Search Results for Colyer

First Title value, for Searching Colyer, Sir James Frank (1866 - 1954)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-02-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004900-E004999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377152377152
Occupation Curator Dental surgeon
Details Born on 25 September 1866 he trained as a dental surgeon at the Royal Dental Hospital, and completed his medical education at the Charing Cross Hospital. He served as house surgeon and demonstrator of operative dentistry at the Royal Dental Hospital, and was subsequently surgeon to the Hospital and Dean of its School 1904-09. At Charing Cross Hospital he was elected dental surgeon in 1893. During the first world war he was consulting dental surgeon to Croydon War Hospital, the Queen's Hospital for Facial Injuries at Sidcup, and to the Ministry of Pensions. He took a prominent part in the work of the British Dental Association, the Odontological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine of which he was president in 1919, and the British Society of Dental Surgeons of which he was the first president in 1932. From 1900 he was honorary curator of the museum of the Odontological Society which was vested in the Royal Society of Medicine and transferred in 1908 from the Royal Dental Hospital to the Royal College of Surgeons. Sir Frank built up this museum during more than fifty years' work and largely at his own cost to be the most comprehensive collection of comparative odontology in the world. On this collection he based his invaluable historical books. His textbook, first published as *Diseases and Injuries of the Teeth* in collaboration with Morton Smale, was revised with the help of Evelyn Sprawson and ran to eight editions under the title of *Dental Surgery and Pathology*. Colyer was universally respected and loved for his sterling and forthright character, the simplicity with which he carried his great knowledge, and his ever-youthful zest. In younger days he was an active player of ball games and continued to follow them with keen interest. In later years he could not easily accept the changing policy of the College Council who, in his view, put the social life and teaching work of the College too far before the interests of the Hunterian Museum of which he was a Trustee. However he loyally carried on his work as honorary curator, even when his exhibits were partially dismantled. Colyer was elected a Fellow of the College in 1916 and was created KBE for his war-work in 1920. The Royal Society of Medicine founded a triennial Colyer prize in 1926 to commemorate his first 25 years service to the Museum, and the Faculty of Dental Surgery, whose Fellowship he accepted in 1947, awarded him its first Colyer medal in gold in 1954. He was a vice-president of the section of comparative medicine at the centenary meeting of the British Medical Association in London in 1932, and was elected an honorary member of the British Dental Association. He married in 1895 Lucy Olivia Simpson who died on 5 September 1950. He died on 30 March 1954, aged 87, survived by his son, Norman Colyer, a house-master at Epsom College, and his daughter Mrs Bilham. His other daughter, Eileen Colyer, a prominent lawn tennis player, had died very young. Sir Frank Colyer's portrait, by Clarence White, was presented by his admirers to the British Dental Association on his eightieth birthday in 1946, and his own replica was given after his death to the Odontological Museum by his son. Publications: *Diseases and Injuries of the Teeth*, with Morton Smale 1893; 8th edition (*Dental Surgery and Pathology*, with Evelyn Sprawson) 1942. *Dental Disease in its relation to general medicine*. 1911 *John Hunter and odontology*. 1913. *Chronic general periodontitis*. 1916. *Variations and diseases of the teeth of animals*. 1936. *Old Instruments for extracting teeth*. 1952.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004969
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Austen, John Colmer ( - 1861)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372909372909
Occupation General surgeon
Details At one time Assistant Surgeon in the Royal Navy to the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth, and the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines. He settled in practice at Ramsgate, where he became Surgeon to the Ramsgate Dispensary. At his death on June 17th, 1861, he was in partnership with Henry Curling (qv).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000726
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Summers, Thomas Collyer ( - 1981)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-03-19
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/379163379163
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Thomas Collyer Summers studied medicine at the London Hospital and qualified MB BS in 1924. He held appointments as ophthalmic surgeon to the Connaught Hospital, the King George Hospital, Ilford, and the Brentwood and District Hospital. He was then appointed honorary consulting ophthalmic surgeon to the Romford Ophthalmic Unit and the Western Ophthalmic Hospital. He was an honorary life member of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland and of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom. He died on 21 September 1981.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006980
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Coller, Frederick Amasa (1887 - 1964)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-02-03 2020-08-05
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004900-E004999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/377148377148
Occupation General surgeon
Details Coller was born on 2 October 1887 at Brookings, South Dakota, the son of Granville James Coller MD and Helen Rosalie Underwood. He qualified from Harvard in 1912 and became an intern at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He came to Europe during the 1914-18 war as a member of the Harvard Medical Unit, led by Harvey Cushing. When Coller returned to the United States, he was appointed head of one of the surgical services at the University of Michigan under Hugh Cabot, whom he succeeded as director of surgery in 1930. Coller was assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Michigan 1920; Associate Professor 1923; Professor 1925; Chairman of the Department of Surgery 1930, and retired with the title of Emeritus in 1957. He was surgeon to St Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor from 1932. Cabot's friendship with Sir Holburt Waring during the 1914-18 war had led to a close association between Bart's and Michigan University Hospital, and many young English surgeons went over there for postgraduate study; Coller continued this tradition. In the year that Coller went to Michigan, LeRoy Abbott was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery in Orthopedics. Each had an interest in the other's field and on several occasions exchanged operations in their respective departments. They remained the closest of friends, though Abbott eventually went to the University of California as Director of Orthopedics. Before the days of antibiotics and intestinal antiseptics Coller taught that the peritoneum could withstand fecal contamination in small amounts with impunity. Coller's greatest contribution was the training of young surgeons. Some two hundred men came under his tutelage during his thirty-seven years at Michigan. He established a system of resident training in many hospitals throughout the State of Michigan, and his own residents were "farmed out" for varying periods of time to implement this programme. He believed the University had an obligation to provide well trained surgeons for local communities throughout the State. He liked his surgeons to be thoughtful, and not given to impulsive actions or snap judgments, and preferred to stimulate fellowship instead of competition among his students. He was chiefly interested in abdominal and thyroid surgery, and was a pioneer in the study of fluid balance. In the early 1930s Coller excised a primary malignant growth from a lung. About the same time he gave up the use of catgut sutures, adopted steel wire for closure of abdominal wounds, and began to use silk for all other procedures. Coller served on committees of the American College of Surgeons and the American Board of Surgery, to improve the training of residents, and to raise hospital standards. While he was President and later a Regent of the American College of Surgeons, great advances were made in these two fields. Medical history was one of his interests, and his lectures to second-year students on the contributions made by famous men were eagerly attended. During the second world war Coller was a medical adviser to the Armed Forces at Washington. He had been visiting professor to several universities, and had lectured in England and South America. A group of his students formed the "Frederick A Coller Surgical Society" in 1947. The funds of the society, among other things, enable senior residents to visit surgical clinics. Coller was a good talker, critical, tolerant and sympathetic. He was well dressed, sociable and hospitable; enjoyed golf, and was interested in contemporary art. His father had practised medicine at Los Angeles till he was 90, and remained in good health till his death at the age of 97. Frederick Coller died at Ann Arbor on 5 November 1964, survived by his wife, Jessie Edwards Bernsen, whom he married in 1917, and their two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004965
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Stobie, Harry (1882 - 1948)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-11-13
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/376830376830
Occupation Dental surgeon
Details Born at Liverpool on 23 October 1882, the eldest child of George Stobie, electrical engineer, and Nellie Williams, his wife. His early life was spent in South Africa. He studied at St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying in 1911, having qualified as a dentist the previous year. He was appointed in 1915 assistant surgeon at the Royal Dental Hospital, where he had studied dentistry. During the war of 1914-18 he served as a surgeon specialist under Sir Frank Colyer at the Croydon War Hospital for Injuries of the Jaws. He became dean and lecturer at the Royal Dental Hospital College in 1920, was elected surgeon in 1930, and from 1932 to 1936 was postgraduate instructor in oral surgery. He was appointed the first University of London professor of dental surgery and pathology, with a chair at the Royal Dental Hospital, in 1939. He examined in dentistry for the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, and London. During the second world war he was consulting dental surgeon to the Army with the rank of brigadier. Stobie was a vice-president of the Medical Protection Society, and served as president of the Metropolitan branch of the British Dental Association and of the section of odontology at the Royal Society of Medicine. He was elected FRCS, as a member of 20 years' standing, in 1945, and was among the foundation Fellows of the new Faculty of Dental Surgery at the College in 1947. Stobie married in 1912 Emmeline Mary, daughter of F M Guanziroli. Mrs Stobie survived him with two sons, one of whom qualified LDS in 1940. He died at 11 Mulgrave Road, Sutton, Surrey, on 27 April 1948, aged 65. He was buried at Sutton cemetery, and a memorial service was held at St Martin's-in-the-Fields on 6 May 1948.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004647
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Wilkinson, Frank Clare (1889 - 1979)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-04-13
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007000-E007099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379226379226
Occupation Dental surgeon Maxillofacial surgeon
Details Frank Clare Wilkinson was born in Wallasey on 31 August 1889. His father, also Frank, was a Liverpool pilot and his mother, Annie, née Clare, came from a family connected with shipping. Both his grandfathers were ship's captains. He was educated at Wallasey Grammar School and Liverpool University. He was house surgeon to Blair Bell and Robert Jones in 1914, before serving in the RAMC as a Captain in the Liverpool Merchants' Mobile Hospital (1915-18). After the war he became dental tutor at Liverpool University and later travelled abroad to become the first Professor of Dental Science in Melbourne. In 1933 he returned to England to become the first Professor of Dental Surgery in Manchester where he remained until 1939 when he was made Director of the Maxillo-Facial and Plastic Unit at the EMS Hospital at Baguley. He returned to Manchester for a short time until his final appointment as the first Professor of Dental Surgery at the Postgraduate Dental School in London where he remained until 1959. He held many other appointments and served on the Dental Committee of the Medical Research Council, the University Grants Committee and became Chairman of the Education Committee of the General Dental Council. He was an active member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons and was elected Dean of that Faculty in 1953, when he served on the Council of the College until 1956. In that year he was awarded the CBE and in 1965 he received the Colyer Gold Medal. During his career he wrote many articles in the medical and dental journals. In 1917 he married Miss Tweedie and their daughter became a general practitioner in Christchurch, New Zealand. His favourite sport was yachting. He died on 22 August 1979.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007043
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bradlaw, Sir Robert Vivian (1905 - 1992)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-09-02
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007800-E007899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/380020380020
Occupation Dental surgeon
Details Robert Bradlaw was born on 14 April 1905 in Dublin into a large family with medical and dental connections, the son of Philip Bradlaw, who died when Robert was a child. He was educated at Cranleigh and at Guy's Hospital both as a dental and medical student. After qualifying and a spell in private practice and as a ship's surgeon he held some part time academic appointments at the Royal Dental Hospital and at the National Hospital, Queen's Square. In 1936 he was appointed to the chair of dental surgery at the Dental School of Newcastle upon Tyne, which at that time was located within the University of Durham. In 1960 he became Dean and Director of Studies at the Institute of Dental Surgery, Director of the Eastman Dental Hospital and Professor of Oral Medicine at the University of London, posts which he held until his retirement. In Newcastle he revolutionised the dental undergraduate curriculum. He was a member of the Dental Board of the United Kingdom (GMC) and the Government's Interdepartmental Committee on Dentistry, which made recommendations for dentistry and its rôle in the new National Health Service. In 1947 he was involved with Webb-Johnson, Wilfred Fish and Kelsey Fry in the activity which led to the establishment of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the College, becoming its first Dean. He was Hunterian Professor in 1955, and received the Colyer gold medal in the same year and the Honorary gold medal of the College in 1972. He was awarded the CBE in 1950, and was knighted in 1965. He was President of the General Dental Council from 1964 to 1974 and President of the British Dental Association in 1974. He received many international honours, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1975. He was a skilled lecturer, and a widely read man with diverse interests including culinary art, 18th century paintings, Chinese and Korean celadon ware, pottery and cultivating orchids. A convivial and considerate host, he was known for his sense of humour. A former colleague recounted how 'he arrived for a meeting at Senate House on the morning his knighthood was announced and, with much glee, told us how in his carriage on the train up to London one avid reader of *The Times* lifted his head to say to his neighbour "look at the people they give knighthoods to these days". Robert Bradlaw died, unmarried, on 9 February 1992.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007837
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kramer, Ivor Robert Horton (1923 - 2016)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by M Harris
Publication Date 2023-07-06
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010300-E010399
Occupation Oral pathologist
Details Emeritus Professor Ivor Robert Horton Kramer who was Professor of Oral Pathology and Dean and Director of Studies of the Institute of Dental Surgery from 1970 to 1983 has died aged 93. He qualified in dentistry from the Royal Dental Hospital London in 1944 and spent the next four years in part-time general practice and as an assistant to the pathologist at the Princess Louise Hospital for Children. In 1948 he went to work with Sir Alexander Fleming in St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington testing the effects of penicillin on certain micro-organisms. The following year he was invited to create a department of pathology at the newly established Institute of Dental Surgery at the Eastman Dental Hospital. In addition, he also lectured in the basic science courses at the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal Dental Hospital in dental histology. His lectures were memorable, immaculately presented, and invariably punctuated by a subtle wry smile which was difficult to interpret. All who heard him were left with an indelible impression. His early studies and research in all aspects of dental and oral pathology established the reputation of his department. Studies on tumours of odontogenic origin and oral pre-cancerous lesions resulted in the publication of over 100 papers. He edited the *Archives of Oral Biology* for ten years from 1959 and co-authored *Histological typing of odontogenic tumours, jaw cysts and allied lesions* (WHO). His appointment as Dean of the Institute in 1970 led to new fields of endeavour. He established new Master’s degree courses of study in the principal branches of dentistry and exponentially expanded research. Outside the Institute, he held innumerable distinguished appointments including membership of the Board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery and the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Council of Postgraduate Medical Education in England and Wales, the General Dental Council, the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Dental Health and many others. He was President of the British Division of the International Association for Dental Research and was awarded a DSc in medical science by London University and an honorary doctorate by Helsinki University. In 1966 he received the Howard Mummery Prize by the British Dental Association, the Maurice Down Award by the British Association of Oral Surgeons in 1974, and the Colyer Gold Medal by the Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1985. On retirement he was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1984. Professor Kramer married Dr Elizabeth Dalley and they had one son, Stephen. She passed away in 1978. He later married Mrs Dorothy Toller; she too passed away in 1985. He married Mrs Virginia Webster in 1991 and she survives him together with his son, Stephen.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010304
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Liddelow, Kenneth Peters (1916 - 2003)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by R Watson
Publication Date 2023-08-16
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010400-E010499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/387172387172
Occupation Specialist in prosthetic dentistry
Details Kenneth Liddelow, an outstanding clinician of his generation with a special interest in dental prosthetics, died on 30 May 2003 aged 87. He earned wide recognition after the war partly due to the publication of his first UK textbook of clinical prosthetic dentistry in collaboration with A P Gimson and H B Fenn. However, it was his remarkable understanding of oral function and the ability to restore lost tissue that ensured his reputation as an outstanding teacher. When many lecturers were using blackboard and chalk he brought to life the incapacities of persons with missing teeth, facial and jaw tissues, which he recorded on 8mm cine colour film. His enlightened approach to the design of prostheses restored the appearance, confidence and function of numerous patients, the secrets of which he shared with dentists who invited him to lecture at BDA branches and specialist societies. A founder member of the British Society for the Study of Prosthetic Dentistry, he was elected president in 1959. The society marked his contribution to the subject with their Gold Medal in 1987. Liddelow was educated at the City of London School and Guy’s Hospital where he graduated in 1938. After service in the RAF Volunteer Reserve he returned to private practice and part time teaching at Guy’s before being appointed Head of Prosthetic Dentistry at King’s College Hospital Dental School in 1947. He was appointed Professor of Prosthetic Dentistry at the University of London in 1959 and together with Ralph Cocker and other colleagues planned a new building that was opened in 1966. After his appointment as Dean of Dental Studies in 1972 he set about restructuring the school with its enlarged staff. Generations of undergraduates remembered him affectionately as a humane practitioner, sympathetic examiner and understanding dean. He was awarded the Fellowship of King’s College London. From 1965-1977 he served on the dental committee of The Medical Defence Union. He enthusiastically contributed to the making of the film ‘Tom Dick and Harriet’ which advised students and inexperienced practitioners on ethical behaviour and risks which can lead to claims of negligent practice. In 1977 Liddelow was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England after serving on the board from 1965. He instigated several important changes including the award of the Diploma of Membership in General Dental Surgery and the revision of the examination for the Fellowship in Dental Surgery. He received the prestigious award of the Colyer Gold Medal and was subsequently appointed CBE. He undertook many important duties including chairmanship of the Dental Sub-committee of the University Grants Committee, visitor of dental schools for the GDC, Consultant Adviser in Prosthetic Dentistry to the Department of Health and Social Security and Consultant Adviser in Dentistry to the RAF. In 1938 he married Joan Short who sadly died of acute poliomyelitis in 1952. Subsequently, he married Mary Coultard who predeceased him in 1995. Together they raised a combined family of eight children. Before his retirement he moved to the foreshore at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight where he spent many happy years developing their home and garden as well as enjoying watercolour painting.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010447
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Lowry, John Christopher (1942 - 2008)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-01-27
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373008373008
Occupation Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Details John Lowry was a distinguished consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He was born on 6 June 1942 in Timperley, Cheshire, the son of Leslie and Betty Lowry. From Altrincham Grammar School, Cheshire, he went to the University of Manchester Turner Dental School and qualified BDS in 1963. He was a house surgeon and then a senior house officer at the Turner Dental School, before becoming a senior house officer in oral surgery at the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1965 and then a registrar at the regional plastic and maxillofacial unit, Bradford and Wakefield Hospitals. In 1966 he entered Manchester Medical School and qualified MB ChB in 1970. He then undertook his pre-registration year in the University Hospital of South Manchester, followed by a senior house officer surgical rotation from which he passed the FRCS Edinburgh in 1985. He then did four years as a senior registrar in oral and maxillofacial surgery in the Manchester Area Health Authority, rotating through all the major hospitals in Manchester, winning a Leverhulme travelling fellowship in Europe which enabled him to work with Wunderer in Vienna, Hugo Obwegeser in Zurich and Paul Tessier in Paris. Throughout these years, John worked as an associate in general dental practice. In 1976, he was appointed as a consultant in oral and maxillofacial surgery to the Royal Bolton Hospital and from there he launched a remarkable career. He received many honorary degrees and qualifications, including honorary fellowships in dental surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Faculty of General Dental Practice and the Royal College of Anaesthetists – a rare accolade for a surgeon. Posthumously he was made an honorary fellow of Manchester Medical Society, having been its past president and treasurer. He was president of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons in 2000 and dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 2001 to 2004. His many prizes included the Down surgical prize of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (2003), the John Tomes medal of the British Dental Association (2005) and the Colyer gold medal of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of our College (2006). In 2003 he was appointed CBE. From 1998 until his untimely death, John was secretary general of the European Association for Craniomaxillofacial Surgery. He was also chairman of the standing dental advisory committee to the secretary of state for health from 2000 to 2004. John was chairman of the British Academy of Cosmetic Practice and promoted the cosmetic surgery interface training group. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) has established a memorial lecture known as the ‘Lowry lecture’ in his honour and his family attended the inaugural lecture at the BAAPS European Conference in Cardiff in September 2009. John published many articles and chapters in textbooks and edited many books and articles himself. He was a pioneer in telemedicine and produced many video and audio presentations. He sat on numerous scientific bodies and editorial boards and was a referee for many journals. He also gave invited lectures all over the world. In 2004 he was appointed as a visiting professor to the University of Central Lancashire and undertook many activities on its behalf. He was an honorary civilian consultant in postgraduate dental education to the Army in 2003. Throughout all his years as a consultant he remained an active clinician in all branches of oral and maxillofacial surgery. John was the most polite, unassuming and cheerful individual one could wish to meet. In his private life, John had many interests, including rallying and traditional jazz. In 1968 he married Valerie Joyce Smethurst. Their daughter, Michelle, is a dentist and their son, Johnny, is a TV film producer in Australia. John Lowry died on 29 September 2008. A memorial service was held by the College at St Clement Danes on 22 January 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000825
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Seward, Dame Margaret Helen Elizabeth (1935 - 2021)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2023/06/13
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/386650386650
Occupation Dental Surgeon
Details It is difficult to do justice in a few hundred words to the life of Dame Margaret Seward whose career spanned a period of huge changes in UK dentistry, many of which were the result of her own influence and intervention. Born Felicity Bridget Openshaw on 4 August 1935, she was adopted at the age of two and renamed Margaret Helen Elizabeth Mitchell. Her adoptive father, John Hutton Mitchell, was a dentist; her adoptive mother was Marion Findlay Mitchell née Duncan. Margaret was educated at Latymer School in Edmonton, north London, where she was head girl and later became chair of its governors. She graduated from the London Hospital Dental School in 1959, becoming the London Hospital’s first female resident dental house surgeon. In 1962, having obtained her FDS RCS, she married Gordon Seward, then a senior lecturer in oral surgery at the London. Following the birth of the first of their two children, Margaret took a career break. Her research conducted during this time led to the award, in 1970, of the master of dental surgery degree, the first to be made to a woman by London University. This was on the complications associated with deciduous tooth eruption; the first time the subject had been dealt with seriously since the meeting of the Medical Society of London in 1884. Gradually returning to practice, Margaret became aware of the problems of women trying to do so. In a letter to the *British Dental Journal* she suggested that there should be a retainer scheme for women with domestic responsibilities. This led to a notable paper in 1974, co-authored with Desmond Greer Walker, on how this might be introduced, something which eventually came into being nine years later (‘The need to retain women dentists in practice’ *Br Dent J.* 1974 Oct 15;137[8]:319-21). In 1976, whilst serving as secretary to both the British Paedodontic Society and the section of odontology of the Royal Society of Medicine, Margaret was elected to the General Dental Council – once again a first for a woman. In 1979 she became the first woman editor of the *British Dental Journal*. Here she soon persuaded the British Dental Association (BDA) to provide proper staff and office space. The findings of her readership survey led to several changes in the loss-making journal and soon achieved a rising impact factor. Margaret also used it to promote continuing education initiatives. Notable among these was ‘Teamwork’, a distance-learning programme which, with financial support from the four UK health departments, helped dentists in general practice to train their dental nurses. Margaret later became editor of the *International Dental Journal*, remaining in the post for ten years. Well aware of the continuing discrimination against female dentists, in 1985 she explained the problem to Edwina Currie, then a minister for health, and suggested a tailored course for women returning to practice. The resultant departmental grant led to a pilot programme at the London Hospital, which soon became a model for other courses. In 1993, Margaret assumed the BDA’s presidency. She was by this time vice-dean of the English Faculty of Dental Surgery and president of the odontology section of the Royal Society of Medicine. In the following year, she became the first woman president of the General Dental Council (GDC). Here she continued to encourage lifelong learning and achieved a notable ‘accord’ between the universities and Royal College, which allowed the GDC as the ‘sole competent authority’ to introduce specialist lists for dentistry. In 1994, she was honoured with a CBE. Her final year as president of the GDC saw the publication of the Government’s *NHS plan for England*. Her final council meeting achieved the approval of the statutory regulation of professionals complementary to dentistry. It was therefore inevitable that she would now be persuaded to become the Chief Dental Officer for England, responsible for taking forward the Government’s programme ‘Modernising NHS dentistry for the twenty-first century’. In 1999 she received the DBE, becoming the first dental dame. Not surprisingly, Dame Margaret gained many other honours in her life. These included doctorates from the universities of Newcastle and Birmingham, the Colyer Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a fellowship of Queen Mary and Westfield College. She was also made an honorary member of the American Dental Association and the American College of Dentists. But for all those who knew her, Margaret remained a very approachable, energetic and fun-loving person, who carried out her numerous responsibilities with great tact and good humour. Dame Margaret Seward died on 22 July 2021. She was 85. Chris Stephens Stanley Gelbier
Resource Identifier RCS: E010241
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ballard, Clifford Frederick (1910 - 1997)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Chris Stephens
Publication Date 2025-03-06
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010700-E010799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/388609388609
Occupation Orthodontist Dental surgeon
Details There can be no doubt that Clifford Ballard was the most important figure in British orthodontics during the 20th century and a significant influence in orthodontic thought throughout the world during the post war period. In his upbringing he had the advantage of being the eldest son of Frederick Ballard. The latter, although holding no dental qualification, was by 1948 regarded as ‘the voice of British dentistry’ by Aneurin Bevan, minister of health in the post-war Labour Government and chief architect of the UK National Health Service. It was because of Frederick Ballard’s influence that dentistry was included in the NHS. Clifford Ballard was born on 26 June 1910 in Willesden, Middlesex. His mother was Eliza Susannah Ballard née Wilkinson. He attended Kilburn Grammar School and entered the Royal Dental Hospital School of Dental Surgery in 1930. This was the same year the remarkable Corisande Smyth was appointed there as its first demonstrator in orthodontics and which led to the introduction of its first course of undergraduate lectures in the subject the following year. After gaining his LDS in 1934, Clifford joined his father’s practice before attending Charing Cross Hospital to achieve medical qualifications. In 1940, he returned to the Royal to become a full-time member of its teaching staff and where he spent the next 12 years teaching undergraduates and formulating his ideas on orthodontics. During the Second World War, as well as having medical responsibility for a number of aircraft factories, he became orthodontist to Middlesex County Council. It was during this time that he started working as a clinical assistant at the upper respiratory clinic of the Victoria Hospital for Children, which would be merged with St George’s Hospital in 1948. Here he worked with the ENT surgeon Eric Gwynne-Evans, and it was Ballard’s experiences in the management of children with respiratory problems which focused his attention on the activities of the orofacial musculature and their importance in determining the form of the dental arches. In 1936 Ballard’s father, later to be awarded an OBE for services to dentistry, had been elected as one of two members who served on the dental board of the General Medical Council to represent dentists registered under the terms of the 1921 Dentists Act. By 1947 Frederick was chairman of the dental board’s postgraduate education committee as well as a member of the boards of both University College Hospital and the Eastman Dental Hospital. It was therefore not surprising that, in 1948, Clifford Ballard was appointed head of the orthodontic department of the newly created Institute of Dental Surgery at the Eastman, where he remained until his retirement in 1972. He immediately established the first UK postgraduate course in orthodontics. In the same year he published his seminal paper ‘Some bases for aetiology and diagnosis in orthodontics’ (*Dental Record* 68: 133-145 [June] 1948), the first of a series which over the next 10 years would place orthodontic treatment on a sound scientific basis. Thereafter a World Health Organization travelling fellowship led to him lecturing extensively throughout the world including Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. In the mid-1950s, with several of his former postgraduates established in NHS consultant orthodontist posts, he and John Hovell of the Royal Dental Hospital instituted an annual postgraduate meeting at the Eastman, which led in 1962 to the founding of the Consultant Orthodontist Group (COG). Originally intended to bring colleagues up to date with the latest orthodontic research and techniques, the COG soon provided an important influence on consultant training via the specialist advisory committee of the Joint Committee for Higher Training in Dentistry when this was established in 1969. Ballard was a civil consultant to the Royal Air Force for many years. He served as editor of the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics’ *Transactions* for seven years before becoming its president in 1957. Amongst many honours, he received both the fellowship of the Faculty of Dental Surgery and the diploma in orthodontics at the Royal College of Surgeons of England without examination when they were established. He gave the 1967 Northcroft Memorial lecture of the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics and received the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s Colyer gold medal. Despite his somewhat stern exterior, Clifford Ballard had a keen sense of humour, was a kindly and caring man, hospitable, loyal and tolerant towards his staff and students. Married to Muriel Mable (née Burling) with a son and daughter, he and his wife retired to Salisbury in 1972, and it was only with great reluctance that Ballard was persuaded to return to London in 1990 to be the first recipient of the medal of the Consultant Orthodontist Group, which bears his name. Ballard died on 16 July 1997. He was 87.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010716
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Riddle, Peter Riversdale (1933 - 2011)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

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 Fickling, Benjamin William (1909 - 2007)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Mason, Sir David Kean (1928 - 2022)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Stephen Porter
Publication Date 2025-06-05
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010700-E010799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/388778388778
Occupation Specialist in oral medicine
Details Sir David Mason was a professor of oral medicine and head of the department of oral medicine and pathology at University of Glasgow’s dental school. He was born in Paisley on 5 November 1928, the son of George Hunter Mason and Margaret Mason née Kean. Following schooling at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow Academy, he studied dentistry at the University of St Andrews, gaining his LDS in 1951 and his BDS in 1952. He then carried out his National Service in the dental branch of the RAF for two years. He was subsequently a registrar in oral surgery at Dundee from 1954 to 1956 and then spent a period in general practice, while also a visiting dental surgeon at Glasgow Dental Hospital. He gained his fellowship of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1957 and qualified in medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1962. He was a senior registrar from 1962 to 1964 and a senior lecturer in dental surgery and pathology at the University of Glasgow and an honorary consultant dental surgeon from 1964 to 1967. He was awarded an MD with commendation from the University of Glasgow in 1967 and gained his membership of the College of Pathologists in 1967, this later being elevated to a fellowship (in 1976). In 1967 he was appointed as a professor at the University of Glasgow and retained this post until 1994, after which he was emeritus professor. As chair of oral medicine and oral pathology his research interests were principally focused on biochemical aspects of saliva. He established productive collaborations with others within oral medicine (including with Derrick Chisholm) and oral biochemistry (with Josie Beeley) and co-authored a major textbook – *Salivary gland in health and disease* (London, Philadelphia, Saunders, 1975). Additionally, with Harold Jones, he edited two editions of *Oral manifestations of systemic disease* (London, Saunders, 1980; Bailliere Tindall, 1990) – the contributors being the ‘stars’ of their relevant fields of interest. He held the role of dean of the University of Glasgow between 1980 and 1990, during which time he led investment in new research facilities and the appointment of several staff who later became international leaders in academic dentistry and allied services, for example, as deans of dental schools (in Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Dundee, Hong Kong and University College London), leaders of oral pathology and forensic odontology and in NHS Education for Scotland. As dean he helped raise funds that ultimately led to the establishment of the West of Scotland Centre for Postgraduate Education, which today flourishes under the leadership of NHS Education for Scotland. He had an active role in national and international decision-making groups, including as chairman of the National Dental Consultative Committee (from 1976 to 1980 and from 1983 to 1987) and of the dental committee of the University Grants Committee (from 1983 to 1987). He was convener of the dental council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (from 1977 to 1980) and president of the British Society for Dental Research (from 1984 to 1986) and of the British Society for Oral Medicine (from 1984 to 1986). He had a notable role in the regulation of the dental profession in the UK by virtue of membership of various committees between 1974 and 1989, before being elected president of the General Dental Council in 1989, holding this position for five years. During his presidency he oversaw the establishment of a new five-year undergraduate dental surgery degree curriculum, and the beginnings of formalising continued professional development. Internationally, together with Dean Millard of the University of Michigan, David established the World Workshop on Oral Medicine in 1988. This group now creates consensus reports on education and research and the clinical practice of oral medicine. Similarly, with a small group of like-minded leaders from Spain, Portugal and the UK, David helped establish the European Association of Oral Medicine in 1998, which now has a significant membership. David’s professional achievements were recognised nationally and internationally; he became an honorary fellow of the Faculty of Dentistry of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1988, of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1995 and of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2001. At the Royal College of Surgeons of England, he received the John Tomes Prize in 1979 and the Colyer Medal in 1992. He was appointed as a CBE in 1987 and knighted in 1992. He was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1999. David had talents outside his professional life. He initially excelled in rugby but later focused upon golf. He was a keen and highly proficient golfer, representing Scotland in international golf tournaments, was a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and was happy to engage in golfing events with academic colleagues and students (when he inevitably won). David used his academic skills and interest in sport to co-write a history of his golf club, the Kilmacolm Golf Club, of which he was a member for 64 years and club captain in 1976 (*A centenary history of the Kilmacolm Golf Club [a very pleasant golfing place]* Kilmacolm, Kilmacolm Golf Club, 1991). David and his wife, Judy (née Armstrong), married in 1967 and brought up a family of three children – Michael (now a doctor), Katie (a hospitality manager) and Andrew (a solicitor) – in an encouraging, loving and fun-filled household. David died on 27 March 2022 at the age of 93.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010765
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bramley, Sir Paul Anthony (1923 - 2020)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by John Williams
Publication Date 2020-08-12 2021-02-18
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009700-E009799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/383713383713
Occupation Dental surgeon Oral surgeon
Details Sir Paul Bramley was a professor of dental surgery at the University of Sheffield. He was born in Leicester on 24 May 1923 to Charles Bramley and Constance Bramley née Jordan, the younger of their two sons. His father was a gifted engineering draughtsman; neither of his parents had a medical background. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester, where his athleticism led to him excelling at rugby. A committed Christian, he joined the Crusaders’ Christian Union, known today as the Urban Saints. When applying for university, he chose dentistry, thinking it would be an easier option than medicine, but a local dentist, one of the leaders of the Crusader Group, persuaded him to read medicine as well. He went to Birmingham University at the height of the Second World War and found himself involved with others in civil defence. At night, they kept watch and dealt with such hazards as incendiary bombs, firefighting before the bombs did more damage. He also found time to captain the university rugby team and to play for the English Universities. Once qualified as a dentist, he was called-up to do his National Service in the Royal Army Dental Corps. An early opportunity arose for him to volunteer for secondment to the 224 Parachute Field Ambulance, part of the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine, which he accepted, since he felt this would be a much more exciting way of serving his two years. He had to jump many times, dangling a portable dental chair from his pack. Following this, he was able to return to Birmingham to complete his medical degree, which he had to self-fund by working evenings and weekends in a dental practice. In 1952, shortly before he qualified as a doctor, he went on a climbing holiday in the Lake District, where he met Morag Boyd, a medical student in Glasgow, who was planning to become a medical missionary for the Church of Scotland. It was not long before they decided to marry. However, Paul had to ask permission from her father, who firstly wanted some questions answered. Was Paul’s income adequate to keep her? ‘No, I’m a medical student.’ Next, did he have good job prospects? ‘No, I am not yet qualified.’ Lastly, did he have a life insurance policy? ‘No, I’m still a reservist attached to the parachute regiment and we are not eligible for life policies.’ They married shortly afterwards and he joined her in running a 100-bedded hospital in a remote area of Kenya, where you never knew what would walk through the door. Equipped with an emergency surgery textbook open on a music stand and one of them reading out the text, they performed everything, including wildly heroic surgery under primitive anaesthesia. It taught both of them self-reliance and the ability to adapt. After a year, they returned to the UK to start a family and for Paul to complete his specialty training, which he did as a registrar at the unit run by Harold Gillies and Norman Rowe and still housed at its war time emergency facilities in Rooksdown House, Basingstoke. A year later he was appointed to a consultant post in Plymouth, Devon and the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro. The challenge was enormous since there were no facilities west of Bristol, seat belts did not exist, crash helmets were seldom worn, windscreens were only of toughened glass and cattle roamed freely across the unlit and unfenced moors. Although Plymouth was his main base, together with Truro, he went on in his role as director of oral surgery and orthodontics for the region to oversee units being created in Exeter and Torbay. With such an enormous area to cover it meant his team in Plymouth had to develop self-reliance and were encouraged to get on with whatever they were capable of and prepare the other cases for his return. He was a very capable surgeon and took a lot of trouble to teach his trainees a safe way of coping with a wide range of clinical cases. With this reputation, it was inevitable that he would be elected to the board of faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons and subsequently to the council, as well as becoming dean of Faculty along the way. His interest in education and training were marked in these College positions and, in 1969, he was tempted by the University of Sheffield to become professor of dental surgery and a consultant to the Trent Regional Health Authority (from 1969 to 1988). His subsequent appointment as dean of the school of clinical dentistry (from 1972 to 1975) saw him fulfilling the true lure of his Sheffield appointment when he oversaw a total rebuilding of the school of clinical dentistry, together with its entire undergraduate curriculum. This was a time of significant change in dental education focused on the Nuffield Foundation’s Inquiry into Dental Education, which he very significantly supported (from 1978 to 1980). He had served as one of the few clinicians on the Royal Commission on the NHS (1976 to 1979) and for this and his services to dentistry and surgery, he was recognised in 1984 by the award of a knighthood. He also received the prestigious award of the Colyer gold medal from the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the RCS, was national president of the British Dental Association (from 1988 to 1989), and an RCS external examiner to dental professional bodies and to many universities at home and abroad. He received honorary degrees from Birmingham, Sheffield and the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand. At home in Plymouth, he and Morag had a busy life. They raised their family of three daughters and a son, living in a village near Plymouth and Paul became a lay reader in the Anglican diocese of Winchester. Together they created a Sunday school on a nearby housing estate with no active church life, which grew rapidly to accommodate 300 children with 20 volunteer teachers. He considered this one of the most rewarding experiences in his life as well as the best possible training for a university teacher! In retirement, his enthusiasm and activity were still apparent, remaining as director of the Medical Protection Society and chairman of Dental Protection Ltd. He was a stalwart member of Hathersage Parish Church and edited a book on retirement (*Doing anything after work? …What about retirement?* Hucklow Publishing, 2010). Sadly, Morag died three years ago, whom he greatly missed. Despite physical handicaps, he lived independently almost until the end and was survived by his four children, 12 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He believed our role in this world was to serve our fellow beings and this is exemplified by all he did.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009760
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Seward, Gordon Robert (1925 - 2022)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Stanley Gelbier
Publication Date 2023-04-05
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/386489386489
Occupation Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Details Gordon Robert Seward was a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the London Hospital Medical College’s dental school and a pioneer in the development of maxillofacial surgery. He was born on 18 December 1925 in London, in the borough of Hackney, the only child of Percy Robert Seward (a master baker) and Ruth Marie Seward née Mackenzie. After the local primary school, in 1934 Gordon entered the preparatory class of Hackney Downs School, founded in 1876 by the Worshipful Company of Grocers for 500 sons of middle class gentlemen. In 1906 it became a London County Council grammar school, endowing pupils with many qualities offered by public schools. On 2 September 1939, 401 boys, including Gordon, were evacuated to Norfolk, sharing a King’s Lynn school. He was very bright, fascinated with flora and fauna and was a corporal in the Cadet Force. His science master arranged for him to spend time in the Natural History Museum’s zoology and then mammalian osteology departments. They wrote: ‘Don’t become such a keen dentist that you forget to be a zoologist. In 1944 he passed the Higher School Certificate in science and mathematics and entered the London Hospital’s dental school with nine others. Only one person had previously gained the BDS (rather than the LDS), but he and others intended to do so. With no set course, they interviewed departmental heads, and organised lectures and a mostly ‘arrange it yourself’ course. Gordon won the class prize in dental surgery and pathology, the old students prize and one for radiology, which became a lifelong interest. There were also certificates in prosthetics, orthodontics and operative dental surgery. He qualified BDS (with distinctions in surgery and dental surgery) and LDS in 1948 and undertook non-resident and resident posts. 1949 saw National Service in the Royal Army Dental Corps. After treating patients in a sanatorium, he joined a hospital ship. In addition to dentistry, he aided a general surgeon during operations. With an early eye for accurately observing and recording all he did and saw, he kept a diary: the ship sailed from Southampton to the Bay of Biscay, encountered a gale and swung round and around, sailed to Gibraltar, then saw dolphins and so on. They embarked troops wounded in Malaya in the guerrilla war against British rule. Gordon returned to the London Hospital, attended Royal College of Surgeons’ evening lectures and passed the fellowship exams in 1952. Research gained him the University of London’s first master of dental surgery degree in 1953. He then studied medicine at the London whilst working as a general dental practitioner in the evenings and weekends, gaining the MB BS (with distinctions in surgery and obstetrics and gynaecology) in 1957. He undertook increasingly complex medical and surgical posts, mostly at the London. In 1956 he was a locum consultant dental surgeon at the North Middlesex Hospital. By 1958 he was a senior dental registrar. Then came academic appointments: in 1953 he became a demonstrator in dental radiology; in 1959, the first full-time lecturer in oral surgery; and in 1960 a senior lecturer. He also acquired knowledge and experience in other departments and elsewhere. Whilst their children were young, his wife Margaret (née Mitchell) held the fort while he travelled (he later reciprocated during her rise to damehood). In 1959 he spent six weeks with Norman Rowe at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup; in 1960, six at Mount Vernon; in 1967, four with Hugo Obwegeser in Zürich; and six in the USA with Fred Henry at the Henry Ford Hospital and Dental School, Detroit and Ann Arbor Dental School, plus Montreal and Toronto; 1974 saw experience of plastic surgery with J S P Wilson at the Westminster Hospital. In 1962 London University appointed him as a reader, six years later to a personal chair, and, in 1990, as professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Gordon became the first full-time departmental head and attracted outstanding people around him, including David Alexander McGowan, Hugh Cannell and Anne Aiken. Meanwhile, he was a consultant adviser to the Government’s Chief Medical and Dental Officers. His colleagues elected him as dean in 1975. Gordon was elected to the board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery in 1977 and was re-elected in 1985. He chaired its inter-faculty working party on implementing the Wylie Report on training in dental anaesthesia, and the examinations and hospital recognition and examination committees. He was the faculty’s representative on the library and publications and building and accommodation committees. Gordon was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s council (from 1983 to 1984 and 1986 to 1990). He became dean in 1986. A highlight was his awarding an honorary FDS to Princess Diana. He said: ‘Your charming smile, friendly manner and deep interest in children and the disadvantaged impressed us as representative of the ideal image of the dental practitioner.’ The Princess replied: ‘I was taught the importance of good dental health care as a very small child. Now that I have children of my own I am, of course, passing on that message.’ In 1984 the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh instituted an FRCS in maxillofacial surgery for medically/dentally qualified candidates: Gordon was an examiner. In 1986 he was awarded the FRCS Edinburgh; the FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons of England followed a year later. Gordon received many prizes and awards: in 1986, an NHS A+ distinction award, one of only two for oral surgeons in England; 1979, the Silver Medal of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and their Down’s Surgical Prize; in 1987, an honorary associate life membership of Society of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgeons of South Africa; and in 1988 an honorary fellowship of Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the first dentist to be so honoured. From 1987 to 1988 Gordon was president of the odontological section of the Royal Society of Medicine. In 1990 he received a CBE for his immense contributions to medicine and surgery and the British Society of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology made him an honorary member. In 1991 he was awarded the Colyer Gold Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the John Tomes Medal of the British Dental Association, and in 1996 the Geoffrey Slack Medal of the London Medical College and the Jordan University Medal. The Faculty of General Dental Practitice elected him to the fellowship in 2002. Gordon co-authored a textbook on oral surgery (*An outline of oral surgery* Bristol, John Wright & Sons, 1971) and wrote many papers for specialists and general medical and dental practitioners. He was a quiet, gentle, family man and an excellent dinner companion, full of interesting discussion. Using his manual skills he constructed a dream kitchen, made broken toys better (a toy horse had a splinted broken leg), re-soled shoes, re-bound books and iced Christmas cakes. His daughter’s earliest memory is of Gordon showing her how to sketch a horse. He enjoyed classical music and musical shows, grew orchids in his flat and was an enthusiastic member of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society. Gordon Seward died peacefully on 14 October 2022, aged 96. Predeceased by his wife Dame Margaret Seward, the first woman president of the General Dental Council and the first female Chief Dental Officer for England, he was mourned by his daughter Pamela, son Colin and two grandchildren
Resource Identifier RCS: E010221
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Lindsay, Lilian (1871 - 1960)

2026-04-02T08:32:33Z

by Stanley Gelbier
Publication Date 2024-06-23
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010600-E010699
Occupation Dental surgeon Dental historian
Details Lilian Lindsay née Murray was the first woman with a British qualification in dentistry, the first female president of the British Dental Association and a noted historian of dentistry. She was born on 24 July 1871 in Holloway, north London to Margaret Amelia Murray née Bennett and James Robertson Murray, the third child of four boys and seven girls. Their father, an organist, died when Lilian was 14, leaving the family in debt. She attended Camden School for Girls and then won a two-year scholarship to North London Collegiate School. She did well, but the headmistress, Frances Mary Buss, an ardent recruiter for the teaching profession, was determined she should become a teacher of the deaf and dumb. Lillian refused and told her she wanted to be a dentist. This enraged Buss: she ensured Lilian didn’t get a further scholarship and had to leave the school. At the time there were no UK-qualified female dentists, but Lilian wanted to be the first. She undertook a three-year apprenticeship to a dental surgeon, studied some academic subjects, took a preliminary examination and registered as a dental student. The General Medical Council’s registrar advised her the next step was to enter a dental school and suggested she try the National Dental Hospital in London, which she did. The dean didn’t even allow her to enter the building, insisting on speaking to her on the pavement. He, like most dental school administrators at the time, was against accepting female students. However, knowing entry to the profession was more advanced in Scotland, he suggested she apply to the Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School. To her delight, Lilian was accepted by its dean. With little money, she borrowed to pay for her classes. Lilian was refused admittance to medical classes for men, however, one of Edinburgh’s two medical schools for women allowed her to attend their anatomy and physiology classes. She joined the dental students for classes in chemistry, where Lilian said she was treated well. On her first morning at the Dental Hospital Lilian was met by Robert Lindsay, who had been instructed by the dean to show her where to go and what to do. He later played an important part in her life as they eventually married. Lilian much enjoyed her courses, including surgery at the Infirmary. Here cranial surgery was just beginning, using a saw in a dental engine to enter the skull. Having been trained in a dental workshop, Lilian was used to a lathe and the foot engine, which gave her an advantage over the male house surgeons, so she was much in demand for these operations. Unsurprisingly, Lilian was a talented student, awarded the Wilson medal for dental surgery and pathology and the medal for materia medica and therapeutics, and, in May 1895, she became the first British qualified woman dentist, gaining the LDS with honours from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. At that time no one envisaged a female member of the British Dental Association (BDA), however, in November of that year the association heard that Lilian had become a member, enrolled by its Scottish branch: the board could find no way to bar her. Meanwhile the Royal College of Surgeons of England persisted in barring women from its LDS examination, twice voting against it. Only in 1908 did the college finally admitted woman to all its examinations and, in 1912, Lily Fanny Pain became the first female to gain the LDS from the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Lilian and Robert Lindsay married in 1905, but first both had to overcome money and family issues, so Lilian practised in London. Apart from paying off her student debts, she helped to educate her younger siblings. In addition, she needed cash to rent premises and buy equipment. After their marriage, Lilian joined Robert’s practice in Edinburgh. In 1920 Robert became the first paid full-time dental secretary of the BDA, so they moved to London, living above its headquarters in Russell Square. Lilian didn’t practise, but, with a very enquiring mind, she collected books of dental interest. In 1920 about 100 books were presented to the association in memory of a former sub-editor of the *British Dental Journal* and Lilian was appointed as an ‘honorary temporary librarian’. She continued to expand the library until her death. The Robert and Lilian Lindsay Library is now one of the world’s major dental libraries. Lilian also collected dental ephemera, which became the basis for the renowned BDA Dental Museum and encouraged members to do the same, recognising the value of recording dental history. However, a lack of space delayed the official establishment of the museum until 1934. Lilian was an intellectual with wide interests in history and literature. She taught herself French, German, Latin and Anglo-Saxon, to help her read relevant literature and communicate with colleagues worldwide. She presented many lectures, the first to the Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland in 1912. It was 11 more years before Lilian’s next lecture: in 1933 she delivered the first C E Wallis lecture to the Royal Society of Medicine. Between 1925 and 1959 she published 57 papers plus many translations, letters, notes and annotations for the *British Dental Journal*; at least ten of major historical importance. Annoyingly she often excluded references. In 1933 Lilian published *A short history of dentistry* (London, J Bale & Co). Her 1946 translation of Pierre Fauchard’s ground-breaking work *Le chirurgien dentiste* was very important in bringing it to the attention of English-speakers (*The surgeon dentist* London, Butterworth & Co). Lilian had a major interest in orthodontics, joining the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics in 1922 as its second female member. Lilian presented many papers between 1925 and 1948, often with Robert: their first was on the relevance of growth and formation of bone to orthodontics, her second on the stimulation of bone formation by percussion following treatment. Lindsay was editor of the society’s *Transactions* (from 1930 to 1934), president (in 1938) and senior vice president (from 1947 to 1955). After Robert died in 1930, Lilian became sub-editor of the *British Dental Journal*, remaining on its editorial committee until her death. She always championed the cause of women in dentistry. Not surprisingly, Lilian received many honours and awards. In 1946 she became the first female president of the British Dental Association, having already been president of its Metropolitan (London) branch. The same year saw her awarded the CBE and an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Edinburgh and an honorary higher dental diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The Royal College of Surgeons of England awarded Lilian its prestigious John Tomes prize in 1945, the fellowship in dental surgery in 1947 (the year of the foundation of the faculty of dental surgery) and the Colyer gold medal in 1959. Also in 1959, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh made Lilian an honorary FDS. At the Royal Society of Medicine, she was president of the odontology section (from 1945 to 1946) and the first female president of its history of medicine section (from 1950 to 1952). In 1950 she became the first female president of the Medical Society of London. Three years later she became an honorary member of the American Academy of the History of Dentistry. She was also an honorary member of the Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland and of the Edinburgh Women Students. Lilian was vice president of the Johnson Society and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Music was important to her. In her sixties, she sang the toothdrawer’s song to the audience when giving her paper ‘The sun, the toothdrawer and the saint’ to the section of odontology of the Royal Society of Medicine. On her 80th birthday in 1951, Lilian was presented with her portrait painted by Thomas Cantrell Dugdale which, together with several other portraits of Lilian, now hangs in the BDA’s headquarters. Lilian Lindsay died on 31 January 1960. By then she had broken a number of glass ceilings and is remembered amongst the world’s greats in dentistry. In 1962, some dentists commemorated this outstanding woman by founding the Lindsay Club, which later became the Lindsay Society for the History of Dentistry. An annual Lilian Lindsay memorial lecture is delivered by a leading member of the profession at the annual conference of the BDA and a Lindsay medal is presented to outstanding dental historians. In 2013 English Heritage placed a blue plaque commemorating Lilian Lindsay on her childhood home at Hungerford Road, Holloway in north London. Because of partial destruction of the house, it was later moved to 23 Russell Square, former home of the BDA, where Lilian had lived. Although in the 19th century Lilian was discouraged by North London Collegiate School, now the situation is completely different: a group attended the unveiling of the plaque, and a house has been named after her at the school. In 2023 *The New York Times* published a belated obituary of Lilian as part of its ‘Overlooked’ series.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010640
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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