturer in Urology at Glasgow University and urological surgeon to Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride and the Ballochmyle Hospital, Mauchline. A foundation fellow of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, he was one of the early protagonists in Britain of punch prostatectomy, following a period of instruction at the Mayo Clinic under Gresham Thompson. He, together with Wardill in Newcastle and Tom Lane in Dublin, was one of the founders of the 'Punch Club' of which he became the energetic and colourful secretary. At Hairmyres he developed a special unit for this method of treatment, ably assisted by a Polish refugee surgeon. Latterly he took up angling, which he much enjoyed whether his efforts were crowned with success or not. He lived a free and happy life, a happiness he communicated to his patients and friends. Anyone who had the privilege of getting to know Tom Chapman was stimulated and refreshed by meeting him. A kindly enthusiastic man, he had a wonderful sense of humour and a ready wit. A keen photographer he made use of his hobby in illustrating his teaching and producing animated films of urological procedures, in particular punch prostatectomy. He had himself at various times suffered at the hands of surgeons but, characteristically remained unperturbed by any implications these assaults might have. He married Dr Phyllis Hooper in 1937 who survived him with a son and daughter, both medical students. He died at his home Park Lodge, 21 Coldswood Road, Glasgow S3 on 18 July 1966 aged 63. Publications: *Urology in outline*, 1959. Perurethral methods in benign prostatic hypertrophy. *Lancet* 1943, 1, 14.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006047
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Modlin, Monte (1917 - 1980)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Mogg, Richard Arthur (1911 - 1980)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Alder, Alexander Bruck (1926 - )

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching England, Ernest James (1927 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-12-24 2017-04-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006600-E006699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378786378786
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ernest James England was a consultant urological surgeon at the Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia. He was born in Bunbury, Western Australia, on 26 May 1927. His father, Ernest Roy England, was a bus driver who had served at Gallipoli and in France during the First World War; his mother, Bessie England née James, was a businesswoman. He attended Claremont State School and Wesley College, where he was school captain, and then, in 1946, went to the University of Western Australia. He transferred to the University of Adelaide a year later and qualified with the MB BS in 1951. He held junior posts at the Royal Perth Hospital, and then went to the UK. From 1956 to 1957 he worked at the Royal Gloucester Infirmary and Brompton Hospital. Between 1962 and 1963 he was based at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1963 he was appointed to his post in Perth. He retired in 1990. At the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons he was an examiner in urology, secretary and then chairman of the Western Australia state committee, and a member of the board of urology. From 1985 to 1986 he was president of the Urological Society of Australia. He played hockey and first class cricket for Western Australia and South Australia, and league football for East Perth in 1945. In June 1953 he married Wendy Gweneth Nunn. They had a daughter and a son, who is a urologist and a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Ernest James England died on 5 December 2012. He was 84.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006603
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Higgins, Andrew Fraser (1943 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Duffy, Douglas Burland (1919 - 1982)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-11-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378630378630
Occupation Urologist
Details Douglas Burland Duffy was born on 13 September 1919. He was the son of Bessie Rose Grant and Leontine Joseph Duffy, a manager. He attended Geelong College and Ormond College of the University of Melbourne where he qualified MB BS in 1942 and MS in 1947. He won the exhibition and Beaney Prize in surgery, the exhibition in obstetrics and gynaecology and the Ryan Prize for surgery in 1942. He became senior urologist to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was President of the Urological Society of Australasia in 1965. At various times he became consultant urologist to the Heidelberg Repatriation General Hospital Melbourne, Box Hill and District Hospital and the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne. During the second world war he served in the RAAF as a Flight Lieutenant. In 1944 he married Jeanette Robinson and they had one son and two daughters. He was a keen tennis player. He died on 26 January 1982.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006447
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, Hugh Fraser (1910 - 1986)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Chisholm, Geoffrey Duncan (1931 - 1994)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-07-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005600-E005699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377820377820
Occupation Urologist
Details Geoffrey Duncan Chisholm was born on 30 September 1931 at Hawera, North Island New Zealand. He was the third son of Arthur Chisholm, manager of the Meat Board, and his wife Ellen Marion, née Friston. His family had emigrated some eighty years before from Cannich, Glen Affric in the Scottish Highlands. He was educated at Scots College, Wellington, Malvern College, Worcester, and St Andrew's University, graduating in medicine in 1955. His house posts, under Sir Donald Douglas, were at United Dundee Hospitals, and his registrarships in general surgery were at the London, Connaught and Hammersmith Hospitals, at the latter with Professor Ian Aird. In 1961 he was awarded the British Postgraduate Federation Travelling Fellowship to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, working with W W Scott. He returned to the Hammersmith as senior registrar in urology to Ralph Shackman. In 1967 he was appointed consultant and lecturer to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and later to St Peter's Hospital. Thus began a fruitful decade in the field of organ preservation and transplantation, maintaining the pioneering role that Hammersmith had played in the subject. In 1977, on the retirement of Sir Michael Woodruff, he was invited to take the Chair in Edinburgh, consultant urologist to the Western General Hospital and Director of the Nuffield Transplant Unit. His triple role of undergraduate Professor, director of research and international urologist, if it did not stretch his intellect most certainly did his time. One reflects on the corpus of writing with wonder and admiration: some four hundred contributions in urology centred on obstructive uropathy, prostate cancer and the use of isotopes and immunology in transplantation. In addition, he held the joint editorship with Sir David Innes Williams of the *Scientific Foundations of Urology*, and from 1977 to 1993 was editor of the *British Journal of Urology*. To serve was of his nature and he was an ever-willing Officer and President of several Associations, the more prominent being the British Association of Urological Surgeons 1986-88; the European Society for Urological Oncology and Endocrinology 1984-5; Section of Urology, Royal Society of Medicine and the Scottish Urological Society 1990-92. He was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1984 and was supremely honoured to become its President from 1988 to 1991. He led his College with purpose, distinction and style and continued in harness as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Surgical Training for a further three years. A polished and always well-prepared lecturer, he was in demand on the world stage and was awarded many honours, including the St Peter's Medal from the BAUS, the Silver Medal of the Danish Surgical Society, the Willy Gregoir Medal from the EAU and in his last year the Bodo Van Garelts Memorial Lecture in Stockholm. In 1992 his was a worthy appointment to Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He had a delightful personality and was a popular man both with colleagues and patients. His rapid rise in urology was due to outstanding ability matched with integrity and endless energy. He died from that rare tumour, a carcinoid, at the apex of his career, like a bright firework extinguished in flight but leaving a trail of enduring achievement. He married in 1962 Angela, née Holden, and they had two sons, Andrew and Ian, all of whom survived him when he died on 10 November 1994, aged 63.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005637
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robinson, James Oswald (1921 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2014-07-14
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005600-E005699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377821377821
Occupation Anatomist Urologist
Details James Robinson, formerly senior surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, was born on 25 June 1921 in Brisbane, Australia. At an early age his parents moved to France, where his father, Ernest Longton Robinson, died in 1928. His mother, Mary Gordon Olive née Love, then married Rupert Shelton Corbett (a Barts surgeon). After a period at prep school in Sussex, James went to Charterhouse School from 1935 to 1939, before entering Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, for his pre-clinical training. His clinical years were spent during the war at St Bartholomew's, from which he qualified in 1944. After house appointments, he became Squadron Leader in the RAF until 1947. He was a natural teacher, first of anatomy at the medical college of St Bartholomew's, where he edited the 9th edition of *Rawling's Landmarks and surface markings of the human body* (London, H K Lewis, 1953), before proceeding to his post-fellowship training as chief assistant to the late John Hosford and Sir Edward Tuckwell. At this period he was co-author of *The diagnosis and management of urological cases - a handbook for students, residents and general practitioners, etc*, (London, Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, 1955) with Bruce Pender, and also produced *Modern urology for nurses* (London, Heinemann Medical). He spent a year in the USA, from 1955 to 1956, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as instructor in surgery with Frederick Coller and Reed Nesbit, before returning to the North Middlesex Hospital. Over the years he made many American friends, including Ben Eismann, professor of surgery in Denver, with whom he had several near-disastrous skiing trips; his love of that country was to prove life-long. Appointed to the consultant staff of St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1958, he inspired numerous medical students by his superb teaching and relaxed, simple and well-ordered approach. Above all, he was noted for his courteous approach to patients and students, both in outpatients and on ward rounds. At times he admitted to frustration, "If only they answered a question 'I don't know'!" Life was never dull in his company; students on his firm enjoyed evening parties, usually in black tie, in hostelries up and down the Thames. He was devoted to the students, being President of the students' union for many years. Unfailing loyalty to the hospital and medical college for a quarter of a century led to his becoming the youngest member of the board of governors. In this capacity he represented a rather restless group of younger consultants when change was inevitable. His chairmanship of committees, including the medical advisory committee and the medical council, was done with ease, being both tactful and firm. A positive solution to difficult problems, without confrontation, occurred with James in the chair. When Barts developed a new major accident plan, it was 'Jimmy', as he was affectionately known, who re-designed it and brought it into the twentieth century. Indeed he was at a hospital in Gerrards Cross when he heard of the Moorgate Underground disaster. He drove at high speed back to Barts, to be near the centre of action. He was a prime mover in establishing the Barts Research Development Trust. He enjoyed the privilege of being on the consultant staff of King Edward Hospital for Officers, the Royal Masonic Hospital and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. He was also honorary surgeon to St Dunstan's, the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain and the Coram Foundation for Children. James was a member of many societies, including the Travelling Surgical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Medical Society of London, the Hunterian Society, and the Knights of the Round Table, to name but a few. He gained much pleasure by being elected to the Frederick Coller Surgical Society in the USA and becoming an honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Georgia Militia. His Cambridge connections made a profound impact on him: he was for 18 years President of the Cambridge Medical Graduate's Club, after being secretary for many years. Although it is now a dining club, he steered the members into providing scholarships, by raising money for the regius professor of physic. He married Pamela Charney in 1946 and they had a daughter, Caroline, and a son, Michael. After they divorced, he married Patricia Laxton. She died of cancer and sometime later Jimmy met and married Veronica Clifton, with whom he spent many happy years. In retirement he and Veronica moved to the USA, where he was appointed professor of medical history at the University of Texas, Dallas. He made many important contributions to the literature and lectured widely on medical and military history. They came back to the UK to live in Lymington in Hampshire. He enjoyed golf, tennis, photography and cabinet making, and took a great interest in the history of Lord Nelson. Dogged by cerebro-vascular problems, his locomotion and sight deteriorated, and he spent his last year in a nursing home, where he died on 19 April 2000.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005638
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching O'Domhnaill, Seamus (1923 - 2006)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-03-21 2016-05-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005100-E005199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377349377349
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Seamus O'Domhnaill was a consultant urological surgeon in Limerick, Ireland. He was born in Cork on 22 January 1923, the second son of Padraig O'Domhnaill, a school inspector, and Mary O'Domhnaill née Cotter. He attended national schools in Glasheen and Fermoy, Cork, and then Christian Brothers secondary schools, also in Fermoy and Cork city. He then studied medicine at University College, Cork, from 1940 to 1946, qualifying MB BCh BAO. He was a house surgeon at the North Charitable Infirmary, Cork, at Providence Hospital, St Helens, Lancashire, and at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, Liverpool. He was then a resident medical officer and registrar at Liverpool Children's Hospital. He went on to hold posts as a surgical registrar at the General Hospital, Burnley, and St Helens Hospital. He subsequently returned to Ireland, where he was appointed county surgeon for County Tipperary. He then became a consultant surgeon for the Mid-Western Health Board, at the Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, Limerick. He gained his FRCS in 1951. He was an examiner for the final fellowship examination of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the International College of Surgeons, and an associate fellow of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the Irish Society of Urology. Outside medicine, he was an international judge in pointer and setter trials, and trained gun dogs. He enjoyed deep sea fishing and shooting. In 1950 he married Ellen Fenton, who was also medically qualified. They had three girls and two boys. Three of their children followed their parents into medicine. Tragically, Seamus O'Domhnaill died on 1 November 2006 after being trampled by a herd of cattle while out walking his dog. He was 83.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005166
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Neligan, George Ernest (1885 - 1956)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-03-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005100-E005199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377376377376
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in 1885, he was educated at Epsom College, Exeter College, Oxford and the London Hospital, where he qualified in 1911 and was appointed house surgeon to Percy Furnivall and Frank Kidd, which probably stimulated his special interest in urology. After this he became house physician, resident accoucheur and surgical registrar. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he joined the RAMC and served throughout until 1919, finishing as a Major and surgical specialist. When he returned to London after the war, he became assistant to a surgical unit, and in 1921 was elected to the honorary staff as assistant surgeon to Russell Howard. The partnership lasted until 1939 when Neligan became full surgeon; during this period the firm of Russell Howard and Neligan was a household word at the London. During the whole of the war of 1939-45 he lived in the London Hospital, initially as medical superintendent and surgeon in charge, and during this period laid the foundations for a fully fledged department of urology in the hospital, although he left it to his successors to make a final decision. He was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1941-42, and was recognised as one of the leaders of the move towards specialised urology in London. An unselfish, generous man with a merry wit and a good raconteur, he wielded enormous influence for good in his own hospital. An eminent Freemason, he was a Senior Grand Deacon, and in his leisure he enjoyed golf and the turf. He married Dorothy Honar who survived him without issue, and when he retired they lived in Walmer. He died in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone on 24 February 1956. Publication: War Injuries of the Genito-Urinary Tract. *Brit med J* 1939, 2, 291.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005193
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching MacCormick, Kenneth (1891 - 1964)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-03-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005100-E005199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377296377296
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Auckland in 1891 son of Judge C E MacCormick, Chief Justice of the Maori Land Court, he was educated at Auckland Grammar School and Otago University and graduated in 1914. As a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps, he served with the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, was awarded the DSO in 1917 and was promoted Major. After the war he held posts in London at Charing Cross, St Peter's, the Bolingbroke, and the Cancer Hospital. He returned to practice at Auckland in 1922. For many years he served on the staff of the Auckland Hospital as a general surgeon with a special interest in urology. He retained his connection with the Army Medical Corps and was promoted Colonel. He was appointed Director of Medical Services to the NZEF in the Middle East and later in Greece just after the outbreak of the second world war, and was eventually MacCormick was appointed an honorary surgeon to King George VI in 1940 and created CB in 1943. Returning to his own country, MacCormick served on the rehabilitation committee and the examining board for pensions. He was Auckland President of the NZ Red Cross Society for fifteen years, and became Dominion President in 1961, travelling to Geneva for the international meeting in 1963. He was chairman of the Auckland Division of the BMA and President of the New Zealand Branch, which he represented at the Annual Meeting at Oxford in 1963. Kenneth MacCormick died on 23 January 1964 aged 73, survived by his wife, daughter, and four sons, one of whom is a doctor.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005113
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Heritage, Kenneth William (1901 - 1963)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-02-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005000-E005099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377228377228
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 2 November 1901 he was educated at Wyggeston School, Leicester and at the London Hospital, where he was awarded the Buxton Prize in anatomy and physiology in 1921. After qualification he held numerous house appointments at the London Hospital, where he became first surgical assistant and registrar to the Genito-Urinary Department, and was also surgical registrar to All Saints and the London Lock Hospital, resident medical officer to the Miller General Hospital, Greenwich, and resident surgical officer at Ancoats Hospital, Manchester. He was appointed consultant surgeon to numerous hospitals: Princess Beatrice Hospital, St John's, Lewisham, the Children's Hospital, Plaistow, High Wycombe War Memorial Hospital, and the Blackheath and Charlton Hospitals. Although his interests were largely in urology, he was a highly competent general surgeon. In spite of failing health he remained a dedicated, hard working man to the end of his life; kind, modest and retiring, but held in great affection and esteem by his colleagues and patients. He died suddenly on 7 February 1963 aged 62 survived by his widow and son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005045
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ainsworth-Davis, John Creyghton (1895 - 1976)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-31
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378440378440
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Creyghton Ainsworth-Davis was born on 23 April 1895 at Aberystwyth. His father was Professor of Biology in the University of Wales and later Principal of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He was educated at Westminster School and from there went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, with the Triplet Exhibition and an open exhibition in 1914. At Christ's he started reading medicine but after one term, he joined the 6th Battalion, the Rifle Brigade in December 1914 as a Second Lieutenant and served in France and at Salonika. He was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917 as an observer and received his pilot's wings in Egypt. He returned to England in 1918 and was posted to the Central Flying School at Upavon, gained a 1A Certificate at the Advanced Flying School and completed his war service as an instructor. Demobilized in January 1919 he returned to Christ's gaining the BA degree in 1920. He went to St Bartholomew's Hospital in April 1920 and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1923. Next year he passed the Cambridge BCh and in 1925 obtained his MB. He received the MD degree in 1933, having gained the Edinburgh FRCS in 1926 and the English Fellowship in 1929. In 1924 he was house surgeon at All Saints' Hospital for Genito-Urinary Diseases, where he later became registrar and assistant surgeon and was much influenced by Canny Ryall. He held appointments at the Royal Waterloo Hospital, the Bolingbroke Hospital, and at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, in each case as consultant in urology. In the second world war he was in the medical branch of the Royal Air Force with the rank of Wing Commander and was officer in charge of the surgical division at the RAF Hospital, Cosford. In his professional life he was Vice-President and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, Secretary and President of the Hunterian Society, a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Medicine and Vice-President of the Section of Urology, and a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He was a skilful instrumentalist and endoscopist and wrote many papers in specialist journals as well as his book *Essentials of urology* which was published in 1950. Ainsworth-Davis was an athlete of considerable distinction gaining his colours at Christ's at rugby, tennis and athletics. He won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay in the 1920 Olympic Games and in the same year represented the British Empire against the United States. As a boy he played the violin, and when Sir Adrian Boult brought the BBC Symphony Orchestra to an RAF station during the second world war and was told he was going to meet a Wing Commander Ainsworth-Davis he asked correctly, if this would be the same man who, as a boy, had taken the solo part in Mendelssohn's violin concerto at a Westminster School concert. Sir Adrian remembered the performance as a most distinguished one. At Christ's College he was a member of the 'Original Christie Minstrels' and during his student days at Bart's led a dance band. He was a devotee of ballroom dancing and for this also won a gold medal. He was an enthusiastic Freemason and ran a Lodge of Instruction for many years. Ainsworth-Davis was twice married: first in 1920 to Marguerite Wharry, sister of H M Wharry FRCS (1891-1933), by whom he had one son and two daughters; and secondly in 1947 to Irene Hope. He died on 3 January 1976.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006257
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robinson, Ronald Henry Ottywell Betham (1897 - 1973)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-06
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378275378275
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details R H O B Robinson was born in 1897 in London. He was known to his friends as Joey. His childhood was spent in Upper Wimpole Street where his father practised as a consulting surgeon; and he lived all his days in a world of surgery that was changing. His career spanned the years that marked the evolution of surgery from Edwardian to contemporary methods. His father was called "The General" at St Thomas's Hospital and he brought Joey up in the strict regime and social manners of the times. These were the days before telephones or motor cars; days when the night staff at the hospital could only communicate with the consulting surgeon by sending a porter to Wimpole Street in a hansom cab. As a boy Joey met all the distinguished surgeons of the late Victorian era and he was taught to revere the art of a profession that many considered to be at its acme. Science had not yet taken over. He was educated at Malvern College and Kings College, Cambridge, where he won a senior scholarship - an award of which he was very proud. He arrived at St Thomas's as a medical student at the beginning of the first world war; but soon afterwards, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Surgeon Probationer. By 1921 he had the FRCS Diploma and soon afterwards he was elected to the consulting staff of St Thomas's Hospital as a general surgeon. There were very few special departments in those days and general surgery was the calling of those who aimed high. Strange as it may now seem he wrote the chapter on orthopaedic surgery in the first edition of the book by Mitchiner and Romanis. He was Arris and Gale Lecturer in 1930. When Joey first became a surgeon to out-patients at St Thomas's the majority of his colleagues prided themselves on their ability to operate with great speed, and to be able to work in almost any improvised surroundings - the kitchen of a private house for instance - and with the uninformed assistance of general practitioner anaesthetists. Joey never operated except in a properly equipped operating theatre, and he strove to perfect for himself techniques that later became commonplace: pre-and post-operative care, an accurate incision, good exposure, haemostasis and gentleness. Although he began his career as a general surgeon he soon specialised in urology. He became the senior surgeon at St Thomas's and he filled his important post with care and dignity. He was devoted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England and he served as chairman of the Court of Examiners, member of Council, and chairman of the library committee. At the age of 65, at the time of his retirement from St Thomas's Hospital, he also retired from the Council of the College as a matter of principle. He was also President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vice-President of the British Association of Urologists, and Master of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. In spite of these important offices, held in the service of surgery, he did not seek and he did not get any special honours. Indeed his sterling merits were only known to his intimate friends: to others they were hidden under a cloak of humility. Throughout his life he had great strength of purpose; an attribute that was revealed when he was a junior doctor and courting Miss Audrey Walker. This young lady was, at first, doubtful of his merits and she went to India to reflect. Joey gave up his work, went to India, brought her back to England and married her: and they lived happily ever after. In his home he was fond of gardening and of flowers: he took a professional interest in motor cars and was a devotee of vintage Bentleys. His patients often found him shy but they saw so much of him that they soon were able to discuss their fears and anxieties with him, and from him many drew their resolve. The medical students, on his firms, were likewise rather inhibited at first but, with time, they came to appreciate his great clinical scholarship. And it is noticeable that many of them kept up their association with him long after they had left St Thomas's. His conversation was somewhat formal but the shafts of dry wit that crept into the things he said were the more effective because they were unexpected. He was well-read, learned about general affairs, and somewhat philosophical; and in all his dealings with his fellow men he was scrupulously fair. Above all else he was a sensitive, tolerant, gentleman. He died on 6 February 1973, and was survived by his wife.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006092
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Nicholls, Sir Marriott Fawckner (1898 - 1969)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-23
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005900-E005999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378167378167
Occupation General surgeon Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Born in London on 12 May 1898 the son of Marriott Edwin Nicholls he was educated at the City of London School, Clare College, Cambridge and St George's Hospital, London. His undergraduate studies were interrupted by the first world war, during which he enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers at the age of seventeen and served with them from 1915-1919. After demobilization in 1919 with the rank of Captain he returned to his studies at Cambridge and graduated BA in 1921. For his clinical work he entered St George's Hospital qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma in 1923. He took the FRCS in 1926, graduated BCh two years later and obtained the MChir in 1932. While at St George's he was awarded the Allingham Scholarship in surgery in 1925 and the Sir Francis Laking Research Scholarship in 1928-9 and again in 1929-30. He held the usual junior surgical appointments including that of assistant curator of the Museum (1926), a post which until its abolition was a nursery in pathology for young aspirants to the surgical staff. In 1932 he was appointed to the consultant staff of St George's and soon established himself as a successful surgeon and a popular and lucid teacher. He was also consultant to the Royal Chest and the Belgrave Children's Hospitals and general surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Later his interests centred on genito-urinary surgery. His reputation in this field was recognised by his appointment to serve on the Council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, and later by his election as President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1960-1. He was Dean of the Medical School from 1936-1956 - a very long spell by any standards. This record is notable in two directions, first his twenty years of office, whereas the service of deans, then as now, does not usually exceed ten years; secondly it was then, and is even more so now, unusual for a practising surgeon to be dean of a London teaching hospital. His work as Dean was early interrupted by the outbreak of the second world war. In characteristic fashion, he left his hospital career to serve in the RAMC for the next six years (1940-1946), first as Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of a surgical division, stationed for some time at Freetown, and later as Brigadier and consultant to the 14th Army, South-East Asia Command. He was appointed CBE in 1946. On demobilization, for the second time in his life, he returned to his duties as Dean and surgeon to the hospital. It was during the ten year period that followed (1946-1956) that he made his greatest contribution to his medical school, whose life and fortunes were reborn and recast as a direct result of his wisdom and diplomacy. In 1946 he found a position in which the future of the school and hospital were both uncertain. A new site for the rebuilding of the hospital was being sought and was finally designated by the Ministry of Health at Tooting in South London. The new project, however, had to be phased, and the site being some distance from the parent hospital at Hyde Park Corner presented problems of transport and accommodation for the students and of a division of duties for the teachers. He played an invaluable part in overcoming these difficulties. Synchronously he pursued a policy of academic development within the school. In this sphere he was the driving force behind the gradual evolution of a series of new university departments and their associated academic staffs, appointments which were later to become chairs, first in pathology and its allied subjects, and afterwards in medicine and surgery. Throughout this period he worked in the closest harmony with the Board of Governors, the university authorities and the Academic Council of the school. In 1956 when he relinquished his office as Dean he had transformed the loose situation he inherited into an integrated university unit of medical education of great potential. At this stage he did not forsake his academic associations, transferring his activities to become the first director of the surgical unit. Apart from the attributes of character essential to such achievements, he had a most engaging personality. He was without envy. He had a special élan and zest for life and good fellowship. Equipped as he was intellectually and blessed with a sense of fun always near the surface, he added authority, colour and gaiety to any gathering in which he found himself. He was a memorable figure, tall and slim, approachable, yet somewhat aloof. He inspired affection and not a little awe in students, and in his house-surgeons a respect and devotion which he returned. In committee he had a flair for sensing the strength or weakness of an argument and the gift of timing his own intervention at the most effective moment. He had the knack of lowering the temperature in a heated exchange and cutting short the discursive debater by some aptly humorous remark. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was a Member, and for two years Chairman, of the Court of Examiners. In this post he was popular with colleagues and candidates alike. He was particularly quick to notice the nervous examinee and to get the best out of him or her. His fellow Members of the Court held him in such regard that, at the end of his term of office, they broke with tradition and made him a presentation of a silver cigarette box. In his private moments he was a keen sportsman and loved cricket and fishing and the countryside of Gloucestershire and Ireland. Although with the passing years he spent more recreation time on the river bank than on the cricket field, he remained a staunch supporter of the cricket club and actually played for the staff against the students when he was over sixty. There were many cricketers and others who recalled with wistful pleasure his genial hospitality at his country home in Northleach. He had a host of friends but was particularly remembered with affection by his students of both sexes to whom he was universally known as 'Nick'. In 1962 at the age of sixty-four he started a new career as professor of surgery in the University of Khartoum succeeding Julian Taylor. His skill as a teacher, his diagnostic acumen, his administrative ability and his innate friendliness were not lost upon his Sudanese students who held him in the warmest personal regard and admiration. He became an important member of the British colony exerting much influence in maintaining good relations during a most difficult period. His continuous hard work and service to his profession and his country were recognised by a knighthood in 1969. He died in Khartoum, the university city of his adoption, from coronary thrombosis on 25 August 1969, at the age of seventy-one.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005984
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cox, Robert (1912 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-07-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005700-E005799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377889377889
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Robert 'Bobbie' Cox, formerly senior surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, was born in Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaya, on 24 October 1912, the son of Irish parents who came from Cork. His father, Robert, was a doctor, and his mother, Mary Ann neé Cummings, a nurse. At the age of eight, the family relocated to the UK, to Dulwich, where his father became a family doctor. At this time Bobbie could speak fluent English and Malay, but could neither read nor write. This lack of formal education was rectified at Brightlands Preparatory School, before he entered Dulwich College. His father died, aged 45, of septicaemia from a carbuncle of his neck. Robert had just matriculated and had, against his father's wishes, but with his supportive advice, decided on a career in medicine. As his mother was destitute, he fortunately gained an entrance scholarship to the Westminster Hospital, commencing his training at King's College. Here he gained the Chadwick prize in both surgery and clinical surgery, the Hanbury prize in diseases of children, and the Abraham prize in pathology. He played scrum-half for the hospital and was proud to become president of the rugby club at a later date, when he made a habit of taking nurses, doctors and other theatre staff to vital cup matches, before returning to complete a full operating list! After house appointments and registrar training at both the Westminster and Royal Northern Hospitals, with such famous names as A Tudor Edwards, Sir Lancelot Barrington Ward, Kenneth Walker and G T Mullally, he took a well-earned break as a ship's doctor to Shanghai. During the second world war, he served as a Major in the British Expeditionary Force in France, before going to North Africa and taking part in the desert campaign with the Eighth Army. It was in Aleppo, Syria, that he met Joan Mayoh, a Queen Alexandra's nurse, in 1943. They married in Brindisi, Italy, in 1944, and she became a vital part of his successful career. Of his experiences in the war he spoke little, although he kept a diary of events which is a family treasure. Clearly, he was affected by entering Belsen; his respect for life and his caring approach pervaded all that he did. At the end of the war, he returned to an austere civilian life. The governors of the Westminster Hospital wisely appointed him assistant surgeon to Sir Stanford Cade and Sir Clement Price Thomas as a mark of Bobbie's promise and in order not to lose his talents. He was an exceptionally dextrous and precise surgeon; his teaching by the bedside and in outpatients sparkled with humour. But he would never tolerate inefficiency, stupidity or timidity. At these times his twinkling Irish eyes became laser-like. Although he had a leaning towards urology, coupled with the generality of surgery, his Hunterian Professorship in 1957 was entitled 'The management of dysphagia due to malignant disease of the thoracic and abdominal oesophagus', not a subject for the fainthearted in those days. He was secretary of the section of surgery of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1955 to 1957, and remained an associate member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, his opinions being highly regarded in this field. As secretary of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland from 1966 to 1971, and a member of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1965 to 1971, he was widely respected for both his wisdom and judgement. In university life he examined in London and Manchester. But he remained totally loyal to the Westminster Hospital for giving him a start in life - becoming senior surgeon in 1972. He held other appointments at Queen Charlotte's Hospital and to British Airways. Some honorary appointments he rated above all others, in particular those connected with the Army. He was honorary consulting surgeon to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Millbank, from 1960 to 1967, consulting surgeon to the Army and to the Royal Hospital for Pensioners, Chelsea, making weekly visits. For this he was appointed a CBE in 1974. From a small flat in Pimlico, he moved to Howards Lane in Putney, where he created a beautiful garden. No evening was complete without a horticultural ward round, usually with gin and tonic in hand. Bobbie was very knowledgeable, often confounding visitors with the Latin names of plants, shrubs and trees. A keen fisherman, he retired to an idyllic spot by the river Itchen, in Hampshire, where he created another beautiful garden. Sadly, Joan developed increasing dementia, while he underwent a pericardiectomy himself. The need for continuing medication for this and his prostate cancer was a fine balancing act, which he bore with typical stoicism and witty asides. His comments were often pithy and terse, but the delightful Irish twinkle was never far away. Although small of stature, he was a giant in many ways. Above all, he was a family man with two sons, Robert and Patrick (one a consultant urologist), and a daughter, Rosemary, who became a Nightingale nurse. Initially he cared for Joan in her long illness, until she needed care in a nursing home. Yet during these times, a simple phone call was answered 'How nice to hear from you, dear boy!' Eventually, after her death, he moved to Cornwall to appreciate one last summer with his son and daughter-in-law. Bobbie died on 7 February 2000.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005706
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, James Christie (1899 - 1984)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-17
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007000-E007099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379266379266
Occupation Farmer General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details James Christie Anderson, third child and third son of James Alexander Anderson, a schoolmaster, and Jeanie (née Boswell), was born in Dundee on 4 December 1899. After early education at Butterburn School and Dundee High School he secured an entrance scholarship to St Andrew's University where he originally intended to study agriculture. But his studies were interrupted by the first world war when he joined the Navy as a probationer Surgeon Lieutenant in 1917. On returning to Queen's College, Dundee, he won the obstetrics and gynaecology medal before graduating in 1922. He was house surgeon at Dundee Royal Infirmary and at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, before serving as resident surgical officer at St Mark's Hospital in London. During this period in London he played rugby football for the London Scottish. He then moved to Chesterfield before becoming surgical registrar at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, in 1926. He passed the FRCS in 1928 and was appointed honorary consultant surgeon at Sheffield in 1934. He was also lecturer in surgery and applied anatomy to Sheffield University. Originally a general surgeon, Jock, as he was universally known, developed a growing interest in urology to which he later made a number of important contributions, notably in relation to carcinoma of the bladder and also hydronephrosis. The Anderson-Hynes pyeloplasty procedure was devised in concert with a plastic surgeon colleague in Sheffield. Having enrolled in the Territorial Army before the second world war, he was called up on the outbreak of hostilities and became officer in charge of the surgical division of No 29 British General Hospital with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served in Persia and Iraq and later in Normandy after D-day. When hostilities ceased he was called on to tend the victims of Belsen. He was awarded the OBE and TD and was mentioned in despatches. On demobilisation in 1945 he returned to Sheffield where his surgical work became primarily urological. He was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1961 and hosted a meeting in Sheffield of the British Association of Urological Surgeons in 1962. He also served for two spells on the court of examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons up to 1968 and was on the advisory panel on the training of surgeons. Outside his surgical work with relatively little knowledge of agriculture, Jock purchased a farm in Lincolnshire in 1948. Busily engaged in surgery during the week, farming soon became his second love at weekends. This led quite naturally to a new life after retirement when he and his wife bought a farm in Western Australia some 200 miles south of Perth where he raised sheep and a splendid herd of cattle and, not forgetful of his first love, became an elected Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1971. One of his sons, James Christie Anderson, FRCS, is an orthopaedic surgeon in Perth; the second son is a veterinary surgeon also in Australia, and two of the three daughters emigrated to Australia, so that the family largely remained in proximity after his retirement from Sheffield. Jock Anderson was a most industrious, cheerful and kindly man who made innumerable friends all over the world. Above all he loved a good argument. His surgical firm at Sheffield was a happy one for he gave much encouragement to his juniors and had the knack of bringing the best out of everyone. He had an abiding interest in history; was blessed with a good memory, and was a generous and charming host, with as much enthusiasm for vintage wines as for vintage Rolls-Royces. When he died in Perth, WA, on 3 February 1984 he was survived by his wife, his five children and fourteen grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007083
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sabetian, Manushehr ( - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-02-16 2017-06-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378978378978
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Manushehr Sabetian was a consultant surgeon at the London Welbeck Hospital. He studied medicine at Durham University, qualifying in 1954. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1958, his ChM from Liverpool University in 1962 and the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1967. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a registrar in surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Liverpool, then a senior registrar at St Mark's Hospital, London and the Royal Northern Hospital, London. Manushehr Sabetian died on 3 February 2015.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006795
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Paine, Donald Thomas Hardy (1921 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-10-17 2016-12-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378327378327
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Donald Thomas Hardy Paine was a urologist and general surgeon in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. He was born in London, England, on 20 July 1921, the son of Stanley William Thomas Paine, an engineer, and Rosina May Paine née Baker. He was educated at Trinity School of John Whitgift in Croydon from 1935 to 1940 and then started training as a veterinarian, but later changed to medicine. He was a house surgeon in Eastbourne, Croydon and Tunbridge Wells, and then a resident surgical officer at Victoria Hospital, Blackpool, from 1945 to 1948. He was subsequently a resident surgical officer (surgical registrar) at Blackburn Royal Hospital until 1950. From 1950 to 1952 he was a surgical specialist to the British Army of the Rhine. He returned to civilian life as a senior registrar at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, and then held a senior registrar post at St Peter's and St Paul's, Institute of Urology, from 1953 to 1955. In 1956, disagreeing with the socialisation of medicine in the UK, he emigrated to North Bay, where he was a general surgeon and urologist. He led the establishment of the northern Ontario kidney dialysis unit at Civic Hospital. He was director of the Ontario Medical Association from 1974 to 1979. In 1979 Paine, again fleeing this time the impending socialisation of medicine in Canada, he moved to the United States, to South Carolina near Myrtle Beach, where he continued as a urologist until his retirement in 1988. Outside medicine, he enjoyed sailboat racing. In 1974 he competed in the Wayfarer world championships in England. He also played tennis and curling, and skied while living in Canada. He was a Rotarian for 40 years and president of the North Bay Rotary Club. In 1945 he married Dorothy Cooper, a nurse. In 1954 he was married for a second time, to Barbara Bright, also a nurse. He had four children - Penelope, Richard, Victoria and Nicholas - and six grandchildren. Donald Thomas Hardy Paine died on 28 January 2011. He was 89.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006144
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ward, Ronald Ogier (1886 - 1971)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378387378387
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ronald Ogier Ward was born on 6 March 1886, the son of a general practitioner, Dr Allan Ogier Ward, and was educated at Magdalen College School, Queen's College, Oxford, and at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he qualified in 1912 and took his Oxford degree in 1913. He was most distinguished, both as a soldier and as a surgeon. In the Balkan war of 1912-13 he served with the British Red Cross, but in the first world war he was a combatant soldier. He was a Major in the Honourable Artillery Company, and commanded C Battery of the 293rd Army Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. It was this battery which saved a break through the British line in the retreat of March 1918. For his outstanding service in this war he was awarded the DSO and MC. Returning to London he was appointed chief assistant to George Gask, first Professor of Surgery to the Medical College of St Bartholomew's, but soon decided to specialise in urology. He was appointed to the staff of St Peter's Hospital for Stone and urologist to the Miller and Royal Masonic Hospitals. Between the wars he built up a large and successful practice and became one of the leaders in urological surgery. He was elected President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1935. On the outbreak of war in 1939, he again volunteered for service with the army and was in charge of a surgical division with the British Expeditionary Force in France. For his distinguished service then, and at the time of the evacuation in 1940, he was awarded the OBE. He later served in Egypt and became consulting surgeon to the Army in East Africa. He returned to England in 1944, and resumed civilian practice. He was the prime mover in the foundation of the British Association of Urological Surgeons of which he was the first President. He was Chairman of the Editorial Committee of the *British journal of urology* when it was reconstituted after the war. He was a careful and competent surgeon who achieved very good results. He was meticulous in his attention to detail and in his care of the patient. He was always eager to improve on the old. He had an enquiring and inventive mind and did much original work not only in the development of urology, but also in the introduction and improvement of the instruments and paraphernalia of surgery. He wrote extensively and contributed the section in urology to Modern operative surgery edited by Grey Turner. By these writings and his teaching, he did much to consolidate urology as a specialty. He had a serious illness in 1950, but survived this and returned to practice for some years. On retirement he became greatly interested in painting and spent many happy hours indulging in this pastime at his delightful cottage near Seaford. For many years he remained an interesting and intellectual companion, always interested in old friends and he retained a pleasant dry humour. He died after a long illness on 4 April 1971, and was survived by his wife and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006204
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barton, Michael Treherne ( - 1976)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-11-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378479378479
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Michael Treherne Barton qualified MB BS in 1961 and worked as research surgical officer at St Paul's Hospital, London, surgical registrar at the Bromley Hospital and junior lecturer in anatomy at Guy's Hospital Medical School. He passed the FRCS in 1969 and was Freemasons Research Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1973. He became lecturer at the Institute of Urology in 1973 and died suddenly on April 7, 1976 leaving a wife, Mina and a son, Guy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006296
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Guerrier, Hugh Philip (1913 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008600-E008699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380832380832
Occupation General surgeon Proctologist Coloproctologist Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Hugh Guerrier was a consultant surgeon in Torbay. He was born in Muswell Hill, London, on 2 January 1913, the only son of Arthur Philip Guerrier, a solicitor, and his wife, Hilda Gwendolene née Davies, whose father was a general practitioner. Hugh was educated at Cambridge House School, Margate, and Highgate School. He first entered the insurance world, working for the Alliance Assurance Company, but in 1934 decided on a career switch to medicine. He studied at Guy's, where he proved himself to be a good tennis player. After qualifying in 1940, he continued in a wide variety of house appointments in and around London in the early war years. He was an outpatient officer at Guy's, then a resident obstetrician, house surgeon and physician at the Southern Hospital, Dartford, then an orthopaedic house surgeon at Lewisham. He finally took a post in Ipswich. He then joined the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant. On returning to civilian life, he gained his FRCS in 1947, and was a registrar at Guy's and then a senior registrar in the department of surgery, where he received training in the developing specialty of urology. In his formative years, he was influenced by Sir Heneage Ogilvie, F R Kilpatrick, W D Doherty and, during clinical assistant posts at St Peter's Hospital, by J Sandrey, and by W B Gabriel at St Mark's Hospital on the City Road. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the Torbay Hospital, Torquay, in 1953, but he continued his specialist interests in urology and, to a lesser extent, proctology. He wrote articles on haematuria and haematospermia, contributed to the *Encyclopaedia for general practice* (edited by G F Abercombie and R M S McConaghey, London, Butterworths, 1963), and to the *Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine* on Paget's disease of the anus. He developed links with the established urology department in Bristol, with John Mitchell, Ashton Miller and Norman Slade, to keep this interest alive. It was in Torquay that he continued to enjoy tennis, also developing further outside interests in sailing, golf and gardening. He was an active member of many learned societies, including the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS), of which he was an associate member, serving on it's council from 1970 to 1974. He hosted a successful annual meeting of BAUS in 1974 during his last year on council. Although separated from the metropolis, he was an active member of the sections of urology and proctology of the Royal Society of Medicine, rarely missing a meeting of either and serving on both councils. Many will remember him as a congenial and loyal colleague, whose quiet demeanour and whimsical sense of humour was welcoming. He married Shelagh Streatfeild, a doctor and an anaesthetic registrar at the Royal Free, in 1939. They had four sons, the eldest of whom became a consultant in ENT surgery in Winchester. He retired in 1977, and eventually moved to live in East Sussex, where he and his wife enjoyed gardening and some sailing. He found golf difficult in later years because of cardiac problems. Shelagh, his wife, died in 1988. Hugh continued to live in East Sussex, although his health gradually failed after a stroke. He died on 21 March 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008649
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Millin, Terence John (1903 - 1980)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2015-02-10 2018-05-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378934378934
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Terence Millin, internationally famous for the introduction of the operation of retropubic prostatectomy, was born in Helen's Bay, County Down, on 9 January 1903. He was educated at St Andrew's College and Trinity College, Dublin, gaining a Kidd Entrance Exhibition in 1921. As an undergraduate he was unusually distinguished both academically and on the sporting field. Initially he studied mathematics and became a foundation scholar in this subject before transferring to the medical school where he won numerous prizes including the much sought after Cunningham Medal in anatomy. He was Captain of Dublin University Rugby Football Club and in 1925 he was capped for Ireland in the match against Wales. He qualified in 1927. After winning the Surgical Travelling Prize and gaining both his Fellowship and Mastership, Millin moved to London where in due course he was appointed Surgeon to All Saints' Hospital, the Royal Masonic Hospital and the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He rapidly built up a large and successful practice and gained an international reputation. He was an early enthusiast for endoscopic transurethral resection of the prostate, but in December 1945 he published in the *Lancet* his technique of retropubic prostatectomy, an operation which rapidly became widely accepted and led to his name becoming known to surgeons throughout the world. He was in great demand abroad to demonstrate his technique and large numbers of overseas colleagues came to London to watch him operate. Although his name is best known for his operation of prostatectomy, Millin also contributed much original work on the urological aspects of gynaecology and the treatment of bladder carcinoma. During the 1940's and 50's he worked prodigiously long hours. He received numerous international honours including the St Peter's Medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons in 1951, Honorary Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons in 1952 and later of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and corresponding membership of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons in 1953. In 1975 he was elected the first honorary member of the Irish Society of Urology and in 1978 the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine presented him with honorary membership in Dublin. In the same year he was elected an honorary member of the New York Section of the American Urological Association. In 1979, the year before he died, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland inaugurated the Millin Lecture. During his years in London, Millin maintained his Irish links being Vice-President of the London-Irish Football Club and always ready to advise young Irish surgeons working in England. It was therefore no great surprise when he decided to return to Ireland, was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and became President in 1963. During his three year term of office he inaugurated a major fund raising campaign and started the modern building programme of the College. As befitted a one-time mathematical scholar he was an outstandingly clear-thinking man and had great felicity with the spoken word. He was a brilliant raconteur and in great demand as an after-dinner speaker where his stories were always in good taste and apposite to the company. He retired early from active surgery and took up farming in Doneraile, County Cork, where he became an expert on soil chemistry. Sadly his last year was spent in a great deal of pain which, with the help of his wife, Molly, he bore with great courage. He died on 3 July 1980, aged 77 years, and was survived by his wife and two daughters, Deidre and Zoe.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006751
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dunlop, John Arthur (1915 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Hall, Michael Henry (1925 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Tim Philp
Publication Date 2014-11-25 2016-04-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378613378613
Occupation Urologist
Details Michael Hall was a consultant urologist at the Forest Groups of Hospitals. He was born on 2 April 1925 in Peking, China. His father qualified in medicine from Durham. Soon after, in 1922, he took up a post at a mission hospital in China, moving with his newly-married wife to Peking. There he stayed until the outbreak of the Second World War, specialising in respiratory medicine and allegedly treating the last Emperor for TB. Michael was the second of four children. Together with his younger siblings, he grew up in the care of a Chinese amah (or nanny). All four became fluent in Mandarin, a skill he later used when he unexpectedly came to operate with nurses from China who were working in East London. Aged seven, he was sent to school in England and won a classics scholarship to Chafyn Grove School in Salisbury, Wiltshire, moving later to Bromsgrove School. From there he became an undergraduate at Worcester College, Oxford. For some time in Oxford he shared rooms with Harold Ellis. Working in the anatomy school under Le Gros Clarke, he studied the lumbosacral spines of volunteers to work out the optimal position for the lumbar roll on seats being designed for submariners. His conclusions corresponded exactly with the design of the Victorian armchairs at home! During his undergraduate years, he developed a duodenal ulcer which resulted in a pyloric stenosis. This he initially treated himself by aspiration, passing a nasogastric tube nightly for a considerable period until persuaded to undergo a Polya gastrectomy aged 24. After qualifying BM BCh in 1948, Michael continued to train in Oxford and the Hammersmith, moving up through the junior surgical grades, achieving his FRCS in 1952. He met his wife, Anita, then a Swedish au pair, in 1955 when she was admitted to the Radcliffe Infirmary with acute appendicitis on his take. Having removed her appendix, on discharge he gave her his phone number 'in case any of her visiting relatives needed a guide round Oxford'. They married in Sweden in 1957. In that year he was appointed as a senior registrar to Poole-Wilson in Manchester, where he remained for seven years. During that time, he trained in oncology at the Christie Hospital and became adept at endoscopic prostatectomy using the prostatic cold punch. He was ahead of his time in concluding that urology needed to become a specialty requiring full-time urologists. His refusal to apply for a general surgery with an interest in urology post held back his elevation to consultant, until Whipps Cross in north east London advertised for a full time urologist. He was appointed in 1963. As a consultant, he brought prostatic punch surgery to London, teaching himself transurethral resection as this superior technique evolved. He maintained a considerable interest in prostatic cancer, working closely in joint clinics with Harold Hope-Stone from the London Hospital. He published little, but did note in patients with enuresis a higher than expected incidence of spina bifida occulta (SBO), and observed a link between SBO, irritative bladder symptoms and what he termed the 'funnel neck sign'. This finding of a funnel shaped posterior urethra seen cystoscopically had been described by J B Macalpine (with whom Poole-Wilson had worked) in his presidential address to the urology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and published in their *Proceedings* of 1934. Macalpine judged this resulted from 'weakness or paralysis of the internal sphincter' secondary to nervous disorders of the bladder. This funnelling could be seen on IVU (intravenous urogram) as a v-shaped pooling of contrast in the posterior urethra. Enlisting his son to review all the X-rays, IVUs and cystoscopic findings in his patients with and without SBO, the work was presented at the annual meetings of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the British Association of Clinical Anatomists in 1987. It raised little subsequent academic interest for what, we would now recognise, is the opening of the bladder neck during involuntary detrusor contractions - the unstable bladder - giving rise to symptoms of frequency, urgency, urge incontinence and enuresis. The association of bladder dysfunction and spina bifida occulta is now well accepted. He held very firm views on aspects of practice. Urethral catheterisation had to be performed with full sterile precautions: masks, sterile gowns and gloves, and full sterile fields. Juniors were not allowed to use catheter introducers. He could be very forceful. On one occasion, during an outbreak of Klebsiella wound infections, he became convinced this was caused by hand to hand transmission of bacteria and ordered the hospital carpenter to remove all toilet doors on the urology ward in an effort to prevent further spread of infection from patients handling contaminated door handles. For some years he worked with the Regional Health Authority on a variety of projects and was particularly involved with strategic planning, advising the centralisation of services and consequent closure of small satellite hospitals. The closure of his favourite Forest Hospital in Buckhurst Hill contributed to his decision to retire from NHS practice at the age of 63. After retirement, he and Anita moved to Southwold in Suffolk, to a house next to John Adnams of Adnams Brewery, whose beer he enthusiastically consumed most lunchtimes in the Lord Nelson. He acquired a lathe and the couple took up and became expert furniture restorers, Michael restoring the frames, Anita the upholstery. Having noticed its poor state of repair, they even reupholstered his barber's chair in antelope hide - still in everyday use. Always a keen gardener (after work they would conduct a 'ward round' of the garden), they acquired an allotment. He was delighted when his grandson became a medical student, the fourth generation of Hall males to become doctors. All in all it was a happy and fulfilling retirement. Michael died peacefully on 4 September 2014. He was 89. He was survived by his wife, Anita, his son Per, a plastic surgeon, and his daughter, Catherine, a senior lecturer and course leader at the London College of Fashion.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006430
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Heslop, James Firth (1911 - 1978)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006500-E006599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378758378758
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details James Firth Heslop was born in South Shields and studied medicine at Manchester University, where he graduated with honours in 1933. As a house surgeon he came under the influence of John Morley and took the FRCS in 1936, becoming in turn registrar to the surgical outpatients department, resident casualty officer, and resident surgical officer at Manchester Royal Infirmary. As senior registrar to Sir Geoffrey Jefferson he began a training in neurosurgery for which his gentleness, operative skill and outstanding clinical judgement would have fitted him admirably. When offered a travelling scholarship to Baltimore he elected to do a year's training in urology but returned home as soon as war was declared to join the RAMC. He served with the 14th Army in Burma and was mentioned in the dispatches and appointed MBE. When the war ended he was appointed consultant surgeon to Park Hospital, Davyhulme, where, as well as building up an excellent service in urology, his reputation in wider subjects, such as diseases of the thyroid, was well established. A few weeks before his retirement he had an accident and never fully recovered from its effects. He died in 1978, aged 67 years, survived by his elder brother, also a Fellow of the College.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006575
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wilson, George Stewart Murchison (1914 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-11-25 2017-02-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378623378623
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details George Wilson was a urologist and chief of staff at the Welland Hospital, Ontario, Canada. He was born in Edinburgh on 29 October 1914, the son of George Stewart Wilson, a civil servant, and Catherine Wilson née Campbell. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and then went on to study medicine at Edinburgh University. He qualified in 1937. He was a resident surgical officer at Newcastle General Hospital and then, in April 1940, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a major. He served in France, Nigeria and India. Following his demobilisation in April 1946, he briefly returned to Newcastle General Hospital and was then a resident surgical officer at Crumpsall Hospital, Manchester. In 1951 he emigrated to Canada. He began his career in Welland working as a general surgeon, but then specialised in urology. He became chief of staff of Welland Hospital. As medical chairman of the Welland Hospital building committee in the 1950s, he was instrumental in efforts to build the new hospital, which opened in 1960. He was a member of the Buffalo Urological Society, where he regularly participated in lectures and rounds, and was a senior member of the Canadian Urological Association. Outside medicine, he enjoyed golf, curling and sailing and working in the machine shop. He was president of the Welland Club, Welland Curling Club and Lookout Point Golf and Country Club. In 1944 he married Eleanor Hewitt. They had two sons, Ronald and Iain, and a daughter, Elspeth. George Stewart Murchison Wilson died on 30 May 2011. He was 96.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006440
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Corbin, John Ogilvie (1910 - 1971)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378421378421
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Adelaide, Australia on 13 February 1910, son of John Corbin, surgeon, and Margaret Ogilvie, he was educated at Queen's School, Adelaide and Geelong Grammar School, Victoria, after which he attended St Mark's College, University of Adelaide and graduated in medicine in 1933. While an undergraduate he obtained a blue for rifle shooting. He held house appointments in Adelaide and London, becoming a surgical registrar to the Birmingham General Hospital. In 1939 he was admitted a Fellow and during the early part of the second world war was employed in the Emergency Medical Service in London. In 1942 he joined the RAMC as a surgical specialist, serving until 1945 in the Middle East and Italy with the Eighth Army, acting as a forward surgeon at Anzio and Salerno. After the war for two years he was a consultant surgeon at Basingstoke but, becoming restless, he left for Nairobi in Kenya in 1952 to start a consultant surgical practice in urology. In 1960 he moved again, going back to his home town of Adelaide. He then left to fill a succession of contracts with the Governments of the Seychelles Islands 1962-1965 and of Lesotho 1966-1968; in 1970 he went to Sarawak with his family. Having been a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital in London, he had a special interest in urology but remained an able general surgeon. His relaxations included shooting, tennis and sailing. He died on 31 December 1971 in the Sarawak General Hospital aged 61, survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006238
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Morson, Albert Clifford (1881 - 1975)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-02-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378957378957
Occupation Urologist
Details Albert Clifford Morson was born in 1881 and educated at Haileybury College, subsequently going to Paris to study. He received his medical training at the Middlesex Hospital, London, qualifying in 1906, and becoming FRCS in 1912. His student career was distinguished both academically and in athletics, for not only was he awarded the Lyall Gold Medal for practical surgery, but he also became captain of the hospital's rugby football team. After qualifying he held various resident appointments both at the Middlesex Hospital and St Peter's Hospital before becoming registrar under Sir John Bland-Sutton in the cancer laboratories at the Middlesex in 1912. It was during this period that he developed his interest in surgical pathology, particularly of the genito-urinary system, which was destined to prove such an asset in his subsequent career as a urologist. In 1903 he had become an original member of the RNVR (London Division), and on the outbreak of war in 1914 he received a temporary commission as surgeon in the Navy. He served throughout the Gallipoli campaign, and was appointed OBE. Following his return at the end of the war he was appointed consultant surgeon to St Peter's Hospital in 1919, a post which he held with distinction until 1946. During this period he was associated with such illustrious colleagues as Sir Peter Freyer and Sir John Thomson-Walker and others who were dedicated to the development of urology as a speciality - an ideal for which he always vigorously strived. Indeed, in 1946, it was largely due to his endeavours that a linkage was proposed between St Peter's and St Paul's Hospitals with a view to establishing a combined postgraduate urological training centre pending the introduction of the National Health Service. After further discussions with Sir Francis Fraser, then director of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, his foresight was rewarded by the establishment of the Institute of Urology (University of London), with formal recognition of the associated hospitals, as a self-governing postgraduate urological centre under the Ministry of Health. During an active professional life Clifford Morson also held honorary consultant appointments to the Whittington and Hampstead General Hospitals as well as becoming consultant to the LCC and Whipps Cross Hospital. The breadth of experience thus gained, together with his membership of the North-West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, proved of immense value when he became director of studies at the Institute of Urology and later chairman of the academic board and a member of the board of governors of the associated hospitals. In such various capacities he was instrumental in adding a third hospital - St Philip's - into the St Peter's framework, with the object of encouraging the development of medical urology, a branch of the speciality then still in its infancy. The 'three Ps' thus became a factual and endearing colloquialism for an accomplishment in which he played the major part. As surgeon to St Peter's, he was in frequent contact with numerous visiting post-graduates from both home and abroad who attended the practice of the hospitals. This demanded an up-to-date appraisal of current surgical procedures, in the exposition of which he gained a high reputation and made many friends. He was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1933-34, and a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons at its inception in 1945, being its second President in 1947-49. Overseas, he was accorded honorary membership of the Canadian and Finnish Urological Associations, but undoubtedly his most signal honour was the Presidency of the International Society of Urology. Already well acquainted with many of the leading figures in Continental urology during the earlier part of his career, his zest for travel created further bonds throughout the world. He devoted considerable time on his retirement to a history of St Peter's Hospital for Stone to mark the centenary of the establishment of the hospital in Covent Garden in 1860. Here may be found memoirs and biographical notes revealing the personalities and abilities of many former members of the staff who strove to raise the standard of diagnosis and treatment in urology. Clifford was known as a person who was always eager to offer encouragement to younger men. Though ever ready to discuss urology, he showed an innate understanding of general current affairs, and he was always ready to discourse on subjects related to his main recreation, listed in *Who's who* as 'all outdoor sports'. His vigour and mental acuity remained undiminished throughout his retirement. In 1917 he married Adela Phene and they had three sons, one of whom is the distinguished pathologist, Basil Morson. He died on 5 January 1975, aged 93 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006774
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gregory, Ian Langdale ( - 1979)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006500-E006599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378721378721
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ian Langdale Gregory qualified MB ChB from Manchester University in 1943 and passed the Conjoint Diploma the same year. He worked as supernumerary chief assistant at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and then became surgical registrar to the Withington Hospital, Manchester. He moved to London and was associate registrar at Guy's before becoming senior registrar in urology at St Peter's Hospital. He was a fellow of the Manchester Medical Society and an associate member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He moved to the USA and joined the American College of Surgeons. He was appointed to the staff of the Little Falls Hospital, New York State in 1972 and was probably still working there when he died on 3 August 1979.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006538
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gowland, Humphrey Walter (1918 - 1981)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006500-E006599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378692378692
Occupation General practitioner General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Humphrey Walter Gowland was born in 1918 in Dunedin, New Zealand, the second son of Percy Gowland, who later became the eminent Professor of Anatomy at Otago Medical School. He was educated at first in Dunedin and later at Waitaki College where he had a distinguished international athletic career. He received his undergraduate medical education at Otago, qualifying MB ChB in 1941. He represented the University in cricket and football. His first house surgeon job was at Wellington Hospital. He obtained his Primary FRCS in Dunedin at the first examination for the College to be held outside the UK. He joined the New Zealand Air Force as a medical officer in 1943 serving at Woodbourne and later at Green Island. After the war, he spent a short time in general practice and then became surgical registrar at Wellington Hospital. In 1948 he proceeded to London to study for the Final FRCS and his old friend Dr Tuckey tells an anecdote of this time: 'In January 1948 I left for the UK and Humphrey followed towards the end of the year. I was doing medicine while Humphrey did surgery. Our wives and children shared much in common and we made a few expeditions together. Once on a non-stop trip in southern England on a double decker bus our sons both had urgent need to pass water, Humphrey led the way to the back platform and grasped his son with one hand and held on with the other while his son sprayed following cars, that son is now also a urologist'. He obtained his FRCS in 1949 and then worked at All Saints' Hospital in London during 1952-53 where his subsequent interest in urology was much influenced by Terence Millin. Gowland returned to New Zealand in 1953, entered specialist urological private practice and was appointed to the staff of Wellington Hospital where he served until his death. He became FRACS in 1953 and was appointed to the Dominion Committee of the Council of which he subsequently became Chairman. In 1964 the Medical Council was reconstituted and he became the representative of the RACS and served for four terms on Council. During this time, he became Chairman of the very difficult Penal Cases Committee and Chairman of Council itself in the last year of his life. He held every post of significance in medical and university circles in Wellington. Gowland retained his interest in aviation medicine and became a Wing-Commander in the Territorial Air Force acting as civilian consultant to the Civil Aviation Department and subsequently to the armed services. He became medical advisor to the Antarctic division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and was one of the few medical officers who visited Antarctica and the South Pole in person. Gowland retained his interest in sport, especially cricket and football. He was medical officer to the rugby football union, chairing its committee on spinal injuries. He was also made a life member of the cricket association. He was a Rotarian and gave much to community service, including the setting up of a spina bifida clinic at the Wellington Hospital. He was also concerned with postgraduate education for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and in his own speciality of urology. He had an enormous circle of friends who packed Wellington Cathedral for his memorial service. He died suddenly on 20 February 1981 aged 63, while operating at Bowen Hospital, Wellington.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006509
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hopewell, John Prince (1920 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Robert Morgan
Publication Date 2015-02-16 2015-05-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378972378972
Occupation General surgeon Transplant surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Prince Hopewell, a consultant urological surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, London, was a pioneer in the introduction of dialysis into the UK and the development of kidney transplantation. He was born on 1 December 1920, the fourth child and only son of Samuel Hopewell and Wilhelmina ('Daisy') Hopewell née Edwards. His father was a south London general practitioner who had come to London in order to study medicine from the island of St Helena. In later life John Hopewell was able to trace the history of the family by reference to his family Bible, a second edition (1540) of the *Great Bible* published for the first time in English under the direction of Henry VIII. Until the early 18th century the family had been textile workers in Nottinghamshire, but with the Industrial Revolution overseas trade opened up new possibilities and in 1813 a family member, Richard Prince, was dispatched to St Helena, ostensibly to collect an outstanding debt. Realising the trading potential of the island in the days of sail, he stayed and established a chandlery business which flourished for three generations. Thereafter all male offspring of the family continued to incorporate the name Prince. The coming of steam ships and the opening of the Suez Canal caused a diminution in trade, something that may have encouraged the family to support his father in seeking a medical education at the London Hospital, eventually settling in family practice in Brixton, where John was born. He had a happy childhood and from a prep school in Dulwich won an exhibition to Bradfield College, where he continued to succeed academically. Although lightly built and not, by his own reckoning, good at ball games, he succeeded in representing his school in fencing and cross country running. During those years he developed a puckish sense of humour (he was cast as Puck in the school play) and this amiable quality stayed with him throughout his long life. In 1938 he won a place to study medicine at King's College Hospital, the preclinical school of which was evacuated to Glasgow in the early years of the war. He qualified in 1943 and was appointed to surgical house jobs at King's and Horton, where he dealt with Londoners injured in bombing raids and then, in large numbers, the casualties from the Normandy landings. He was called up in 1945, serving in the RAMC in India, latterly as a captain who was sometimes the sole surgeon in isolated hospitals in Cochin and Deolali in the south of the country. He returned to King's in 1948 as a surgical registrar, working again for the orthopaedic surgeon H L C Wood, whose house surgeon he had been and who became a role model for his future professional career. During this time he also worked for J G Yates Bell, who stimulated his interest in urological surgery and took an interest in his future training. He qualified FRCS in 1950 and after a period of research at the Buxton Browne Farm at Downe, which resulted in him giving a Hunterian Lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons, he was appointed as a senior registrar in 1955 on a rotation between King's and Brighton. During the winter of 1955 to 1956 Yates Bell arranged for him a secondment to a leading urological department in San Francisco. It was there, at Stanford, that he first saw haemodialysis in action, where patients with polycystic renal disease were being dialysed with beneficial success, something which helped to influence the course of his future career. In 1957 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital with the intention of setting up a department of urology, his vision being also to establish a programme for the treatment of end stage renal failure by maintenance dialysis and renal transplantation. At that time dialysis was being used only for acute renal failure and renal transplantation was also in its infancy. He persuaded the hospital to purchase one of the first dialysis machines from America in 1958 and, with the help of newly appointed medical colleagues, the first maintenance dialysis service in the UK was started in 1961. Shortly after he was appointed at the Royal Free, Roy Calne joined as a registrar and expressed an interest in researching methods of controlling the rejection response. John Hopewell encouraged him to do so and arranged animal research facilities for him at Downe. Calne's success with 6-mercaptopurine was thought sufficiently convincing for the team to feel justified in embarking on a trial of human renal transplantation. Three transplants were performed between 1959 and 1960. The first two grafts from cadaveric donors failed to function, but the third, taken from a live donor (the recipient's father) functioned for seven weeks before the patient's death from miliary tuberculosis, thought to have emanated from the donor kidney. It was, nevertheless, the first British live donor, non-sibling kidney transplant using an immunosuppressant that had been shown to be effective in animal trials. At first the success of maintenance dialysis persuaded Hopewell to take the decision to delay the further use of renal transplantation until 1968, by which time Calne, working in America, had modified and improved the immunosuppression regime with the introduction of azathioprine. Meanwhile at home the team had been expanded by an accumulation of clinical and laboratory experts and the appointment of A N Fernando as an assisting consultant transplant surgeon. The subsequent success of the transplant programme at the Royal Free was helped by Hopewell's meticulous surgical technique and acute surgical judgement, attributes that led to him having an extensive surgical practice, attracting referrals from colleagues throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. In the wider world of medicine he banded together the centres in London interested in developing renal transplantation to form the London Transplant Group and was instrumental in joining them with the British Society for Immunology to form the British Transplantation Society in 1972, when he was elected as its first treasurer. He was president of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the Chelsea Clinical Society. Quietly formidable in committee, he was elected as chairman of the Hampstead District Health Authority, of the medical committee of the Royal Free, of the Camden District medical committee and the medical committee of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth. He was a member of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1969 to 1975 and was elected as an honorary member of the New York section of the American Urological Association. In 1959 John Hopewell had married Natalie Bogdan, a Russian émigré who had won a scholarship to come to Britain to study medicine at the Royal Free. They met when she was appointed as a houseman on the surgical firm that he shared with George Qvist. During a very happy marriage they subsequently had a daughter, Valentina Ellen, and a son, Richard Alexei Prince, the latter being tragically killed in a car crash in 2008. In 1974 the Royal Free had just moved from the Gray's Inn Road to its present site in Hampstead, when his life took a sad and dramatic turn as Natalie was diagnosed as having metastatic cancer. She died in the following year at the age of 41. He eventually retired from the Royal Free in 1986. Two years before that he had married again, his second wife being Rosemary Radley-Smith, the daughter of the consultant surgeon Eric Radley-Smith who John had worked for as a young house surgeon. Rosemary had also trained at the Royal Free and had become a distinguished paediatric cardiologist, working closely with Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital. On retirement he and Rosemary sailed to St Helena to research the history of the Hopewell family. He returned again in 1992 when the Foreign Office sent him to work there for a few months as the island's first urological surgeon. He was also can active member of the *Lives* committee at the Royal College of Surgeons for more than ten years. In 1995 the Hopewells moved to a Victorian vicarage in Langrish, near Petersfield in Hampshire, where they immersed themselves in the life of the community, taking on the editorship of the local paper, *The Langrish Squeaker*. He became a member of the Society of Ornamental Turners and procured a 19th century turning lathe, which he installed in his home workshop. Thereafter organisations of which he approved often found themselves the recipient of a Hopewell gavel of his own manufacture. He continued to write and in his 90th year produced a history of the treatment of renal failure in the UK by dialysis and transplantation. A convivial man, he always enjoyed a party and in his retirement was responsible for founding a retired consultants luncheon club at the Royal Free, an equally convivial summer reunion of urological consultants of the past (meeting under the soubriquet of the 'Urohasbeens') and also a popular annual past presidents dinner of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. John Hopewell died at home on 14 January 2015 at the age of 94. At a memorial service in the nearby village of East Meon some 250 friends and colleagues assembled to celebrate a man who had not only made a great contribution to the development of renal transplantation, but also had enriched the lives of those who had known him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006789
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Elliot-Smith, Arthur (1901 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005700-E005799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377900377900
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Arthur Elliot-Smith was born in Cairo on 3 June 1901. He was the son of Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith the distinguished anatomist and anthropologist; his mother's maiden name was Kathleen Macready. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, before coming to University College Hospital and on from which he took his Conjoint Diploma in 1924. He received the Cambridge MB BChir in 1961. He was a good athlete and played both rugby and cricket for his hospital, and became President of the Rugby Football Club. After becoming a Fellow of the College in 1930 he was a surgical assistant at the recently opened Royal Post-Graduate Hospital, Hammersmith, where he worked with Professor Grey Turner; although his interests as a general surgeon were wide, he was already showing a particular interest in urology and paediatric surgery. He had been seconded to the Post-Graduate Hospital from the London County Council service, and returned as senior surgical officer to St Giles Hospital, Camberwell, until his appointment as surgeon to the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, early in 1939. This coincided with the early days of the development of the Nuffield post-graduate departments and the new Clinical School. House officer and registrar posts under him were keenly sought after, because he was a superb surgeon and an excellent teacher. He was a modest man with a constant air of serenity which endeared him to patients, students, nursing staff and colleagues. His judgment and attention to pre-operative and post-operative care matched his technical skill, so that his colleagues regularly sought his surgical help for themselves and their relatives. He was a clinical lecturer and examiner in surgery for Oxford University. At the outbreak of the second world war he joined the RAMC and served in North Africa and Italy, later becoming consultant surgeon to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force with the rank of Brigadier. On returning to Oxford Elliot-Smith was also appointed consultant surgeon to Savernake Hospital, Marlborough, and throughout the Oxford region his influence on surgery became progressively greater. He was a fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and an Associate Fellow of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Though gentle he was fearless, and could be outspoken when matters of principle were involved. On his retirement in 1966 he returned to North Africa to work at the Moussat Hospital in Tripoli where he studied the differences in the disease patterns of desert-living and rich urban Arabs. He studied experimentally alimentary transit-times and became intensely interested in dietary fibre. On his return to Oxford after two years in Tripoli his interest in foods and their relation to disease and in soil preservation resulted in his election as President of the Oxford branch of the Soil Association and then of the McCarrison Society. He was an initial Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the International Institute of Human Nutrition. He also found time to accept responsibility for a new Simon Trust Vasectomy Clinic in the ante-natal department of the Churchill Hospital and during the first two years of its existence he created such confidence that over 2,000 out-patient vasectomies were performed under local anaesthesia. In 1937 he married Nancy Williamson; their family of four sons and his garden were his two great interests outside his profession; he was particularly interested in hybridizing roses. He died in his garden when in apparent excellent health on 5 August 1972 shortly after his 71st birthday.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005717
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Vesey, Sean Gerard (1954 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-02-16 2017-07-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378982378982
Occupation Urologist
Details Sean Vesey was a consultant urologist on Merseyside. He was born on 2 July 1954 and studied medicine at University College Cork, qualifying in 1979. After completing his basic surgical training, he went to London in 1984 to the Institute of Urology and then continued his specialist training in Taunton and Bristol. In 1988, he became a senior registrar on Merseyside and in 1991 was appointed as a consultant urologist for Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust. At Southport and Ormskirk he established the urology service and worked singlehandedly for five years. He carried out his first laparoscopic nephrectomy in 1994 and in 2001 became the lead laparoscopic surgeon for the Merseyside region, teaching juniors and colleagues from all over the UK and Ireland. In 2007, he moved to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital where he developed the laparoscopic service. For three consecutive years (from 2001 to 2003) he visited the Gambia on behalf of Urolink, working and teaching at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Banjul, He was an examiner for the Intercollegiate Board for the FRCS (urology) from 2002 to 2011 and for the Royal College of Surgeons, and was regional adviser for Merseyside from 2001 to 2008. He was also an active member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, which awarded him an honorary membership in 2013, and the Irish Society of Urology. Outside medicine he enjoyed golf (he was a member of the Royal Birkdale Golf Club from 1994 and served on the council from 2008 to 2011), spending time with his friends and family, cooking, fishing and skiing. He was a supporter of Liverpool Football Club and regularly attended matches at Anfield. After retiring he took up game shooting. Sadly, in January 2011 Vesey was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, a disease he had spent his working life treating. Sean Vesey died on 18 January 2015 aged 60. He was survived by his wife Rosemary and their children, Jennifer and James.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006799
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rennie, Bruce Clarkson (1904 - 1978)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Stewart, Henry Hamilton (1904 - 1970)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378283378283
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Henry Hamilton Stewart was born on 23 August 1904, the son of H A Stewart, a practitioner at Thornton, Bradford. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, King's College Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital. At Cambridge he was placed in the first class in the Natural Sciences Tripos of 1925. At St Thomas's, as a clinical student, he gained the Cheselden Medal, the Solly Medal and the Toiler Prize, all in 1928. After qualification, he held house appointments at St Thomas's, first as a casualty officer, followed by that of a house surgeon and, after being admitted as a Fellow, as a surgical registrar to Sir Percy Sargent. Returning to Bradford he was appointed assistant surgeon to Bradford Royal Infirmary and surgeon to the Childrens Hospital, at the age of 28. He rapidly built up an outstanding reputation as a general surgeon but as time progressed he became more and more a specialist in the field of urology. He was a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and was awarded the St Peter's Gold Medal of the Association in 1968. He was one of the early members of the Punch Club and an acknowledged expert in the difficult technique of punch prostatectomy performing more than 4000 operations between 1947 and 1965. On his retirement in 1969 he was made a Freeman of the city of Bradford, a unique honour for a medical man. His work culminated in his founding of the Postgraduate School of Studies in Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bradford to which he was appointed Honorary Visiting Professor and a member of the Council of the University. He consolidated the position of urology in Bradford by establishing a joint unit at St Luke's Hospital and the Infirmary. In 1952 he was appointed a Hunterian Professor at the College as he was an early exponent of the operation of partial nephrectomy in selected cases of renal calculus, his results showing a remarkably low recurrence rate. His scientific approach to a problem and his surgical ingenuity were well demonstrated by his plastic operation for congenital hydronephrosis associated with a lower polar vessel. As a man he was full of ideas carefully thought out and of great courage and endurance, having to contend with serious illness and disability in his later years. As a surgeon he was deeply interested in his patients, possessed of great patience and exquisite thoroughness in all he undertook. He had a charm of manner, a great sense of humour and a slow deliberate manner of speaking, particularly when he was driving home some point in an argument or in teaching. He was a lifelong member of the Bradford St Andrew's Society and its President in 1954. His favourite recreation was salmon fishing. He married Edna, née Pullan, who survived him with their three sons, one of whom is a surgeon. He died on 21 November 1970 aged 66. A memorial service was held in Bradford Cathedral on 25 November 1970. Publications: Partial nephrectomy in the treatment of renal calculi. *Ann Roy Coll Surg Engl* 1952, 11, 32. A new operation for hydronephrosis in association with a lower polar (or aberrant) artery. *Brit J Surg* 1947, 35, 51.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006100
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Nitch, Cyril Alfred Rankin (1876 - 1969)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005900-E005999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378170378170
Occupation General surgeon Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 16 August 1876 and brought up in South Africa, he was educated at Westminster School and St Thomas's Hospital where he had an outstanding career as a student. After qualifying in 1900 with the Conjoint Diploma he served as assistant house surgeon and house surgeon. In 1902 he graduated MB BS obtaining a gold medal and university scholarship in the surgery examination, and in the same year he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He became surgical registrar in 1903, a two year appointment, passing the MS examination in 1904 and being awarded a gold medal. From 1905 until 1907 he held office as resident assistant surgeon, subsequently being appointed a demonstrator of anatomy at St Thomas's and a surgeon to the Evelina Hospital. Shortly after this he was appointed surgeon to outpatients at St Thomas's. During the first world war he served from 1914 at Louvain in Belgium till 1917 when he was invalided following an attack of cellulitis of the neck. After the war he returned to St Thomas's as surgeon where he remained up to his retirement in 1936 at the age of 59. Although somewhat overshadowed in the eyes of the outside world by his contemporaries Cuthbert Wallace and Percy Sargent, Nitch was recognised within the hospital as a general surgeon of great ability, industry and conscientiousness and as an outstanding teacher of undergraduate students. With the passage of time he became more and more identified with genito-urinary surgery and it would be correct to regard him as the father of urology as a specialty at St Thomas's in having instituted a specialised out-patient department. Well known outside Britain, he was an Honorary Member of the Association d'Urologie Française, the Society Italiana di Urologia and the International Society of Urology. At home, he was an honorary member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, a Past-President of the Sections of Urology and Surgery of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Senior Fellow of the Association of Surgeons. He acted as examiner in surgery for the Universities of London and of Wales. A tall distinctive figure, bald from early age, his ability and sense of humour made him popular with the students to many of whom he was familiarly known as Popski. As a young man he had been by no means entirely a book worm, and while a resident had been one of the highlights of the concert troup, known as the Blue Boracic Band, which entertained patients and nursing staff in the wards at Christmas. Having reached years of discretion and achieved consultant status, he belonged to a generation which regarded it as obligatory to appear in the wards correctly dressed in morning coat and striped trousers, latterly adding the concession of a long white coat. He abhorred slovenliness on the part of his dressers, who formed a not unimportant link in the surgical team and who were individually responsible for the welfare of a proportion of the ward cases. During their six months apprenticeship they could expect to receive, with their house surgeon, an invitation to dine at 69 Harley Street and, possibly, to attend a musical soirée where such famous artists as Segovia, the guitarist, were wont to entertain. In spite of a career punctuated by periods of severe illness, Nitch was an indefatigable worker with a large private practice but at the same time punctilious in his attendance at the hospital. Except during his summer holidays he was seldom out of London, and was available to any patient, private or public in an emergency. It was usual to see his large Minerva coupé de ville, which he drove himself on the day of rest, outside the hospital on a Sunday morning. His principal relaxations were golf, motoring and during his summer holiday, yachting on the Norfolk Broads at Ludham. After retirement he lived first at Hellingly in Sussex and later at Yeovil where he died on 17 September 1969 at the age of 93. He married in 1907 Amy, daughter of Surgeon Major J L Bryden IMS by whom he had two daughters and a son. His later years were saddened by the death of his son while an undergraduate at Oxford and the tragic loss of his younger daughter's fiancée on the eve of her wedding. His wife died in 1957, but he was survived by his two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005987
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Brownlee, Joseph John (1901 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-07-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005600-E005699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377857377857
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Joseph Brownlee was of Irish descent; his father, J J Brownlee, who died in 1928, came from Northern Ireland and was one of the earliest doctors in Christchurch; his mother's maiden name was McKee. Brownlee received his early education at Waitaki Boys High School; he kept a great interest in his old school and became Dominion President of the Old Boys Association. He qualified from Otago Medical School in 1926; while there he developed considerable prowess at running and hurdling, and at one stage the Otago record for the 100 yards was held jointly by Brownlee and Arthur Porritt. In 1927 he became a house surgeon at Auckland Hospital and then came to England where he stayed for seven years holding various surgical appointments and obtaining his Fellowship in 1934. In 1935 he returned to Christchurch and was appointed assistant surgeon to the genito-urinary department of Christchurch Hospital. In 1940, early in the second world war, he came to England as one of several surgeons from Commonwealth countries to be trained in plastic surgery by Sir Harold Gillies; he returned to New Zealand through the Middle East, where he spent several months observing the requirements of a plastic unit dealing with war casualties. Then at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch he set up the first plastic unit in New Zealand. Brownlee was senior surgeon at this plastic unit 1942-1955. From 1955 to 1966, when he retired from practice, he carried on his plastic work at various private hospitals and in addition visited Invercargill and Dunedin in a consultant capacity. In 1946 he was elected to the North Canterbury Hospital Board and served on it until 1957. He was also chairman of the building committee of the Princess Margaret Hospital. An important part of Brownlee's life was his annual holiday camp on the shores of Lake Hawea; the fishing there was excellent and he became an expert fly-fisherman; each camp lasted for several weeks and about twenty people were generally present. At these camps he fed, sheltered and entertained not only his friends but many widows, orphans and underprivileged people at his own generous expense. Brownlee was a keen Mason, who thought deeply about religion and politics. In 1966 Brownlee retired from medicine because of failing health and for the last few years of his life he was confined to a chair. He died at his home on 1 November 1972 in his 71st year. His wife, son and daughter survived him. His son J J Brownlee qualified in medicine but gave up practice for farming; his daughter married M T Milliken and practised surgery at Christchurch.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005674
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Parry, Eric Leonard (1933 - 1968)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378193378193
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born 17 August, 1933 the only son of Eric North Parry, he was educated at Parramatta High School, New South Wales and the University of Sydney. He graduated MB, BS from the University of Sydney with second class honours in 1956 and was for two years a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. He served a further two years as resident medical officer at the Repatriation General Hospital at Concord, NSW, and then travelled to England, passing the final Fellowship examination in 1960. After this he held a surgical registrar appointment at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Returning to Australia in 1962 he was made FRACS (June 1962) and was appointed as a surgical registrar at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord and in 1965 was appointed as staff specialist (urology) there. From 1965 he was clinical lecturer in urology (University of Sydney) at Concord Hospital. He held appointments as honorary clinical assistant in the department of urology and of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and as honorary assistant urologist at the Ryde District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, NSW, and the Rachel Forster Hospital, Sydney. He was an associate member of the Urological Society of Australasia. His relaxation was fishing, especially trout fishing in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. He married on 26 January 1959, Elizabeth, daughter of John Hanton Mason, by whom he had two sons. He was a man of tremendous energy and completely devoted to his work and his patients, and his sudden and untimely death on 5 May 1968 caused great sorrow among his colleagues and also among the large numbers of ex- service patients whose urological management he had conducted with much industry and success.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006010
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Keyes, Edward Loughborough (1873 - 1949)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005500-E005599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377781377781
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 15 May 1873 at Elizabeth, New Jersey, son of Edward Lawrence Keyes (1843-1924) afterwards distinguished as a genito-urinary surgeon in New York, he was educated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, graduating in 1895. Keyes practised as a urological surgeon and rose to the highest eminence in his specialty, as his father did before him. In 1904 he was appointed to the staff of Cornell University Medical College, New York City, and taught there till the end of his life, becoming eventually emeritus professor of clinical surgery (urology). During 1903-8 he was professor of urology at the New York Policlinic Medical School and in 1910-11 at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He was surgeon to the New York Hospital, and to the Bellevue, Memorial, and St Vincent's Hospitals. During the first world war he was consultant in urology to the United States Army overseas, served in France, and was admitted to the French Legion of Honour as an Officer. He played a leading part in many professional societies, serving as president of the American Urological Association, the International Society of Urology, the Clinical Society of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, and the American Social Hygiene Association, which awarded him its first William Freeman Snow medal in 1935. He was also a vice-president of the New York Academy of Medicine. He was a frequent contributor to the *Journal of Urology*, while his textbooks *Surgical Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs*, written with his father in 1903, and *Urology* (1928) were very successful and influential. He was beloved and respected at home and abroad. He married twice: (1) Emma Willard Scudder by whom he had two sons and two daughters; (2) in 1948 Mrs Bessie Potter Vonnoh, sculptor, who survived him. He died in New York on 16 March 1949 aged 75. A portrait-medal of Keyes by P M Danemann was struck when he was president of the International Urological Congress in 1936; the College possesses an example of it, presented by Sir Hugh Lett, Bt, PRCS.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005598
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pocock, John Arthur (1905 - 1968)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378206378206
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Arthur Pocock, the son of a general practitioner, was born on 22 August 1905. He went to school at Oundle and then to Cambridge and University College, London, where he qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1928. He took the Cambridge degree in 1931 and the FRCS in 1934, and after some junior appointments in London went to Bristol where he became senior resident officer and surgical registrar in 1937. At this early stage in his career he already showed the selfless devotion to his duties and to the welfare of his patients which was to be the outstanding feature for the rest of his life. His training at Bristol was interrupted by the second world war when he joined the RAF and served in many parts of the world till he finally landed in Egypt as a Wing-Commander in charge of a surgical division. After the war he returned to Bristol, and in 1946 was appointed surgeon to the Bristol Royal Hospital. With the advent of the NHS he became consultant surgeon to the United Bristol Hospitals and to Southwood Hospital. For many years Pocock was treasurer of the Surgical Club of South-West England, and a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons for although he was a general surgeon he always had a special interest in urology. His conscientious and competent discharge of his clinical duties won the confidence and the admiration of his colleagues who came to rely on his judgement and skill not only for their patients but for any member of their family in need of surgical treatment. Yet it was his outstanding personality and his manner of treating every patient as a personal problem which was of such special value in the training of his juniors, and for which he will long be remembered by all who were associated with him. When he died on 25 September 1968 after a long and trying illness he was survived by his wife Barbara and their daughter and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006023
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Slater, Russel Bell (1922 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378301378301
Occupation General practitioner General surgeon Military surgeon Urologist
Details Born 23 February 1922 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the only child of R O Slater, company director, and Emma Bell, his wife. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and at the Medical School of the University of Durham. He qualified in 1943 and was appointed house surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He entered the Royal Naval Medical Service in the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant on 31 March 1944, and was present, aboard a landing ship, at the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. He joined the destroyer, HMS *Keppel*, patrolling in the English Channel, in September 1944, and the corvette, HMS *Lancaster Castle*, engaged on Arctic duties, in the following year. Slater was released from the Service in February 1947, but continued to retain an active interest as a reservist. He held appointments as surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and demonstrator in the department of anatomy at the Medical School of the University of Durham. He entered general practice at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire in 1954 but remained restless in civil life. On 31 July 1956, Slater re-entered the Royal Naval Medical Service with the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander. He was drafted to HMS *Theseus* and in the sick bay of the aircraft carrier demonstrated his surgical competence by performing a number of successful emergency operations, under trying conditions, on wounded evacuated from Suez during the crisis of November 1956. He was appointed specialist in surgery at RNH Hong Kong from 1957 to 1960; promoted Surgeon-Commander in 1961 and later served in a surgical capacity at RNH Haslar, and aboard the aircraft carrier HMS *Bulwark*. He was appointed medical officer-in-charge of RNH Mauritius and senior specialist in surgery in 1964, returning to the United Kingdom in 1966. Thereafter, he served mainly in RNH Plymouth, at first as a general surgeon and later as a urologist. He was appointed consultant in surgery in 1970 and promoted Surgeon-Captain in December 1971. Apart from being an accomplished surgeon and pleasant colleague, Slater was also a skilled amateur photographer. He married on 22 June 1950 Geraldine O'Connor who survived him. There were no children. He died on 14 June 1972 from an astrocytoma and was buried in the naval reservation in Weston Mill Cemetery, Plymouth. Publications: Duodenal diverticulum treated by excision of mucosal pouch only. *Brit J Surg* 1971, 58, 198. A case of closed injury of the upper ureter. *Brit J Urol* 1971, 43, 591.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006118
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Walker, Kenneth Macfarlane (1882 - 1966)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378391378391
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist Urological surgeon
Details Born in Hampstead on 6 June 1882 the son of William James Walker, he was educated at the Leys School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took first-class honours in the Natural Science Tripos in 1904. He had his clinical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was assistant editor of the Journal and President of the Abernethian Society. He qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1906, graduated in medicine and surgery at Cambridge in 1907, and took the Fellowship in 1908, after serving as demonstrator of physiology and house physician at St Bartholomew's. He won the Jacksonian Prize in 1910 with his essay on *Tumours of the bladder and male genitalia*, having decided to specialise in genito-urinary surgery, and was lecturer in venereal diseases at Bart's Medical College. He was a Hunterian Professor in 1911 and again in 1922 and 1924. Between 1920 and 1913 he worked in Argentina as resident surgeon at the British Hospital in Buenos Aires, and retained happy and vivid memories of his South American experiences. During the first world war he served in the RAMC in France, was mentioned in despatches three times, and became surgeon to the Duchess of Westminster's War Hospital. On demobilization he was appointed urological surgeon to the Royal Northern Hospital, which he served for more than twenty years, retiring at the age limit of 65 in 1947. He was also a consulting surgeon at St Bartholomew's. He was active in many surgical societies, including the Surgery and Urology Sections of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Venereal Diseases Section of the British Medical Association, and for many years was medical secretary of the British Social Biology Council. Walker made a distinguished contribution to his specialty as surgeon, writer and teacher. He endeared himself to his students by his complete freedom from pomposity, and to his colleagues by his gaiety and wit; a friend wrote that "his laugh was always an appreciation, not a sneer." He had many interests and friends outside medicine. He enjoyed fox-hunting, and in his middle years regularly played tennis in Regent's Park. He became more and more interested in the personal and social problems of medical practice both for the doctor and the patient. He was a fluent talker and writer, and in later years a prolific author on the mystical background of life and on psychological and spiritual suffering. He also wrote books for children, three or four popular medical books such as *Physiology of sex and its social implications* (1940), several volumes of reminiscences and a history of medicine in the 1950's, and during his last twenty years at least a dozen books expressing his mystical interpretation of life. His thought was profoundly influenced by his friendship with the Russian religious emigrés P D Ouspensky and G I Gurdjieff. He was a handsome man, but quite careless of appearance, and his character combined innocence with experience. Walker married twice; in 1926 Eileen Marjorie Wilson, and in 1944 Mary Piggott. He died at Midhurst on 22 January 1966 aged 83, survived by the son and daughter of his first marriage. Publications: *Diseases of the male organs of generation*. 1923. *The enlarged prostate*. 1926, and 2nd edition 1933. *Sex difficulties in the male*. 1934. *Genito-urinary surgery*, by Sir John Thomson-Walker, 2nd edition by K.W. 1936. *Human sterility and impaired fertility* (with C L Roberts and others). 1939. *Sexual disorders in the male* (with E B Strauss). 1944.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006208
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Atkinson, David Worthington (1926 - 2012)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-12-21 2015-02-06
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003300-E003399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375500375500
Occupation Urologist
Details David Worthington Atkinson was a consultant urologist in the north east Thames region. He was born in Chinley, Derbyshire, the son of John Atkinson, an industrial chemist, businessman and former captain in the Army during the First World War, and Florence Mary Atkinson née Worrall. His sister, Anne Mary, went on to become a reader in dental surgery at Sheffield University. Atkinson was educated at Buxton College, where he was head boy, and then went on to study modern languages at Clare College, Cambridge. He joined the Army in 1944 and served for four years in Malaya and Burma, becoming a captain in the Intelligence Corps. During this time his language skills were put to good use, and he completed an 18-month intensive course in Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Following his demobilisation, he returned to SOAS for two terms, before deciding to join the medical course at Cambridge, despite having no background in science. He was one of 40 ex-service students with arts backgrounds accepted to study medicine. He went on to clinical studies at Guy's and qualified in 1954. He held house posts at Guy's and was then a senior casualty officer at St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe, and subsequently a resident surgical officer at Brighton General Hospital. He was a locum surgical registrar at various locations in London, and then a surgical registrar at Croydon General Hospital for two years. He was a resident surgical officer at Brompton Hospital for six months, and then became a thoracic surgical registrar at Guy's Hospital for 18 months. While he was at Guy's as a student, he met and married Monica Cynthia Lewin, a Jamaican who also became a surgeon and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1962 they moved to Jamaica, where Atkinson was first a senior surgical registrar at the University Hospital, Kingston. A year later he became a lecturer in surgery at the University of the West Indies, and in 1966 a senior lecturer. From 1972 to 1974 he was a consultant urologist at the University Hospital. The family went back to the UK in 1976, and Atkinson became a consultant urologist to the North East Thames Regional Hospital Board, at North Middlesex and St Ann's hospitals. For many years he was chairman of the surgical division of North Middlesex Hospital. He retired in 1991. He had developed his interest in urology as a specialty while he was in Jamaica. He had one of the first fibreoptic cystoscopes and resectoscopes in 1962 and pioneered transurethral resection and Millins prostatectomy in Jamaica. He maintained an interest in the surgery of urethral stricture, sickle cell haematuria and the epidemiology of genitourinary tumours. Outside medicine, he was fascinated by cricket. He represented London University, was captain of the Clare College team, and played for Guy's Hospital and the United Hospitals. In Jamaica he was medical officer to the Jamaica Cricket Association and looked after the West Indian and international touring teams. He was also a lifelong philatelist. From 1985 to 1990 he edited the *British West Indian Study Circle Bulletin*, which promotes the study of the stamps and postal history of the islands. He was an avid reader and had an extensive collection of books on cricket, naval history, Jamaica and Japan. On visiting Japan during his retirement he found he could converse in Japanese after more than 50 years, and this spurred him to return to learning the written language. His wife Monica predeceased him in 1998. Atkinson died on 27 October 2012, aged 86. He was survived by his son David, daughter Mary and four grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003317
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bridge, Reginald Harold (1888 - 1944)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-04-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003900-E003999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376085376085
Occupation Urologist
Details Born at Sydney on 25 April 1888, son of Clarence Bridge, a woolbroker, and Helen MacMahon, his wife. Educated at St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney 1901-06 and at Sydney University 1907-11, he was a student of the first clinical school at Sydney Hospital 1909 and graduated with honours at the beginning of 1912. From January to November 1912 he was junior resident medical officer and throughout 1913 senior RMO and in 1914 registrar at Sydney Hospital. He then came to England, was attached to the Middlesex Hospital, and took the Membership on 9 June and the Fellowship on 9 December 1915. He served in the RAMC at No 3 General Hospital, Basra, Mesopotamia, during the war, but went back to Australia in 1919 and practised at Sydney as a consultant urologist. He was assistant surgeon 1920-30 and urological surgeon 1930-44 at Sydney Hospital. He also served on the hospital's board of medical studies, and was urologist to the Sydney Women's Hospital and to the Balmain and District Hospital. He was a foundation member of the Urological Society of Australasia, of which he became president in 1937. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons on 5 March 1929. Bridge married in 1927 Una, daughter of Walter Kleemo of Sydney, who survived him but without children. He practised at Locarno, 141 Macquarie Street, Sydney, and lived at 65 Wallaroy Road, Edgecliff. He died on 22 August 1944, aged 56. Publications:- The ureter; clinical study of its common diseases. *Med J Austral*. 1925, 1, 421. Some experiences of urologic practice. *Ibid*. 1928, 1, 103.
Resource Identifier RCS: E003902
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Riddiough, Sidney (1891 - 1959)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-04-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005300-E005399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377489377489
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 21 September 1891 the son of J T Riddiough of Bradford, he was educated at Bradford Grammar School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was an exhibitioner. Having obtained second-class honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1912 and in the Mathematical Tripos in 1913, he became a master at the Leys School, but shortly afterwards he decided to study medicine at Guy's Hospital. Qualifying in 1917, he graduated BChir, MB in 1919 and after qualification he held the appointments of out-patients officer at Guy's Hospital and house physician at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. After a period in the RAMC when he was attached to the Highland Light Infantry on active service in France, he returned to Guy's to become chief clinical assistant in the department of neurology. In 1923 he entered general practice at Dewsbury, Yorks, joining the staff of the General Infirmary as an assistant surgeon. When he left in 1931, having become a Fellow, he was appointed honorary surgeon to the Infirmary. In 1932 he settled in consulting practice in Cambridge, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was consulting surgeon to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Huntingdon County Hospital, and Royston Cottage Hospital, and consulting urologist to Peterborough Memorial Hospital. Riddiough was a Freemason and held the rank of deputy provincial grand master of Cambridgeshire and was past grand deacon of England. Active in public life he was a member of the council of the borough of Cambridge, and also of the Cambridgeshire County Council. Of a genial disposition, he was an after-dinner speaker and raconteur of considerable note. He did not marry. Riddiough died on 7 January 1959 aged 67; the funeral was at Holy Trinity, Cambridge. He lived at 67 Bridge Street, Cambridge.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005306
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tuckfield, Peter Cader ( - 1968)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378342378342
Occupation Urologist
Details Peter Cader Tuckfield was educated at the University of Melbourne and graduated MB BS in 1949. He then became RMO at Prince Henry's Hospital, and was promoted to registrar in 1951, and from 1951-1953 was associate assistant surgeon. He came to England to work for the FRCS which he obtained in 1956. He subsequently decided to specialise in urology, being appointed registrar in urology at the Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester in 1958. On his return to Melbourne he became honorary consulting urologist to the Preston and Northcote Hospital, honorary assistant urologist to the Austin Hospital, and assistant consulting urologist to the Peter MacCallum Clinic. Tuckfield was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1959. He died in Melbourne, at a comparatively early age, on 29 September 1968.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006159
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Adams, Arthur Wilfred (1892 - 1973)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, John Barry (1953 - 2013)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Steve Payne
Publication Date 2014-10-17 2016-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378312378312
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Barry Anderson was a consultant urological surgeon at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. He was born on 10 April 1952 in Redhill, Surrey, the eldest son of Edward James Anderson, a hospital administrator and ex-bomber pilot, and Catherine Elizabeth Anderson née Boland, a nurse who had emigrated from the west of Ireland. He was educated at Toldene County Primary School and then progressed to grammar school, the only boy to have done so in three years. John's initial inclination was to the arts and, having studied history and languages to A level, he headed to Exeter University to read philosophy. A moment of reflection changed the course of his life. John left Exeter and drove bulldozers in a Fuller's earth works to help him afford to convert to medicine. In 1973 he left for Bristol to start his medical studies. He qualified six years later, decided to become a surgeon and took his fellowship in 1983, beginning, as many did, on rotational training programmes in general surgery. His time with Robin Williamson defined that John's career was going to take a urological turn and in 1988, having completed his ChM, he moved to Sheffield to gain specific urological training with John Williams. After three months in California, in 1991, he went back to Yorkshire to become the first consultant to be appointed with a specific remit to treat urological malignancy, especially the rising tide of early prostate cancer. John's initial consultant career at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital was littered with examples of innovation many years ahead of their adoption as the norm in clinical practice. He established combined oncology clinics, became an oncological sub-specialist and set up a consortium for private practice, all in the early 1990s. His expertise in change management and his easy, winning, charm made John a natural target for leadership to promulgate best practice throughout the NHS. He was one of the first regional cancer leads, was on the national steering group for sub-specialist oncological practice and one of the first chairman of the British Association of Urological Surgeons' (BAUS) section of oncology. John was also a committed and dextrous surgeon, inspirational to his juniors, whether they were wedded to urology as a career or not, and kind, considerate and compassionate to his patients who had surgical treatment of the highest quality in his hands. John had an international reputation for his work in the field of hormonal therapy for advanced prostate cancer; he sat on European guidelines committees and advised the Medical Research Council, the National Cancer Research Institute, the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths and the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group about the management of urological pelvic malignancy. John was widely published in his field and sat on editorial boards of the *British Journal of Urology International* and the national urological cancer guidance. He also devoted a lot of his time, from 2005, as a trustee of the Prostate Cancer Charity and, subsequently, Prostate Cancer UK. John's persistence, firm fairness and invariable good humour meant that he was universally liked and respected. He was elected to the presidency of BAUS in 2009, but was unable to take up that role as a consequence of the urological cancer to which he devoted so much of his time trying to defeat. John treated his final illness in the way that he approached virtually every other aspect of his life, straightforwardly and with a positive tilt at every bit of adversity. John's many friends were inspired by the way he dealt with the initial uncertainty of his diagnosis, his decision to defer therapy until he became symptomatic and the inexorable decline in his health from the metastatic disease that was evident at the outset. John beat the drum for prostate cancer awareness until he was too unwell to do so. John was a hugely entertaining man whose glass was always more than half full. He loved balanced simplicity and had an informed view on almost everything, no matter how obscure the topic was. His love of spontaneous adventure was a facet of his character that those close to him will recognise as being instantly engaging. John's last year was filled with wonderful memories, which he enthusiastically shared with his family. There may be others who will try to emulate John Anderson, but if anyone manages to recreate that wonderful balance of humour, empathy, fairness and overriding positivity, they will be a unique person indeed. John Barry Anderson died on 27 May 2013. He was 60. He was survived by his three children - Josie Marie, James Edward and Luke Oliver from his marriage to Susan Claire Bailey.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006129
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Willinsky, Bernard (1900 - 1970)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Parker, Geoffrey Edward (1902 - 1973)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378192378192
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Geoffrey Edward Parker was born on 24 June 1902 and was educated at Windlesham House School, Hove, Marlborough College, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He came to St Thomas's Hospital for his clinical course and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma and the Cambridge MB in 1926. Two years later he took the FRCS. After holding junior posts at St Thomas's, the West London Hospital, and the National Temperance Hospital he ultimately became consultant surgeon to the French Hospital, the Italian Hospital and the Woolwich Group. He was specially interested in urology. During all this time his career closely resembled that of many a London surgeon, but it was in the latter part of the second world war that he distinguished himself to a unique degree. He served with the RAMC from 1942 in North Africa and Italy, but also acquired special experience in parachute jumping, unarmed combat and the use of small arms. Early in 1944 he was parachuted into France in the Jura mountains and worked as a surgeon with the Maquis, caring for the resistance fighters with supreme courage which was rewarded by the DSO in 1945, and also by the Croix de Guerre with Palm and Gold Star, and he was made Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur. Later he received honours also from Belgium and Italy. His experiences were described in his books *The black scalpel* 1968 *and Surgical cosmopolis* 1970. At Cambridge Parker was awarded a blue for boxing, and he also played squash and golf. In later life he did a good deal of writing and painting, his pictures having appeared in exhibitions in England, France and America. In 1930 he married Kathleen Hewlett Johnson and had two sons and a daughter. This marriage was dissolved and in 1967 he married Margaret Lois Wilsdon who survived him. Parker died on 5 December 1973 at the age of 71.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006009
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Schoonees, Rikus (1937 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-11-25 2017-01-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378617378617
Occupation Urologist
Details Rikus Schoonees was a urologist in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born in Kuruman, South Africa, on 20 October 1937. His father, Diderikus Anthonie Schoonees, was a university lecturer; his mother, Maria Magdalena Schoonees née Van Der Bergh, was the daughter of a farmer. He was educated at Paul Roos High School, Stellenbosch, and then attended the University of Stellenbosch. He gained a BSc in 1957 and in 1960 went as a Rhodes scholar to St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. He qualified MB ChB from Stellenbosch University in 1961 with a gold medal. He held a junior post at the Karl Bremer Hospital, Bellville, South Africa, and then went to the UK. From 1963 to 1966 he worked in Oxford and then at Hammersmith Hospital in London. In 1967 he returned to South Africa, to a post at Johannesburg General Hospital. Between 1968 and 1969 he worked at the Karl Bremer Hospital, Bellville. From 1970 to 1971 he was based at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York. In 1971 he gained an MD with his thesis 'A study of the endocrine control of the prostate gland in relation to the etiology and treatment of prostatic carcinoma and benign prostatic hyperplasia.' In 1972 he returned to South Africa as a urologist in private practice in Cape Town and a senior lecturer in urology at the University of Stellenbosch Medical School. He married Marie-Hélène Albrecht, a ceramic artist, in 1968. They had a son. Rikus Schoonees died on 14 July 2014. He was 76.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006434
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gill, William Gordon (1908 - 1976)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Gayen, Sudhanshu Sekkar (1930 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Indu Gayen
Publication Date 2015-02-16 2015-08-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378970378970
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Sudhanshu Sekhar Gayen was a surgeon at Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford, Kent, and then a general practitioner. He was born on 1 August 1930 in the Midnapore district of West Bengal, India, the son of Jogendra Nath Gayen, a schoolteacher, and Bimala Bala Betz Gayen, a housewife. His family were landowners and were very well known in the local community. Sudhanshu lost both of his parents when he was very young. He loved school and from an early age wanted to become a doctor. He passed his school matriculation examinations in the first division and thereafter passed all his exams with honours. He was offered a scholarship to study medicine at Calcutta University Medical College. While the scholarship covered his tuition fees, he had to work to cover his living expenses and in his spare time he tutored school students. He passed his MB BS in 1956. Following house posts in Calcutta, Sudhanshu worked as a senior intern in surgery at Ottawa General Hospital, Canada. After a year he decided to move to the UK, where he held a series of senior house officer posts. He worked in the North Middlesex Hospital in north London, in the thoracic surgical unit, where he performed various major and minor operations and procedures, including intercostal intubation, pleural aspiration and bronchoscopy. He then moved to the North Herts and Lister Hitchin hospitals and performed major operations with the hospital consultant. As part of a team of colleagues he was in charge of 45 general and urological beds. At North Staffordshire Infirmary as a senior house officer he performed operations in the neurosurgical unit, including inserting burr holes and Spitz-Holter valves. In 1966 he was offered a post as a registrar in general surgery, orthopaedics and fractures at St Andrew's Hospital, London, during which time he passed his final fellowship examinations of the Edinburgh and English Royal Colleges. In 1969 Sudhanshu accepted a post as a registrar in urology and general surgery at Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford, Kent, where his pre- and post-operative care was acknowledged as outstanding by his consultant. He published several unusual cases in journals. He used to say that: 'To be a good surgeon it is not only necessary to perform successful surgery, but it is of paramount importance to provide post-operative care and support to meet individual needs.' In 1974, due to ill health and also exhaustion, he decided, with great personal sadness, to leave his surgical career. In 1978 he entered general practice, where he looked after nearly 4,000 patients. On 27 August 2014 he died after a long illness. He was 84. He was survived by his wife Indu, to whom he had been married for nearly 40 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006787
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gairdner, Alan Campbell (1900 - 1977)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006500-E006599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378712378712
Occupation Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist Neurosurgeon
Details Alan Campbell Gairdner was born in Surbiton on 4 July 1900. Both his father and grandfather were general practitioners. He was educated at Tonbridge School and, for the last six months of the first world war, served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. After demobilisation he studied medicine at University College, Oxford, and at the London Hospital, qualifying in 1925. He held numerous house appointments at his teaching hospital where he came under the stimulating influence of Russell Howard; he obtained his FRCS in 1928. He developed an interest in brain surgery and spent six months in Boston, USA, studying under Harvey Cushing. In 1932, soon after his return, he was appointed medical superintendent at St Georges-in-the-East Hospital, and in the same year won the London Hospital Hutchinson Triennial Prize. In 1934, at the age of 34, he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and the Exeter Clinical Area. During the early years and until the speciality was moved to the regional centre in Bristol, he widened his experience in neurosurgery in addition to a very busy general surgical practice. He volunteered for service in the second world war and served as surgical specialist with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel RAMC in India and West Africa. On his return to Exeter he developed an increasing interest in genito-urinary surgery and pioneered transurethral resection of the prostate with excellent results. He was a careful and gentle surgeon with a special interest in neonatal work and he co-operated closely with his colleagues in paediatrics. Although he published little he communicated his experiences to the Surgical Club of South West England at which meetings he was a regular attender whose opinions were held in high regard. He was a man of few words who did not suffer fools gladly. His somewhat gruff exterior belied the generous and considerate man that he was. On his retirement he continued to work in the cottage hospitals to help reduce the waiting lists. Failing health in his last few years prevented him from enjoying to the full his hobbies of farming, fishing and shooting, but he was uncomplaining and staunchly supported by his wife. They had two daughters and a son. He died on 5 June 1977, aged 76.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006529
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Burnside, Kennedy Byron (1913 - 1983)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-27 2020-01-16
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007100-E007199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379355379355
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Kennedy Burnside was born in Melbourne on 9 December 1913. He was educated at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School before going to the University of Melbourne to read medicine. He graduated in 1937 and was successively resident and registrar at the Alfred Hospital in 1938 and 1939. During the second world war he commanded the 2nd Australian Mobile Bacteriology Laboratory from 1941. He was serving in Malaya at the fall of Singapore in 1942, after which he was imprisoned by the Japanese at a small prisoner-of-war camp. There he was senior medical officer looking after some 300 men, with a camp hospital servicing other groups in the district. There were a few British doctors, and later some Dutch, all of whom he dealt with scrupulously and impartially, showing invariable courtesy and good humour. He disliked humbug, however, and could be outspoken. During his time as a prisoner-of-war in Singapore and at Changi he not only ran his laboratory but wrote a book on the management and prevention of malaria. He kept a daily diary, which survives to this day and worked out the nutritional content of the rations and confronted the Japanese with his figures. He studied anatomy and mathematics and became adequately proficient in Japanese, Malay and French. After the war he took his MRCS and FRCS in England in 1947 and on returning to Australia in 1948 was appointed honorary surgeon to out-patients at the Alfred Hospital, and became FRACS the same year. He became interested in urology and taught himself endoscopic procedures, which he pursued with characteristic enthusiasm until he was recognised as an outstanding expert on endoscopic resection. At the request of the hospital he formed a separate urological unit in 1956. He retired from the honorary staff in 1973, and was appointed honorary consultant urologist. In 1973 and 1974 he was President of the Urolological Society of Australia. He was an outstanding teacher and presented numerous papers, some of a controversial nature, but always the product of his own experience rather than based on precepts from the literature. He never used notes. He had catholic interests outside his specialty, and his conversation on any topic was always illuminating and his views usually proved correct. His occupations apart from surgery included sound reproduction, photography, cabinet-making and water-skiing. He died on 12 June 1983, aged 69.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007172
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kemble, James (1899 - 1978)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-01-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006600-E006699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378830378830
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on April 2, 1899 at Newcastle, New South Wales, a son of the manse, James was educated at the University of Sydney. After qualifying in 1921, he held resident appointments at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and later in London at the West London Hospital and St Bartholomew's. He specialised in urology and was urological clinical assistant at the West London and at St Peter's. During the war he served in the EMS and was surgeon in charge of St Luke's Hospital in Guildford. He was later appointed consultant surgeon and urologist to the London Lock Hospital, Battersea General and the West London. He had a major interest in writing and medical history, being the editor of the *West London medical journal* for 9 years and producing articles both for journals and the national press. He was also the author of five books, all of them historical or medical. His hobbies were ski-ing, golf, painting and drawing. In 1935 he married Dorothy Wright and they had two sons, one of whom is a consultant plastic surgeon and the other, like his grandfather, a Presbyterian minister. He died on 16 October 1978 and is survived by his wife and two sons. Publications: *Idols and invalids* 1933; *Hero-dust* 1936; *Surgery for nurses* 1949; *Napoleon immortal* 1959; *St Helena during Napoleon's exile* 1969.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006647
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hurford, Frank Reuben ( - 2001)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008600-E008699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380878380878
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Frank Hurford qualified in Bristol and after junior posts joined the RAMC where he became a surgical specialist, taking the FRCS whilst still serving. After the war he lectured in anatomy at King's College Hospital before going back to Bristol where he specialised in urology, becoming senior registrar to the genitourinary department at the United Bristol Hospitals. He was appointed a consultant surgeon to Lichfield Hospital Group, where he developed a special interest in urology. He was an early advocate of immediate retropubic prostatectomy for acute retention of urine. He died on 26 November 2001, survived by his son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008695
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Huggins, Charles Brenton (1901 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008700-E008799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380883380883
Occupation Urologist
Details Nobel prize winner, scientist and outstanding urologist, Charlie Huggins changed forever the way scientists regard the behaviour of cancer cells. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 22 September 1901, the son of Charles Edward Huggins, a pharmacist, and Bessie Marie née Spencer. He was educated at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, before studying medicine at Harvard, where he received his MD in 1924. Specialising in surgery, he went to the University of Michigan and then joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1927. Having specialised in urology, he happened upon the discovery that urothelium and prostatic tissue could induce heterotopic bone formation in adjacent tissues. This led him in turn to isolate a phosphatase in the prostate and to rediscover what John Hunter had noticed in the mole, that the prostate was dependent on male hormones. Early in the 1940s, working with Clarence Hodges and William Wallace Scott, Huggins showed that blocking androgen production with oestrogens could retard the growth of metastases in prostate cancer, often with dramatic relief of pain. A decade later he showed that some breast cancers were also dependant on specific hormones which could be removed by oophorectomy and adrenalectomy. In 1951 he became founder-director of the Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research, where he trained and inspired numerous medical scientists. In 1966, he received the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, which he shared with Peyton Rous, the virologist. It was Rous who first truly recognised the importance of Huggins' discovery, which, "*far transcends it's practical applications*", in that cancer cells could no longer be regarded as anarchic, but were subject to controls, and therefore were in theory curable. It was not long before chemotherapy for cancer was introduced. It was Huggins who stimulated Elwood Jensen to identify oestrogen receptors in breast cancer and it was Huggins who developed an experimental model of human breast cancer that was sensitive to hormones. Despite his outstanding abilities, Charlie Huggins was a simple man with great charm, who liked nothing better than to work with able young researchers. He managed to evade administration with unusual skill to get time at his research bench. He advised his students: "*Discovery is for the single mind, perhaps in company with a few students*", and exhorted them: "*Don't write books. Don't teach hundreds of students. Discovery is our business. Make damn good discoveries.*" In 1927, he married Margaret Wellman, a nurse at the University of Michigan, who became a collaborator in his research and helped edit his papers. They had one son, Charles Edward, who died in 1989, and one daughter, Emily Wellman Huggins Fine. There are seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He died on 12 January 1997, aged 95 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008700
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Semple, John Edward (1903 - 1969)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-10-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006000-E006099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378251378251
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born on 18 November 1903, he received his medical education at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma in 1929. In 1932 he proceeded to the degree of MD being awarded the Raymond Horton-Smith Prize for his thesis and in 1933 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In the same year he was awarded the Copeman Medal for Research. He served as surgical registrar at Great Ormond Street and as resident surgeon at the West London Hospital, after which he became resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. Deciding to specialise in urology, he was appointed to the staff of St Paul's Hospital in 1939. Joining the RAMC on the outbreak of war, he served in France, Egypt and the Western Desert where he commanded a forward surgical unit and was mentioned in dispatches for his services. On demobilization he returned to St Paul's and received further appointments at Bethnal Green Hospital and the Peace Memorial Hospital, Watford. An industrious and skilful urological surgeon, he was possessed of great mechanical ability, shown in his development and modification of endoscopic instruments. His life was made unduly arduous as he suffered from asthma which made him eschew large meetings, but he was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and of the International Society of Urology. He died suddenly in St Bartholomew's Hospital on 3 October 1969, aged 65, survived by his wife and two children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006068
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lewis, Emily Catherine (1882 - 1965)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-08-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005800-E005899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378074378074
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Catherine Lewis, a consultant general and urological surgeon in London, was the second woman to become a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and one of the first female members, and a founding member, of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). She was born in London on 29 May 1882. Her father, James Lewis, a paymaster in the Royal Navy, died in 1885 when she was a very young child; her mother was Emily Catherine Lewis née Wooldridge, who was from a Naval family. According to Lewis’ obituary in *The Lancet*, she spent her early years in Cornwall and was then taken to Germany by her mother, where she studied music. Her older brother from her mother’s first marriage, John Anthony Hawke, became a judge and the Conservative MP for St Ives and was knighted in 1928. When her mother died in 1906, Lewis went to live with Edward Drummond Hay Hawke, another of her mother’s sons from her first marriage, who had studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital and was a physician at Shortlands in Kent. Perhaps influenced by her half-brother’s choice of career, in her late twenties Lewis gave up a successful teaching career in music and enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women. She qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1917 at the age of 35 and gained her MB BS from London University with honours a year later. In 1919 she became only the second woman to gain the FRCS, eight years after Eleanor Davis-Colley became the first female fellow. In 1920 Lewis gained her master of surgery degree. She held house appointments at Charing Cross Hospital, the Hospital for Women in Soho Square and the Royal Free Hospital. In 1920 she was appointed as a surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital and the South London Hospital for Women. She later also joined the staff of the Marie Curie Hospital. At the Royal Free she was also an assistant lecturer and senior demonstrator in anatomy and then a lecturer. She was one of the first female general surgeons at a London teaching hospital. She also became interested in the surgery of the female urinary system, despite being told by colleagues that there was no money in the specialty. She honed her urological skills at St Peter’s Hospital for the Stone, where she was a clinical assistant to Clifford Morson: at the Royal Free she founded the department of urology. Her book *Urology in women. A handbook of urinary diseases in the female sex* (London, Baillière & Co, 1932; second edition 1936) was a pioneering text on the subject. She published papers on urological topics in the *Postgraduate Medical Journal*, *The Lancet*, the *British Journal of Urology* and *Medical World*. In 1945, when the BAUS was established, Lewis became one of two female founding members, along with Helen Wingate, a surgeon from Glasgow. During the Second World War Lewis served in the Royal Free sector of the Emergency Medical Service, operating through the Blitz in London and at Arlesey in Bedfordshire. After the war she retired to Ely in Cambridgeshire. In her retirement she studied precious stones and continued her interest in music. Lewis died in the Royal Free Hospital in London on 25 October 1965 of an obstruction secondary to bowel cancer. She was 83. Considered a sound surgical opinion and an excellent teacher by colleagues, with a meticulous operative skill, she was described as shy and reserved. She never married but had a close circle of friends. One commented in her *Lancet* obituary: ‘She was a charming hostess: her elegant manners and subtle sense of humour were a continual joy.’
Resource Identifier RCS: E005891
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Logie, Norman John (1904 - 1972)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-09-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005900-E005999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378084378084
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Norman Logie was born in Glasgow on 1 January 1904, the son of a general practitioner who was a Glasgow Honours graduate; his mother had been a nurse at Belvidere Fever Hospital, Glasgow. He was educated at Glasgow High School, but his University was Aberdeen, the family having moved north to Rothes, and he graduated there in 1927, winning the Keith Gold Medal in clinical surgery, and then became house surgeon at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. In 1928 he came to London and held house appointments at the West London Hospital and at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. After two years in London he returned to Aberdeen as assistant in anatomy and clinical tutor in surgery, which brought him under the influence of Sir John Marnoch and his successor Professor James Learmonth, and in 1933 he obtained the English Fellowship. Logie was an officer in the medical unit of the University OTC and was therefore called up in 1939 and served in Tobruk with the 15th Scottish General Hospital, fortunately being ordered back to Cairo shortly before Tobruk was captured. In 1942, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he was sent back to Britain to instruct junior officers in the management of battle casualties, and shortly after D-day he landed in Normandy with the 77th General Hospital with which he remained till the end of the war and for his good work was mentioned in dispatches. It was after the war that he began to take a special interest in urology. He had always been a general surgeon, with experience during the war of wound treatment in the early days of penicillin, and of the treatment of burns; but gastroenterology, particularly partial gastrectomy for duodenal ulcer took a prominent place in his practice and his published results compared very favourably with the more recently introduced vagotomy and drainage procedures. But in time his work became more and more urological, and it was therefore appropriate that, when in 1967 a urological department was established at the Royal Infirmary, he should be the first consultant in charge. This outline of his career, though indicating his ability and his wide experience, would be incomplete without some reference to Norman Logie the man, whose devotion to his duties as a surgeon and teacher were so highly valued and greatly appreciated by patients, colleagues, students and trainees. He was involved in the affairs of many professional bodies, including committees of his hospital group, of the University and also of the City of Aberdeen, and he was the founder and Captain of the North-East Scotland Seniors Golfing Association. He also made many worthwhile contributions to surgical literature. He had a very happy home life with his devoted wife, a son who graduated in medicine and had commenced his surgical training, to his father's great satisfaction, and a daughter, who all survived him. He died, after long suffering from intestinal cancer, on 15 March 1972.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005901
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Winsbury-White, Horace Powell (1889 - 1962)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005500-E005599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377685377685
Occupation Urologist
Details Born in 1889 in New Zealand son of the Public Trustee in Blenheim, he was educated at Marlborough College NZ and the University of Edinburgh where he qualified in 1914 and then held an appointment as house surgeon. After serving as resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone he was appointed to the consultant staff of St Paul's Hospital in 1925. Thereafter he also became consultant urologist to the Italian Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children and St John's Hospital, Lewisham. He was closely associated with the Institute of Urology from its inception, was on its academic board and committee of management and acted as Dean of St Paul's Hospital after its union with St Peter's. He was a member of the International Society of Urology, President of the Section of Urology at the Royal Society of Medicine, a member of the Association Française d'Urologie, and an honorary member of the American Urological Association to whose members he delivered the Ramon Guiteras Lecture in 1936. At the College he was a Hunterian Professor in 1925 and 1933. He was the author of numerous books and papers on urological subjects, notably *A Textbook of Genito-urinary Surgery* and *Stone in the Urinary Tract*. With Frank Kidd he founded the *British Journal of Urology*, which he edited for over twenty years. Outside his profession he was well known as a collector of jade. An eminent Freemason, he was also interested in fishing, riding, shooting, golf and nursery gardening. He married first in 1924 Concha Marguerite de Courcy Brodie who died in 1948, and secondly Elizabeth, widow of Elwood Holmes, who survived him with an adopted son and died on 31 December 1968. He died suddenly at his country house near Reading on 6 November 1962.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005502
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Burke, Jeremiah (1913 - 1981)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-11-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006300-E006399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378570378570
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Jeremiah Burke was born at Douglas, Cork, on 19 February 1913 the son of Jeremiah Burke, a farmer and his mother was Ellen O'Reagan, the daughter of a farmer. He was educated at Christian College, Cork, and at University College, Cork (National University of Ireland), where he gained the Hutchinson Stewart Scholarship in anatomy and a scholarship in physiology, in addition to other university scholarships. He graduated MB ChB with first class honours in 1937 and held resident posts at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, and Paddington Hospital, London. In 1940 he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and served until 1946, with distinction in the Middle East, India, Ceylon and the Far East, reaching the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander. Following demobilization Jeremiah Burke was appointed registrar and later senior surgical registrar to St James's Hospital, Balham, and clinical assistant to St Peter's Hospital for Stone. In 1953 he became consultant surgeon to St James's Hospital and just before retirement honorary senior lecturer to St George's Hospital Medical School. He was a full member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and a member of the International Society of Urology. His main interest was urology, but he continued to carry out some general surgery so that he could teach good basic surgery to his registrars, housemen and students. His teaching was greatly appreciated and he also lectured in the courses for the FRCS. Jerry Burke was a good clinical and technical surgeon and had no time for gimmicky surgery. He was outspoken, dogmatic, conservative, with a fine sense of humour. He was a keen walker, ornithologist, naturalist and historian, he liked sailing and hill climbing and enjoyed visiting Scotland, Italy and Spain. He never married. He died on 17 January 1981 just three years after his retirement.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006387
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shepperd, Norman Lyon (1903 - 1965)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Damanski, Marek (1897 - 1980)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378584378584
Occupation General surgeon Geriatrician Medical Officer Urologist
Details Marek Damanski was born in Laka, East Poland on 22 May, 1897. He was the only son of a doctor of medicine and attended grammar school in Lwow before entering the University there. After graduating MD in 1923 he worked for two years in general surgery and then eight years in urology at the State General Hospital, Lwow, as well as six months in the urological clinic of the Necker Hospital, Paris. In 1932 he was appointed urologist at a policlinic for the local railway employees and became a member of the International Society of Urology in 1939. He had already been called up before the outbreak of the second world war and his consulting rooms were destroyed in early bombing by which time he was serving with No 6 Military Hospital. Shortly after this he was in Russian occupied territory and later worked in the Ukraine and Siberia where he is said to have suffered terrible privations. After Russia entered the second world war he joined the Polish Corps which subsequently moved through Iran to come under the command of the British Middle East and Central Mediterranean Forces. As a result of this, and fortunately being reunited with his wife in France, he settled in England, initially as medical officer to No 3 Polish Hospital, Penley. In 1949 he was appointed senior medical officer to the Liverpool paraplegic centre at Southport. His dedicated work there resulted in his being promoted to consultant in charge, and it is said that his tirelessness and perfectionism played a large part in raising the standard of management of paraplegics in Britain and abroad. He was intensely interested in clinical research and published more than two dozen papers. As a result of all this he was most fittingly awarded the FRCS ad eundem in 1967. Marek Damanski was a man of true old-world courtesy who endeared himself to colleagues and staff, and whose patients trusted him implicitly. When due for retirement he was deemed irreplaceable for a further three years after which he continued in great demand as a locum geriatrician. He died on 5 June 1980 and was survived by his wife, Irene Rauch, who was a great source of strength to him and a talented portrait painter. Their only daughter, a girl then aged 13, disappeared without trace during the German occupation, but they both maintained a dignified silence about this.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006401
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jameson, Robert Morpeth (1933 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-10-17 2016-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378322378322
Occupation Urologist
Details Robert Morpeth Jameson was a consultant urologist for the Liverpool Area Health Authority, the regional urological centre, Royal Liverpool Hospital, and the regional paraplegic centre, Promenade Hospital, Southport. He studied medicine in Durham, qualifying in 1957. He gained his FRCS in 1962. He was also a lecturer in the department of surgery at Liverpool University. He was a member of the board of examiners at the Royal College of surgeons and a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Prior to his consultant appointments he was a resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone, London, a senior registrar in the department of urology, Newcastle General Hospital, and a surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. Robert Morpeth Jameson died in 2014. He was 81.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006139
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Morris, Sean Bryan (1961 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2014-10-17 2016-12-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006100-E006199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378325378325
Occupation Urologist
Details Sean Bryan Morris was a consultant urologist at Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull hospitals. He was born on 21 July 1961. He studied medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and qualified in 1985. He gained his FRCS in 1990. He died in October 2014.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006142
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fergusson, John Douglas (1909 - 1979)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006400-E006499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378663378663
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Douglas Fergusson was born on 5 December 1909 at Great Malvern, Worcestershire, the son of John Newberry Fraser Fergusson, FRCS Edinburgh, radiologist at York County Hospital. He was educated at St Peter's School, York, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he was college prizeman and scholar. He then went to St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he was awarded an open university scholarship, the Sutton-Sams Prize in gynaecology and the Cheselden Medal in surgery. After house appointments at St Thomas's Hospital he became FRCS in 1936 and registrar to the surgical unit. In 1938 he was appointed to the surgical staff at the Central Middlesex Hospital where he remained until his retirement in 1974. He developed an interest in urology, starting a department at the Central Middlesex, and in 1950 he was appointed a consultant surgeon to St Peter's and St Paul's Hospital. He played a big part in uniting the staffs of these two establishments. He was appointed the first director of teaching and research when the Institute of Urology was founded in 1951, a post he retained until 1971. Early in his career he developed a special interest in carcinoma of the prostate and he was one of the first to apply Huggins's discovery of the suppressive effect of oestrogens in that disease, and later he pioneered the technique of transsphenoidal Yttrium-90 for ablation of the pituitary in advanced disease. He was an excellent practical urologist - meticulous and unhurried - and he was held in enormous respect and affection by generations of registrars at St Paul's. At the College he was Hunterian Professor 1945-46. A founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, he was secretary from 1957 to 1960 and honorary editorial secretary three times, 1952-55, 1961-64 and 1967-69. Although he was highly critical in his assessment of papers submitted for publication, he was always kind, helpful and encouraging to the unsuccessful author - it was said that his rejection letters were almost a pleasure to receive. He was President 1970-72 and he received the St Peter's Medal in 1977. He was editor of the *British journal of urology* from 1966 to 1972 and at the end of his term of office he was appointed honorary consulting editor. He was a prolific writer and editor of urological texts. For over thirty years Fergusson was an essential part of the British urological scene which he enhanced both personally and professionally in an exceptional number of ways. By nature somewhat reserved those who knew him well appreciated the warmth of his personality and his profound concern for both his patients and his students. He married twice. His first wife, Alice, died in 1969 after a long, distressing illness. They had two sons, both now fourth generation doctors, one in general practice and a Fellow of the College and consultant gynaecologist. His second wife, Myrtle, brought him great happiness in the last ten years of his life and made a delightful home where they entertained their many friends from abroad. With her he shared his enthusiasm for salmon fishing. He died peacefully on 20 April 1979 after a short illness.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006480
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pardoe, John George (1870 - 1965)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Higham, Anthony Richard Charles (1907 - 1975)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-12-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006500-E006599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378761378761
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Anthony Richard Charles Higham was born at Murree, Punjab, on 11 June, 1907, eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel B Higham, CIE, IMS, and Florence Parsons, whose father was acting Governor of Madras Presidency. He was educated at Epsom College, 1919-24, King's College, University of London, 1924-27 and St George's Hospital, 1927-32. At St George's he won a senior university scholarship, the Pollock Prize and Webb Prize. After house appointments at St George's Hospital, he became surgical registrar at Charing Cross, 1934-36, and surgeon at St Paul's Hospital in 1939 and urologist to Queen Mary's Hospital, E15. He was Dean of the Institute of Urology from 1951 to 1967 and a foundation member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He was a member of the International Society of Urology and Council Member of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Higham was a most enthusiastic and active soldier being commissioned RA (TA) in 1927 and transferred to the RAMC (TA) in 1930. He served in the second world war in the UK, Africa, Iraq, Sicily and Italy (acting Colonel OC 22nd General Hospital, 1945). He was awarded the TD in 1945 and the Polish Golden Cross of Merit (with swords) in 1948. He married Mary, daughter of I W.Shepley of Glossop in 1931. His wife died in 1970, leaving two sons. He listed Rugby football, photography and motor sport as his chief extra-curricular activities. He was a member of the RAC Club and continued to play squash with the professionals long after his peers had abandoned this activity! Higham retired from urological practice in 1974 and lived in Storrington, West Sussex, where he died on 13 June, 1975, aged 68.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006578
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hanley, Howard Granville (1909 - 2001)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008600-E008699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380838380838
Occupation Urologist
Details Howard Hanley was an energetic and engaging urologist, one of those who in the early years of the NHS ensured that it would provide for specialist urology at a time when there was considerable opposition from the general surgeons. Howard was born in Hoylake, on the Wirral, on 27 July 1909. His father, Frederick Thomas Hanley, was engaged in the cotton exchange, his mother Edith née Hill, was the daughter of a ship owner. He was educated at St Bees School in Cumberland, before going on to Liverpool University, where he graduated in medicine in 1932. As a student he devoted himself to boxing and rugby, but after junior house jobs he decided that there were more serious things in life and he headed south for surgical training in London. A post in Hammersmith under George Grey Turner, where research was the order of the day, was a stimulating influence, but it was a residency at All Saints Hospital with Terence Millin which set the course of his career. In 1939, having gained the Fellowship, he was appointed to a full-time post at Hillingdon Hospital (then under Middlesex County Council) and in the same year he married Peggy (Margaret Jeffrey), who was to make a welcoming home for him for the rest of his life. His post at Hillingdon was a 'reserved occupation' and he spent the war serving that community and acquiring the skills which made him a rapid and efficient operating surgeon. He was appointed to St Paul's Hospital for Urinary Diseases in 1947, but did two years in the RAMC before taking up his duties. He then divided his time between Hillingdon and St Paul's, while still acting as civil consultant in urology to the Army. He proved to be an innovator, quick to appreciate the value of new techniques. Among other things, he was the first to see the potential of the X-ray image intensifier in the study of the malfunctioning urinary tract. He soon built up a considerable private practice and a keen following of postgraduate trainees. He served as Dean of the Institute of Urology and later, when on the Council of the College of Surgeons, as Dean of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. His teaching reputation brought many invitations to act as visiting professor in the USA. He played an important part in many societies and associations. He was President of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. As a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (of which he later became President) he toured the country, together with Leslie Pyrah, to urge health authorities to set up specialist departments. He was Vice-President of the College in 1979 and his many services to the profession were recognised by the award of the CBE in 1975. In the course of an exceptionally busy career, he still found time for social functions. And he and Peggy were able to enjoy some breaks at their house in the south of France. In the long years of retirement he became increasingly impatient with the handicaps of old age, but it was only towards the end that he ceased to attend functions at the College. He died on 18 February 2001, at the age of 91. He is survived by his wife and two sons, one of whom, David, is a plastic surgeon and a Fellow of the College. There are two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008655
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harrison, George (1920 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008600-E008699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380843380843
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist Vascular surgeon
Details George Harrison was born on 3 January 1920 in Leeds. His father, also George Harrison, was an engineer. He was educated at Cockburn High School in Leeds and Leeds University Medical School, where he was strongly influenced by Archie Derwood, won the anatomy prize and at first intended to be an anatomist. As a student he often watched Beecham rehearsing his orchestra, which had been evacuated to Leeds. After house jobs in Leeds, he became a demonstrator in anatomy, and then did a junior job with Henry Hamilton Stewart in Bradford, who was one of the pioneers of transurethral prostatectomy by means of the cold punch. Henry Stewart was very impressed: George Harrison had extraordinary manual skill, being ambidextrous, he could write beautifully with either hand and was a successful amateur magician. During the war he was not called up, but served as RSO in Bradford, which received large numbers of wounded after initial treatment in the South of England. He was appointed resident surgical officer and later first assistant to Henry Stewart in Leeds and ultimately returned to Leeds as surgical tutor. He was appointed consultant in Derby in 1952 at the Royal Infirmary, the City Children's Hospital and the City Hospital. He was a true general surgeon: he once likened surgery for oesophageal atresia to "sewing together two wet cigarette ends". He started vascular surgery in Derby when grafts were hand sewn from Terylene shirt tails, and he had to teach his radiologists how to do a translumbar aortogram in the post-mortem room. His main interest was in urology; he was renowned for his proficiency with the cold punch, only taking up the hot wire when the rod lens and fibre light became available. He was an enthusiastic surgical traveller, became secretary of the Punch Club and President of the 1921 Surgical Club. He was always interested in teaching practical surgery and was proud that at least four of his trainees ultimately became professors of surgery. In 1947, he married Muriel Robertshaw, a nurse he had met at Bradford. They had one daughter, Wendy and a son, G S M Harrison (Mark), who became a consultant urologist. He loved music, especially Mahler, played the piano occasionally, was a keen gardener, and was always making and mending things. He was made a senior Fellow of the British Association of Clinical Anatomists, and received the Silver Jubilee medal in 1977. Outwardly dour - one of his anaesthetists described his appearance as one of "*diabolical discontent*" - underneath there was a delightful and sympathetic sense of humour, but he could be very direct, especially if he smelt pomposity. In 1993, he suffered a massive coronary thrombosis with ventricular septal perforation and underwent two open heart operations. He died on 3 January 1997, on his 77th birthday, survived by his wife, children and grandchildren, Rachel, Ruth and Frances.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008660
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Doherty, William David (1893 - 1966)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-07-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E005000-E005999/E005700-E005799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377886377886
Occupation General surgeon Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist
Details Doherty, always called "George" though his real names were William David, was born on 17 July 1893 of Irish parents and educated at Dulwich College and King's College, Cambridge. He volunteered for active service when war broke out in August 1914, and served in France with the Royal Army Service Corps, attaining the rank of Captain, till he was recalled in 1917 to complete his medical training at Guy's Medical School. He qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1920, took his Cambridge medical degrees in 1921, and proceeded in 1923 to the Fellowship and in 1924 to the Cambridge Master of Surgery degree. At Guy's he served as house surgeon to Sir Alfred Fripp and was a demonstrator in anatomy; he was surgical registrar and tutor 1923-31, and assistant surgeon 1931-38. He succeeded A Ralph Thompson as genitourinary surgeon in 1936, and in 1948 followed T B Johnston in the very responsible post of Superintendent of the Hospital. He retired in 1958 and was elected a Governor of the Hospital, and of the Medical School from 1961. He was also a Governor of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich. During the second world war Doherty operated on two days each week at Orpington Hospital to which his in-patients had been evacuated from Guy's, and spent one night a week at Guy's to deal with surgical emergencies during the heavy German air-raids on London. When he became Superintendent, after the war, he restricted his clinical work entirely within the walls of Guy's, where he was also deeply involved in the successful but prolonged restoration of the hospital buildings after their severe damage by bombing. Doherty was an excellent teacher, and his wide knowledge of most fields of surgery made him an invaluable mentor to his assistants and nurses, beyond the bounds of urology. He was a genial, sympathetic friend to his colleagues, staff and patients. He had great physical and mental strength, balance and judgement. In his youth he was an outstanding athlete. At Cambridge he won a half-blue for water-polo and a blue for rugger; he played forward for his school and for Cambridge, and was Captain of Guy's XV for three years; he was capped seven times for Ireland in the rugby international matches, and was captain of the Irish XV in 1921. Doherty married in 1922 Annie Ruth Margaret Barker, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. He died on 31 March 1966 at Forge Cottage, Chipstead, Surrey, aged seventy-two.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005703
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ball, Andrew Justin (1949 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Roger Feneley
Publication Date 2015-02-16 2015-08-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378962378962
Occupation Urologist
Details Andrew Ball, always known to his friends as 'Andy', was a consultant urologist in Southend, Essex. He was born in Bristol on 22 July 1949, the son of Keith Seymour Ball and Joan S Ball née Godfrey. Both parents were schoolteachers in the city and in his youth he regularly accompanied his father to support Bristol Rovers football team. His accomplishment as a pianist gained him an exhibition to Clifton School and later gave him the opportunity to consider a career in music. However, his humility and lack of pretension totally obscured his musical talents, which were only revealed to a few close contemporaries who recall his virtuoso performances at school and the entertaining compositions which he happily produced for student reviews. He studied medicine at Bristol University, qualifying MB BS in 1972. He held house posts in Bath and Bristol, and then became an anatomy demonstrator at Bristol University. From 1974 to 1975 he was a senior house officer in surgery and urology at Bristol Royal Infirmary. He then became a registrar in surgery in Cardiff for two years. In 1979 he was a senior registrar at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. From 1980 to 1982 he was a senior registrar in urology at Ham Green Hospital, Bristol. He then became a senior registrar in urology at Bristol Royal Infirmary. Appointed as a consultant urologist at Southend-on-Sea in 1984, he built up a large, comprehensive department of urology whilst retaining his specialist interest in functional disorders. With impressive interpersonal skills, Andy became an extremely popular consultant, respected with sincere affection by patients and all grades of staff. Natural self-effacement restrained him from seeking the accolades he deserved for praiseworthy mile-stones achieved during his professional career. His research focused on the natural history of untreated male lower urinary tract symptoms, at that time termed 'prostatism', building on the objective assessment that urodynamic studies were introducing to lower urinary tract disorders at that time. He showed for the first time that most men do not require urgent prostate surgery. This seminal work produced a prestigious, internationally applauded publication on the subject during the completion of his MD thesis, providing the foundation for subsequent studies ('The natural history of untreated "prostatism"'. *British Journal of Urology* 1981 Dec;53[6]:613-6). His loyalty to his home city of Bristol and the long-standing relationships with friends, colleagues and teachers formed a particularly endearing feature of his relaxed, well-balanced character. His ability to spread good cheer with a broad engaging smile, a sparkling, almost wicked wit which he tinged with a unique touch of irony, made him a very warm, friendly entertaining companion on any occasion. Astronomy became one of Andy's major hobbies when he moved to Southend and typically he could talk with a great deal of knowledge and authority on the subject, yet few of his friends would have been aware of this. His sudden death on 8 January 2015 in early retirement came as a profound shock to all who knew him and occurred during a short, severe viral illness. He was 65. He left a wife Georgina (née Watson), whom he met when she was working as a staff nurse at Bristol Royal Infirmary, and a son, Alex.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006779
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kinder, Cyril Hugh (1922 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008700-E008799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380894380894
Occupation Urologist
Details Hugh Kinder was a consultant urologist at Guy's. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on 12 March 1922. His father, Geoffrey, was a civil engineer in charge of irrigation in the days of the British Mandate, where he was involved in increasing the height of the Aswan Dam. Returning to England, he was involved with the flood protection works in the fens under Sir Murdoch Macdonald. His mother, Winifred, was the granddaughter of a farmer who was the first to gin his own cotton in Beni Souef, Upper Egypt. Hugh was educated at Sherborne, where he was allowed to go bird watching in lieu of cricket. Hugh and a group of boys, including Gordon Jolly (the gynaecologist), Peter Twiss (the test pilot) and Philip Ware (of the Otter Trust) taught themselves falconry, built their own mews, and progressed from kestrels to merlins and goshawks. He also learned to paint in oils and water-colours, as well as the techniques of printing and drypoint. From Sherborne, he went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he met his future wife, Audrey Debenham, the daughter of the first Professor of Geography at the University and the youngest member of Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition. Hugh went on to Guy's Hospital for his clinical studies and distinguished himself in boxing and rugby football. After being house surgeon to Slesinger, Eckhoff and Hedley Atkins at Guy's, he did his National Service in the RAF, serving in Barrackpore and Karachi. He returned as an ex-service house surgeon to Sir Heneage Ogilvie at Guy's, did a spell as a demonstrator of anatomy, and was registrar at Guy's and at Sidcup, before becoming urological registrar under Doherty and Kilpatrick. He did a year as RSO at St Peter's Hospital and the newly founded Institute of Urology. After three months at Johns Hopkins, he was appointed to the staff of Guy's Hospital in 1958 and soon devoted himself to urology exclusively, at a time when most urology was done by general surgeons. He was an inspirational leader and teacher, as well as a first class technical surgeon, with a particular interest in paediatric urology. He had many interests outside medicine, which made him an interesting and amusing companion. He was a strong supporter of British Association of Urological Surgeons, its honorary secretary from 1969 to 1972, but declined the presidency. He retired in 1986 and moved to South Walsham, Norfolk, where he continued to work in his garden, paint (he held regular exhibitions of his water-colours) and sail - he was racing only a few weeks before he died. He was active in village life and chairman of the parish council. He married Audrey in 1949. Of their five children, one son, Richard, became a consultant urologist in Cheltenham. He survived two cancers, the first urological and the second gastrointestinal, before developing a third tumour which led to his death, on 22 December 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008711
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Johnson, Joseph Arthur Russell (1913 - 1984)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007300-E007399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379550379550
Occupation General practitioner General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Joseph Arthur Russell Johnson was born on 30 December 1913 and his early education was at King Edward VII School in Birmingham, where he was a foundation scholar. He entered Birmingham University for his medical studies, graduating in 1936 and subsequently serving as house officer in his teaching hospital. He spent some time in general practice before the war and was also resident surgical officer at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Early in 1939 he joined the Territorial Army and shortly after the outbreak of war was called up, initially serving in the Middle East with a Field Ambulance and eventually becoming a graded surgeon. While serving in the Middle East he met and married Mary and in 1944 they returned with their young daughter. Shortly after demobilisation he passed the FRCS and later worked at St George's Hospital. Within a few years he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Royal Salop Infirmary, honorary consultant surgeon to the Montgomery County Infirmary, Newtown, and to the Robert Jones and Afnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry. Although a general surgeon he had a special interest in urology throughout his professional career. He retired in 1978 and towards the end of his life worked briefly in the new Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Apart from his professional work he was an enthusiastic countryman and gardener. He shared a great interest in fine art and furniture with his wife and was an authority on paintings. He died on 26 January 1984 aged 70 and is survived by his wife, two daughters, one of whom is in general practice, and a son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007367
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Potts, Ian Faulkner (1921 - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-06-12 2018-02-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379650379650
Occupation Urologist
Details Ian Potts was a consultant urologist in Sydney. He was born in Sydney on 30 September 1921, the son of Theodore Kenneth Potts and Violet Mary Potts née Canning. His father, uncle, brother, nephew and cousin were all doctors. He was educated at Newington College, where he was *dux*, and then went on to study medicine at Sydney University. He won the Renwick prize and qualified in 1944. From 1944 to 1947 he served as a captain in the Royal Australasian Medical Corps. He was a resident medical officer and then senior medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. From 1951 to 1986 he was an honorary urologist at Sydney Hospital, from 1954 to 1982 at the Women's Hospital and from 1982 to 1986 at the Prince Henry Hospital. He was also a lecturer in urology at Sydney University. From 1979 to 1982 he was an honorary urologist for the Royal Australasian Navy. Outside medicine he played squash and tennis, and enjoyed wine, fast cars, Eastern antiques, gardening and travel. In 1944, he married Judy Barraclough. They had two sons and divorced in 1968. Ian Faulkner Potts died on 8 October 1996 at the age of 75.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007467
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kille, John Narkett (1927 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Mary L Kille
Publication Date 2015-08-07 2015-09-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379843379843
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details John Kille was a general surgeon and urologist in Burnie, Tasmania. He was born in Surrey, of parents Reginald Kille, an accountant, and Rene Vernon. As a boy he lived near Croyden, spending many hours watching civil aeroplanes and later RAF fighters and bombers, soon becoming a competent aircraft spotter. Evacuated to Bristol, these talents were useful during air raids; he became a 'runner', passing on information to the authorities. The family house was bombed and he watched melted Rowntree's chocolate flowing down the street. In Bristol he attended St Brendan's College. He joined the Air Training Corps, gaining his certificate as air crew and flying in many military planes. His ambition had been to join the RAF, but at his medical examination he was found to be red-green colour blind. Disappointed, John joined the Coldstream Guards, then was commissioned from the ranks into the 4/7th Dragoon Guards, choosing this regiment as it was the only one then on active service in Palestine (1947 to 1948), policing the British Mandate. Serving in tanks and armoured cars, he was with the last British force to withdraw, via Haifa. In 1949 he enrolled at Birmingham Medical School, qualifying in 1955 and marrying Mary Mackay (a student in the same year). He opted for a career in surgery, which was at that time difficult to achieve as there was a 'bulge' of highly qualified men returning from the Second World War, but he was able to take all the right jobs on the consultant 'ladder'. (He also climbed with 'The Vacancy Club', a mountaineering group of consultants and registrars, the aim of the latter being to dislodge the incumbents!) He was a resident surgical officer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the General Hospital Birmingham and senior registrar at both hospitals. He also worked at the United Oxford Hospitals. In 1960 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and of Edinburgh. At this time he was advised that if he aimed to be a surgeon, he should change his surname. His response was in the negative: the name had stood his ancestors in good stead. (Since his death his name has been traced back to Francis Kill, born in Hampshire in 1610.) Fascinated by urology, he worked on the fledgling artificial kidney (dialysis) unit in 1962 and 1967 with James L Lawson, experimenting with osmotic membranes and electrolyte solutions mixed in buckets with teaspoons. His training in urology had started with Robert Kersey Debenham, and later with Guy Baines and Paul Dawson Edwards. Eventually he was appointed to the Hull Royal Infirmary as a urologist. He became a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Five years later, taking a trip to Tasmania, he was so entranced by its beauty and way of life, that he and his family packed up and emigrated to Burnie. He worked at the North West General Hospital, where he was a general surgeon and later a specialist urologist, and his wife worked as an anaesthetist. As the hospital was affiliated with the medical school of Tasmania, he taught students and residents. His skills are long remembered for the clarity with which he would explain the relation of form and function. He was a member the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1983. He was able to combine his surgical work in Tasmania with living on a small farm, raising sheep, cattle and pigs, work he shared with his neighbour, a vet. On retiring he designed, and helped to build, a home in the bush overlooking the sea, where there was amazing wildlife, including Tasmanian devils, peregrine falcons and eagles, so indulging his passion for bird-watching - an enviable way of living. He was a talented painter and designed spectacular scenery for Rotary balls (once constructing a 7/8th model of Captain Cook's *Endeavour*) and some amazing sets for annual old time music halls. After gaining his private pilot's licence, he built his own X-Air Ultralight plane in his backyard and flew it on many trips over the beautiful coasts and islands of the northwest coast. He served for 16 years on the board of Umina Park and One-Care, Tasmanian aged care facilities. In 1989 he was awarded a Paul Harris fellowship, the highest honour in Rotary International, for his contribution to the community. Latterly he lost both legs to generalised vascular disease, but, undaunted, continued inventing ingenious ways of maintaining his independence, whizzing around his property in a 90cc four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle, strapped on with his old Army webbing belt. John Kille died on 9 May 2015. He was 87. He was survived by his wife Mary, two children, and nine grandchildren, all living interesting lives around the world.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007660
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tait, Ivan Ballantyne (1928 - 1994)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-08-07 2018-05-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379852379852
Occupation Urologist
Details Ivan Ballantyne Tait was a consultant in charge of genitourinary medical services at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He was born on 14 September 1928 in Stepps, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father, also Ivan Tait, was a civil engineer; his mother was Elise Alexander Tait née Forsyth. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, qualifying in 1951. After house posts, he carried out his National Service from 1952 to 1954, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a medical officer to the Gurkha Rifles in Malaya. He was mentioned in despatches in 1953. He was a senior house officer on the professorial surgical unit and a house surgeon on the neurosurgical unit, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and then a registrar at St Mary's Hospital in London. He went on to become a senior surgical registrar Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. From 1964 to 1966, he was a surgical research fellow at the University of Kentucky, USA. On his return, he was appointed as a consultant surgeon in genitourinary medicine at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and later moved on to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He became a colonel in the Territorial Army (RAMC), and was an honorary surgeon (Territorial Army) to HM The Queen from 1985 to 1988. He was president of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh and a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. In 1965, he married Jocelyn Mary Connell Leggatt. They had two children - Arabella and Alexander - and two grandchildren. Ivan Ballantyne Tait died on 14 November 2004, aged 76.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007669
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Slater, Noel Stephen ( - 1976)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Ramage, John Steven (1900 - 1986)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-07-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379788379788
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Stephen Ramage, the son of William Ramage, a coal master's traveller, and of Isobel Leitch Ramage (née Forster), was born at Greenock, Scotland, on 22 September 1900. He was educated at Greenock High School and Glasgow University, and also spent one year at Edinburgh University, graduating in 1922. After resident appointments at Bury Infirmary 1922-1924, he was resident surgical officer at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary and was appointed as assistant surgeon there in 1925 and consultant surgeon in 1935, an appointment which he held until his retirement in 1965. He also worked at Haywood and Burslem Hospitals. "JSR", or Johnny, as he was affectionately known, was an individualist and a very sound all round general surgeon, though developing a growing interest in urology later. He showed great determination as an operator but was a man of sound judgement who instinctively knew when not to operate. He had a wide knowledge of the surgical literature and a phenomenal memory for cases and faces which gave him the reputation of a walking *Index Medicus*. He was an enthusiastic teacher, thereby epitomising the great traditions in which he had been reared. Never an innovator, he was always ready to practise recently published advances. He was an active member of the BMA and was Chairman of the Stoke-on-Trent Branch at the inception of the NHS and Chairman of the North Staffordshire Division in 1963. A former President of both the Midland Surgical Society, the Midland Urological Club and the North Staffordshire Medical Society, he was a founder member of the North Staffordshire Medical Institute, it's first Chairman and later a Vice-President. He had onetime examined in surgery for Birmingham University. Very appropriately he was elected FRCS ad eundem in 1963 and also received the honorary MA of Keele University in 1965. Johnny lived a busy social life and was captain and president of Trentham Golf Club, and president of the local Caledonian Society. He was a senior alderman and past mayor of the Ancient Corporation of Hanley. He had a fantastic knowledge of sport and would commonly confound less well informed mortals on soccer, golf and the sport of kings. When he ceased operative work in 1965 there was greater time and opportunity for all these activities. He had married Dr Mary Muriel Moller, a consultant anaesthetist, in 1930, and they had one son and four daughters of whom three were respectively physiotherapist, nurse and radiographer. When he died on 7 March 1986 he was survived by his wife and five children, and was described by one of his retired surgical colleagues as "the doyen of surgery in North Staffordshire - the area owes more to him than any other surgeon who has ever worked here."
Resource Identifier RCS: E007605
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Griffiths, Iorwerth Havard (1909 - 1995)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007900-E007999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380154380154
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Iorwerth Havard Griffiths, always affectionately known as 'Griff', was born at Barry in Glamorgan on 12 January 1909. His father Roland was a master baker and caterer and his mother Celia, née Havard, a housewife. His older brother, G J Griffiths FRCS (1901-1987) was consultant surgeon at Bedford. He was educated at Barry County School and went to medical school in Cardiff and also to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. During his undergraduate years he was particularly impressed by the Professor of Anatomy, Professor West, at the Cardiff Medical School. When the war came he was called up into the RAMC in September 1939 as a surgical specialist with the rank of major, and went on to serve in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Tobruk. After the war he became attached to the urological department at the Middlesex Hospital with Eric Riches, later becoming a consultant, and also achieving consultant status at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, and the spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He became treasurer of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and served in this capacity from 1969 to 1972. His many publications were exclusively on urological subjects, reflecting his career in the specialty and his special experience with management of urinary tract problems in paraplegics. As a young man he played rugby for Cardiff University between 1930 and 1932, and later in life his interest in music included making violins for his grandchildren; he also enjoyed playing golf. He married a teacher, Dorothy Joan Thomas, on 9 September 1939 and they had two children: a son, who became an electronic engineer, and a daughter who qualified at the Middlesex Hospital and subsequently took up general practice in Chalfont, Buckinghamshire. He died in December 1995.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007971
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McEachern, Alistair Campbell (1904 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379631379631
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Alistair Campbell McEachern was born on 30 June 1904 at Mt Gambier, South Australia. He was the son of Alexander McLean McEachern, a grazier and his wife, Catherine Jane, née McFarlane. He was educated at Mt Gambier High School and entered the Adelaide High School with the Thomas Price Scholarship in 1920. At the Adelaide School of Medicine he won the Davies Thomas Prize and the Everard Scholarship and qualified MB, BS in 1926. There he fell under the spell of Frederic Wood Jones. He came to England to read for the FRCS and was resident medical officer at King George Hospital, Ilford, from 1930 to 1933. On return to Adelaide he became assistant surgeon to the Adelaide Children's Hospital from 1937 to 1947 - an appointment which was interrupted by the war. He served with the 2nd AIF from 1941 to 1946 as Lieutenant-Colonel, RAAMC, and was Officer-in-Charge Surgical Division in three general hospitals. He was posted to Ceylon and North Queensland. He was appointed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1946 where he served on the Board of Governors, and was active in the affairs of the RACS, as a member of Council 1961-1973, Senior Vice-President 1971-3; on their Court of Examiners (1954-1971) and Chairman (1963-1971). He was the Anstey Giles lecturer in 1974. The Royal College of Surgeons appointed him Hunterian Professor in 1957 when he was invited to become a member of the Court of Examiners. He wrote extensively on general surgery and urology and was on the editorial committees of the *British journal of surgery* and the *Australian and New Zealand journal of surgery*. Perhaps it was his Hunterian lecture entitled "*Towards Safety in Prostatectomy*" which made him most known to his contemporaries and juniors: in its day it was a landmark. His hobbies were photography, painting and ornithology. He married Dr Rita Margaret McAnaney in 1930 and they had three daughters, Heather, who became a social worker, and Jean and Margaret who were physiotherapists. He died on 6 May 1989 at the age of 85 survived by his family which by then included a grandson Dr Michael Eaton who was studying to become a surgeon and a granddaughter Dr Susanna Proudman who was attending a physician training programme.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007448
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Angell, James Cyril (1918 - 1994)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007700-E007799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379975379975
Occupation Urologist
Details James Cyril Angell received his medical education at the Middlesex Hospital. After qualification he was for a time resident surgical officer at St Mark's Hospital and senior surgical registrar at the Central Middlesex Hospital and the Middlesex Hospital before moving to specialise in urology, and became consultant urologist at Ashford Hospital in Middlesex. His book *The acute abdomen for the man on the spot* (1965 and 1968) received good reviews in several journals, and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine linked it with Zachary Cope's *Acute abdomen in rhyme* as 'meriting a place not on the bookshelf but on the table or bedside of practising medicos.' Angell died on 2 September 1994.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007792
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dix, Victor Wilkinson (1899 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-07
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007900-E007999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380093380093
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Victor Wilkinson Dix was born in Dorset on 24 May 1899 and educated privately. He served in the Royal Flying Corps from 1917 to 1919, then went up to Cambridge to study medicine there and at the London Hospital. He was appointed assistant surgeon to the London in 1930 and eventually became Professor of surgery there from 1947 until he retired in 1964. During the second world war he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in north Africa and north east Asia from 1941 to 1947. Early in his career Victor Dix developed an interest in urology. After seeing Von Lichtenberg use Uroselectan for urography in Berlin he used the method himself in Britain and gained an international reputation for the surgery of hydronephrosis. While serving in north Africa during the war he saw large numbers of dehydrated young troops with ureteric calculi; he developed a method to remove these that was unrivalled for accuracy, speed and simplicity. Dix was an elegant and rapid operator though not easy to assist, his headlamp making it difficult for anyone else to see into the depths of a wound. In urethral instrumentation his mountaineer's hands were surprisingly delicate and dexterous: no stricture was too difficult for him to negotiate, no bladder calculus could resist his classical lithotrite. The method that he developed with Walter Shanks for treating bladder cancer with radon seeds was a major advance over the cruel techniques then widely used. For one who kept such meticulous notes it is a pity that he wrote so little, for to his wide experience he added total recall. Much of his effort went into editing the multi-volume *Encyclopaedia of Urology* from 1958 to 1965. Although his main interest was urology, he persuaded the board of governors of the London Hospital to build a surgical research laboratory and used this to entice the brilliant young Scottish investigators W T Irvine and H D Ritchie to the hospital. They changed the whole style of surgical teaching and, among other research projects, instigated fundamental studies into the physiology of peptic ulceration that eventually led to the H2 antagonists, which virtually eliminated the need for surgery. With his colleague Gerald Tresidder, Dix established a purpose-built outpatient department with its own x-ray suite, and there, long before day case surgery became a catchphrase, large numbers of procedures were performed under local or general anaesthesia. Twice each month in the combined cystoscopy follow through clinic some 50 check cystoscopies for cancer would be performed by his team of assistants at four tables between 1.30 and 4 pm. An expert photographer, mountaineer and tennis player, Victor was a passionate opera goer: Puccini would move him to tears. He was a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, becoming its President in 1962, and served on the Court of Examiners of the College. He died on 29 June 1992 aged 93, and was survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007910
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Edwards, Lynn Euryl (1939 - 1991)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-07 2017-06-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007900-E007999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380099380099
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Lynn Edwards was born in Gorseinon on 12 April 1939, the son of a lecturer in the Smith Reardon Nautical College. He was educated at Cardiff High School for Boys from which he won a state scholarship and an open exhibition to Downing College Cambridge. There he rowed and played rugby football, and won the Philliter Entrance Scholarship in pathology to University College Hospital Medical School. At UCH while he continued to play the piano and rugby football and to row, he managed to find time to qualify with a distinction in surgery, win prizes in medicine, obstetrics and surgery, gain the Aicheson Exhibition, and to woo Elinor, the nurse who became his wife. After junior posts at UCH and its associated hospitals, where he fell under the spell of his fellow-Welshman D R Davies, he passed the FRCS and was appointed a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital to Alec Badenoch and John Blandy. This led to the coveted post of senior registrar, which carried him on rotation through all the hospitals of the Institute of Urology, and culminated in the appointment as lecturer and research fellow. During these years he carried out fruitful and original research into the mechanisms of continence which gained him a Hunterian professorship and his Cambridge MChir. His first consultant post was at the Middlesex Hospital in 1975. He moved on to the Westminster Hospital in 1977 where he had to overcome many administrative obstacles before he was able to build up a first-rate specialised urological department. His career was not without pitfalls: in 1969 Lynn diagnosed his own seminoma. The standard treatment of the day cured him but twenty years later, not coincidentally, he developed a second primary carcinoma of the bowel which led to his death. A man of exceptional charm, Lynn was quietly passionate about many things: his native language, music, his Christian faith, rowing, rugby, freemasonry and good fellowship. Nothing gave him so much pleasure as to take part in the Royal National Eisteddfod, in whose Gorsedd he was not only an active member but an honorary bard of the White Order. A popular teacher, he was president of the boat club and rugby football club of the medical school. In urology he was a shrewd and active innovator. He was only 51 when he died, leaving a wife, three sons and one daughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007916
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sanger, Bernard James (1910 - 1990)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Pearson, Bruce Samuel (1926 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-25
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008200-E008299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380434380434
Occupation Urologist
Details Bruce Pearson was born in Cairns, Queensland, on 29 July 1926, the son of Dr Henry Roy Pearson, a general practitioner with a special interest in obstetrics, and Louisa Agnes Crum. He went to Armidale High School, Perth Modern School and Sydney University, where he represented his school and college in practically every known sport. After graduating with honours he did house jobs in Sydney and then came to England to specialise in surgery, living in the Nuffield College, attending the RCS courses, and passing the FRCS in 1953. For a brief period he worked in South Shields, but returned to Australia to take up the Gordon Craig fellowship in urology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1954, where he did research and was much influenced by Llew Wheeler. He was appointed visiting urologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1956. He visited the USA and the UK in 1962 to observe the major figures of the day, being particularly impressed by David Innes Williams. He became head of department in 1969. Bruce Pearson was well known and highly respected on the international urological scene, a regular visitor to BAUS and AUA, visiting professor to a dozen cities in Europe and the USA, and a staunch member of the Société Internationale d'Urologie, of which he was President-elect, when he died quite unexpectedly shortly before the meeting in Sydney was to take place. A deft and rapid operator, he was an expert with the Harris transvesical prostatectomy, though he could turn his hand to any urological procedure with equal facility. He was a better than average artist, illustrating his own papers and becoming honorary calligrapher to the Urological Society of Australasia, of which he was President from 1974 to 1975. He published extensively, making important contributions in the field of bladder cancer and other urological malignancies. Bruce was a cheerful and happy man, a fund of good stories, and delightful company. He married Gwen Wonders, a nurse, in September 1953. They had two daughters - Linda, a senior lecturer in law, and Lesley, a medical officer - and two sons - Robert, a solicitor and Andrew, a teacher. Bruce Pearson died on 28 February 1992, survived by his wife and family.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008251
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hamer, William Anthony (1919 - 1993)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Beynon, Leonard Lewis (1946 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Ross, James Cosbie (1904 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-07-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379831379831
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details James Cosbie Ross was born in Liverpool on 17 May 1904. He was the son and grandson of doctors, his father being James Ross, a general practitioner in Walton, Liverpool. His mother was Delia Cosbie and James, as the eldest child, took the name of Cosbie. James used this name and linked Ross as 'Cobbie Ross'. He was educated at Liverpool University Medical School. All his life, pre- and postgraduate was spent in Liverpool. He qualified MB, ChB in 1925 with honours and distinction in medicine, passed the MRCS, LRCP the same year, gained the Fellowship in 1930, and the Liverpool ChM in 1931. Cosbie Ross was appointed to the staff of the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1932 as a general surgeon. He continued at this hospital until 1945 when on the appointment of Charles Wells as Professor, he was transferred to the Royal Southern Hospital as a senior. He was particularly influenced in his training by Sir Robert Kelly. He showed a progressive interest in urology and in 1943 gave a Hunterian Lecture entitled 'Injuries of the urinary bladder'. At the Royal Southern Hospital he founded a urological unit, one of the first such units in the north west of England. Here he worked on tuberculosis of the renal tract and on urological problems association with spinal injury. He wrote many papers on genitourinary tuberculosis and contributed urological chapters in several textbooks. He wrote a textbook himself *Essentials of surgery for dental students* and he was the lecturer in surgery to the Liverpool School of Dental Surgery for many years. Maybe he will find a place in the Guinness book of records as he wrote no less than seventy-nine articles on urological subjects and some twenty-four on the neurological bladder. Ross indeed did pioneer work in relation to the urological problems of spinal cord injury. He became assistant editor of the journal *Paraplegia*, edited by Sir Ludwig Guttman, 'father' of the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville. He was appointed director of urological studies at Liverpool University where he was also Chairman of faculty. He was an external examiner to the University of Manchester. He was made an honorary member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and became President of the Moynihan Chirurgical Club. His interests included shooting, fishing, walking (including long distances on Hadrian's Wall and the Pennine Way), sailing and collecting early English watercolours. He acted as honorary appeals director for the final phase of the building of the Anglican Cathedral at Liverpool. His last book was in conjunction, with his brother - *A gifted touch* - a biography of Agnes Jones, the friend and collaborator of Florence Nightingale. He married Muriel Orton in 1934, having one son, Andrew, and one daughter, Lindy. His wife died in 1963. His son, who also qualified at Liverpool, is a gynaecologist at Middlesbrough. A few months before he died he was awarded the 1989 medal of the International Medical Society for Paraplegia, of which he was a foundation member. He died on 15 September 1989 having developed a paraplegia from secondary malignant disease in the spine, the primary being prostatic.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007648
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pyragh, Leslie Norman (1899 - 1995)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008200-E008299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380473380473
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Leslie Norman Pyragh was born at Farnley, near Leeds, on 11 April 1899, the son of a headmistress. Unfortunately no further details of his forbears are available. He was educated at Leeds Central High School and served in the army during the final stages of the first world war. He then read medicine at Leeds University, interrupting his course to take an honours degree in physiology. On qualification he did a wide variety of resident training posts during the next five years, notably with Berkeley Moynihan at the Leeds General Infirmary, where he became surgical tutor. In 1932 he secured a travelling scholarship to visit urological centres in Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, Innsbruck and Paris, and was then appointed assistant surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary and Public Dispensary in 1934. He was also visiting surgeon to a number of neighbouring hospitals and lecturer in surgery to Leeds University. Following appointment as consultant surgeon to St James's Hospital in 1940 and to the Infirmary in 1944 he built up a large general surgical practice. In 1948 he was elected to the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) which had only formed three years earlier. He then co-founded the Urological Club, comprising urologists from the teaching hospitals. His consuming interest in urology led him to give up his general surgical practice and start a department of urology in Leeds. By 1956 he was appointed professor of urological surgery in his outstandingly successful department which had attracted researchers of the highest calibre. In the same year he became director of the Medical Research Council Unit in Leeds and set up the first renal haemodialysis unit in the UK with Dr Frank Parsons as its head. He and Professor Bill Spiers persuaded the Wellcome Foundation and other benefactors to fund a four storey research building for the Infirmary which was completed in 1959. Pyragh did outstanding and tireless work in promoting urology and urological specialist centres throughout Britain. He was President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1958; President of BAUS from 1961 to 1963; a member of College Council from 1960 to 1968 and was appointed CBE in 1963. In his youth Leslie Pyragh was a gifted pianist (at one time considering a possible career as a concert pianist) as well as a formidable tennis player. He enjoyed good food and wine and was an excellent cook with a particular taste for sauces. He also collected Chinese porcelain and Dutch paintings. Affectionately known as 'Poppah Pyragh' he had a somewhat portly figure and, even in the hottest climate, he always wore a mackintosh and a crumpled grey felt hat. He was a true Yorkshireman of rugged independence, friendly and approachable, never pulling rank and notably hospitable at all times. Pyragh married Mary Christopher Bailey in 1934. She died in 1990 and they had a son and a daughter who survived him when he died on 30 April 1995, another son having predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008290
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Mason, Joseph Ian Campbell ( - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching John, David Richard ( - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380291380291
Occupation Urologist
Details David Richard John qualified MB BS in 1955 having studied at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, and gained his Fellowship in 1963. After junior posts at St Peter's Hospital and the Institute of Urology he became a surgical registrar at the Charing Cross and Royal Masonic Hospitals, before becoming consultant urologist at the Hillingdon, Harefield and Watford General Hospitals, remaining in these posts until his retirement in 1995. He died on 15 July 1996, survived by his wife Mary and his children Elizabeth, Nicholas and Kathryn.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008108
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Matheson, Norman Murdoch (1897 - 1977)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-02-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378920378920
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Norman Murdoch Matheson was born in Stanway and was educated at Wellington College, New Zealand, and despite a serious rugger injury which necessitated six months in hospital he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and served in an infantry battalion in France in 1918. He was demobilised in 1919 and returned to New Zealand to the University of Otago. He was a contemporary and friend of Sir Archibald Mclndoe and Lord Porritt. He graduated MB ChB NZ in 1924 and gained the University Medal for clinical medicine. After a house appointment at the Wanganui Hospital he came to England and qualified MRCS LRCP London 1928, FRCS 1929, MRCP London 1931 and FACS 1939. Among resident appointments he served at the Birmingham Maternity Hospital where he met his wife Louise Johnson, a fellow resident. He became surgeon to the Central Middlesex Hospital and thence to the Ashford Hospital, Middlesex. He was especially interested in urology and was an assistant editor of the *British journal of urology* for many years. He edited the seventh edition of Hamilton Bailey's *Emergency surgery*, 1958. He was Chairman of the Middlesex County Medical Society in 1946. In 1961 at the invitation of the British Council he acted as Professor of Urology at the University of Shiraz for several months. He was a keen philatelist and wrote a *History of medicine in stamps*. He had an unassuming manner but his astute clinical acumen was matched by a fine surgical technique. His wife was Medical Officer of Health to Staines. They had two daughters and a son who is a biologist in Canada. He died on 27 July 1977, in his 80th year.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006737
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Salvaris, Michael (1940 - 1979)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379093379093
Occupation Urologist
Details Michael Salvaris qualified in medicine in Melbourne in 1940 and became resident medical officer to the Royal Perth Hospital in 1941. During the second world war he served as a Captain with the AAMC, 194143. He held posts at various hospitals while studying for his FRCS in the early '50's. He was surgical registrar at the St Helier Hospital, London; assistant consultant surgeon at the Pembroke Memorial Hospital, Wales; registrar in urology at the Fulham Hospital and St Mary Abbot's Hospital, London; and senior registrar at St Peter's and St Paul's Hospitals, London. Moving to the United States he became senior resident urologist to the University of Tennessee. He returned to Australia and became honorary urologist to the Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne and the West Gippsland Hospital. He died in Greece on 3 August 1979.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006910
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Carver, James Hudner (1897 - 1993)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007800-E007899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380033380033
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in Kanturk, County Cork on 1 June 1897, the son of William Carver, a landowner, and his wife Catherine, née Hannon, James Carver went from St Brendan's College in Killarney to Cork University before going to the London Hospital for his clinical studies. After his early training he developed an interest in urology, and was a registrar at All Saints to Canny Ryall. A keen Territorial, he commanded the 167 City of London Field Ambulance which, on the outbreak of war, was expanded to become the 17th London General Hospital, of which he became Colonel and served throughout the war in this command. After the war he returned to the consultant staff of St Mary Abbots and Lambeth Hospitals and was one of the twenty seven additional foundation members of the newly-formed British Association of Urological Surgeons which met on 3 May 1945. He wrote a number of papers on urological subjects, and continued to be a keen Territorial and an active member of the Chelsea Clinical Society. He became secretary to the Territorial Army Medical Officers' Association, and was consultant surgeon to the Rhodesia Fairbridge Memorial Hospital. He married Aileen Penelope, the younger daughter of Commander Norman Craig-Lockhart (RN) in 1951. Apart from the TA his other interests were foreign travel, food and wine. He died on 12 April 1993 survived by his wife and their only son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007850
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Mitchell, William Eric Marcus (1897 - 1990)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007500-E007599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379703379703
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details William Eric Marcus Mitchell was born at Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland, on 29 April 1897, the son of Dr John Finlay Mitchell, a medical practitioner and Anna, nee Shaw. His early education was at Campbell College, Belfast, and after leaving school he joined the Royal Irish Rifles, serving in France from 1916 to 1918 and being awarded the Military Cross in 1917. After demobilisation he entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1922. Within a year of qualifying he had passed the FRCS to a surgical unit at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he served under Sir Holburt Waring, Sir Girling Ball and McAdam Eccles. He was also clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital for Stone. He passed the MRCP in 1931 and emigrated to Victoria, British Columbia, where he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Jubilee Hospital. On the outbreak of war he returned to England, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1939 to 1946 as officer commanding a surgical division with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. At the end of the war he returned to his post in Canada, practising general surgery and urology until he retired. He married Catherine Hamilton in 1922 and there was one daughter of the marriage. His outside interests were climbing mountains, photography and painting. He died on 27 December 1990, aged 93.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007520
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hollands, Frank Gordon (1912 - 1985)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007300-E007399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379521379521
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Frank Gordon Hollands was born in Bakewell, Derbyshire on 5 October 1912, and received his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital where he graduated in 1936. He served in the RNVR during the war and was then appointed surgical registrar to the United Birmingham Hospitals. He took the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1947 and the same year was awarded the Jacksonian Prize. He held a Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1950 for work on bladder cancer. He moved to Derby in 1947 and was appointed consultant surgeon with a major interest in urology to the Derby Hospital Group. He was also a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the International Society of Urology. In 1973 he was awarded the FRCS ad eundum. Gordon Hollands was a keen sportsman and an outstanding ornithologist and cine-photographer. He was a founder member of both the hospital cricket team and the Derby Ornithological Society. He won national acclaim for his excellent films on birds and nature subjects, including a BBC prize film on golden eagles, and he lectured extensively to societies all over the country. He also used his photographic skills in forming a tape-slide library for postgraduate teaching in the Trent Region and for several years before his retirement he was responsible for this service which was widely used in postgraduate teaching. He died on 29 January 1985, and was survived by his wife Pat and five children, one of whom is a GP in Dorset, and another a veterinary surgeon.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007338
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sandrey, John Gordon (1903 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Ingall, John Robert Franklin ( - 1994)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008000-E008099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380204380204
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ingall received his medical education at the Westminster Hospital and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1952. He gained the London MB BS in the following year. After holding house posts at the Westminster Hospital and surgical registrarships there and at the Royal Portsmouth Hospital, he moved to the United States, where he was Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He was also Program Director, Regional Medical Program for West New York and consultant surgeon to the Sisters of Mercy Charity Hospital. He later practised as a general and urological surgeon at Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Jack Ingall died on 26 April 1994 in Hemel Hempstead Hospital, and there was a memorial service at St Alban's.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008021
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Price Thomas, John Martyn (1935 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Milward, Francis John (1903 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008700-E008799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380970380970
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Francis John Milward was a consultant surgeon in Chesterfield. He was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, on 5 April 1903, the son of Henry Tomson Milward, managing director of a needle-making firm, and Elsie Townsend née Newton, the daughter of an Anglican canon. An uncle, Frederick Milward FRCS, was a consultant surgeon at Birmingham General Hospital. He was educated at Rugby and Clare College, Cambridge, and, after his clinical training at St Thomas's, became house surgeon to Sir Percy Sargent and Hugo Romanis. After further junior positions as clinical assistant in the antenatal, children's, ECG and anaesthetic departments, he became surgical registrar at St Thomas's. He was appointed consultant surgeon and surgeon in charge of the urological departments at Chesterfield Royal and Mansfield General Hospitals in 1931, although he continued to deal with orthopaedics, gynaecology and general surgery. In 1931, he married Rosemary Smedley Aston. They had one son, Timothy, who became a plastic surgeon in Leicester, and two daughters, Vanessa and Frances. There are six grandchildren. He was a keen horseman, fisherman and gardener. He died on 15 December 1997.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008787
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Doyle, Patrick Thomas (1941 - 1998)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008500-E008599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380754380754
Occupation Urologist
Details Patrick Doyle was a consultant urologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. He was born in Exeter on 27 October 1941, the son of William Doyle, the county medical officer for Devon, and Mary Dalton. Patrick was educated at Belmont Abbey School, Hereford, and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was particularly influenced by Alec Badenoch, both as a student and house surgeon. He qualified in 1966 and did a series of junior posts at Bart's, the Royal Northern and the Royal Free Hospitals, before passing the final FRCS in 1972. He was registrar to the urology department at Bart's in 1969, where he was influenced by John Wickham. He continued his specialist training at St Peter's Hospital and the Institute of Urology, Portsmouth and Southampton. He succeeded John Withycombe as consultant urologist to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, in 1978, and continued, with Robert Whitaker, to build on the existing fine urological unit. Patrick was an excellent all-round surgeon, but had a special interest in familial carcinoma of the kidney. He was highly regarded by his colleagues, and from its inception was a popular member of the 'Burberry Club', a travelling urological group. Patrick will long be remembered by several generations of Cambridge undergraduates and post-graduate students at all levels for his dedicated and meticulous contribution to their well-being and their emerging careers. He published more than 45 papers and served on innumerable committees, ultimately being appointed chairman of the consultant staff council, and clinical director of surgery. Patrick was a tall, elegant figure; always calm and courteous, and with a dry and ready wit. He married Judith Betts in 1969 with whom he had a son, Matthew, also a doctor, and a daughter, Nicola. He had a wide range of interests beyond medicine. He was interested in classical and pop music, and was a keen and knowledgeable ornithologist. He suddenly collapsed and died of what was probably an acute cardiac arrhythmia whilst out bird-watching on the coastal dunes in Jersey during a meeting of the Burberry Club on 8 May 1998.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008571
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rees, Harland (1909 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008800-E008899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381051381051
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Harland Rees was born on 21 September 1909 at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, into a medical family. His father, David Charles Rees, was a specialist in tropical medicine and had served in Lugard's frontier force, which kept the French at bay in West Africa in 1897. Four years later, he went to South Africa to deal with an outbreak of plague after the Boer war and stayed. Harland's great grandfather, David Rees, had obtained his MRCS in 1807, and Harland was proud to have the diploma in his possession. His mother was Myrtle May née Dolley. Educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, in South Africa, Harland proved himself an excellent games player. A member of the cricket XI and rugby XV for three years from 1926 to 1928, he was captain of both in the last year. Of the 1926 XV, six were to gain Oxford blues and one of them, B H Black, played for England. As a cricketer, Rees promised to be one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation in South Africa. Representing Eastern Province while still at St Andrew's, in 1928 he played against a strong MCC side for the South African Schools' XI. Having made a stylish 60 runs, he earned praise from the famous England cricketer, Herbert Sutcliffe, as the schoolboys passed the MCC total to win the match. In 1929, Harland Rees won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, where he joined his brother at University College to read medicine. In addition to these studies, after a year recovering from a broken arm, he concentrated on rugby, winning his blue in 1930 and continuing to play against Cambridge until 1933. Clinical studies were undertaken at Charing Cross Hospital, and he continued to play competitive rugby at fly-half for Blackheath, Middlesex and the Barbarians. Invited to play for Wales, for whom he qualified through his Welsh ancestry, he declined the offer, secretly hoping that a call would come from England, but it never did! After qualifying in 1936, he undertook junior posts at Charing Cross and later in 1939 was assistant to T J F Barrington at St Peter's Hospital for Stone in London. At the outbreak of the second world war, he was posted to Ashridge Hospital, where he worked for eight months without taking a single day off, before returning to St Peter's for a year as resident surgical officer. Having joined the RAMC in 1942, Harland Rees served in India and Burma, winning his wings as a parachutist, and narrowly escaping capture by the Japanese. On one occasion he had a brush with authority when the commanding officer insisted that the troops should go on a six mile run in blazing heat after a day's march. Sadly, Rees was proved to be correct when one unfortunate soldier collapsed and died. Ultimately a Lieutenant Colonel, Rees became officer in charge of the surgical division of 53 General Hospital, the base hospital in Burma. During this period he was adviser in surgery to the Allied Forces in Siam and was involved in the committee formed to investigate the suspicious death of the crown prince from a gunshot wound. The final conclusion was that it was an accidental death, but Harland Rees remained unconvinced by the verdict. After the war, he returned to civilian life and became registrar to the Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital and clinical assistant at St Peter's. In 1947, he obtained a consultant surgeon post to outpatients at Hampstead General Hospital and held similar posts at King's College Hospital and St Peter's Hospital, his inclination being towards urology as a specialty. Retiring in 1974, he was made honorary consultant urologist at King's College Hospital. During the fifties, he bought 35 acres of overgrown and untended land, formerly a quarry pit, at Kensworth in Bedfordshire. Many a weekend was devoted to energetic and imaginative clearing of land, planting trees, and building a road to a new house that was built in the sixties and provided a weekend retreat. It was here that he spent his retirement. An idle life after a surgical career was never his aim. In addition to caring for the land he developed an interest in local politics, serving on the South Bedfordshire District Council as a Conservative. He was chairman from 1986 to 1987. Both Harland and his wife were also keen supporters of local musical events. Harland Rees married Helen Marie Tarver in 1950. She predeceased her husband by one year, dying in 2001. They had a daughter (who died in 1976) and two sons. Harland Rees died on 9 July 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008868
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Packham, Derek Albert (1932 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008800-E008899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381011381011
Occupation Urologist
Details Derek Packham was head of the urology department at King's. He was born on 25 April 1932 in a tiny house off the Walworth Road in South East London, the only child of Albert William Packham, a local butcher. His mother was Jessie née Symonds. His second name was 'Albert', much to his relief, as he wanted to be a dustman and 'Derek' would not sound quite suitable on a dustcart. Wartime evacuation to Buckfastleigh in Devon completely changed his life, and started a life-long love of rivers. Totnes Grammar School proved an ideal springboard to his postwar years at Archbishop Tenison's Grammar School at the Oval, where he excelled academically and was also pretty good on the sports field. It was probably the chance to do something that none of his family had had the opportunity to do that led him into medicine, a decision tremendously and unselfishly supported by his parents. Hence he went to King's College in the Strand, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and then onto King's College Hospital Medical School. Having received the Legg prize in surgery, he qualified in 1956 and as his first house job worked for that gentleman of surgery, Sir Edward Muir. He then gained experience of cardiothoracic surgery under Bill Cleland, learning techniques which were later to help him in occasional excursions into the chest. Jobs in orthopaedic and general surgery followed with a spell of National Service at Millbank. His urological skills were further developed at the Institute of Urology in London and then fine-tuned as senior registrar to Geoffrey Yates-Bell and Harland Rees at King's and as RSO at St Peter's. In 1967 he was appointed consultant urologist at King's and five years later became head of the urology department, a post he held until his early retirement from the NHS following by-pass surgery in 1990. He enjoyed teaching, both undergraduate and postgraduate, and would have been very proud to see how many of his students, house surgeons and registrars had become internationally recognised in their varied fields. His private practice, mostly at the Cromwell Hospital, gave him immense pleasure and satisfaction: he enjoyed meeting patients and colleagues from all over the world and having the time to learn new investigative and operative techniques. He was not an academic. He hated writing papers, although he admired those who did. His charm, kindness to patients, colleagues and residents, together with his undoubted surgical skills, made him very much as surgeon's surgeon. He was happiest in the operating theatre. He disliked ward rounds with a retinue, finding one-to-one discussions with patients much easier. On one occasion, when the registrar dragged him to see a patient, the patient subsequently told the ward sister that he thought that he was a 'goner' as Mr Packham had seen him. Derek had many hobbies. Changing his car every few months was mandatory. Golf was a passion, and he thought new clubs, a new book or the latest video would make him a better player. Living near Biggin Hill, he learnt to fly and held a licence, until by-pass surgery forced him to give up. For the next 10 years he was a dressage rider, keeping horses at his house in Kent, giving up only when he decided that he was not going to get any better. Fly-fishing brought many happy holidays on the Spey with fellow King's men, marshalled by Sir John Peel. Gardening also gave him great pleasure throughout the years. He married Jean Fairhurst, an ophthalmologist, in 1955. His eldest son is a general practitioner, King's trained, and his younger son is a space scientist with NASA in Houston. He had an enthralling and satisfying life, and died of colon cancer, aged 69, on 29 March 2002. He had used up most of his nine lives and just ran out of luck.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008828
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Page, Basil Henry (1910 - 1998)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Evans, John Picton ( - 1999)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008500-E008599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380770380770
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details After his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital John Evans did junior posts at the Central Middlesex and the Whittington Hospitals, and was a registrar King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor before becoming RSO at the London Chest Hospital. He then moved to South Africa where he joined the department of urology at Witwatersrand University. He died in December 1999.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008587
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ashken, Michael Ralph Handley (1931 - 2016)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Peter Worth
Publication Date 2016-10-27 2017-08-03
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009200-E009299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381441381441
Occupation Urologist
Details Michael Handley Ashken was a consultant urologist at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Michael's father, Laurence Handley Ashken ('Laurie'), was one of five children born in the East End of London and his mother, Eva Ashken née Cameron, came from Glasgow. With support from his family, Laurie studied medicine at the Middlesex Hospital and, after qualification, became a general practitioner in London. Michael was one of two children; his sister, Tanya, was eight years younger and became a successful sculptor and silversmith living in Wellington, New Zealand. At the age of seven, Michael went to boarding school, four years at Dunhurst and then on to Bedales, where he excelled at all sports, especially cricket, which he enjoyed playing and watching whenever possible all his life. He started his pre-clinical training when he was 17 at the Middlesex Hospital at the time of the onset of the NHS. After his first MB, when he was awarded the Charles Bell prize in anatomy, he did a BSc in physiology, gaining a 2.2. During his clinical years, he won the Lyell gold medal in surgery and the Fitton prize in orthopaedics, as well as gaining honours in medicine in his finals when he qualified in November 1955. His house jobs at the Middlesex were for Richard Sampson ('Dick') Handley, the breast surgeon and Edward Hart, the paediatrician. He worked hard during this job, learning anatomy and physiology, as well as attending the famous anatomy course held by Frank Stansfield, and passed the primary FRCS without having to attend the Royal College of Surgeons' course. He also won the Colin McKenzie prize in anatomy and physiology. He then did the necessary casualty job at Guildford, before going to Manchester as a senior house officer in a surgical rotation involving orthopaedics, urology, thoracic and general surgery. This was followed in January 1959 by a registrar post at the Middlesex with John Howard Lees Ferguson and he passed the final FRCS exam in May 1959. Once he had achieved this, he was called up for military service and successfully managed to swap a posting to Germany to one in Malaya, where he gained a lot of clinical experience. It was at a cricket match in 1950 that he first met Iris Platt, a South African, who had come to England to do her first MB at Guy's. She also did a BSc and qualified in March 1956. Mike and Iris were married in May 1956, when Michael was just about to start his second house job and Iris her first as a house physician in paediatrics at Guy's. Their daughter, Sharon, was born in Manchester in December 1957. Their son, Ian, was born in June 1960 in Malaya and Peter, their second son, was born in October 1964. When Michael returned from Malaya at the end of his National Service, he was given the choice of which registrar job he would like at the Middlesex. He chose the one with Sir Eric Riches and Richard Turner-Warwick (with whom he had been at school at Bedales) for six months. He then did thoracic surgery with Thomas Holmes Sellors and John Rashleigh ('Jack') Belcher. Then, as was customary, he took two years out of surgery to do a MS thesis on 'A study of the renal vascular patterns in hypertension, chronic pyelonephritis and other diseases'. This was initially rejected, but when accepted he was awarded a Hunterian professorship in 1966. In 1964, he was appointed as a senior registrar to Oswald Vaughan Lloyd-Davies and Richard Turner-Warwick. He was appointed as a consultant urologist to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in February 1968, but before starting he went to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for three months to work with Herbert Brendler and where he also met Elliot Leiter, who later became a great supporter of the section of urology at the Royal Society of Medicine. With his appointment in Norwich as the first pure urologist, he set up what was to become an important urology department with Alan Green, which over the years was popular with trainees, many of whom subsequently became consultants in prestigious centres. He was at the forefront of certain aspects of urological techniques and popularised continent urinary diversion in collaboration with Nils Koch in Sweden and Ernst Zingg and Urs Studer in Bern. In 1982, he published a book on this subject (*Urinary diversion* Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Springer-Verlag, 1982). He was appointed as clinical tutor in 1970 to the postgraduate medical centre as well as chairman of the consultant staff committee. He was president of the section of urology at the Royal Society of Medicine from 1990 to 1991. He was the first president to take the section to North America for the winter meeting, which proved very popular and was supported by American urologists. The title of his presidential address was 'The changing fellowship', which drew on his experience as an examiner and senior examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was president of the British Association of Urological Surgeons from 1994 to 1996. As a result of this and his involvement in examining, he travelled widely both nationally and internationally. He was also involved in setting up the Royal College of Surgeons' urology diploma. He was a member of a contemporary urological travel club for 25 years and the Grey Turner Surgical Travelling Club. In 2006, his family set up a charitable trust to celebrate his 75th birthday, to sponsor visiting lecturers to the local East Anglian annual urology meeting in Cambridge. Michael reduced his clinical commitments in 1991 and finally retired in 1996. Sadly, his retirement years were dogged by medical problems, but he enjoyed his woodworking hobby of making and designing chairs. He always said it was a great hobby as wood does not bleed! He very much enjoyed his travels to the States and to the southern hemisphere. He continued to enjoy watching and encouraging the progress of his children and six grandchildren. He was able to celebrate his very happy marriage to Iris with their diamond wedding anniversary in May 2016. Michael Handley Ashken died on 22 September 2016. He was 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009258
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Scher, Samuel ( - 1982)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379102379102
Occupation Urologist
Details Samuel Scher started his medical studies at the University of Cape Town and, being a very bright student, he was awarded the MA in anatomy in 1926 with such brilliant classmates as Sir Solly Zuckerman, Tom Dry and David Slome. He then entered University College Hospital in London, qualified in 1930 and passed the FRCS in 1932. He then studied urology in London and in 1934 he commenced practice as a specialist urologist in Cape Town and started his long association with the Somerset Hospital which lasted over 40 years. In 1939 he moved to Groote Schuur Hospital with Dr Goldschmidt but remained on the staff of the Somerset. During the second world war he carried a very heavy clinical load and all this work was done without any financial reward. In 1947 he became head of the urology department at the University of Cape Town and retired in 1970, after working continuously for 23 years. During this time the work, the staff and the status of the department increased considerably. He was one of the pioneers of transurethral surgery with the 'punch' and experimented with renal transplantation in animals in Cape Town. He also did considerable research in bladder cancer, which he continued until just before his death. His kindness was legendary among all he came in contact with and he faced his last illness with great courage. He died on 29 April 1982 survived by his wife Gertie and his son Michael.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006919
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Boothroyd, Lawrence Sydney Arthur (1920 - 2014)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-08-07 2018-03-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379836379836
Occupation General practitioner General surgeon Urologist
Details Lawrence Sydney Arthur Boothroyd, known as 'Boots', was a consultant general surgeon and urologist at Lions Gate Hospital, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 12 September 1920, the son of Sydney Lionel Boothroyd, a master printer and lithographer and the founder of Calcutta Chromotype Limited, and Margaret Sarah Elizabeth Boothroyd née Butt, a milliner and later co-director of Calcutta Chromotype. Boothroyd spent his early years in Calcutta, before being sent to England at the age of eight. He was educated at Colet Court, St Paul's Preparatory School, and then Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire, and went on to study medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. During the Blitz he was posted to rooftop fire-duty. He qualified with the conjoint examination in 1943 and was a house surgeon at St Thomas' Hospital and a house physician at Botleys Park Hospital. In 1945, he was conscripted into the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in England and India, ending his service as a captain. He gained his FRCS in 1950 and was a registrar at the Royal Masonic Hospital under Sir Arthur Porritt, Sir Cecil Wakeley and Eric Riches, and then a resident surgical officer at Bolingbroke Hospital, working with Edward Muir. He gained his FRCS in 1950 and decided to emigrate to West Vancouver, Canada, in 1955. He worked as a general surgeon and urologist at Lions Gate Hospital and, later, as a family practitioner. He also volunteered overseas, training medical staff in small hospitals in the Caribbean and Africa. He retired in 1990. Outside medicine, he served on the West Vancouver School Board, as a school trustee and chairman. He enjoyed singing, dancing and performing - and organised the New Year's fancy dress balls at the West Vancouver Community Centre and musical revues at the West Vancouver United Church. Throughout his life he was an active sportsman. He also led his family on adventures, including cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End. In 1953, he married Margot Findlay, a graduate of the Royal Free Hospital Medical School. They had four children (Wendy Margaret, Gillian Sarah, James Findlay and Susan Elizabeth) and seven grandchildren. In his final years he suffered from dementia, and died peacefully in early December 2014 following a stroke. He was 94.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007653
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bruce, Peter Thomas (1931 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by John Wheelahan
Publication Date 2015-08-07 2016-05-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379837379837
Occupation Urologist
Details Peter Bruce was born Vienna 26 February 1931. He arrived in Australia in 1939 with his parents Paul and Mizzi Bruce. Peter's grandfather, Richard Bruchsteiner, was born in Hungary but moved to Vienna where he established a specialist printing works. Paul became manager of the business. In the aftermath of the Anschluss, Paul realised that with Jewish ancestry he could not remain in Vienna, and arranged for his family to emigrate to Australia. They left Austria in 1939, and arrived in Melbourne when Peter was 7 years old. They were unable to take money with them, but were able to send a container of some of their possessions to Australia. Peter's father was a specialist in printing containers and packaging, both metal and cardboard, and readily found work in Melbourne. He established his own business that eventually, through mergers, grew into Containers Ltd. He was a director of Containers Ltd and became a generous supporter of benevolent organizations, including Musica Viva, of which he became President. His parents Paul and Mizzi had a love of music that Peter inherited. Peter had an enormous knowledge of the music of Europe in the classical period, Viennese composers in particular. Peter was a radio presenter for many years for Melbourne's classical radio station 3MBS, and later Sydney's 2MBS, where his knowledge of music of all periods was put to good use. Peter was educated at Geelong Grammar School. He studied Medicine at Melbourne University and graduated MB BS in 1955. He was a resident at Royal Melbourne Hospital for one year, 1956-1957.He worked his passage to London in 1957 as a ship's doctor and did postgraduate study in London, Vienna and Liverpool between 1957 and 1961. He passed the Primary Fellowship examination in London in November 1957. In 1958 he worked as House Surgeon at Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, London, under Mr Alan Hunt and Mr David Wallace. In 1959 he worked at the Hammersmith Hospital under Professor Ian Aird. In November 1959 he passed the Final FRCS examination in London. In 1959 he obtained a British Council Scholarship to work at University of Vienna under Professor R Ubelhör, and enjoyed a return to the city of his birth, for 6 months in 1959-60. In 1960-61 he worked at Royal Liverpool Infirmary as Registrar to Professor Charles Wells. In 1961-62 he worked as a Fellow at UCLA, Los Angeles under Professor Willard Goodwin. He then returned to Melbourne, and passed the FRACS examination in Melbourne in October 1962 and was appointed to the staff of Royal Melbourne Hospital as assistant Urologist in 1962, a position held until 1973. He was appointed urologist at Sandringham Hospital in 1964, and Queen Victoria Hospital in 1974. Peter developed interest in bladder augmentation by colocystoplasty and published a number of papers and book chapters on this subject. He travelled widely and presented numerous papers at urological conferences. Peter had an irrepressible enthusiasm for life. His hallmarks were a cigar, a safari suite, classical music blaring and a ready smile. He had many interests - music, camping in the bush, duck shooting, fishing, good food, bridge, opera, tennis, farming, and travel, in Australia and overseas. In particular, he enjoyed friendships, both old and new, and was an enthusiastic host. For example, he was a member at Kooyong Tennis Club, and he hosted young visiting tennis players for the Australian Open, such as Bjorn Borg. He had a lifelong love of the countryside. In the late 1970's he purchased a farm at Wandong near Kilmore. Eventually, in 1985, he gave up city practice and settled at Shepparton, where he continued to practice urology and was better able to indulge in his love of country life. Peter hosted a most enjoyable urology conference with his 3rd wife, Constance, at their home in Shepparton in October 1991 and the theme of the meeting was "All the Rivers Run". He always carried a gun in the back of his car, in case an opportunity arose to drive off the road into the bush, to look for game! The Howard government gun buy back put an end to this, however. Peter married Susan-Gaye Anderson, a well-known television presenter, at St John's Church Toorak in 1963. They had two children, Melissa and Justin. They divorced in 1973. Peter remarried Carlin Munro and together they cared for Peter's and Carlin's children. To his friends and family he was known as "a true gentleman, admired surgeon, accomplished farmer, romantic lover, proud father, loving grandfather, skilled handyman, classical music aficionado, passionate art collector, loyal and exciting friend, and a kind compassionate, forgiving, enthusiastic and inspiring man." Peter spent the final years of his life in Sydney, where he ticked off another wish from his bucket list by opening a B&B at Pearl Beach with his then partner Kathryn Davies. During his life Peter underwent many surgical operations including two major spinal operations, but he continued an active life, including playing tennis well into his retirement. Although various illnesses finally robbed him of his freedom and independence he retained full recognition of everyone he knew and loved, and a cheeky sense of humor, through to the end After his funeral in Sydney in early March, which celebrated his love of music, enthusiastic character, achievements and popularity, his children took his ashes to a property that was equally between Sydney and Melbourne, one of Peter's favorite spots beside his beloved Murray River, where they were scattered on the waters. Another memorable Celebration of Life ceremony was held in Melbourne on March 29 2015, where his friends and family spoke of his life, and children, grandchildren and stepchildren played and sang a musical tribute to his life.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007654
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Baines, Guy Harrison (1911 - 1985)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-17
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007000-E007099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379280379280
Occupation Farmer General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Guy Harrison Baines was born on 16 September 1911 at the Vicarage, St Helens, Lancashire, where his father Albert Baines, a Cambridge graduate, was a clerk in Holy Orders and later archdeacon of Halifax. His mother Mabel (née Harrison) came from Liverpool. After early education at Mostyn House, Parkgate, he went to Charterhouse where he became head of his house and represented his school at football, boxing, athletics and swimming. At St John's College, Cambridge, he secured an honours degree in natural sciences in 1932 and became demonstrator in anatomy and physiology. He was president of the University Medical Society and gained blues for boxing and swimming before becoming Hector Mackenzie Exhibitioner at St Thomas's Hospital in 1933. After qualifying in 1936 he held resident surgical posts at his teaching hospital and took the primary FRCS before moving in 1939 to the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where he was surgical registrar and resident surgical officer while completing the final Fellowship in 1939. He joined the RAMC in 1943, becoming a surgical specialist in the First Airborne Division with which he served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy and was then transferred to Burma. There, with a mobile surgical unit, he took part in the Arakan campaign before returning to hospital and field surgical units in NW Europe. After VE day he commanded hospitals at Sandbostel and Belsen concentration camps before becoming officer in charge of the surgical division at No 25 General Hospital. He there met Janet Douglas Ward, a physiotherapist, whom he married just after the war. In December 1945, just before his demobilisation, Guy Baines was appointed assistant surgeon to the Queen Elizabeth and Children's Hospitals in Birmingham, and surgeon to the Guest Hospital, Dudley. He rapidly built up a large practice in general surgery, with a special interest in urology, and eventually devoted himself entirely to urology. He published valuable papers on ectopic ureter, nephrocalcinosis and abacterial pyuria and became an active and popular member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. A man of strong and handsome appearance, a conservative but skilful surgeon, his courtesy, charm and kindly consideration for his patients caused him to be in constant demand. Shortly after their marriage he and his wife settled on a 100 acre farm in Worcestershire, where they raised a family of four children and kept a fine dairy herd. After suffering a myocardial infarct in 1970 he sold the farm but continued with his surgical work until normal retiring age in 1976 when he took up market gardening and served on medical tribunals. He loved the country life but later suffered increasing cardiac disability until his sudden death on 13 December 1985, aged 73. An unselfish and generous man of assertive character, his cheerful temperament and wide interests made him an excellent colleague and staunch friend. He was survived by his wife and by his two sons, Robert and Michael, and two daughters, Rachel-Claire and Julie-Anne.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007097
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McNamara, John William (1912 - 1986)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379681379681
Occupation Urologist
Details John McNamara was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 October 1912, a son of Mathew, an accountant, and Alice (née Gunning). His brother Matthew, also a doctor, died in 1942 while a prisoner of war of the Japanese. John was educated at the Jesuit Colleges of St Patrick and Xavier and at St Vincent's Hospital, University of Sydney, qualifying in 1936. After house posts at St Vincent's he served (1940-1947) as Captain AAMC in the Libyan campaign at Tobruk and Benghazi before going to Greece. He volunteered to remain with the wounded and so was taken prisoner and was in various prison camps until liberated by the Russians in 1945. On leave in the UK he studied for and passed FRCS 1946 and then returned to the resumption of his long and devoted association with St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, as urologist until 1986, and he was also urologist to Prince Henry Hospital from 1962. He was a St Vincent's man through and through, and served the board from its inception by the Sisters of Charity in 1954; he was intimately involved in many of the appeals and developments there and in the Sacred Heart Hospice, Sydney. He was awarded the OBE in 1980. He had a range of interests including horseracing and farming, buying a 600 acre sheep and cattle farm at Oberon, NSW in 1969 with the help of his two sons. On 29 October 1949 he married Molly McDonald, a social worker, and in doing so acquired a father-in-law who was one-time Chancellor, University of Sydney and President RACP, and two brothers-in-law, a consultant physician and a paediatrician in Sydney. He had two sons, Matthew Joseph and John Gerard, both qualified in medicine, and four daughters, Frances, Jane, Mary Dympna and Elizabeth, a nurse. He died on 15 February 1986 after a long illness which he bore with much fortitude.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007498
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Langley, George Frederick (1907 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379589379589
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details George Frederick Langley was born on 11 September 1907. He received his medical education at Bristol University where he qualified MB, ChB with honours in 1930 and was awarded the silver medal, and passed the Conjoint examination in the same year. He obtained the Fellowship in 1932 and proceeded ChM at Bristol with distinction in 1934. After junior appointments at Bristol General Hospital and Blackburn Royal Infirmary he moved to Ipswich, where he spent the rest of his professional life, first as medical superintendent and surgeon to Ipswich General Hospital, and then as visiting consultant surgeon to the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital and Felixstowe Hospital. His main professional interest was in urological surgery and he published a number of papers in this field. He gave up his hospital work in September 1972. He died in August 1988, his wife Gladys Marion having died in 1980. There were two sons, George and John, and a daughter, Margaret, of the marriage.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007406
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bonnin, Noel James (1909 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007100-E007199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379308379308
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Noel James Bonnin was born on Christmas Day 1909 in Adelaide. He was the son of Winifred, née Turpin, and James Atkinson Bonnin who had become a Fellow of the College in 1898 and was a Foundation Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons in 1927. His older brother, Lansell, was an orthopaedic surgeon who was also a Fellow of the College and predeceased him in 1966 aged 47. His brother Josiah (FRCP) became senior physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and his brother James (FRACP) became Director of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in Adelaide. His sister Kathleen was awarded the Royal Red Cross for service in the Australian Army Medical Corps. Bonnin was educated at Queen's School and then St Peter's College, Adelaide, where he enjoyed a notable athletic career. His medical training was at the University of Adelaide. After house appointments he came to England in 1933 and held posts at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Great Ormond Street (where he particularly recalled Sir Denis Browne) and St James's Hospital, Balham. He passed the FRCS in 1936. Returning to Australia he was honorary clinical assistant in surgery from 1938 to 1946 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital but took leave of absence for war service 1940-1946. He served with the Australian Imperial Services in field ambulances, a casualty clearing station, a field transfusion unit and eventually as Officer Commanding of a surgical division in Australian General Hospitals. He served in the Middle East, Syria, Western Desert, Borneo, Brunei and Morotai, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He recalled one occasion in the Western Desert with the 8th Army when he found himself on a casualty clearing station only yards from its German equivalent. The soldiers fought it out while the scientists worked harmoniously with the prospect that, at some point, one side or other would be taken prisoner. The Germans lost, but to no-one's regret, the doctors escaped. After the war he was appointed honorary assistant surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and, with a Carnegie Travelling Fellowship he studied urology in the United States, England and Canada - under Reid Nesbitt in Ann Arbor and Nathan Berry in Kingston, Ontario. He was appointed honorary surgeon in charge of the new urological clinic in Adelaide but this proved unsatisfactory and he continued his work in urology at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital as honorary assistant surgeon from 1959 and honorary surgeon from 1961 to 1969. His eponymous operation, Bonnin's operation for the removal of the prostate gland, was first described in the *Journal of urology*, 1955. It was first quoted in Bailey and Love's *Short practice of surgery*, 15th edition, 1971, and eventually had a chapter devoted to it in *Current operative urology* by Whitehead and Leiter; Harper and Row, 1975. It was demonstrated on closed circuit television to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons at a meeting in Adelaide in 1968. He was President of the South Australian branch of the AMA, a senior member of BAUS and Fellow of the Urological Association of Australasia. Bonnin was a man of practical and inventive mind and technology was a lifelong passion. His hobby of offshore fishing led him to design and patent a tunnel hull for small craft which is used in some commercial fishing. In retirement he established a red poll cattle stud and patented a significant development in electric fencing. Other hobbies included rowing, lacrosse, tennis, golf, bowls, and painting. He married Helen Prudence May. Her father, Sir Herbert Mayo was senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia and the family had several eminent medical relations including John Mayo (FRCS Ed) the first Chairman of the South Australia Anti-Cancer Committee; Elton Mayo, Professor of Industrial Psychology at Harvard; and George Mayo (his wife's great-grandfather) who settled in Australia in 1839 and revisited England in 1851 obtaining his FRCS on 18 December 1851 and became the first Fellow of the College in the State of South Australia. Noel and Helen had two sons and two daughters, one of whom, Priscilla, became a nurse. He died in July 1989 aged 79 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007125
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Somerset, John Bowie (1908 - 1983)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379864379864
Occupation Urologist
Details John Bowie Somerset was born on 6 July 1908 at Mount Morgan, Queensland, the son of H St J Somerset of Melbourne. His early education was at St Peter's College, Adelaide, and in 1926 he entered Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. He qualified in 1931 having obtained second class honours in surgery and medicine as well as first class honours and the Fulton Scholarship in obstetrics and gynaecology. In addition to his academic attainments he represented his university at boxing and was awarded a half blue. His first appointment was as resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital after which he was Beaney Scholar in pathology. He gained the degree of MD in 1934 and then came to England with the aim of becoming a urological surgeon. He passed the FRCS in 1935 and was later resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone under Clifford Morson and Ogier Ward. On his return home in 1937 he passed the FRACS and was appointed honorary assistant surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, tutor in pathology at Trinity College and tutor in surgery at Ormond College. In 1932 he had been commissioned as a Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps and in October 1939 he joined the Australian Imperial Forces, serving until August 1945. He was one of the first to enlist and he was so proud of his low AIF number (VX223) that he subsequently used it as a car registration number. Initially he was in the Middle East, Libya and Syria with the 2/1st Casualty Clearing Station, performing forward surgery, but in 1942 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the 2/11th Australian General Hospital in the South Pacific Area in Buna, Lae, Salamaua and Finchhafen. His war service was recognised by the award of the Efficiency Decoration in 1945. He returned to Melbourne after demobilisation and in 1947 was appointed urologist to the Repatriation Hospital, Heidelberg. In 1948 he became honorary assistant urologist to Prince Henry's Hospital for five years until he was appointed honorary urologist to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He worked hard to promote his specialty and became President of the Urological Society of Australasia in 1954. At the beginning of his career there were only 3 urologists in the Melbourne area, whereas upon his retirement there were 36, 20 of whom he had trained. He was examiner in urology on the Court of Examiners of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons from 1954 to 1964 and served as a member of the Victorian State Committee of the College from 1958 to 1968 and chairman of the committee during the last two years. He was elected Vice-President of the Australia Kidney Foundation in 1968, the year he retired from his hospital practice and was appointed consultant urologist. At the time of his retirement his wife Penelope became ill and she died in 1970. Despite this great personal loss he continued private practice until 1982 when he became seriously ill from a malignancy. He died at home on 4 May 1983 and is survived by two sons, John and Nigel, and his companion, Kay.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007681
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Duke, Athol Jones (1928 - 1990)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007200-E007299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379421379421
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Athol James Duke was born in Dunedin in 1928 and his early education was at McGlashen College and at the Otago Boys' High School where he was head prefect and played for the school first XV at rugby. He entered Otago Medical School in 1947, qualifying in 1951, and after completing officer appointments at Auckland he came to England for postgraduate study. At first he worked in Fulham Hospital as surgical registrar and after passing the FRCS in 1955 was registrar at Edgware General Hospital. After his return to New Zealand in 1960 he was at first registrar at Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu, Auckland, later being promoted to senior registrar at the hospital. He passed the FRACS in 1960 and in 1965 was appointed full-time surgical specialist at Green Lane and Middlemore Hospitals in Auckland. After a few years he changed to urology, initially in private practice and later as urologist at Auckland Hospital and the Otara spinal unit. He was a clinical teacher at Auckland University Medical School from 1977 to 1982. Poor health necessitated retirement from these posts in 1987 but from 1973 he had taken an interest in sexual counselling and marriage guidance. His wife Rae, whom he married in London in 1955, participated in this work and they both arranged clinics throughout the country to help patients with such problems. This work remained within his physical capability until shortly before his death. He and Rae established artistic homes in Auckland and Whangaparoa and after his retirement they spent time together on such mutual interests as tapestry, music, current affairs and philosophy. His family life was tragically affected by the loss of his youngest son in the air crash at Mount Erebus, Antarctica, in 1979 and by the sudden death of his wife in 1989. He died on 16 January 1990 aged 61, survived by his two remaining sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007238
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Macdougall, John Arnott (1925 - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-17
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380343380343
Occupation Dog breeder General surgeon Urologist
Details John Macdougall (known as 'John MacD' to his friends) was born on 18 February 1925 in Blackheath, South East London, where he attended Cherry Orchard Preparatory School, and subsequently the City of London School, where he excelled in both cricket and rugby. He then won an open scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences, and he represented the university at both squash and Eton Fives. He completed his clinical training at St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying in 1948, and was a member of the team which won the inter-hospitals rugby cup in 1950. He held junior appointments at St Thomas's before becoming a senior surgical registrar there and also at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, and completing his urological training at the Institute of Urology in London. In 1962 he was appointed consultant general surgeon in Wolverhampton, but in 1973 he elected to become a full-time urologist, setting up the department of urology there. He was also visiting surgeon to the West Midlands Spinal Injuries Unit at Oswestry and he finally retired in 1987. John Macdougall was a skilled and experienced committee man and he played a major role in raising funds to build the new South Staffordshire Postgraduate Medical Centre. He was, however, known to an even wider public through his association with the Kennel Club, of which he became chairman in 1981. During his long chairmanship of fifteen years he completely modernised the Club's activities, as well as supervising the building of a library (which holds the largest collection of reference books on dogs in Europe) and relocating Cruft's dog show from London to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. He also established the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, which supports research into canine diseases, canine rescue and the training of dogs for the disabled and he developed a computer database for the registration of over four million pedigree dogs in Britain. He initiated annual meetings with the American Kennel Club and other European societies, and established the Kennel Club Junior Organisation in this country. With his wife Daphne (a nurse) he bred poodles for a number of years and also found time to serve on the council of the Animal Health Trust, based at Newmarket, which researches into veterinary pathology. He died aged 71 on 7 November 1996 from carcinoma of the colon, having moved from Wolverhampton to Cambridge, and was survived by his wife and their two daughters, one a consultant gynaecologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, the other a general practitioner.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008160
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Houston, William (1916 - 1991)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008000-E008099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380196380196
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details William Houston was born in Newry, County Down, Eire, on 7 October 1916, the son of William Houston, a wholesale draper, and his wife Hilda, née Robinson, the daughter of a hotel proprietor. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin, and later at Trinity College, to which he gained an entrance scholarship. After qualification in 1939, he held house posts at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital in Dublin, and then demonstrated anatomy at the Middlesex Hospital. Subsequently he was appointed surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Royal Free Hospital, and then trained in urology at St Paul's Hospital, London. In 1950 he was appointed consultant surgeon and urologist to the Bulawayo Group of Hospitals in Rhodesia, where he developed interests in prostatic disease in the Bantu, and in bilharzia and bladder disease. His interest in urology was inspired by Sir Eric Riches, Terence Millin, David Wallace and others, and he wrote some 40 publications, mainly on urological conditions, but also on thyroid disease, of which he saw many cases in central Africa. It is of interest that he was the first person to be awarded the FRCS diploma after the end of the second world war, on VE day, 6 May 1945. His hobbies included golf, bird-watching, big game conservation and photography. In 1944 he married Moreen Georgina Keating (whose grandfather was the Chief Justice of Ireland) and they had one son. William Houston died in January 1991.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008013
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tresidder, Gerald Charles (1912 - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008300-E008399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380571380571
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Gerald Tresidder ('GCT') was born on 5 December 1912 in Rawalpindi where his father, Lt Col Alfred Geddes Tresidder, FRCS, was a surgeon in the Indian Medical Service. His was mother Lilian Annie, née Trelease. His career followed what was then the Anglo-Indian norm: 'home' at the age of eight, school at Haileybury, and then the London Hospital, where he played rugby football and tennis for the hospital. Qualifying with the conjoint in 1937 he worked first as an assistant in the clinical laboratory before becoming house surgeon to Messrs Milne and A M A Moore, going on to become junior clinical assistant to the orthopaedic department, receiving room officer, and finally junior and senior resident accoucheur, which brought with it the office of president of the residents' mess over Christmas 1938/39. After this he became an anatomy demonstrator, a task which he greatly enjoyed, finding the teaching of anatomy always very congenial. He coached his colleagues for the primary FRCS and they duly passed in 1939. On 7 September 1940 he married Ida Livingston Marguerite Bell, and both went out to India to join the Indian Medical Service, where he was posted as a graded surgeon, serving in Rawalpindi and Calcutta. In spite of being posted to two field hospitals due to go to Burma he never got there because both hospitals were disbanded. During his time in the IMS he tried to improve the training of its junior officers. One attempt, after much research, culminated in a withering report on the poor quality of training of field medical officers. Another involved the despatch of blood for transfusion from Calcutta to hospitals fleeing the Japanese advance into Burma in 1942. These activities finally caused some distant Delhi warrior to post him as far away as possible - to Bannu on the North West Frontier. Fortunately it was not long before his recommendations reached more intelligent ears, and he was brought back and promoted as one of six surgical specialists to the 1300-bedded Indian Base Hospital in Kirkee, then receiving wounded from Burma and Italy, and then acting as peripheral nerve centre for the Indian army. In 1946 Gerald returned to the London as an anatomy demonstrator, while he (and his father) studied for and passed the final FRCS, son before father. In September 1947 he was appointed a 'class III supernumerary registrar in the accident and orthopaedic department', where he was spotted by Victor Dix, who invited him to join him in setting up the new academic surgical unit. There he specialised in urology. He was appointed as a general surgeon in 1951, and was at once seconded to Ann Arbor to learn the new technique of transurethral resection of the prostate from Reed Nesbit. On his return he encountered many difficulties in setting up transurethral resection at the London in 1952. Any diathermy machine that was powerful enough to cut under water had long since been requisitioned for counter-radar purposes; there was no supply of the large amounts of sterile fluid required for irrigation for, far from being sterile, the hospital tap water was always contaminated with pseudomonas. This was the time when streptomycin, PAS and INAH had cut a swathe through tuberculosis, with the result that there were many patients in whose urinary tracts the mycobacteria had all been killed, leaving large defects to be made good. French urologists in occupied Paris had shown how these defects could be repaired with isolated loops of large or small bowel. It was work for which Gerald's methodical and patient craftsmanship was specially suited. Among these patients were some who ended up with a permanent nephrostomy, for which changing the tube was always difficult and hazardous; he devised a simple and effective technique which is still named after him. Later he collaborated with Dix in the use of radiotherapy for bladder cancer, but soon found that after beam radiation therapy the ureterocolic anastomoses almost always leaked, frequently with lethal consequences. He adapted the ileal conduit to these patients with a success which won him the respect of his urological peers. He was elected to the Council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. He had the misfortune to diagnose in himself the rare Azzopardi type of seminoma; he subsequently underwent orchiectomy and radiotherapy, and then took early retirement from the London Hospital in 1976, devoting the rest of his life to his first love, the teaching of anatomy, first in Southampton and then in Leicester. It was in this milieu that he was most happy, and he was always sought after by medical students who enjoyed his knack of making the dead bones come alive with clinical meaning based on his wide experience of surgery. He was an active member of the Anatomical Society, examined in the Primary for the English and Edinburgh Colleges both at home and abroad and continued to teach anatomy long after most men would have given up. Indeed, it was only after he had successfully undergone an operation for a second cancer (of the pancreas) in his old hospital that the idea of retiring ever occurred to him, by which time he was 78. By a remarkable coincidence he was staying overnight in the Nuffield College for a routine follow-up appointment with his surgeon when he developed severe abdominal pain and asked for an ambulance: Roy Gilbert happened to be on duty, and he bundled him into his car and drove him at once to the London Hospital, where he was found to have a volvulus. The second-look laparotomy showed no evidence of recurrence. In his last five years he remained alert and spry, always keenly interested in all things medical. He shared his love of walking, reading and discussion with his wife Marguerite, his three children and his grandchildren. He died on 3 May 1996 in Derby.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008388
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Miller, Ashton (1908 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380382380382
Occupation Urologist
Details Ashton Miller, always known as 'Jerry', was born in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 10 September 1908, the fourth child and only son of William Ashton Miller, a banker and brewery director, and Adeline Louisa, née Porter, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Tonbridge School before going up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he sat the natural sciences tripos in 1930 and graduated in 1935. He started his clinical training at St George's Hospital, where he was appointed to various house surgical posts before becoming rotating surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone in London. This was the start of his interest and future career in urology. He served in the RAMC during the second world war in West Africa, France, Belgium and Norway. After demobilisation he became registrar to Terence Millin and lecturer in surgery at Bristol under Professor Milnes Walker, and was appointed consultant urologist to the United Bristol Hospitals in 1950, a post which he held until 1968. Under his leadership, the department of urology became one of the largest and most enthusiastic in the country. It was due to Jerry that the Bristol bladder tumour registry was so successful, becoming an invaluable resource which not only recorded the incidence of bladder tumours throughout the South West of England, but also scrutinised the subsequent histological findings and clinical research. He also investigated the problem of postoperative infection in the urinary tract, and, thanks to his and the department's efforts, postoperative management was transformed, and infection became the exception, rather than the rule. He was also a pioneer in renal dialysis. He became President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine, was a Hunterian Professor of the College in 1954, and was later elected to the Court of Examiners, on which he served from 1962 to 1966. He retired from the NHS in 1968, and took up a research scholarship at the Norsk Hydros Institute for Cancer in Norway. He soon began to advise the neighbouring Radium Hospital, and was subsequently appointed consultant urologist there. Jerry was an approachable colleague, who was always ready to offer shrewd advice. A keen sportsman, he played golf, tennis, squash and cricket, and was an able skier. He also enjoyed joinery and carpentry, and spent much time restoring antique and, particularly, long case clocks. He married Judith Macdonald and they had three daughters and a son, but sadly she died shortly after the birth of their fourth child. Later he married Karin Blikstad, a consultant pathologist, and they had a son and a daughter. Jerry died on 22 November 1992, survived by his wife, six children and sixteen grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008199
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Yates-Bell, John Geoffrey (1902 - 1991)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008400-E008499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380610380610
Occupation Urologist
Details Geoffrey Yates-Bell was born in London on 6 December 1902, and educated at St Dunstan's College and King's College Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1925 and subsequently held junior appointments at King's. In 1930, at the early age of 28, he was appointed consultant urologist to King's College Hospital and became senior urologist there in 1937. During the war he worked at Leatherhead Emergency Hospital, and subsequently at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, Queen Mary Hospital, Carshalton, and Heatherwood Hospital, although his first loyalty was always to King's. An outstanding surgeon and teacher, he was a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, President of the Urological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine (1952) and President of the Listerian Society (1948). His many urological interests and publications included calculus disease and urinary tuberculosis in children. His other interests were equally diverse - he was a keen gardener, an enthusiastic tennis player who coached his children to Wimbledon standard, and he also wrote on the mythology of Greece and Rome. He married Winifred Perryman ('Winkie') and they had two children, Andrew, also a urologist at King's College Hospital, and Caroline. He retired from the NHS in 1967, somewhat disenchanted by the bureaucracy of state medicine, and died at Pinehurst in Kent, aged 88, on 29 April 1991, survived by his children and six grandchildren, his wife having predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008427
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Young, Clive Hamilton (1932 - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008400-E008499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380613380613
Occupation Military surgeon Urologist
Details Clive Young was able to combine a successful urological practice with a part-time military career happily uninterrupted by war. He was born on 22 October 1932 in Kingston, Jamaica, where his father, Archibald Hamilton, an electrical engineer, was then working. His mother was Lurline, née Chandler. The family soon returned to England and Clive's first school was at Cheam in Surrey. He then spent ten formative years at Culford School in Bury St Edmunds, ending as captain of the school. Conscription required him to do military service but he was attracted to the life, and during his two years was commissioned as 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals. He maintained his connection with the Corps as a TA captain during his medical education at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1960 and took a series of resident posts in Sussex, while switching to the RAMC Reserve. His interest in urology dated from his work as registrar with Martin Claridge in Canterbury and was confirmed by five years as senior registrar to Barr Stirling in Glasgow. His consultant appointment as urologist to the Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham came in 1974. He became particularly concerned at the plight of patients with urinary diversions and ileostomy bags, giving a great deal of his time to the Urostomy, the Ileostomy and the Colostomy Associations. His army career continued in the RAMC Volunteer Reserve in which he was successively major, lieutenant colonel and colonel in 1978, being awarded the ERD in 1966, the TD in 1979 and a Clasp to the TD in 1983. In 1963 he married Jennifer Anne Shannon, by whom he had two sons, Simon and Mark. This marriage ended in divorce in 1992 and he took as his second wife Elizabeth Anne Colegate, a nurse manager in the NHS. He died on 5 September 1996, a year before he would have been due for retirement.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008430
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Waterfall, William Blair (1912 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381165381165
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born in Bristol on 20 June 1912, 'Bill' Waterfall's father was Robinson Waterfall, a chemical manufacturer of fertilisers. His mother was Mary Louisa Radley, the daughter of a schoolmaster. He was educated at Bootham School, York, where he won an entrance scholarship, but was taken ill, and passed the London Matriculation from Plymouth Technical College, and was accepted at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He went to the London Hospital for his clinical training and, after qualifying in 1937, was house surgeon to Charles Lindsay and Charles Donald. He was then house physician in the skin department. At the outbreak of the second world war, he joined the RAFVR and worked in Cairo and then field hospitals, for which he was mentioned in despatches. After the war, he was a trainee registrar in urology at the Central Middlesex Hospital, where he was influenced by McNeil Love and Kenneth Walker, and was then registrar at Plymouth General Hospital. He was one of the few general surgeons to specialise in urology, and wrote several papers in the *British Journal of Urology*. He was a very keen ocean racer, and former vice-commodore of the Royal Western Yacht Club and a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. He married a Miss Tivy, daughter of an ophthalmic surgeon in Plymouth, in 1939 and they had three sons, one of whom, Nicholas Brian, became a consultant surgeon in Bedford. Bill Waterfall died on 12 August 2000.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008982
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Serjeant, John Cornelius Blair (1917 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381102381102
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details John Cornelius Blair Serjeant was a consultant general surgeon and urologist at Shotley Bridge General Hospital, County Durham. He was born at Masham, Yorkshire, on 17 January 1917, the son of Robert Serjeant, a surveyor of HM Customs and Excise, and Agnes, his wife, formerly Blair, who was a teacher. His brother, Robert Bertram, was Professor of Arabic Studies at Cambridge, and his sister Aileen was a graduate of Edinburgh and a well-known translator. The family was brought up in Edinburgh. John's early education was at George Watson's School and then Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine, qualifying in 1939. He held a house surgeon post with Norman Dott at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and also at Leith Hospital. He joined the RAMC in January 1941 and was posted overseas to India, later serving in the Burma campaign. He was promoted to Captain and made graded surgical specialist. On demobilisation, he joined the Territorial Army and was granted the TD in 1955, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1961. He retired from the TA in 1970. After the war, he started the long struggle of surgical training, mainly under McNeil Love at the Royal Northern Hospital. He became a Fellow of the Edinburgh College in 1947 and of the London College in 1955. He became senior surgical registrar to St Peter's Hospital for Stone and then assistant surgeon to Addenbrookes in Cambridge. In 1960, he was appointed consultant surgeon to the North West Durham hospital group and to Shotley Bridge General Hospital. He shouldered the wide surgical practice of the time with energy and ability, and continued his special interest in urology. His excellent technique allowed him to perform cystectomies and conduit procedures efficiently at a fraction of the time of the practice today. Day surgery appealed to him and he established an excellent unit in 1966, many years before it became the norm elsewhere. He was a good teacher and students from Newcastle Medical School were keen to join his firm. He gave strong support to the British Association of Urological Surgeons, serving on its council, and also to the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association. A colleague writes that, during the industrial troubles of the Barbara Castle period, John went to operate at the day unit, only to be told by a union steward that his private patient on the list had been cancelled. He replied, "OK, will you tell the patients, many being burly miners, that you have cancelled the entire list?" The steward replied that only the private patient had been cancelled. John stood firm, saying: "As far as I am concerned you have cancelled the lot and you are free to discuss your grievances when you have explained the cancellation to the patients." There was a short union meeting and afterwards the whole list went ahead as planned. There was no further trouble at Shotley. He was a man of many interests. He sailed on the Derwent, studied military history, particularly the Wellington period, made and exhibited model soldiers, and had a deep love of the music of Bach. There were few Easters when he missed a recital of St Matthew's Passion. He married Terry Dew in 1946, who predeceased him. He retired to Surrey, dying from carcinoma of the prostate on 3 September 1997. He is survived by his son, David, a lawyer. There are two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008919
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Willson-Pepper, Jack Kenneth (1904 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381181381181
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Jack Kenneth Willson-Pepper, or 'John' as he was always known, was a consultant surgeon in York specialising in urology. He was born in Folkestone on 1 November 1904, where his father, Albert Edward Pepper, was a prominent local businessman and three times mayor. His mother was Mary Southee White, the daughter of a vicar. The 'Willson' was added to his name and to those of both his brothers by deed poll to revive his grandmother's maiden name. As a boy John claimed to have been on the Dover cliffs to see Bleriot's first powered aircraft crossing of the Channel. After Tonbridge School, he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, to read modern history, before training in medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, London. Here he met Elvira van Tets, a nurse, and they married in 1931. He held house officer posts at St Thomas's, followed by posts as casualty medical officer and then surgical registrar at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. In 1934, Willson-Pepper moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as demonstrator in anatomy at the medical school and surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he was much influenced by R J Whillan and F C Pybus. During visits to Continental clinics, he spent several weeks with Zaayer of the Oud Akademische Zeikenhuis, Leiden, where John assisted in preparing Zaayer's paper on the surgery of the oesophagus, read before a surgical congress at Madrid in 1932. In 1936, the Willson-Peppers moved to York, where John and Elvira were to live out their lives. Initially, he joined the practice of Gerald Hughes, Arthur Lister and Charles MacKenzie, family doctors, but with strong specialist interests. John's sights were on surgery and in 1937 he obtained the post of honorary assistant surgeon at the County Hospital, York, alongside his student colleague from St Thomas's, Harold Conyers - they remained close friends and supportive colleagues until 1964. War saw him as a surgical specialist in the RAMC with the rank of Major, spending 18 months in Nigeria and another year in an English military hospital. In 1944, John was one of the first Allied military personnel to enter liberated Brussels. For his medical work there he was awarded the Croix Militaire (premiere classe) by the Belgian government. Back in York, John resigned his general practice partnership in order to concentrate on surgery, especially in urology. When the NHS started, he was appointed consultant surgeon to the York area. Arthur Visick had already established York as a centre for gastric surgery, but he died within a year, leaving Willson-Pepper and Conyers, soon to be joined by Hall to carry on the flame, with Pulvertaft, the radiologist. They co-operated by continuing to register all their gastric patients and founded the York Peptic Ulcer Research Trust, a medical research charity, to ensure that the studies continued. The place of Roux-en-Y anastomosis in the relief of postgastrectomy symptoms was explored. John Goligher had arrived in Leeds by the time that the York clinic was becoming disillusioned with gastrectomy, and the York surgeons were ripe for the study of alternatives. Thus the Leeds-York trial (1958 to 1979) flourished, the first prospective randomised surgical trial to evaluate the relative merits of partial gastrectomy compared to truncal vagotomy plus antrectomy (with gastroduodenal anastomosis) and truncal vagotomy plus posterior gastro-enterostomy for the treatment of duodenal ulcer. John was the last survivor of the original contributors. John kept up with his Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine, and became a Fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and an associate member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). After an article in 1945 for the *British Medical Journal* on surgery in West Africa, his publications were in the field of urology, on renal actinomycosis, calcification in a polycystic kidney, the permeability of the urethral mucosa, and vesico-uterine fistula, and he contributed to the BAUS national research into phaeochromocytoma. He was proud to be President of York Medical Society from 1958 to 1959. Throughout his time in York, John was active in the city's social life, in the Georgian Society, and many other local activities. In 1942, on brief leave, he reached home early one morning to find his fine Georgian house in Bootham a wreck, after a night time bomb. Amazingly, despite total destruction of the house, everyone sheltering under the kitchen table escaped unscathed. John and Elvira took this as a sign that they should spend the rest of their lives in York, so when they could they bought another Georgian house up the road, and stayed. John was deeply involved with his patient's plight and suffering. When a colleague and friend had serious complications after a partial cystectomy, John's long-standing duodenal ulcer got much worse. He had been already of a firm conviction that he would retire whilst still in possession of his faculties (as he put it, "Unlike some of my senior colleagues"), so he went early, in 1964, and was blessed by a further long and fruitful time with his beloved Elvira. He was justly famous for his quiet friendliness, his courtesy, and his Edwardian good manners. He had deep insights, not without criticism, and could bestow great wisdom to his juniors. Poetry was a special joy and later in life John privately published a volume of his own poems. In 1991, he entered into an erudite correspondence with his MP concerning the danger of rabies entering England via the proposed Channel Tunnel. After 67 years of happy marriage he was a wonderful nurse to his dear wife in her last long illness, and characteristically insisted in keeping her at home. He was trying to rehabilitate himself for continued survival without her when his own last illness came rather unexpectedly seven months later - he died from heart failure and peritonitis in the urological ward of York District Hospital on 25 January 2000. He leaves a son, a daughter (Mrs Jasmine Dyer), four grandchildren, and a great grandson.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008998
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leberne, Carl Frederick (1933 - 1985)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379596379596
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Carl Frederick Leberne received his professional education at the University of Sydney, whence he qualified MB, BS in 1955. After his training years at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, he specialised in surgery, beginning as a demonstrator in anatomy at Sydney University in 1958. On coming to Britain he held registrarships at the Hammersmith, London and West Middlesex Hospitals before obtaining first the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1961 and then the English Fellowship in 1962. Returning to Australia he was appointed teaching registrar in urology at the University of Queensland in 1964 and gained his FRACS in 1966. Most of his life was spent in the practice at Albury and Wodonga, Victoria, where he contributed extensively to the development of the area medical services, especially in urology. From 1982 until his death he built up a medico-legal practice in Sydney. A man of great energy, enthusiasm and imagination, well-known and respected for his expertise in his professional life, he was also widely educated and informed in the fields of literature, art and the theatre. He greatly enjoyed the outdoor life, especially water sports in which he met his death while surfing, on 8 April 1985, aged 52. He was survived by his wife, Pat, and their son and daughter, Christopher and Melissa.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007413
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Farrar, David James (1942 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Neville Harrison
Publication Date 2015-04-17 2017-01-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007100-E007199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379296379296
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details David Farrar was appointed as a consultant urological surgeon at Selly Oak Hospital in 1978 and, in 1993, with hospital mergers, moved to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, where he remained until his retirement in 2003. He was born on 3 July 1942 in Rawdon, Yorkshire, the only son of James Farrar, a public health inspector, and Jessie Farrar, a shop assistant. David went to Leeds Grammar School, where he was a keen sportsman, doing well in rugby and boxing, and showed leadership qualities in the school's Combined Cadet Force. He also shone academically and gained a county council award to study medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1966. Aspiring to a surgical career, David was a prosector in the anatomy department at St Thomas' and, having passed the FRCS in 1971, was drawn to urology after obtaining a research fellowship at the Middlesex Hospital under radiologist Graham Whiteside, who, with Richard Turner-Warwick, was pioneering the new investigative technique of urodynamics combined with bladder imaging. This post led to a career-long interest in bladder dysfunction and female urology, and the award of an MS degree in 1979. Meanwhile David had secured a competitive senior registrar post on the Portsmouth-Norwich rotation under John Vinnicombe, Forbes Abercrombie, Alan Green and Mike Handley Ashken. Whilst a medical student, David met Pom (Pamela Allberry) a St Thomas' nurse, who also had a Yorkshire family background, and they married in 1969. David's interest in urodynamics continued and he became an active member of the International Continence Society, which was formed in 1971 and continues to flourish as a multidisciplinary organisation, embracing research and practice in the management of all aspects of bladder dysfunction. Continuing this special interest, David was a founder member of the British Association of Continence Care in 1990, a pioneer of the multidisciplinary pelvic floor group at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in 1999 and of the British Association of Urological Surgeons' section on female and reconstructive urology when it was established in 2001. David was a Royal College of Surgeons' surgical tutor at Selly Oak (from 1984 to 1989) and an examiner in surgery at the RCS. However, there were two areas of postgraduate education that were of special importance to David: the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and the Burberry Club. The RSM urology section held monthly educational meetings in London, which he attended regularly, travelling from Birmingham. He became a member of the council of the section and progressed to treasurer and then president in 2001. The urology section was a pioneer in holding a winter meeting overseas, usually at a ski resort and linking up with a local urology department, and when president David and his wife hosted a very successful meeting in Arosa, Switzerland. These meetings with their informal and relaxed atmosphere were far more significant as opportunities for continuing medical education than those who had not experienced them would believe, and many lasting friendships were formed. The Burberry Travel Club was started in 1981 by a small group of contemporary urologists (Neville Harrison, Patrick Doyle, Chris Gashes, Hugh Whitfield and David Farrar) who met annually to discuss their difficult urological cases and professional issues, and for their wives to share their pressures and family concerns. The group continued to meet for 34 years until David's death (Patrick Doyle had sadly died whilst at a Burberry meeting in 1998) brought the annual club to an inevitable end. David was very efficient and well organised, keeping careful notes and lists of financial and career details. His qualities as a wise and reliable committee member were recognised when reconfiguring the urological services in the Midlands and, after the merger of Selly Oak with Queen Elizabeth hospitals, when he chaired the combined surgical division. David was widely recognised by patients and colleagues as a dedicated, skilful and compassionate clinician. His affability was always apparent, but his wry sense of humour could elude some. However, given the right opportunity, he could entertain with a store of Yorkshire jokes and sport-related stories. David's love of all sport was lifelong, with rugby, golf and cricket being paramount. He lived conveniently close to the golf club in Solihull, which played a major part in his family and social life. Few people knew about David's bowel malignancy before he died unexpectedly on 16 March 2015 following surgery. He was 72. He was survived by his wife Pom (Pamela), daughter, Charlotte, and son, Nic.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007113
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Davies, David Ronald (1910 - 1994)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007800-E007899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380072380072
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details David Ronald Davies, always 'DR' to his friends, was born on 11 May 1910 in Clydach, Swansea, and remained readily identifiable as a Welshman throughout a long surgical career in London, followed by retirement to Exmoor. After schooling at the Ystalyfera County School, which inevitably gave him an enthusiasm for rugby, he entered University College Hospital Medical School, from which he graduated in 1934. His talents were immediately appreciated, and after resident posts and passing the FRCS in 1937 he was appointed assistant to the surgical unit then directed by Wilfred Trotter, who had inspired so many young surgeons. At the outbreak of war he was taken on by the Emergency Medical Service as an assistant surgeon at University College Hospital and at the Hampstead General but he joined the RAMC in 1941 and served as lieutenant colonel, first in the United Kingdom and then in India. After demobilisation he was appointed to the staff of the Harrow Hospital and of the Ministry of Pensions Hospital at Roehampton, but it was to UCH that he was to devote his career as a surgeon, teacher and administrator. He distinguished himself in all these roles and they absorbed all his enthusiasm, so that he found no reason to play any significant part in any wider surgical forum. Much of his work was urological, though he never abandoned general surgery. He became particularly expert in the surgery of the parathyroid glands, working with the research biochemist Charles Dent on the problems of hyperparathyroidism with renal calculus disease. He became a most influential member of the Board of Governors of the hospital and Chairman for many years of its medical committee at a time when new hospital buildings were being planned. He retired in 1978 to Withypool on Exmoor, and took little further part in medical business. In 1988 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. He died on 8 September 1994, survived by his wife Christine, née Thomson, whom he had married in 1940, and his three sons, Timothy, Evan and Jeremy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007889
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ward-McQuaid, John Francis Neil (1918 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-08-12
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007700-E007799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379896379896
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Francis Neil Ward-McQuaid, the son of Colonel John FTP Ward-McQuaid and his wife Enid Ecila, née Cheshire, was born on 30 December 1918 at Neston, Cheshire. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, where he won several prizes and was a notable cricketer. As the son of a serving army officer he was awarded a Kitchener Scholarship to St Mary's Hospital Medical School. After graduating in 1942 he did one resident appointment and then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in which he remained for several years after the end of the second world war. He had become a graded surgeon in the Middle East and his last appointment was as surgeon to the Trans Jordan Frontier Force, at Zerka, with the rank of Major. On demobilisation he was surgical registrar and tutor at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and then senior registrar to Arthur Dickson Wright at St Mary's Hospital before being appointed consultant surgeon to Mansfield and Kings Mill Hospitals. These were both immensely busy institutions in the Nottinghamshire mining area where Neil acquired rich experience in general and urological surgery. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and served on its Council and was also a member of Council of the British Association of Surgical Oncologists. At the Royal College of Surgeons he held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship and was a Hunterian Professor. He served on the Court of Examiners for two spells and was ultimately its chairman. He was also President of the Section of Surgery at the Royal Society of Medicine. A keen and active member of the International Society of Surgery, he organised an excellent meeting at Mansfield in 1980 between that society's regular biennial international gatherings. Despite his exceedingly busy life in two regional hospitals, where he himself made significant contributions to notably high standards of care, he conscientiously fulfilled his many other professional commitments and published a number of papers on general and urological surgery. He was active in church affairs and was awarded a papal knighthood of St Sylvester in recognition of his years as master of the Nottingham Catholic Guild of Doctors. He had a quiet, friendly, unflamboyant style with a teasing sense of humour and it was said that his whole personality was admirably illustrated on the cricket field where he was an accurate and cunning spin bowler. He was steadfast and loyal to all his friends and an entertaining companion. He married Elizabeth Conway, a schoolteacher, in 1943, and they had six children. One of their two sons is a consultant anaesthetist and the other a psychologist. Of the four daughters, one is a nurse and another is a hospital manager in the United States. On his retirement Neil greatly missed his hospital work and was soon overcome by ill health. When he died, aged 70, on 8 July 1988, he was survived by his wife and children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007713
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ashworth, Arnold ( - 1993)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007700-E007799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379982379982
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Ashworth received his medical education at Manchester, whence he qualified MB ChB in 1940. After war service in the RAMC he obtained the FRCS in 1950 and made his career in urology, holding consultant posts at the Crumpsall Hospital Manchester, at the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, the Royal Manchester Childrens' Hospital and at the University Hospital of South Manchester. He died on 16 September 1993.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007799
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Badenoch, Alec William (1903 - 1991)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007800-E007899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379985379985
Occupation Urologist
Details Alec Badenoch was born in Banff on 23 June 1903, the son of John Alexander Badenoch, a chartered accountant, and Georgina Dingwall Joiner, daughter of a master mariner. He was educated at Banff Academy and went on the Marischal College, Aberdeen, to read English Literature, but later changed to medicine. As a student he was a keen swimmer and diver, was president of the student representative council of Scotland in 1926, and qualified in 1927. He took the MD two years later and then came to London for his surgical studies, first at St Mary's Hospital and later at St Peter's Hospital for Stone, where he came under the influence of Clifford Morson, F J F Barrington, Swift Joly and R Ogier Ward, and determined that urology would become his specialty. He passed the FRCS in 1934 and spent some time in Vienna pursuing postgraduate studies before being appointed surgeon to the Metropolitan Hospital in 1938. He had joined the RAF Volunteer Force in 1937 and on the outbreak of war he was called up to serve in the RAF, rising to become Wing Commander in charge of surgical divisions at Rauceby, Wroughton and St Athan. It was at Wroughton that his skillful management of large numbers of casualties returning from the Normandy invasion was noticed by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, then an acting Air Vice Marshall. In spite of his busy surgical commitment he found time to take the ChM degree in 1944. He was demobilised in 1945, appointed surgeon to St Peter's Hospital for Stone in 1946 and to St Bartholomew's the following year, a remarkable appointment since he was not a Bart's man, and was known to be an intending specialist in urology. Later in the same year he was appointed to King Edward VII Hospital for Officers and in 1950 became visiting urologist to the Royal Masonic Hospital. He was Hunterian Professor in 1948, served on Council from 1963 to 1971, and was Chairman of the Academic Board and of the Finance Committee from 1966 to 1971. He was also elected to the Court of Patrons. He was a member of the General Medical Council from 1966 to 1972 and of the General Dental Council from 1970 to 1972. Badenoch was President of the Hunterian Society in 1949 and Hunterian Orator in 1957. A Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries, he was also active in the Royal Society of Medicine and President of the Section of Urology. He was honorary Treasurer to the Society from 1971 to 1976, and was elected an honorary Fellow. As a urologist he was widely respected and imitated by his juniors at St Peter's, as much for his geniality, kindness and lack of pomp as for his elegant surgical technique, especially that of retro pubic prostatectomy, where his trick of suture ligature of the main arteries at the bladder neck made the operation virtually bloodless - in his hands - so much so that a generation of his assistants named these vessels after him. His book *The manual of urology*, first published in 1953, became a standard text and ran to two editions. Internationally he was associated with his Pull-Through technique for impassable strictures of the posterior urethra. In 1963, towards the end of his career and through no wish of his own, he became famous when the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, developed acute on chronic retention of urine, at a time when he was already much distressed by the Profumo affair. Badenoch was called upon to perform a prostatectomy, and Macmillan made the decision to resign, although the postoperative course was entirely uneventful, and within four days Macmillan was sufficiently recovered to be able to push through the arrangements by which he would be succeeded by Alex Douglas Home. Macmillan lived for another twenty three years, ample time to regret his hasty decision. Badenoch played an active part in establishing urology as a speciality distinct from general surgery and was a keen member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, of which he was President from 1967 to 1969 and St Peter's medallist in 1974. He was the British delegate to the International Society of Urology between 1965 and 1972 and one of the co-founders of the European Association of Urology. When he retired from the National Health Service in 1968 he moved to Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where he enjoyed his hobbies of gardening and music. He also contributed greatly to earlier volumes of *Lives of the Fellows*. In 1942 he had married Jean Brunton, an Edinburgh medical graduate who supported him in his professional life and was his assistant in practice. They had three sons, one of whom, David, is a consultant urologist. He died on 16 February 1991 aged 87, survived by his wife and two sons, David and Alexander, his son John having predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007802
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Vernon, Henry Kenneth (1908 - 1983)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-08-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007700-E007799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379907379907
Occupation Urologist
Details Henry Kenneth Vernon was born on 10 December 1908, the son of Walter Vernon, a pharmacist, and his wife Sarah Ann, née Davies. He was educated at Hartlepool Grammar School and Durham University College of Medicine where he was awarded the Phillipson Scholarship. He graduated MB, BS in 1931 and was appointed house surgeon to FC Pybus at the Royal Victoria Hospital. He held further posts in Exeter and London and obtained the FRCS in 1935. At Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, his interest in urology was aroused by J Alban Andrews. He held the post of resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for almost two years instead of the usual one and then moved into the London County Council hospitals until he was appointed surgeon to St James's Hospital, Balham, where he attracted an increasing load of urological work. He became assistant in urology to Professor Grey Turner at the Postgraduate Hospital in 1940. In 1950 he was appointed urologist to St Peter's Hospital and to the Postgraduate Medical School and at that time he gave up his general surgery at St James's to establish a department of urology there. In recognition of his contribution to the hospital in 1982 the urology ward was named after him and an annual Henry Vernon lecture was established. He was a founder member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and was a member of the Board of Governors of St Peter's Hospital until his retirement in 1973. Henry Vernon merited both the respect and affection of his colleagues and juniors. His life was governed by a deep Christian commitment. In 1938 he married Elsie Bailes. They had two sons and one daughter; one son and the daughter are medically qualified. Sadly his retirement was marred by his wife's illness and her death in 1982. He died on 25 September 1983 in his 75th year.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007724
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Masina, Francis (Feerose Hormasji) (1909 - 1991)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-17
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380350380350
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Francis Masina was born in Bombay on 1 February 1909, the son of Hormasji Manekji Masina, FRCS, a famous surgeon in India and the first Parsee to obtain the English FRCS. Francis was the second of four children, all of whom graduated from Cambridge University and obtained English medical qualifications. The family bought a house in Cambridge for the education of the children and Francis attended the Leys School from 1923 to 1928, where he was captain of rugby and hockey and played in the cricket XI. He passed the Natural Sciences Tripos at Emmanuel College and was awarded a Blue for hockey. He qualified at Bart's and held appointments there, at the National Hospital, University College Hospital, the Miller Hospital (under Cecil Joll) and at the Wingfield Hospital, Oxford (under Professors Seddon and Trueta). After the second world war he specialized in urology. He was the Prophit Scholar of the RCS from 1947 to 1952, based at the Middlesex, St Peter's and All Saints Hospitals, under the aegis of Sir Eric Riches, and was awarded the Jacksonian Prize in 1949 for his essay on malignant disease of the bladder. He was appointed surgeon to the Northern Hospital, Sheffield, and the Beckett Hospital, Barnsley, where he worked until his retirement. His life's work is embodied in the paper which he wrote for the *British Journal of Surgery* in 1965, entitled 'Segmental resection for tumours of the urinary bladder'. He will be remembered as a dedicated and skilled surgeon, a man of exceptional courtesy, highly intelligent and thoughtful, and with strong religious convictions and the highest ethical standards. He died on 4 March 1991 at his home in Oxford, survived by his wife Edie and by his sister, Dr Meheru Masina.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008167
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching McRae, Colin Ulric (1942 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008700-E008799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380962380962
Occupation Urologist
Details Colin McRae was a distinguished New Zealand surgeon and a former President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was born in Waipukurau, New Zealand, on 18 March 1942. His father, Colin, and mother, Freda, were both schoolteachers. He was educated at Henderson High School, Auckland, and Otago University. He was a house surgeon and registrar at Christchurch, before going to England in 1968 to specialise in surgery. He worked at the Hammersmith Hospital and in Plymouth before taking the FRCS. He then did a year as a research fellow under Geoffrey Chisholm at the Hammersmith, returning to New Zealand in 1972. He worked in the urology department at Christchurch as a consultant urologist and clinical lecturer. He moved to Auckland in 1992, as clinical director of urology. He had busy and respected private practices in both cities. He was keenly interested in medical education, taught on the RACS's *Tomorrow's Surgeons* programme, was a college examiner in urology for eight years from 1985, and was New Zealand censor for many years. He was elected to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Australasian Council in 1986, became treasurer, Vice-President and was President from 1996 to 1998, the first New Zealander in 25 years to achieve that position. He was highly respected in international circles and was the recipient of honorary Fellowships and similar honours from medical organisations in Edinburgh, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. On moving back to Auckland in 1992, he rediscovered his childhood interest in sailing and fishing. He was fond of ballet, music and literature, and was a superb cook. He died on 25 July 2000, survived by his wife Beverley, son Andrew and daughters, Fiona and Emma.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008779
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ramsey, Ernest William (1938 - 2001)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008800-E008899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381042381042
Occupation Urologist
Details Ernie Ramsey was one of Canada's leading urologists. Born in Larne, Northern Ireland, on 24 September 1938, he studied medicine at Queen's University, Belfast, qualifying in 1963 and gaining prizes in pathology, anatomy and surgery. From 1964 to 1970 he continued his studies in surgery, gaining his English and Edinburgh Fellowships. He also took some time off to work as a ship's doctor for the Union Castle line plying between England and South Africa. In 1970, he emigrated to Canada, and completed his training in urology at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, in 1972. He then moved to Winnipeg, where after two years in private practice with privileges at St Boniface Hospital, he accepted a full-time appointment as an assistant professor in the section of urology of the University of Manitoba. In 1979, he was promoted to Associate Professor, and appointed programme director and head of the section of urology at the health services centre and the University of Manitoba. In 1984, he became a Professor. In January 1990, he accepted an appointment as professor and head of the division of urology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, but returned to Winnipeg in August of the same year, as surgical director of the renal transplantation unit at the health services centre and director of urological oncology with CancerCare Manitoba. He remained in Winnipeg for the rest of his career. He was a member of the Canadian Urological Association executive from 1984 to 1986 and President in 1992. He was secretary of the Canadian Academy of Urological Surgeons from 1978 to 1983 and President in 1985. He was the founding Chairman of the Canadian Prostate Health Council, and on the editorial boards of the *Canadian Journal of Surgery*, *Contemporary Urology (Canada)*, *Current Oncology* and the *Canadian Journal of Urology*. In 2001, he was honoured with the Canadian Urological Association award, in recognition of his contribution to Canadian urology. At Manitoba he built the section of urology from one full-time individual and two residents, to ten urologists (six full-time) and ten residents. He successfully negotiated for the construction of a state of the art endourology operating room with built-in fluoroscopy, and a mobile care clinic with fluoroscope assisted endoscopy, urodynamics laboratory, shock wave lithotripsy, and full anaesthesia and recovery capabilities. A new prostate centre, one of his longstanding goals, has been approved for construction. Ramsey had a passion for teaching, not only formally, but also in the operating rooms, wards and clinics. Between 1980 and 2001, 22 residents successfully completed their urology training in Manitoba. He was awarded the educator of the year award by the residents and interns of the University of Manitoba. Outside his professional career, he enjoyed sports. He played rugby in his youth, and later enjoyed tennis, squash, downhill skiing, and even an occasional game of golf. He loved music, and was an accomplished piano player. He had a good sense of humour, loved to travel, and appreciated fine food and wine. He died after a brief illness on 5 June 2001 and is survived by his wife Diane, one son, Ian, and two daughters, Clare and Katherine.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008859
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Yeates, William Keith (1920 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-09 2016-02-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008400-E008499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380611380611
Occupation Urologist
Details Keith Yeates was born a Scotsman but lived almost all his life in Newcastle upon Tyne where he made a great name for himself in urology and a fine reputation for his department. His father William was the manager of a tobacco company in Glasgow and his mother was Winifred, née Scott. They lived in Helensburgh where Keith was born on 10 March 1920. He was at first schooled at the Glasgow Academy but was then moved to Whitley Bay Grammar School and on to the Medical School of King's College Newcastle, University of Durham. He qualified there in 1942 and took a series of resident appointments at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. There he was much influenced by the surgeon F C Pybus and by W E M Wardill, who taught him the use of the 'cold punch' for transurethral prostatectomy. His interest in urology was strengthened by a year at St Peter's and St Paul's Hospitals in London and in 1952 soon after his return to the north he was appointed consultant urologist to the Newcastle General Hospital. Due to the early retirement there of John Swinney he soon came to be in charge of the department with its large teaching commitment. He had later to supervise its relocation to the Freeman Hospital. Yeates made some important contributions to the understanding of bladder dysfunction and of andrology but his considerable influence on the development of British urology stemmed less from his writing than from his personal teaching, his work over many years for the British Association of Urological Surgeons (President 1980-2, St Peter's medal 1983) and his editorship of the *British Journal of Urology*. He took tremendous trouble over his lectures and presentations and was for that reason a popular guest or visiting professor, a rôle which he filled in very many countries. His manner was quiet and courteous but he could ask the most penetrating questions and politely but devastatingly expose error or inconsistency. His personal motto was said to be 'everything can be improved'. He brought these qualities to his work with the Journal which lasted from his assistant editorship in 1967 through to his retirement as consulting editor in 1990. While in the chair he raised the standard of contributions and secured an international circulation for the journal. In the 1980's he played an important part in promoting the changes in postgraduate training and as first Chairman of the Intercollegiate Board in Urology he launched the new FRCS (urol). The Yeates medal is awarded to the best candidate in this examination. He had many interests outside his profession, as a collector of Scottish contemporary paintings and as an expert on Newcastle silver. He married in 1946 Jozy Fairweather, then a lecturer in German at Newcastle University. They had a son, Rodney, who headed a department of experimental pharmacokinetics for Pfizer, and a daughter, Deborah, who entered the medical profession and became a consultant radiologist at St Mary's Paddington. Keith Yeates died on 2 July 1992.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008428
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Snell, Michael Edward (1936 - 1999)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Solley, Rupert (1910 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Abel, Beverley John (1943 - 2018)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2019-01-15 2022-02-09
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Urologist
Details Beverley John Abel (Bev) was born in Nottinghamshire in 1943. His parents, Albert and Winifred, ran a butcher’s shop and the family, which included Bev and his younger sister Wendy, lived above it. When he was two years old he suffered from rickets and had to wear leg splints for a time. From early years he showed keen academic ability and easily passed his 11+ examination. He was educated at Carlton-le-Willows grammar school and read medicine at Liverpool University. When asked at his university interview if he came from a medical family he apparently replied *My father is a butcher*. Remaining in the city for his training, he became a surgical research fellow at the Liverpool Regional Urology Centre and published papers on the treatment of kidney and bladder problems (notably relating to injuries of the spine) which were highly influential. He moved to Glasgow as a senior registrar at the Victoria Infirmary and was later appointed consultant urological surgeon. A pioneer of percutaneous lithotripsy, by this procedure he dramatically improved the lives of hundreds of patients suffering from kidney stones. With his colleague Archie Hutchinson he ran an innovative urology clinic which became a UK model for future practice. He was also appointed an honorary senior lecturer in urology at the University of Glasgow. Outside medicine he threw himself enthusiastically into many differing interests, from still life painting to fishing, house renovation, golf and game shooting. Salmon fishing was a particularly favourite activity, especially on the river Spey. He was always happy to joke about his humble origins, on one occasion for example when a fellow fisherman thought he had been described as a *neurologist* he corrected him *No, I’m a plumber, a urologist.....neurologists are the brainy guys*. In 1966 he married a Welsh senior nurse, Dwynwen Thomas (Wendy) and they had three children, Julia, Clare and Simon. Wendy died of cancer in 2007 aged 64 after 41 years of marriage. Some years later, in 2011, he married a nursing sister he had met at the Victoria Infirmary, Sandra McGeachie. He died from neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung on 23 August 2018 and was survived by Sandra, his children and grandchildren: Zoe, Freya, Niamh, Archie, Lachan, Angus, Darroch and Lucy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009555
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Odiase, Victor Odigie Naiwu (1925 - 1984)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2016-07-27 2019-08-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009100-E009199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381358381358
Occupation Urologist
Details Victor Odigie Naiwu Odiase was a senior lecturer at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. He was born in Owo, Nigeria on 25 March 1935, the first child of Bernard Onaiwu Odiase, an administrator and later chairman of the Benin Central Local School Board, and Adepate Odiase née Bello, the daughter of a police officer. His younger brother also became a doctor. Odiase attended Edo College in Benin City and then studied medicine at University College, Ibadan. He qualified in 1961. He was a house surgeon and physician in Ibadan, and then went to the UK, where he was a senior house officer at Luton and Dunstaple Hospital and a registrar at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Odiase gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1966 and of England in 1967. He was influenced by Brian McNeill Truscott and William Wilkin Davey. He returned to Nigeria, where he was appointed as a senior lecturer at the University of Benin. He enjoyed fishing and playing music, especially the piano. In 1963, he married Margaret Bowditch. They had two sons and two daughters. Tragically, Odiase and his wife were both killed in a car accident in Nigeria in 1984.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009175
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Vinnicombe, John (1930 - 2018)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Peter Worth
Publication Date 2019-01-15 2019-05-10
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/382160382160
Occupation Urologist
Details John Vinnicombe was a consultant urologist in Portsmouth. He was born in Hounslow on 17 January 1930, the younger of two boys. His father, Francis William Vinnicombe, was an export agent in textiles. His mother was Marjorie Florence Vinnicombe née Shuff. John was educated at Godalming County Grammar School, and then did his National Service before going up to St John’s College, Cambridge in 1949. He took a keen interest in rowing; stroking the Lady Margaret Boat when they were Head of the River in 1952 and narrowly missing out on a place in the Olympic eight ohn did his clinical training at St Thomas’s, qualifying in 1955, obtaining the FRCS in October 1958 and the MChir by exam in 1966. His first house job was with John Pullan at St Thomas’. As was then the case, there was no organised training programme and he had to find his own jobs. He was in Jersey for a year in 1962 and gained a lot of practical experience in all branches of surgery, including obstetrics and gynaecology, but he was not always very well supervised. He then worked as a resident assistant surgeon at Hydestile, Godalming, which was managed by St Thomas’. He subsequently did a senior registrar job in Portsmouth before returning to St Thomas’ as a casualty officer, where he sought the advice of K E D Shuttleworth regarding training in urology, a specialty in which he had developed an interest. In 1963, as part of the training programme, he was seconded to Tom Stamey’s unit in Stanford, California with the help of a Fulbright fellowship. As a result of this he wrote a number of papers on urinary tract infections. He returned to England to complete his training with K E D Shuttleworth and T W Mimpriss and was appointed as a consultant urologist in Portsmouth in 1966, where he stayed until his retirement in 1995. He was also appointed as a consultant urologist to King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst. John built up a very successful urological department with his colleague Forbes Abercrombie. Together they were able to establish a dedicated day surgery unit, amongst the first in the country. At the time urology was becoming a recognised, stand-alone specialty and, although Portsmouth was not a teaching hospital, they were given permission to appoint a senior registrar. They also had a close relationship with Southampton. Those who they trained subsequently had successful careers in teaching hospitals around the country, although sadly, Bill Hendry, Malcolm Coptcoat, Patrick Doyle and Mel Jennings predeceased him. Byron Walmsley, one of the trainees, was appointed as a third consultant and he was also able to expand the department, so John left a strong legacy when he retired. John was approached by St John Birt, one of the consultants in Jersey, asking if he would consider joining him on the staff. This would have involved a significant amount of general surgery. John was not prepared to do this, but he did suggest that he could go to Jersey for two weekends a year to deal with urological problems on an out-patient and operative basis. This he did very successfully until his retirement. John got involved in administrative matters, not only in his own hospital but also nationally. He interviewed on consultant appointments, acting as the regional adviser to the Royal College of Surgeons for the rapidly expanding urological posts. In 1981, he was appointed as secretary of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, initially with Keith Yeates as president and then with Ken Shuttleworth. From 1985, John held the post of treasurer when John Blandy was president. John was a regular supporter of the Royal Society of Medicine section meetings and he was elected president of the section for the year 1987 to 1988. His presidential address was on the treatment of advanced bladder cancer. He returned from the joint meeting in Zermatt with E Zingg with bilateral subdural haematomas, the result of a fall on the ski slopes. His presidential day dinner was held at the Mansion House at the invitation of the Lord Mayor. He was also a member of the Punch Club and hosted a meeting in Portsmouth. John enjoyed his spare time gardening, fishing and sailing, and he had an interest in fine wines. He loved fast cars, especially driving Ferraris to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix meetings. John and his wife Diana (née Swan), whom he married in 1958, were generous with their hospitality, not only at their home in Emsworth, but also at their cottage near Cherbourg. He will be remembered by many colleagues and friends. He was a good teacher, he worked long hours and was a dedicated clinician who was described by a close friend as ‘…the best technical urological surgeon that he had ever worked with’. Interestingly, he was one of a number of distinguished urologists who were left-handed. John had many health problems, especially with his back, possibly resulting from his enthusiastic rowing when he was younger, but despite increasing disability he lived life to the full and continued to travel far and wide. In late 2017, he was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer, but despite major surgery the disease recurred. He elected not to have further treatment and died peacefully on 17 November 2018 aged 88. Predeceased by his wife, he was survived by their three daughters – Sarah, a consultant radiologist in Cheltenham, Amanda and Jane – and two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009563
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thomson, Robert George Nighy (1935 - 2019)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Chris Faux
Publication Date 2019-10-22 2020-01-06
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009600-E009699
Occupation Urologist
Details Robert George Nighy Thomson, always known as Bob, was a urologist for Preston and Chorley hospitals. He was born in Northern Ireland on 23 May 1935. His father, Douglas Charles Thomson, was an electrical engineer; his mother, Margaret Elsie Thomson née Nighy, was a nurse. He grew up in Weybridge, where he attended St George’s College, attaining prizes for French and the school debating prize. He attended St Bartholomew’s Medical School and qualified with the conjoint examination in 1959 and the MB BS in 1960. After training in Reading, London and Liverpool, where he was a fellow of the Merseyside Association for Kidney Research from 1967 to 1968, in 1970 he was appointed as a consultant urologist to Preston and Chorley. We had adjacent wards and operating theatres and were colleagues for over 40 years. At this time, Preston was very busy and desperately understaffed – there were only two urologists for the whole of the area including Blackpool and up to Lancaster, as well as Chorley and South Ribble. His working week was always seven days, regardless of whether he was on call or not. All patients were seen daily and many twice a day. Bob’s enthusiasm, teaching and operative techniques were in high demand both by patients and also by juniors in training. Advice and joint projects and papers were regular features with juniors. At the hospital, he was renowned for enormous lists, no cancellations and excellent communication skills, particularly with those unfortunate enough to have cancer. He was clinical director of surgery from 1991 to 1994 and president of the Preston Medico-Ethical Society. He was on the committee for St Joseph’s Hospital, a private hospital in the centre of Preston, and then on the planning committee for Fulwood Hall Hospital when demand outgrew St Joseph’s. Patients were paramount, as were his large and extended family. His latest great grandchild was born just weeks before he died. He married Helen in 1961 and she kept the home fires burning superbly over the years, as well as working as a medical secretary. Sunday lunches and Christmas meals were her forte for all the family. When one of the four children got her PhD as a psychologist, Bob was delighted and said she was the only ‘real doctor’ in the family! He had many interests outside medicine, including bridge, gardening and golf. He was not only the ex-captain of Preston Golf Club, but for years was one of the medical volunteers at the open golf tournaments, both locally and in Scotland. For over 14 years he was also a doctor for the Diocese of Lancaster, taking patients on trips to Lourdes. He seemed to have used up several of his nine lives over the years: he was cured of cancer in the 1970s, had a subarachnoid bleed in the 1980s and, more recently, had a bypass and stents for arterial blockage in the groin! Nothing seemed to get him down or stopped him from leaping back to work at the first available opportunity. Meetings, get-togethers and parties for all staff were a regular occurrence in the Thomson calendar. He showed us all how it should be done and in the local community he became the doctors’ urological doctor. Bob died on 1 September 2019 at the age of 84 and was survived by his wife Helen, children Catherine, Andrew, Joanne and Gillian, 11 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. His wise counsel and enthusiasm will be sadly missed.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009664
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rees, Richard Wellesley Morgan (1935 - 2018)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2019-02-05
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Richard Wellesley Morgan Rees was a consultant urologist at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. He was born on 13 January 1935 in Stourbridge, Staffordshire, the son of Theodore Foulkes Rees, a pharmacist, and Edith Louise Rees née Colley. He studied medicine at the University of Birmingham, qualifying in 1957. Prior to his consultant appointment at Cardiff, he was a house surgeon for the United Birmingham Hospitals and then a registrar at Derby Royal Infirmary and a registrar in urology at the Royal Hospital in Sheffield. At Cardiff he was also an honorary clinical teacher at the University of Wales’ College of Medicine. He was a member of the Welsh Urological Society and the British Association of Urological Surgeons. Rees died on 1 June 2018. He was 83.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009573
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robinson, Melvyn Roland Griffiths (1933 - 2018)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2019-02-05
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Urologist Urological surgeon
Details Melvyn Roland Griffiths (Mel) Robinson was a consultant urologist at Pontefract General Infirmary. He was born on 17 May 1933 in Wolverhampton, the son of Noah Robinson, a managing director in the pressed steel industry, and Hilda Emily Robinson née Griffiths, a secretary. He attended St Agnes’ Preparatory School in Willenhall, Staffordshire and then Wolverhampton Grammar School, and went on to study medicine at Charing Cross Medical School. He qualified in 1957. He was a house surgeon at Harrow Hospital and at the Charing Cross unit at Kingsbury Hospital (in obstetrics), and then a casualty officer at Charing Cross Hospital. From January 1960 to December 1962 he was a medical officer in the Colonial Service and for the northern Nigerian Government. On his return to the UK, he became an orthopaedic registrar at Charing Cross Hospital. He was then a surgical registrar at Mount Vernon Hospital and at St James’ Hospital, Balham. From 1969 to 1972, he was a senior registrar and research fellow at St Peter’s Hospitals, Institute of Urology, London, where he was influenced by John Blandy, John Douglas Fergusson and David Innes Williams. In 1972 he was appointed as the first consultant urologist at Pontefract General Infirmary, and at Castleford and Goole hospitals, an appointment he held until his retirement in December 1995. From 1990 to 1995 he was director of surgery at Pontefract General Infirmary. He was also an honorary senior lecturer in clinical urology at the Institute of Urology, Middlesex and University College Hospital Medical School, London. He described the expansion of the urology department during his time at Pontefract: ‘…new therapeutic techniques & associated technology were rapidly developing. It was very satisfactory during my time as a consultant introducing new therapeutic techniques, urodynamics, ESWL [extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy], clinical audit, urology nurse specialist, laser surgery, laparoscopic surgery to the unit.’ He was also able to take part in research: ‘I was … fortunate to be invited by Mr Philip Clark and Mr Bob Williams to participate in the weekly meetings in the Urological Dept at Leeds General Infirmary. It was there that I met the late Professor E C Cooper and Mr Philip Smith who introduced me to the EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer). This allowed me to participate in clinical research with many organisations and departments, including MRC [Medical Research Council], The Department of Experimental Cancer Research at Leeds, and the Institute in Cardiff. This enabled me to introduce many new urological techniques at Pontefract including the use of PSA [Prostate-Specific Antigen] in the control of Prostatic Cancer and … systemic chemotherapy for bladder cancer.’ He was a member of the advisory committee of the Yorkshire Regional Cancer Organisation, of the testicular tumour research group of the Yorkshire Regional Health Authority and the Medical Research Council’s working groups on testicular cancer and superficial bladder cancer. He was secretary of the British Prostate Group. He was a member of the British Association of Surgical Oncology, the European Urological Society and the International Urological Society. Outside medicine, he enjoyed tennis, soccer, gardening, local history, rambling and travel. In 1972 he married Rosalind Kitching, a personal assistant. They had two children – Emma Claire and Matthew James. Robinson died on 14 December 2018. He was 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009574
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sutherland, James William (1922 - 2008)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2016-07-27 2020-02-04
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009200-E009299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381391381391
Occupation Urologist
Details James Sutherland, known as Hamish to his friends and colleagues, was a urologist in Quincy, Illinois, USA. He was born on 27 March 1922 in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of William James Sutherland, a police officer, and Jean Cummings Sutherland née Johnston. He attended Hyndland Senior Secondary School in Glasgow from 1934 to 1939, where he was *dux*, and went on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow at the age of 17 on a bursary. He qualified in 1944 with honours in physics, anatomy, pathology, midwifery, medicine, surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics, ENT and dermatology. From 1944 to 1945 he was an intern for Charles Illingworth in Glasgow. He then joined the Royal Air Force as a flight lieutenant, serving in Egypt and the UK. Following his demobilisation in November 1947, he returned to Glasgow, where he was a registrar in general surgery, again working under Illingworth. From 1947 to 1956 he was a senior registrar in surgery and urology at the Western and Victoria infirmaries, Glasgow. In 1956, he was awarded a ChM for a thesis on upper urinary tract stones and, in the same year, was appointed as a urological consultant in Glasgow at the Western Infirmary, Victoria Infirmary, the Cancer Hospital, Bon Secours Hospital, Hairmyres Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital. In 1966, he emigrated to the United States with his family, initially as a urologist at the Valley Clinic in Fort Madison, Iowa. In 1968 he moved to Quincy, Illinois and opened a private practice in urology. He also taught at the Southern Illinois University department of surgery. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, the American Medical Association, the American Urological Association and the American Association of Clinical Urologists. From 1979 to 1981 he was president of the Illinois Urological Society. Outside medicine he enjoyed golf, tennis, racquet ball, reading, photography and travelling (in 2000 he went around the world in 50 days). He played football into his sixties. In March 1964, he married Annie Stewart Brunton McPhie, a nurse and business manager. Sutherland died on 24 April 2008 at the age of 86 and was survived by his widow, their six children (Anne, Charles, June, Craig, Ronald and Patricia), 23 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. A son, Malcolm John, predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009208
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rushford, Anthony Joseph (1924 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Forrest, Hugh (1929 - 1996)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007900-E007999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380117380117
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist Vascular surgeon
Details Hugh Forrest, whose father was a draughtsman and whose mother, Annie Tough Hay was a secretary, was born in Greenock on 12 June 1929. His initial education was at Greenock High School, where he won a poster prize for National Savings; he then went on to medical school in Glasgow, graduating in 1955 with distinction in surgery and having won the William Hunter Medal for practical anatomy. He had completed his two years' National Service in the Royal Air Force (1947-1949) before going up to university, serving in the medical branch of the RAF as a corporal. After a period of training in general surgery based at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, he became interested in peripheral vascular disease and went to Heidelberg, Germany, for specialist training in vascular surgery. His consultant career started at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow in 1967, where he was appointed consultant general surgeon with an interest in urology, this appointment lasting until 1973. He then became a consultant general surgeon with a special interest in vascular surgery at the Western Infirmary and Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, in 1973. In both centres he expanded the existing vascular service, building up busy vascular units which attracted referrals throughout the west of Scotland. He served the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in many capacities and on many committees, and was a member of the College Council between 1985 and 1989. He was much concerned with surgical audit, an interest which he carried on into retirement as Chairman of the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality, whose first annual report was published in December 1995. He was an examiner for the Fellowship in the Primary and the Final in pathology and surgery, was President of the West of Scotland Surgical Association, and represented Scotland on the Council of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, of which he had been a Fellow since 1972. Following retirement in 1991, in addition to his professional activities he developed a consuming interest in drawing and painting, taking classes and exhibiting his work. He also enjoyed golf, building remote control model boats from scratch, and trout fishing, becoming president of the local BMA Angling Club and winning the 1994 trophy at Loch Walton Angling Club. Another great interest was poetry, and the life and poems of Robert Burns. In 1959 he was ordained as an Elder in the Church of Scotland. The depth of his faith was reflected in his life and work, and his wisdom, experience and ability to put people at ease, whatever the circumstances, were well recognised among his friends and colleagues and much appreciated by his patients. In June 1963 he married Alison Hunter RGN, who survived him, together with their two sons Alan and Ewan, one a mathematician and the other a physician. He died of pancreatic adenocarcinoma on 11 February 1996.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007934
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Geddes, John Ronald ( - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Poole-Wilson, Denis Smith (1904 - 1998)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Williams, Richard Huw Patrick (1946 - 1995)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008400-E008499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380598380598
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Huw Williams was born in Cardiff on 12 March 1946. He was educated at Dean Close School, Cheltenham, and at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff, where he qualified MB BCh in 1969. He trained in Cardiff where he became lecturer and was later Smith and Nephew research fellow in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was a founder member of the School of Postgraduate Studies in Medical Care at the University of Wales. In 1979 he was commissioned a surgeon lieutenant-commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was appointed consultant surgeon to Neath General Hospital in 1981. Having been a lecturer in Cardiff, he continued teaching students and postgraduates at Neath. He was a general surgeon of great merit, but it was in urology that he excelled. Huw was always great company and had a cheerful, vibrant personality. This was a great help in his organising capacity, and he played a full part in many medical societies and also in surgical administration in his hospital. He was involved in many research projects and published numerous papers in journals. Huw was devoted to his three children and in latter years, being a single parent, gave up private practice in order to be able to spend the maximum possible time with them. He and his family enjoyed sailing in his boat from Saundersfoot and also fishing. He was an expert skier. Being based in Neath, he supported Neath Rugby Club. His terminal illness - malignant lymphoma - necessitated him having a bone marrow transplant operation, total irradiation, and open heart surgery. He died on 15 January 1995 aged 48, and was survived by his son and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008415
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bryden, Archibald Alastair Gordon (1965 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008400-E008499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380664380664
Occupation Urologist
Details Gordon Bryden was a senior lecturer and consultant urologist at the University of Sheffield and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He was born on 7 November 1965 in Paisley, Scotland. His father, Archie Bryden, was a virologist, his mother's maiden name was Hunter. His parents moved south when he was two years old and he was educated in England. He completed a BSc in medical sciences at St Andrews, and then studied medicine at Manchester. After qualifying, he did junior posts in London, Preston and Manchester, and then specialised in urology, going through the specialist rotation in Manchester before becoming a clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester in 1997. He completed a thesis on carcinoma of the prostate which gained him his doctorate. He was appointed senior lecturer and consultant urologist at the University of Sheffield and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 2001. His ambition had always been to be a clinical academic, but he was a popular and caring clinician, as well as being active in research and a popular teacher of students and junior doctors, winning one of the College scholarships for his department. He married Daniele née Ashley, who worked with him as his anaesthetist. There were no children. He died on 9 July 2002 from the aftermath of a closed injury of the pancreas caused by an accident when playing cricket.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008481
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Oldfield, James (1923 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008200-E008299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380419380419
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details James Oldfield was born in Sunderland on 10 July 1923. His father was Thomas Oldfield, a shipwright, and his mother was Annie, née Cockerill-Lawrence. He attended Bede Collegiate School, Sunderland, and then went to Durham University to study medicine on a Miners' Association Scholarship. He attended Durham University School of Medicine in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and qualified MB BS in December 1945. During his training he was particularly influenced by J Brumwell and George Feggetter in Newcastle, and later by Sir Clifford Naunton Morgan, when he spent a year at St Mark's Hospital in London in 1956. He served as a captain in the RAMC from 1946 to 1948, seeing service in Egypt and Greece. It was at the British Army Hospital in Kyfissia that he first met his future wife, Patricia. He gained his FRCS in 1950. He was demonstrator in anatomy at Newcastle in 1948, a senior surgical registrar at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Newcastle, and consultant surgeon to North Ormesby Hospital, Middlesbrough, from 1981 to 1984. James Oldfield was a popular surgeon in Middlesbrough and Teesside and he ultimately became the first pure urologist appointed to the area. He built up a very big department latterly at South Cleveland Hospital. He was active in local BMA matters in the Middlesbrough Division and President of the North of England Surgical Society in1986. He was always popular and approachable, and a good colleague to be with. He loved food and wine and good company and took great pleasure in teasing his colleagues. His interests, outside medicine, were music, fly fishing and golf. He married Patricia Mary on 15 September 1951 and they had four children: Jacqueline (a personnel manager), Edward (a surveyor), Christopher (who was handicapped) and Caroline (studying psychology). James Oldfield suffered a series of myocardial infarcts which led to his early death on 8 December 1992.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008236
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wightman, John Alan Keightley (1930 - 2000)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381176381176
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Alan Keightley Wightman was a consultant surgeon in Chesterfield. He was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, on 11 April 1930, where his father, John Andrew Wightman, was a pharmacist. His mother was Doris Mary née Keightley. He was educated at Nottingham High School and the University of Sheffield. After house jobs, he went off to do his National Service in the RAMC, where he served in the British Military Hospitals in Singapore and Hong Kong. He returned to specialise in urology under Jock Anderson in Sheffield, though he never entirely gave up general surgery and indeed was co-author of an authoritative paper on familial polyposis of the colon. In 1968, he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Royal Hospital Chesterfield and clinical lecturer in surgery at the University of Sheffield. After he retired in 1994 he went for a year to Kuala Lumpur as a visiting associate professor in urology. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and served on its Council from 1985 to 1988, to represent the interests of general surgeons with an interest in urology - the associate members. He was a College tutor from 1980 to 1990, and an external assessor in general surgery and urology. He was an enthusiastic golfer and stamp collector, and enjoyed travel. In 1956, he married his ward sister, Ann Hancock. They had one son, John Andrew, and three girls, Susan Jane, Sally and Kate Elisabeth. The eldest daughter, Susan Jane, became a general practitioner. He died on 20 October 2000.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008993
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ticehurst, Richard Norman (1917 - 2016)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by A J Dyson
Publication Date 2016-05-12 2016-05-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009100-E009199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381308381308
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Richard Ticehurst was a consultant general surgeon and urologist in Hastings, Sussex. He was born on 3 November 1917 into an old medical Sussex family renowned for its expertise in English wildlife, his father having written the seminal work on swans. He had an older brother, Hugh, who became a local farmer, and a younger sister, Annie. After a preparatory school in St Leonards-on-Sea, he won a scholarship to Tonbridge School, from where he read medicine at Clare College, Cambridge (his father's old college). His clinical training was at Guy's Hospital, where he was the fourth generation of Ticehursts to qualify. He remembered that his obstetric training included borrowing the hospital bicycle and attending deliveries in homes among the poor, cobbled streets of Southwark. National Service was performed as a ship's doctor in the Royal Navy, stationed mainly in the China Seas. His family had been surgeons in Hastings for two generations and he had accompanied his father on ward rounds when he was a child in short trousers. On his father's retirement, he duly applied for the family post. His reference said simply 'this man has the best pair of hands in London' and his interview committee consisted of a hospital manager, his father and his grandfather. He was, not surprisingly, appointed and worked for many years at the Royal East Sussex Hospital in Hastings. He was an excellent surgeon, always calm, swift, confident and very skillful, but with the idiosyncrasy that, being a fisherman, he used only fishing catgut. He proved an equally good colleague. He had no desire to build empires, pretend to be a manager or to amass a fortune: he was simply a first class and committed surgeon. Country pursuits were in his blood. He began hunting at Cambridge, running with the university beagles and eventually becoming their whipper in, which he continued in Sussex. Richard was renowned as an excellent shot. He was a member of several local shoots and bagged his last pheasant at the age of 95. He fished, often in Scotland, mainly on the Spey, where he often rented a cottage from the Duke of Gordon. He was still fishing (to the horror of the local gillies) when he was 91. When he retired, he retreated to his beloved, rather ramshackle, cottage in the country, where he devoted himself to his garden and to country life. He was never sociable, but had a few good friends and was always generous with the odd brace of pheasant. Richard Ticehurst was the epitome of an English country gentleman. He had been an excellent, well-respected surgeon. He was a kind, gentle and modest man but, behind a shy, reticent exterior, he had a clear, intelligent mind and a prodigious memory. He spent his last few months in a care home, where he died peacefully on 12 March 2016. He was 98.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009125
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thomas, Harold (1925 - 2011)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Robert D Wines
Publication Date 2016-07-27 2016-09-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009200-E009299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381392381392
Occupation Farmer Urologist
Details Harold Thomas was a consultant urologist in Sydney, Australia. As a result of his American experience, when he trained with Roger W Barnes in California, he was able to make a significant contribution to the development of urological practice in Australia. Harold was born into a humble family in Rakaunui in rural New Zealand. He finished school at 14 and worked in a bank to pay for night school, and later earned a diploma in agriculture. Realising there was little chance of being able to buy his own farm, he turned to medicine and went to Otago University. To pay his way through medical school, Harold worked as a shearer, bent over heavy sodden sheep pulling belt-driven clippers. Once he graduated, he worked at Auckland Hospital, where he courted and married Shirley. In 1957 they left for the UK, with Harold working as a ship's doctor on board *Flowergate*, an old cargo freighter. They sailed across the Pacific, through the Suez and then to Marseille. They travelled on to London, where he spent the next four years working at St Paul's Hospital in Endell Street, Covent Garden. In 1958 he gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1961 he and Shirley departed for the USA on the *Queen Mary*. He and his family, then including two sons, Michael and Philip, drove across America to southern California, where Harold trained under Roger W Barnes, then one of America's most prominent urologists and a pioneer of endoscopic surgery. Harold completed his fellowship of the American College of Surgeons and worked at Riverside County Hospital attached to Loma Linda University school of medicine. Harold and Shirley later moved to Australia, to Sydney. He became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and was appointed as a urologist to the Prince Henry/Prince of Wales Hospital complex and established a busy private practice at Randwick. He was elected secretary of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand. He was held in high regard by his medical colleagues and patients alike. He introduced American short-stay urology, which was not routine at the time. Despite a busy operating schedule, Harold took time to pass on his skills to other urologists, especially prostatic resection. Two more children, Kay and Geoffrey, were added to the family. When Harold retired as a surgeon he moved to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, where he planted trees, farmed the land and looked after his cattle. He died in 2011, aged 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009209
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kelly, Patrick Michael (1912 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007300-E007399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379562379562
Occupation Urologist
Details Patrick Michael Kelly was born in Dublin on 23 July 1912, the son of Sir Patrick Kelly, CIE, Commissioner of Police in Bombay. He was sent home with his mother who was expected to die of diabetes but she became one of the first recipients of insulin and lived on into her 80's still taking insulin! He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare and later at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London, qualifying in 1937. After house appointments at St Thomas's he was appointed surgical registrar there and subsequently at St George's and Guy's Hospitals. In 1942 he entered the RAFVR serving as a surgical specialist with the rank of Wing-Commander in Wales and the Azores, and was mentioned in despatches. After the war he specialised in urology and was later appointed consultant urologist to the St Helier Group of Hospitals, Surrey, and St Anthony's Hospital, Cheam. He was an accomplished golfer, reaching the last eight in the amateur championship in 1946, and was also a good shot and salmon fisherman. He was an excellent raconteur with a fine sense of humour and an inexhaustible fund of stories and consequently was much in demand as a speaker at weddings and dinners. He retired to Cambridge in 1979 where he taught anatomy at the University and in his old college, Corpus Christi. He married Corona Edwards in 1939 and they had one son, Michael (now a colorectal surgeon in Leicester), and two daughters, Susan and Jennifer. He died in Cambridge aged 77, on 5 November 1989, survived by his wife and children and eight grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007379
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Parton, Leslie Ian (1908 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-07-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007500-E007599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379749379749
Occupation Urologist
Details Leslie Ian Parton was born in Wellington on 26 October 1908, the only child of William Parton, an insurance company manager. He was educated at Mount Cook Boys' School and Wellington College where he was a senior national scholar in 1923 and a University national scholar in 1925. Two years later he graduated BSc from Victoria University and proceeded to Otago University for his medical studies qualifying in 1933. After house appointments at Wellington Hospital and Nelson Hospital he travelled to England as a ship's surgeon in 1935 and worked in Swindon Hospital until the outbreak of war when he joined the Emergency Medical Service. During the early years of the war he was involved in the treatment of air raid casualties and studied for the FRCS. In 1940 the examination hall had been damaged by bombing and he sat the examination in Birmingham on the only occasion it was held outside London. During the later years of the war, working in the King's College sector he became interested in urology and worked with J Swift Joly, John Sandrey and H P Winsbury-White. In 1946 he returned to New Zealand and was appointed assistant urologist at Auckland Hospital. Apart from his enthusiasm for professional work he had a great interest in teaching. He contributed many articles to surgical journals and published two books *Urology in general practice* and *Urology for nurses*. In 1956 he was awarded the Alan Newton Prize for his contributions to urology by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. After retiring from Auckland Hospital he remained in private practice and undertook the task of proof reading for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; his work was recognised by the award of the medal of the College in 1983. His chief outside interests were walking and mountaineering and he climbed many peaks in New Zealand and the Himalayas. He also studied medical history and took a particular interest in the diseases affecting the Kings and Queens of England. In 1934 he married Alison McGeorge and they had two sons, a lawyer and a town planner, as well as a daughter with a diploma in physical education. He died suddenly in Auckland on 27 November 1988.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007566
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Low, Antony Irving (1940 - 2001)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Sleight, Malcolm Westmoreland (1932 - 1981)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379126379126
Occupation Military surgeon Urologist
Details Group Captain Malcolm Westmoreland Sleight was a distinguished urologist in the Royal Air Force and was the Royal College of Surgeons' Cade Professor of Surgery to the RAF. He died suddenly on 27 March 1981 at the age of 48. Born on 7 July 1932 in Leeds, the second son of a civil engineer (Chief Assistant Planning Officer, Leeds) the first son becoming a cardiologist at Oxford, he was educated at Ilkley and Leeds Grammar Schools before studying medicine at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and at St Bartholomew's Hospital. After house posts at Bart's where he worked with and was influenced by Sir Clifford Naunton Morgan, and at the Metropolitan Hospital, he entered the RAF in 1958 on a short service commission, taking a permanent commission in 1959. His contribution to surgery was recognised by his work in and valuable contributions to urology, and by the way he shouldered, at short notice, the onerous and extra responsibility of running the RAF Cade oncology unit. For this, amongst other things, he was awarded the OBE in 1980, the year in which he became Cade Professor. He was active in research into the surgical anatomy of the kidney and into the use of anticoagulants in prostate surgery. He was a member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He married Ann Pritchard in 1958. Her mother was one of the first nursing sisters to work in the battle areas of the first world war. In addition to his interest in rugby and swimming he devoted time to charitable and church affairs and was a churchwarden. After his untimely death it was said 'Can there be a better epitaph for this singular man than that his family adored him, professional colleagues admired him and his friends loved him'.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006943
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Riches, Sir Eric William (1897 - 1987)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-07-20
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007500-E007599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379778379778
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Eric William Riches, the second child and eldest son of William Riches, a schoolmaster, and of Kate Riches (née Rowbotham), was born on 29 July 1897, at Alford, Lincolnshire. He was educated at St Dunstan's, Alford, and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Alford, before securing an entrance scholarship to Christ's Hospital where he won a number of prizes. After a further entrance scholarship to the Middlesex Hospital in 1915, he deferred his admission to join the Army, serving first in the 10th Lincoln and then the 11th Suffolk Regiments. Awarded an MC in 1917, he was demobilised in 1919 with the rank of Captain to enter medical school where he won a second year exhibition, the Lyell Gold Medal in surgery and a Senior Broderip Scholarship. On graduating in 1925 he was house physician to Drs R A Young and George Beaumont, and then house surgeon to G G Taylor (later Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor) before demonstrating anatomy at the Middlesex and working as a prosector at the Royal College of Surgeons. He secured the MS and final FRCS in 1927 and became surgical registrar to Blundell Bankart and Alfred Webb-Johnson before his appointment to the surgical staff of the Middlesex in 1930. He began primarily as a general surgeon with a special interest in urology and was also appointed to the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth and to St Andrew's, Dollis Hill. He became consultant urologist to the Army and to the Royal Masonic Hospital, and consulting surgeon to the Ministry of Pensions Spinal Injuries Centre. Eric Riches was a Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1938, and both Hunterian Professor and Jacksonian Prizeman in 1942. He served six years on the Court of Examiners and sixteen years on Council, being Vice-President in 1961-62. He was successively Bradshaw lecturer, Arnott demonstrator and Gordon-Taylor lecturer. For many years he acted as curator of historic surgical instruments at the College. He was a most energetic man who took an enthusiastic interest in teaching his students and in training young surgeons. He published many urological papers and wrote or contributed to several books, including *Modern trends in urology* and *Tumours of the kidney and ureter*. He was also a lively and effective speaker at the many societies he supported: President in medallist of the British Association of Urological Surgeons; President and Lettsomian lecturer of the Medical Society of London; President and orator of the Hunterian Society. At the Royal Society of Medicine he was a Vice-President, honorary librarian, and had been President of the Clinical, Surgery and Urology Sections. He was also chairman of the editorial committee and treasurer of the *British journal of urology*. He received the well-earned accolade of Knight Bachelor in 1958. But his reputation was international; he had been elected to the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons in 1953; he was Vice-President of the International Society of Urology in 1961 and president at that society's 13th Congress in London in 1964. He retained a great love for his old school, Christ's Hospital, where he became a governor in 1958 and a member of the Council of Almoners in 1960. In 1966 he was appointed to the house and finance and education committees, and became deputy chairman in the following year. From 1970 to 1976 he succeeded his old friend and patient, Sir Barnes Wallis as treasurer and chairman of the Council of Almoners. Sir Eric was a superb surgical technician and innovator, a modest man with a friendly smile, and it was inevitable that he should build up a large and highly successful private practice which he continued for many years after his retirement in 1962: indeed he eventually had to be given firm encouragement to stop operating. He included among his hobbies photography, golf and music, with considerable enthusiasm for the last two, though even he admitted that his standard of performance on the cello did not quite match up to his earlier surgical skill. For the last few years of his life, in sad contrast to his lively character and exuberance in former years, he survived in poor and deteriorating health. He was twice married, first to Dr Annie Brand. They had two daughters: one of whom, Dr Anne Riches, is in general practice. After the death of his first wife he married Ann Kitton, a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, and they had one daughter. When he died, aged 90, on 8 November 1987, he was survived by his second wife and the daughters of both marriages. A thanksgiving service was held at St Marylebone Parish Church where the address was given by Professor Leslie LeQuesne with the Christ's Hospital Choir and Brass Ensemble in attendance.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007595
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Tasker, John Holmes (1917 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Maddern, John Pearce (1925 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380353380353
Occupation Urologist
Details John Maddern, a major founder of the Urology training scheme, recently died on 8.3.2015. He has left a lasting legacy. John was born in 1925, schooled in Adelaide, and graduated MBBS at Adelaide University in 1948. He commenced a 40-year association with Royal Adelaide Hospital when he started as an intern in 1949. He passed his FRACS in general surgery in 1952, and furthered his training in urology in London and in Canada. On return to Adelaide, he found that urology was still being done in general surgical units, but he was appointed as head of the new Department of Urology at RAH in 1959. He continued in that lead role 24 years, influencing many trainee urologists. John was a "surgeon's surgeon", a slick and efficient technician in the days of open urology, with careful attention to detail. He was also an early academic, with a MS awarded in 1965 for a study on staghorn calculi, and multiple prize essays. He was assistant editor of the British Journal of Urology from 1977-1985. He worked hard for the Urology Society of Australia and New Zealand, earlier established in 1937. He served as President in 1968-69, and was made the inaugural Chair of the Training Accreditation and Education Committee in 1980 (the Board of Urology of the RACS). From 1980-1986 he spent considerable effort in standardizing urological training, and was RACS examiner for Urology 1974-1984. Co-opted membership of RACS Council as a specialty Councillor naturally followed, and he strongly represented the specialty in that role. He was awarded an AM for involvement in golf, his recreational passion. His handicap long remained lower than his (normal) PSA, a urologist's dream! He played state golf for South Australia, and was a longstanding member of multiple golf clubs including Royal Adelaide and St Andrew's. Guy Maddern
Resource Identifier RCS: E008170
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Colabawalla, Burjori Nusserwanji (1922 - 2002)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sunil Pandya
Publication Date 2015-09-21 2016-04-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008100-E008199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380355380355
Occupation Urologist
Details Burjor Nusserwanji Colabawalla was head of the department of urology at St George's Hospital, Bombay, from 1959 to 1976. He was born on 18 August 1922 in Karachi, the son of Nusserwanji Burjorji Colabawalla and Khorshed Colabawalla (née Panthaky). He studied at St Patrick's High School in Karachi and, on the family's migration to Bombay, at St Xavier's College. After obtaining his BSc from the University of Bombay, he entered Grant Medical College in 1943. He retained a life-long loyalty to this institution, doing all he could for anyone from it. After his graduation in medicine, he travelled to London and worked under the guidance of Ian Aird at the Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1954. Whilst in London, he also worked with Norman Tanner and Henry Vernon at St James' Hospital. The latter introduced him to the budding specialty of urology. On Vernon's recommendation, Colabawalla worked as a registrar with Harold Hamilton-Stewart at the Bradford Royal Infirmary and completed the three-year course in urology there. He returned to India in 1957, preferring this to the offer of a consultant's post in England. In a city used to general surgeons who dabbled in specialist operations, Colabawalla restricted his practice in Bombay to urology from the start, setting a precedent others were to follow later. He set high ethical standards. As a consequence, his private practice grew slowly, initial referrals being few and far between. Vijay Dave, a senior neurosurgeon and a friend, recounts an illustrative anecdote. One evening, as he entered the compound housing Colabawalla's consulting rooms, he saw a portly, middle-aged man running away, huffing and puffing as though in danger of losing his life. Chasing him was Colabawalla. As the former escaped on to the street, Colabawalla ground to a halt. Realising that an explanation was due to Dave, he muttered: 'The … (expletive deleted) general practitioner had the temerity to ask me for a commission for a patient he had referred to me!' He was appointed as a consultant urologist at St George's Hospital, affiliated to Grant Medical College, and developed the first teaching department in urology in the state. It soon attracted postgraduates who later earned renown as urologists in different parts of India. He joined hands with Pheroze B Billimoria, the pre-eminent radiologist in the city, who had the only machine in Bombay with a serial changer and facilities for cine-angiography. Together, they carried out the first studies on renal arteries in systemic arterial hypertension in Bombay. On his retirement from St George's Hospital, he heeded the call of his teacher at Grant Medical College, Shantilal J Mehta, to start the department of urology at the newly founded Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. Jointly with the nephrology department, headed by M K Mani, Colabawalla initiated the programme for renal transplantation at this hospital. Anticipating the needs of poor patients, he also set up the National Kidney Foundation in 1976, which, among other things, helped meet expenses for drugs to prevent graft rejection. He played a vital role in the drafting and passage of the Government of India's Transplantation of Human Organs Act in 1994. He was the founder member of the Urological Society of India. He served as its honorary secretary and honorary treasurer (from 1961 to 1972) and was elected as its president from 1973 to 1974, following such pioneers as G M Phadke, Shantilal J Mehta and H S Bhat. He was the first Indian to become a full member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He was a member of the editorial board of the *British Journal of Urology*. He helped the University of Madras formulate its training programme in urology and served the Government of India as an adviser. True to his principles, he waged war against illegal and unethical practices in renal transplantation in India. The suffering of his mother from terminal renal disease had saddened him. He pondered humane ways for mitigating the misery of such patients. In the latter part of his life he was influenced by Minoo Masani. Masani, Member of Parliament, had set up the Society for the Right to Die with Dignity in 1981. Colabawalla became an active participant in the movement. On Masani's death, Colabawalla was elected president of the Society. He worked hard to spread awareness of advance directives and living wills in India. He prepared a draft bill on living wills, painstakingly drawing up clauses to define and qualify its intent. He built into the bill safeguards for lay individuals and those who would help them ensure that their desires were honoured. It is a sad commentary that, over the subsequent two decades, no progress has been made by the Government to pass the bill. His colleagues recall his fondness for smoking a pipe, good food, wines, the creations of P G Wodehouse, the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, cricket and Western classical music. Blood transfusions given to him as part of treatment for severe injuries suffered in a traffic accident led to Hepatitis C. Cirrhosis followed and, in its trail, a series of complications necessitating admissions to hospitals in India and in England. The death of his beloved wife, Mehroo, broke his heart and his will to live. He died on 23 September 2002, aged 80. In keeping with their philosophy, husband and wife were cremated without any religious formalities. He was survived by his daughter and son, Khorshed and Kershaw, and three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008172
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sewell, Ivor Alwyne (1930 - 1992)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-10-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008300-E008399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380486380486
Occupation General surgeon Military surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist Vascular surgeon
Details Ivor Alwyne Sewell studied medicine at King's College Hospital, qualifying MB BS in 1955. A lecturer in surgery at Westminster Hospital Medical School at the start of his career, he then became senior registrar in surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He was awarded a PhD for research into the microcirculation in 1962. Later he developed interests in urology and vascular surgery and was appointed consultant surgeon at Tameside General Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne, in 1971. He had a life long interest in the Forces. He attended Sandhurst and was a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. He was surgeon major to the 52nd Lowland Volunteers until 1971. When he retired from the Territorial Army he was lieutenant general at 207 Manchester General Hospital and he continued to lecture at the combined services' training courses. As a founder member of the Military Surgical Society he designed a badge which would meet all the requirements of the College of Arms. He also helped develop ideas for the radical change in the structure of hospitals for the British Army of the Rhine and was subsequently awarded the Territorial Decoration. His many interests included management - he became a member of the British Institute of Management; railway engineering - supporting Dinting Railway Museum; oil painting and technical drawing. He produced many innovative teaching aids with these skills. He died on 30 July 1992 after a second myocardial infarction, survived by his wife, Jean, and two adopted children, Mark and Jackie. His epitaph reads 'Scholar, scientist, soldier, surgeon' - he was all of these.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008303
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Schnitzler, George Julius ( - 1993)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Murnaghan, Gerald Francis (1926 - 1999)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-11-18
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008800-E008899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380988380988
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Gerald Francis 'Joe' Murnaghan, Professor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, can be said to have been the father of upper tract urodynamics, although his work and influence extended far beyond this important area. He was born on 20 September at St Helen's, Lancashire, the son of William and Anne Murnaghan. He was educated at St Helen's Catholic Grammar School and the University of Edinburgh. There he won the Senior John Aitken Carlyle bursary in anatomy and physiology, the Lawson Gifford prize in obstetrics and gynaecology, and distinctions in all parts of his final examinations. After junior posts on the professorial medical and surgical units, he did his National Service in the RAMC as a clinical officer in surgery, serving in the Canal Zone. On demobilisation in 1955, he returned to Edinburgh with the Vans Dunlop research scholarship in surgery and pathology at the University of Edinburgh and a Scottish hospital endowment research trust fellowship. Here he began a series of investigations into the anatomy and physiology of the ureter, which were to continue throughout his life. He was subsequently surgical registrar and senior registrar to David Band in Edinburgh, where he completed his training in urology. In 1957, he went as a senior lecturer to the Institute of Urology in London, where he worked with Roger Pugh. His Hunterian Professorship in 1958 advanced an entirely new theory of the causation of hydronephrosis. This led on to a study of the structure and function of the ureterovesical orifice and the pathogenesis of reflux. In 1961, he was invited to be Associate Professor of Surgery in the new clinical school at the Prince Henry Hospital at the University of South Wales. There he set up an internationally famous centre for the study of urodynamics, with one of the first primate colonies in the world devoted to urological science. In 1969, he was appointed full Professor of Surgery, a post he retained until 1992. Latterly, he became interested in lower urinary tract infection, especially urethritis in women and prostatitis in men. Joe was a popular visiting professor in urological departments all over the world. He was a member of the exclusive American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, on the editorial board of the *British Journal of Urology* and *Urology Digest*. He was honoured by the British Association of Urological Surgeons with the St Peter's medal in 1984, was President of the Urological Society of Australasia in 1980 and a member of the New South Wales State Cancer Council. He was created a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to medicine in 1995. In 1956, he married Dulcie Greenup. They had three daughters and a son, Angus. There are seven grandchildren. He died on 19 June 1999 from metastases from carcinoma of the colon. A delightful, merry companion, he was a good raconteur, an enthusiastic sailor and loved nothing better than messing about in his boat in and around Sydney harbour. He was a staunch Catholic with a keen enthusiasm for discussion in matters spiritual, ethical and moral.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008805
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Slade, Norman (1918 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381118381118
Occupation Urologist
Details Appointed to a consultant post at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, in 1957, Norman Slade's professional career as a urologist was distinguished by many valuable contributions; his publications invariably concluded with a pertinent, practical message. His initial studies focused on postoperative urinary tract infection and demonstrated the importance of the closed urine drainage system, revolutionising the management of catheter drainage of the bladder from the open bucket in the ward to a closed system, originally, before PVC, into a large sterile Winchester bottle. Other major subjects included studies on closed renal injuries, vesico-intestinal fistulae, pelvic hydronephrosis and pyelonephritis. Norman served on the Council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, and was President of the section of urology at the Royal Society of Medicine before retiring in 1982. His skills and experience of life clearly expanded far wider than his surgical specialty, provoking a curiosity about the man and his background. His arrival at the hospital would frequently be accompanied by a load of produce from his garden, where he often would have been working since dawn. Born in Bristol in 1918, Norman Slade was brought up in Chipping Sodbury in the traditions of the Gloucestershire countryside. His great grandfather was a 'wunt' or mole catcher, an important person in rural life at that time, with a good market for mole skins, used for gloves, hats and coat collars. He learnt how to net and ferret for rabbits (until his ferret was lost in a large warren), to fish and to catch roosting pheasants using a fishing line with a noose at its end. His early education was gained at the local elementary school, to which some of the children would walk miles in all weathers. The family's next door neighbour was a doctor, Alfred Grace, nephew of the great 'W G', the cricketer. No waiting room was available in those days for patients attending the surgery, merely a bench outside the front of the house, where the doctor would proceed to pull out teeth amidst much shouting. Despite being single-handed, the doctor did not fail to ride with the Beaufort Hunt twice a week. A scholarship took Norman to Rendcomb School near Cirencester, which had been founded for local and fee-paying boys by a member of the Wills family, the tobacco manufacturers in Bristol. As a boarder in the countryside, he was able to extend his interest in natural history. From school he progressed to medical school at Bristol University, where his education was subsidised by a student loan and a grant, also from the Wills family. Norman would claim that his whole education had been supported by the tobacco industry, although he never smoked. After qualifying, he spent the first year in hospital posts, repaid his student loan and was then appointed to the Sudan Medical Service in 1943. This provided him with a unique background of medical, obstetric and surgical practice. Problems such as tetanus, including the neonatal variety, rabies, osteomyelitis, cerebral malaria, elephantiasis and cataracts came within his clinical domain. An outbreak of relapsing fever resulted in the need to delouse a tribe of 100,000. Such challenges would have appealed to Norman. In the autobiography he wrote for his three daughters, Norman expressed his gratitude for the varied and fulfilled life he had enjoyed in his chosen profession. Finally, in his retirement, he gained great pleasure from his garden, returning to the land to practise the 'organic way', the accepted method in his youth. Sadly, it was in his garden that he suffered the tragic accident in which he sustained burns that proved fatal. He died on 28 June 1997.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008935
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Smith, Irvine Battinson (1919 - 1999)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-12-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E008000-E008999/E008900-E008999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381119381119
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Irvine Smith was a consultant surgeon to Burton-on-Trent General Hospital. He was born in Ilkley on 5 December 1919. His father, Fredric Battinson Smith, was a forensic pathologist who had won the Military Cross in the first world war and later advised the Ministry of Health on setting up a national pathology service. His mother, Mary Irvine (née Johnstone), came from a medical family; her father, Thomas Johnstone, had been dresser to Lord Lister at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Irvine's uncle, George Johnstone, became public health officer for Preston. Irvine was educated at Marlborough and King's College, Cambridge, and did his clinical work at University College Hospital, where he was taught by R S Pilcher, H P Himsworth and F P Browne. After house jobs at the Royal Northern Hospital and Great Ormond Street, he did his National Service in the RNVR, serving as a Surgeon Lieutenant in HMS *Bigbury Bay* and *Liverpool*. He returned to University College Hospital as a demonstrator of anatomy to study for the primary and was then resident medical officer at the Cancer Hospital, and subsequently house surgeon at West Middlesex Hospital and then at Hammersmith, before passing the final FRCS in 1949. He had a special interest in the treatment of cancer, and was house surgeon to the radiotherapy unit at Hammersmith, before going on to be registrar at Preston Royal Infirmary and later Leeds. In 1955 he spent a year at the Mayo Clinic as a research fellow, returning to Leeds as tutor in surgery and senior registrar. There he threw himself into calculous disease in Leslie Pyrah's new unit, and published many papers on the topic. He became something of an expert in the use of the ileal loop and the complications of ileostomy. He was appointed to the consultant staff of Burton-on-Trent General Hospital in 1957. At Burton, although he increasingly specialised in urology, he remained a very general surgeon and was much sought-after as a teacher by young surgeons on the Birmingham rotation. He had a wide range of interests. His urological colleagues will remember his landmark study on trans-uretero-ureterostomy. His surgical colleagues remember him for his advocacy of hemihepatectomy for severe blunt injury - then unheard of. He set up the urological department at Burton-on-Trent. He was also a pioneer in day care surgery - the Burton unit is named after him. He was the prime mover in setting up the postgraduate medical centre at Burton in 1972, where a plaque records him as 'Irvine Smith, Founder'. Irvine had innumerable interests; he had been a keen Boy Scout, and later, an enthusiastic climber (he broke his spine climbing into King's as an undergraduate). He was a diligent and popular member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, disguising a discerning intellect behind a front of apparent diffidence. In later years he became a highly regarded medical historian, making Stephen Hales his particular subject. He married Kathleen Lilley Turner in 1950, who had qualified from UCH and had a considerable interest in family planning. They were divorced in 1985. They had three sons, Robin Goulty (who died as a baby), Geoffrey Lilley (a Professor of Virology at Imperial College, London) and Christopher Frederic (an engineer), and two daughters, Anne Johnstone (who has worked in the blood transfusion service) and Dorothy Battinson (a teacher). In addition to a considerable interest and expertise in medical history, he was a keen ornithologist. He died on 2 October 1999.
Resource Identifier RCS: E008936
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Richmond, William David (1943 - 2018)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Peter Barnes
Publication Date 2018-06-19 2018-11-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009400-E009499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381872381872
Occupation Urologist Urological surgeon
Details William (‘Bill’) Richmond pioneered the development of urology services at what is now Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. He was born on 1 June 1943 in Ulverston Cottage Hospital, Lancashire to David Alan Richmond, an orthopaedic surgeon, and Eira Richmond (née Osterstock) a nurse, a brother to their first child, Jennifer, who was then two years old. William was named after his maternal uncle who was killed on active service in 1942. The family lived in Bardsea on the edge of Morecambe Bay before they emigrated to New Zealand in 1946, where his father was to join a general practice as their surgeon. The post was not as advertised and they returned to England in 1947, his father then spending two years with the RAMC serving in Malaya and Japan. The family moved several times in Lancashire before his parents finally settled in Colne, where his father worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in the local group of hospitals. Unsurprisingly, given this initial peripatetic background, the children were sent as boarders to Westholme School in Arnside, where William settled in quickly even though he was only four years old. He continued his education at Cressbrook School in Kirkby Lonsdale, before moving to Sedbergh. It was here that he discovered his interest in shooting (and had several exploits with explosives), becoming a crack shot with clay pigeons. He also indulged his love of ornithology, encouraged by his father who was himself a keen ornithologist. From his mother, who would take him and Jennifer to visit rivers in the Yorkshire Dales, he inherited a lifelong love of fishing. He went from Sedbergh to Manchester University to study medicine and qualified in 1966. As a student he was popular and an enthusiastic player for the medics’ rugby team though, as a team member put it, he played for the enjoyment rather than the result. He held junior house officer posts in surgery and medicine at Salford Royal Hospital and then joined the anatomy department at Manchester for a year in preparation for a career in surgery. A senior house officer rotation at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Park Hospital, Davyhulme was followed by a registrar post at Withington and a senior registrar post at Manchester Royal Infirmary with Eric Charlton Edwards. In 1976 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Wigan, Wrightington and Leigh group of hospitals, their first urologist. He initially delivered services at clinics at Leigh Infirmary and Wrightington, before moving the Wrightington clinic to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in 1988. He and his team of local pioneers not only established urology services but delivered, over many years, some of the shortest NHS urology waiting lists in the UK. In addition to his surgical work, he served as clinical director of surgery and consultant representative on the Wigan Area Health Authority. Later he was on the steering committee which set up the Wigan and Leigh Health Services NHS Trust and was then a member of the Trust board. He retired in 1999. William married Terry (née Mills) in 1969 and they had two children, Liam and Kerry, but the marriage was short lived. He met Bernadette Piot in 1977 and they eventually married in 1994. Within a few weeks of his retirement they moved to the Vercors region of France, where both developed a love of cross-country skiing. Retirement gave William a chance to indulge his other outside interests. He had long had an interest in motor sports and had been a medic at Oulton Park Circuit, where he was a competitive mini car racer. He was also a member of Porsche Club Great Britain, the Porsche Club Bourgogne Franche-Comté and the Goodwood Road and Racing Club. William and Bernadette returned to the UK in 2011, settling in Hampshire, where he had the opportunity to rekindle his love of ornithology and fly fishing, joining the Salisbury District Angling Club. He also tried his hand at sailing in Christchurch Harbour, but the siren call of the engine was hard to resist and he gained certificates for safety boat duties. In 2013 he was invited back to Wigan to open the Richmond urology unit in the new Hanover Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, in recognition of the contribution he had made to the development of urology services. That his name was chosen 14 years after he had left is an indication of the regard in which he was held. About 12 months later he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery. In March 2017 he developed low back pain as a result of metastatic spread, not from his prostate, but from an adenocarcinoma of the lung, despite being a lifelong non-smoker. He was swiftly diagnosed and given excellent treatment. Although it may have delayed progression to some extent and initially brought symptom relief, he inevitably deteriorated. Typical of William, he remained upbeat until the very last. He will be remembered by friends, colleagues and patients for his openness, his humour, his unique brand of political incorrectness, his ability to talk to patients in their terms (he would frequently introduce himself as ‘Mr Richmond, the dick doctor’) and, of course, for his surgical skill and clinical ability. He died on 29 March 2018, aged 74, and was survived by his wife, Bernadette, his children, Liam and Kerry, and his sister, Jen.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009468
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watson, Stanley Henry (1924 - 2017)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2017-11-02 2020-07-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381561381561
Occupation Urologist
Details Stanley Henry Watson, known as Stan, was a consultant urologist at the Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 1 December 1924. His father, Henry Edward Watson, was an accountant; his mother was Sophia Anne Watson née Hester. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne and qualified in 1948. He held junior posts in Melbourne and then went to the UK to study for the FRCS while working in Nottingham. He returned to Australia, but then decided to specialise in urology and went back to the UK in 1955 for further training. He was a registrar in the urological unit at Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he worked with Richard Mogg, and obtained his FRCS in urology in 1957. He returned to Australia, to Perth, where he entered private practice with Eric Kyle. He was also appointed to the urology unit at the Royal Perth Hospital (in 1957) and to the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (in 1961) and the Repatriation Hospital (in 1966). He retired in 1989. He was a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve and served in the Korean War. He held the rank of surgeon lieutenant. In 1952, he married Jill D Wilford in Nottingham. They had two boys and two girls. Stanley Henry Watson died on 14 July 2017. He was 92.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009378
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching O'Collins, James Patrick (1932 - 2017)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Gerald O'Collins
Publication Date 2017-11-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381571381571
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details A leading urologist of his own generation and younger brother-in-law of the urologist James Peters (deceased), Jim O'Collins contributed to the remarkable progress in treating the urinary system made during his years in that specialised field of surgery. Born on December 20, 1932 James Patrick O'Collins grew up on his parents' property ("Rock Lodge") in the hills outside Frankston. Educated at Xavier College, he became a student at Newman College and in 1957 graduated MB BS at the University of Melbourne. After a year of residency at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, working as a casualty surgeon and urologist, he returned to St Vincent's Melbourne for a year as pathology registrar and then senior registrar in surgery. He topped the course for the first part of his FRACS (Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons) before leaving for London and a course at St Thomas' Hospital. Having already completed the first part of his FRACS, in March 1961 he could take the second part of his FRCS (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) and topped his group. Three years of enriching practice in England began with an appointment as senior registrar in orthopaedics at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Jim then moved north to work in Leeds as a urologist at St James' University Hospital (popularly known as "Jimmy's"). At the end of 1962 he was appointed senior registrar at the Bradford Royal Infirmary. A year later he left for the United States and became a visiting fellow in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Rochester (Minnesota), San Francisco and Los Angeles, at hospitals and centres which included the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic. Returning to Melbourne and taking up an appointment as a research fellow at the Children's Hospital, in 1964 Jim topped the second part of his FRACS (in Urology). From December 1965 to May 1966, he served in Vietnam, where he ran a hospital close to the Cambodian border. Attached to the South Vietnam army as a colonel, he was the only urologist in Vietnam. But his main concern was with other medical challenges - in particular, with the high incidence of tuberculosis and similar diseases. He succeeded in lowering the mortality rate at his hospital from 33 per cent to nine per cent. Back in Melbourne, Jim became assistant urologist at Prince Henry's Hospital. Persuaded by the growth of population in the south-east of the city, he started urological units at Dandenong District Hospital and Frankston Hospital. He also operated regularly down the Mornington Peninsula at Mornington and Rosebud, as well as at Bairnsdale, Maffra and Sale in Gippsland. During the 1977 federal elections, his prize patient at Frankston Hospital was the local member who was also the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Phillip Lynch. Jim received anxious phone calls from the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, and kept assuring him: "Don't worry, Malcolm. I'm keeping him in hospital and making sure the press can't get to him." At the time Lynch was under fire over an alleged conflict of interests involving a family trust, but was subsequently cleared by an official inquiry that followed the elections. Head of surgery at Frankston Hospital for many years, from 1970 to 1990 Jim was the busiest urologist in Australia. Married in 1967 to Rosemary ("Posey") Calder, Jim treasured his work in Frankston and life with his wife and two children at the family home, and declined tempting appointments from elsewhere. An outstanding surgeon, Jim prized the anaesthetists, radiologists, theatre sisters and others who worked with him. But he grumbled about the bureaucrats, whom he believed often wasted funds without producing better health care for the wider public. An unfailingly courageous person, Jim died on March 2 after struggling with three forms of cancer over the last 15 years of his life. He was enduringly grateful to Cabrini Hospital for its expert and kindly support. His wife Posey cared for him with unfailing love. He is survived by her, his two children James and Victoria and their two sons and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009388
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Turner-Warwick, Richard Trevor (1925 - 2020)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2020-11-02
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009800-E009899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/383979383979
Occupation Urological Surgeon Urologist General surgeon
Details Richard Turner-Warwick was a consultant urologist at the Middlesex Hospital, London and a specialist in the reconstruction and functional restoration of the urinary tract. He was born Richard Warwick on 21 February 1925, the eldest of four children of William Turner Warwick, a vascular surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, and Joan Warwick née Harris, who was also medically qualified and worked in post and antenatal medicine in the East End of London. Turner-Warwick added his father’s middle name to his surname to differentiate them when they were both working at the Middlesex. Turner-Warwick was educated at Bedales School and then Oriel College, Oxford, where he was president of Oxford University Boat Club and captained the victorious eight in the 1945 Boat Race against Cambridge. He went on to Middlesex Hospital Medical School for his clinical studies. He carried out his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a plastic surgeon, and afterwards held training posts at the Middlesex Hospital in general, orthopaedic, urological, colorectal, gynaecological, thyroid and cardiothoracic surgery. In 1959 he held the Comyns Berkeley Travelling Fellowship at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York to gain experience of American urology. In 1960 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital. He took over the urological department in 1963 following the retirement of his mentor Sir Eric Riches, and in 1968 established the first urodynamic clinic. He was senior surgeon at the hospital from 1969 to 1990. From around 1975 he focused purely on functional reconstruction of the urinary system. He was an honorary senior lecturer at London University’s Institute of Urology from 1962. He travelled widely, with more than 300 surgical teaching visits, including three weeks each year between 1978 and 1987 as an honorary visiting urological surgeon to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. He developed operative procedures for the reconstruction and restoration of function of the urinary tract, designed surgical instruments, contributed articles to scientific journals and, with Christopher Chapple, wrote *Functional reconstruction of the urinary tract and gynaeco-urology*, Oxford, Blackwell Science, 2002. He was a member of the council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) from 1975 to 1978 and 1982 and 1992, and president from 1988 to 1990. He was awarded the St Peter’s medal of BAUS in 1978. He was a founder member, in 1969, and president, in 1985, of the International Continence Society. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England, he was a Hunterian Professor in 1957 and 1976, and a member of council from 1980 to 1992. He was appointed as a CBE in 1991. In 1950 he married Margaret Moore; she became an eminent thoracic physician, the first female president of the Royal College of Physicians and a DBE. They had two daughters, Lynne, a consultant in rehabilitation medicine, and Gillian, an artist and teacher. The Turner-Warwicks built a house in Highgate, north London, and also owned a house in Dorset, where he swam in the sea, sailed, wind surfed, fished and water-skied. Richard Turner-Warwik died on 20 September 2020. He was 95.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009866
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Green, Norman Alan (1927 - 2015)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Tim Williams
Publication Date 2015-06-12 2015-07-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007400-E007499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379642379642
Occupation General surgeon Urologist
Details Alan Green was a consultant surgeon and urologist at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and a former president of the Travelling Surgical Society. He was born on 2 July 1927 in Leicester into a non-medical family. His father, Norman George Edwin Green, was a clerk for the Inland Revenue and his mother, Lilian Rhoda Green (née Goins), was a housewife who had worked in a factory. Both parents had sporting and musical genes. His father was advised to make a living as a professional footballer and cricketer, but was badly injured in the trenches at Ypres during the First World War, invalided home with a plate on his femur and discharged from the Army. Alan Green was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester, perhaps more famous for the Attenborough brothers. He was awarded colours for rugby football and cricket, ran for the school at cross country and was the school gymnastic champion for three years. He was awarded a place at St Bartholomew's Hospital, all the questions at interview being on sporting activities, and when Bart's preclinical medical school was evacuated during the Second World War his first two terms were spent in Cambridge, where he was resident at Queens' College. Returning to London, he lived in digs previously occupied by Gordon Ostlere - aka Richard Gordon, who wrote *Doctor in the house*. At Bart's he played for the first XV, scoring the opening try against Penzance on the Bart's West Country tour, before sustaining a dislocated knee. A Sunday newspaper account of the match opined: 'Penzance did well in the first half to keep the score at Penzance 0 Bart's 3. But Bart's played much better in the second half with 14 men when Green had been taken off the field, the final score being Penzance 3 Bart's 3.' What an epitaph to a promising sporting career! A cancelled rugby match in 1947 did, however, mean that Alan spent the afternoon as a dresser on the wards instead, and in the sluice met student nurse Doreen Wright: four years later they were married. He was awarded two undergraduate prizes: the Wix prize for an essay on the 'Life and works of John Abernethy' and the Bentley prize for a dissertation on 'Congenital cardiovascular defects' in 1948. He became secretary and later president of the Abernethian Society. He qualified in 1950 and house appointments followed at St Bartholomew's Hospital. The next year (rejected for National Service because of his unstable knee) he became a demonstrator in anatomy for three years at Bart's with A J E Cave. After passing the primary FRCS, he decided on surgery as his career, although he enjoyed working in general practice for several months at a time. He worked as a junior registrar (senior house officer) at Bart's to John Hosford and Edward Tuckwell, then as a registrar in Norwich, where he accrued much experience from being on emergency call every second day at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and on the other days at the Jenny Lind Hospital for Children. Working with two consultants, he was tutored in major, intermediate and minor surgery. Norman Townsley trained his registrars in cold and emergency neurosurgery in addition to the wider aspects of general surgery. Prefrontal leucotomy was performed in a mental hospital on a Sunday morning. All forms of open prostatectomy were undertaken and the resident staff often performed emergency prostatectomy late at night. Gastric surgery was still common, but Alan was unpopular when he performed a simple mastectomy and axillary clearance, as taught by (Sir) Edward Tuckwell, as opposed to the accepted radical procedure. Perforated peptic ulcer admissions were very common, as were cases of small and large bowel obstruction. Splenic rupture, intussusception and paediatric pyloric stenosis seemed almost as common as acute appendicitis. Doreen and Alan were married in the church of St Bartholomew-the-Less in March 1951. They had three daughters (Kathryn Ruth, Sarah Elizabeth and Rachel Margaret), who showed considerable musical and sporting talent. Their son, David Alan James, is a structural engineer. In late 1955 Alan returned to Bart's as a chief assistant to John Hosford and Edward Tuckwell, and inevitably looked after their private patients at weekends. Saturday mornings were spent at St Mark's Hospital in City Road, London, with (Sir) Hugh Lockhart Mummery, an excellent mentor to clinical assistants. Then, in 1958 with the help of a Fulbright scholarship, the family set sail on the *Mauretania* for a year in America, where Alan gained experience in cancer chemotherapy with Sidney Farber, the father of folic acid antagonists, and other pioneering work, including liver transplantation with Francis ('Frannie') Moore at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Returning to the UK, Alan was seconded from Bart's to Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield. On emergency call most nights and sleeping in the hospital, he also covered all orthopaedic emergencies once a week and the orthopaedic registrar turned his hand to general surgery as a token of gratitude! During this two-year period Alan was also a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital to Harland Rees. From Bart's he was awarded the Luther Holden scholarships on two occasions: in 1957 on 'The bacteriology of bile, and lymphatics of the gallbladder' and in 1960 on 'Regional perfusion of anticancer agents'. His MS thesis on 'Regional perfusion of anticancer agents' was accepted in 1964. Experience in London accrued in major thoracic surgery as his wide general surgical experience was consolidated: he learned the art of bronchoscopy, having already mastered gastrointestinal endoscopic techniques. In Norwich he had used an old thoracoscope for peritoneoscopy. Working with Alan Birt was a bonus in the field of direct vascular surgery as opposed to all forms of sympathectomy, in which he had been well trained. When the resident surgical officer post became vacant in Norwich he returned there in June 1964 to replace J M Ridley Thomas as a general surgeon with a urological interest, forming the second of two firms with Alan Birt, the other being headed by Norman Townsley. All surgeons had beds at the separate West Norwich Hospital, some three miles away, where ward rounds and operating took place on a regular basis. In view of his paediatric experience, Alan had sessions at the Jenny Lind Hospital for Children, joining his mentor Norman Townsley and taking emergency admissions on alternate days. Peripheral clinics and operating were the norm: lists in north Norfolk commenced after the outpatient clinic finished at 6pm and lasted three hours with the help of GP anaesthetists. Life was busy as in so many provincial consultant posts. Following the recommendation that Norwich should start a specialist urology unit, Alan became the first pure urologist in East Anglia, in the fine tradition of his 18th century predecessors who as the famous Norwich School of Lithotomy had been 'cutters for the stone'. Nonetheless he still covered general surgery when his colleagues were away (performing his only right hepatic lobectomy at this time, and repairing an aortic aneurysm presenting as renal colic!). Michael Ashken joined him in 1968 as a urologist, and Christopher Gaches in 1972 for vascular access and organ retrieval, supporting what was the first urology and renal unit in East Anglia. A number of medical and para-medical managerial posts followed, including secretary of the Norfolk branch of the BMA and numerous regional committees. A keen anatomist, he examined for the FRCS primary examination and in Edinburgh as well. He led examining teams for the English College in Khartoum and Sri Lanka, and served as chairman of the core group setting multiple choice questions. At times over 15 years he was external examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where he was warmly welcomed by the examiners there. For the Edinburgh College he travelled to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to examine for the primary and final FRCS, and taught on postgraduate courses in Nepal, Singapore and Kuwait. He was awarded the FRCS Edin for services to the Edinburgh Royal College. In East Anglia, he was an external examiner over many years for the MB BChir in Cambridge. In 1981, Alan hosted a meeting in Norwich of the British Association of Clinical Anatomists and he subsequently became the Association's president. He was also president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1985 to 1986, and also the Norwich Medico-Chirurgical Society. In 2004 he was elected a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Barbers of London. For many years Alan was the backbone of the Travelling Surgical Society. He first travelled with the Travelling Surgical Club (as it then was) as a guest to Holland in 1970, and was formally elected at a home meeting held at Haslar in the autumn of 1970. Doreen and Alan made many friends at home and abroad travelling with the Club. Over the years he gave many short papers at meetings, the first being in Norway 1971 on 'Cryosurgery of the prostate gland', on which he was later to give a Hunterian lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1974. Other topics included 'The episcopal licensing of medical practitioners', 'Anatomy - the forgotten subject in medical education', 'Testicular tumours' and 'Parathyroid surgery'. Alan was elected president of the Society in 1989. As president Alan gave speeches in the language of the country visited, often being taught at the University of East Anglia (UEA). He held the post until 1991, when the club visited Newport for the AGM. He managed to say grace in Welsh and handed the baton on to Ivan Johnston. From 1997 until his death Alan was archivist of the Society. His assiduous collecting of memorabilia received on foreign travels was legendary. He did much to safeguard the records, retaining one complete set for the Society, and forwarding copies of the annual reports to the Wellcome library and the libraries of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh each year. Retiring early from the NHS in 1990, he continued to engage in private urological practice with some medico-legal work until the age of 66. In retirement he was able to enjoy the close proximity of Norwich Cathedral in which he and Doreen, both committed Christians, had worshipped for many years. Their retirement home was in the Cathedral Close, from which they had an unrivalled view of the spire, and found attendance at choral evensong a sheer joy. Archival duties for the Travelling Surgical Society and writing tributes for the '*Lives of fellows*' of the Royal College of Surgeons occupied much of his leisure time. Alan Green died on 4 May 2015, aged 87. He was survived by Doreen, their three daughters and son. His friends and colleagues feel a bottomless depth of gratitude for the friendship that this god-fearing, gentle man extended to all around him. He will be much missed.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007459
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Melville, Charles Bernays (1903 - 1978)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-02-10 2017-05-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006700-E006799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/378929378929
Occupation Accident and emergency surgeon General surgeon Urologist
Details Charles Bernays Melville was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 April 1903. He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, where he was captain of school and athletics, and at the University of Melbourne where he was awarded a blue in athletics and in football. He obtained first class honours and an exhibition in medicine, graduating MB BS in 1927. He was resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He came to London, was resident surgical officer at All Saints' Hospital and worked under Terence Millin. He obtained the MRCS and LRCP in 1930, the FRCS in 1931, and became FRACS in 1934. On his return to Australia, he was appointed emergency surgeon to the Alfred Hospital and urologist to the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. He married Jean Cookes in 1928 and they had one daughter. He died on 6 July 1978, aged 75 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006746
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gabe, Joel ( - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007200-E007299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379454379454
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Joel Gabe was educated at King's College, London, and the Westminster Hospital and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1925 and graduated MB BS in 1927, gaining the Fellowship in 1931. After junior posts at St Paul's Hospital and at the Royal Northern Hospital, he specialized in urology and was consultant urological surgeon to the Greenwich and Deptford and to the Woolwich and Lewisham Groups for many years until his retirement at the end of 1969, whereupon he became honorary consultant urological surgeon to the same groups. His death was reported to the College by the General Medical Council on 8 December 1989.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007271
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shackman, Ralph (1910 - 1981)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E006000-E006999/E006900-E006999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379111379111
Occupation Urologist
Details Born on 29 March 1910, the third child of David Shackman, a manufacturing jeweller and diamond merchant, Ralph was educated at the Grocers' Company School and St Bartholomew's Hospital. Before the second world war he was the resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary Sheffield where he was encouraged and trained by Sir Ernest Finch. He served in the war as a surgical specialist in the RAF attaining the rank of Wing-Commander. On demobilisation he devoted his career to the work of the department of surgery in the Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital and was fortunate to work as a lecturer with Professor George Grey Turner and as a reader with Professor Ian Aird. He later became Professor of Urology at the University, the first to hold the title. He became an accomplished academic and clinical urologist and made early and important contributions in the field of renal failure, renal dialysis and renal transplantation. In 1960 with W J Dempster he carried out Britain's first kidney transplant. He continued to follow the cause of urology and was a member of the council of the BAUS and of the committee on renal transplantation. He was an early and active member of the Surgical Research Society and gave encouragement to those aspiring to become urologists and academic surgeons. He served the Royal College of Surgeons as Chairman of the Court of Examiners. He married Ida Mary Seal in 1940. His special interests at home included gardening, carpentry and cricket. He died in June 1981, aged 71 years.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006928
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Messent, Arthur David (1915 - 1985)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-06-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007500-E007599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379685379685
Occupation General practitioner Genito-urinary surgeon Urologist Vascular surgeon
Details Arthur Messent obtained an open exhibition to Mill Hill School and proceeded to St Bartholomew's Hospital where he won the Brackenbury Prize in surgery and anatomy. He qualified in 1938 and after a short spell in general practice he joined the Royal Air Force and served in Coastal Command both in the Faroe Islands and the Middle East where he was mentioned in despatches. After the war he continued his surgical training, passed the FRCS examination in 1948, and held senior registrar appointments in Norwich, Reading and Hammersmith before his appointment as consultant in vascular and genito-urinary surgery to the Brentwood Group of Hospitals in 1955. In 1940 he married Margaret, a doctor's daughter and medical secretary at St Bartholomew's Hospital where one of their daughters eventually trained as a nurse. Their second daughter trained as a physiotherapist at the London Hospital. He enjoyed gardening, reading, entertaining and being entertained. He was kind, courteous and ready to help those in need, and it was sad for him and his family when he was struck by a long illness. He retired in 1980 to Nantgaredig in Carmarthen, his wife's birthplace, hoping to enjoy the countryside he loved and he died on 2 August 1985 survived by his wife and daughters, Rosemary and Ann.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007502
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Mitchell, David Rymal (1903 - 1983)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Swinney, John (1912 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007600-E007699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379877379877
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details John Swinney was born in Durham on 12 June 1912, the son of Thomas Swinney, a business man, and Hannah, née Surtees. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Durham University where he graduated MB, BS in 1935, having won the Stephen Scott Scholarship, the Sewell Prize and the Dickenson Scholarship. He was house surgeon and house physician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle (1935-36) and, after a few months in general practice, he became surgical registrar from late 1936 to 1939. He worked for George Grey Turner, F C Pybus and Norman Hodgson. He proceeded MD in 1937. He enlisted in the RAMC in 1939 and served in France until 1940, the year he became FRCS. He served later in Eritrea, the Western Desert, Sicily and Italy, where he was awarded the Military Cross. He also had the unusual distinction of graduating MS (Hons) on active service overseas. He married Miss Thompson in 1943. He was demobilised in 1945 with the rank of Major and he was appointed assistant surgeon at Newcastle General (Municipal) Hospital. In 1946 he went to the Mayo Clinic with a Rockefeller Fellowship where he spent a year with Gershom Thompson, learning the technique of per-urethral prostatectomhy that Thompson had devised with the 'cold punch'. There followed a year in the University of Colorado before he returned to Newcastle in 1949 to take over the recently established department of prostatic surgery at the General Hospital. Swinney rapidly developed that department to cover the whole specialty of urology. He was a first class surgeon and a man of drive and vision and the demands made by practitioners resulted in the department moving, first to a larger unit at Shotley Bridge General Hospital, and later to the new Freeman Hospital, where he and his colleague, Keith Yeates, had a unit of ninety beds. John Swinney made many original contributions to urological surgical practice. He developed a technique of urethroplasty, he introduced intravesical chemotherapy for some varieties of bladder tumours and he designed endoscopic instruments. He pioneered renal transplantation in the north of England and he devised a method of preserving donor kidneys by machine perfusion. He invited financial support for this research and the response was such that the Northern Counties Kidney Research Fund was established to manage the very large contributions. He was President of the North of England Surgical Society, the Newcastle and Northern Counties Medical Society, the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine and the European Dialysis and Transplantation Association. The University of Newcastle created a personal chair for him in 1969 and he was awarded the St Peter's Medal by the British Association of Urological Surgeons in the same year. He retired in 1974 and he joined his elder son who farmed in Western Australia. He was soon back in urological practice, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and building up a large practice. He retired from that in 1979 and settled in Banff, Scotland. His publications included *Handbook of operative urological surgery*, and a chapter "Transplant rejection" in *Scientific foundations of urology* and papers on other urological topics. He was an active member of the "Punch Club" which met annually at the hospitals of the few elected members. Professor Swinney was a good natured, kindly man, loyal and generous to his juniors and admired by his colleagues. He died on 29 January 1988 aged 75 and is survived by his wife, and their two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007694
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Price, Bernard Henry (1913 - 1989)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Power, Stephen May (1902 - 1988)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z

First Title value, for Searching Park, John Connell (1933 - 1997)

2026-04-25T14:55:17Z