Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon

First Title value, for Searching Stallabrass, Peter Pratool ( - 2009)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-28 2014-05-14
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/373821373821
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Peter Stallabrass was consultant obstetric and gynaecological surgeon to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. He studied medicine at King's College London passing MB BS in 1955 and the fellowship of the College in 1959. After early posts at Queen Charlotte's Hospital and Chelsea hospital for Women he became senior registrar in the departments of obstetrics and gynaecology at St Thomas'and Lambeth Hospitals. He was living in Henley-on-Thames when his death on 3 July 2009 was reported by his widow.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001638
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Francis, Harold Hugh Gamlin ( - 2011)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-01-06 2015-02-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001800-E001899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374008374008
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Harold Hugh Gamlin Francis was a consultant obstetric and gynaecological surgeon at the United Liverpool Hospitals, and a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool Medical School. He studied medicine at Otago University, New Zealand, qualifying MB BS in 1944. He was a house surgeon at Wellington Hospital, and then went to the UK for further training. He was a senior registrar at Liverpool Maternity Hospital before he was appointed to his consultant post. During his career he held a New Zealand travelling scholarship in obstetrics and gynaecology from the University of Otago and a Bernhard Baron travelling scholarship from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1960. He was a fellow of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society. Predeceased by his wife, Winifred, Harold Hugh Gamlin Francis died at home on 31 May 2011, aged 92.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001825
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Stening, Malcolm James Lees (1912 - 2014)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2015-06-12 2018-03-05
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/379653379653
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Malcolm Stening was an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Sydney, Australia. He was born in Sydney on 17 August 1912, the third son of George Smith Stening, a dairy expert, and Muriel Grafton Stening née Lees, the daughter of a printer who was also mayor of Sydney. Stening was educated at Sydney Boys' High School and then studied medicine at Sydney University, qualifying in 1935 with the Harry J Clayton memorial prize for medicine and clinical medicine. While a medical student, he played hockey for Australia on a 1934 tour of New Zealand. When the Second World War broke out, Stening was studying in London. He gained his FRCS in 1940 and joined the Royal Navy. He served in hospitals in Portsmouth and Devon, and was then a surgeon lieutenant on the heavy cruiser HMAS *Australia* and later a senior medical officer on the British battleship HMS *Howe*. He saw action in many sea battles, including the Battle of the Coral Sea in the Pacific. After the war, he continued in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve and was promoted to surgeon commander. On his return to Sydney, he became a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at King George V Memorial Hospital. He retired in 1971. He was a member of the court of examiners of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In 2009, he was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia. He wrote *Cancer and related lesions of the vulva* (Lancaster, MTP Press, 1980) and several books about his wartime experiences, including *The class of 35 at war* (Naval Historical Society of Australia, Garden Island, New South Wales, 2002) and *Doctors at war* (2010), revised as *Memoirs of doctors at war* in 2012. In 1943, he married Winifred (Winsome) Roche. They had a son, Malcolm, who predeceased his father in 2002. After his first wife's death, in 1960 he married Yvonne Wise and adopted her daughter, Wendie-Sue. Stening died on 28 July 2014 aged 101. He was survived by his daughter and five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007470
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Seyal, Nur Ahmad Khan (1920 - 2008)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Masud Seyal
Publication Date 2008-12-05 2008-12-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372758372758
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Nur Ahmad Khan Seyal was professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and a former principal of King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan. He was born on 16 July 1920 and received his early education in his home town of Jhang (Punjab). In 1936 he went to study medicine at Glancy Medical College, Amritsar, qualifying in 1940. He then went to Iran, in 1942, and joined the medical department of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Abadan. Over a period of ten years he held various surgical appointments in the 500-bed Abadan Hospital and gradually rose to the status of a consulting surgeon. During this time he twice spent time in the UK, gaining his FRCS in 1951. A year later, in 1952, he returned to Pakistan, where he was appointed clinical assistant to the professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the King Edward Medical College, Lahore. In 1954, when Nishtar Medical College was established in Multan, Seyal was selected to take up the new chair of obstetrics and gynaecology, the first professorial appointment on the clinical side. He went on to establish a department that was recognised as “outstanding” by Sir Hector MacLennan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who visited in 1961. C M Gwillim, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, also visited the hospital and recognized the department as easily comparable to the best abroad, and called Seyal’s devotion to duty “saintly”. In 1967 N A Seyal was appointed as professor of midwifery and gynaecology at King Edward Medical College and medical superintendent of Lady Willingdon Hospital Lahore. He completely reorganised the hospital and very markedly improved the clinical facilities available there. He took over as principal of the King Edward Medical College in 1969 and reorganised the teaching programme and formulated a number of schemes for the improvement of this premier institution. Seyal was nominated as a founder fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan in 1962, and was elected to serve on its council. He was also a member of the Pakistan Medical Research Council for over six years. In recognition of his service to the medical profession, the government of Pakistan awarded him the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, followed by the Sitara-i-Khidmat. After his retirement, Seyal was involved in the establishment of the Fatima Memorial Hospital and was the leading consultant for obstetrics and gynaecology. He retired to California in the early 1980s to be closer to his children. He died on 19 July 2008, just after his 88th birthday. He is survived by his wife (Iran Shafazand Seyal), his sons (Masud Seyal, professor of neurology at the University of California, Davis, and Mahmood Seyal, a business executive) and by his daughters (Mahnaz Ahmad, a scholar, and Farnaz Seyal Shah, a psychologist). He had seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000575
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Gough, William (1876 - 1947)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-07-04
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/376381376381
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Leeds, 7 June 1876, the third son of James William Gough, decorator, and Emma Armitage, his wife. He was educated at Leeds City School and Medical School, where he won the William Hey medal in surgery and a gold medal in physiology and histology. At the General Infirmary he served as senior house-surgeon to Mayo-Robson, and was for a time private assistant to Moynihan. After some years in general practice at Leeds, when he also served as director of the Yorkshire Pathological Laboratory, a private institute, Gough specialized as a gynaecological surgeon. He became assistant surgeon to the Women and Children's Hospital, Leeds, in 1909, surgeon 1919, and consulting surgeon in 1936. He was obstetric surgeon to the Leeds Maternity Hospital 1908-36, and gynaecological surgeon to the General Infirmary 1930-32. At the University of Leeds he was demonstrator of gynaecology 1911-23, lecturer 1926-31, and professor from 1931 to 1936. Gough took an active part in promoting the British (now Royal) College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, of which he was a founding Fellow. He served on its Council from 1937, was vice-president 1942-45 and chairman of the examinations committee in 44. He was president of the North of England Obstetrical and Gynaelogical Society in 1926, and a member of the Gynaecological Visiting society. Gough married in 1905 Agnes Innes Crane Fraser, who survived him with a son and four daughters. Their elder son, a boy of great promise, died before him, Gough died at his house, Dunearn, Wood Lane, Leeds on 29 June 1947, aged 71. His consulting rooms were at 31 Park Square Leeds, and he had a large private practice. Gough was an astute clinician and a simple and swift operator. He was ambidextrous and preferred to use his left hand. He was a good lecturer, but did not care for bedside teaching, nor did he like obstetrics.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004198
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Spencer, Pamela Mary (1926 - 2010)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
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/373324373324
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Pamela Mary Spencer née Bacon was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Whittington Hospital, London. She was born in London, in Dulwich, the daughter of Leonard Guy Bacon, a civil servant who had served as a bomber pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, and Edith Mary née Naylor, a former secretary. Pamela was educated at Croydon High School, where she played tennis and hockey for the school and was head girl. She went on to University College, London, where she captained the university tennis team and qualified in 1950. She was a house surgeon to the obstetric unit at UCH, a house physician at Edgware General and a house surgeon at the Central Middlesex hospitals. After casualty officer and orthopaedic house jobs at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, she returned to UCH as a lecturer to the obstetric unit, where she was later first assistant (senior lecturer). She was attached as a clinical assistant to St Peter's Hospital for Stone from 1958 to 1960. She was appointed as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to the Italian Hospital in London in 1960, to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in 1961, and to the Whittington Hospital in 1964. Among her many interests were skiing, travel and golf. In 1960 she married Alfred George Spencer, consultant physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital and reader in medicine at London University. Their son Charles became a consultant physician in cardiology in Stafford. She died on 30 May 2010.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001141
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Playfair, Hugh James Moore (1864 - 1928)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-10-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002900-E002999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375147375147
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Edinburgh, the son of General Archibald Playfair, and a cousin of William Smoult Playfair, MD, LLD (1835-1903), Obstetric Surgeon to King's College Hospital, who was one of the first obstetricians in this country to insist upon doing the abdominal operations in his own wards instead of delegating them to a general surgeon as was then the custom. Hugh Playfair was educated at Fettes College and at King's College, London, where he was a dresser for Lord Lister in the old buildings of the hospital in Clare Market. He determined at an early period in his career as a medical student to devote his life to midwifery, and filled in succession the offices of Resident Accoucheur, Obstetric Tutor, Assistant Obstetric Physician (1904) and Lecturer on Practical Obstetrics at King's College Hospital, becoming in due course Obstetric and Gynaecological Surgeon, and Consulting Surgeon in 1926. For some years, too, he was Assistant Physician to the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Women and Children and Gynaecological Surgeon to the Metropolitan Hospital. He married in Paris in 1905 Miss Eva Journault, but as he had no children he adopted the son of his younger brother, Nigel Playfair, a well-known actor. He died March 25th, 1928.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002964
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Goodwin, Aubrey (1889 - 1964)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/377628377628
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Aubrey Goodwin was born on 4 September 1889, son of Alfred Goodwin, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and was educated at University College and Hospital, London, qualifying in 1913 and winning the Honours Medal. After holding resident appointments he joined the RAMC in 1914 serving at Salonika and Malta, where he was staff officer to the DMS Malta Command with the rank of Major. He retired with the rank of Captain and the award of the OBE. On his return to civilian life, he spent some three years in postgraduate study in obstetrics and gynaecology in Dublin and Edinburgh, and was awarded the London University medal for his MD thesis in 1920. After returning to London he became obstetric registrar at the Westminster Hospital and gynaecological pathologist at the Chelsea Hospital for Women. Eventually he was appointed to the staffs of both hospitals and also to the Prince of Wales's Hospital, Tottenham, and served these hospitals for 30 years until his retirement in 1954. He was one of the contributors to the "Ten teachers" *Diseases of Women*, and *Midwifery*, and was also joint author with John Ellison and (Sir) Charles D Read of *Sex Ethics* (1934). Goodwin was an examiner for the Universities of Cambridge and London and to the Central Midwives Board. He combined expert knowledge of gynaecological pathology with fine clinical judgement, and his opinion was much sought. His operation for removal of the pelvic glands in continuity with the uterus, tubes and ovaries, in carcinoma of the cervix, was recorded on a film at Chelsea Hospital. Goodwin was a friendly humorous man of many interests, including fishing, shooting, and foreign travel. One of his life's ambitions was realised when he went to East Africa on a big game safari. On his retirement from his hospital in 1954, he moved to North Wales and withdrew from professional life and activities. He lived at Erw Fechan, Grange Road, Llangollen, Denbighshire, and died on 18 August 1964 at the age of 74. He was married three times, and had one daughter by his first marriage and three daughters and one son by his second.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005445
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Gilbert, Barton (1908 - 2006)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26 2017-03-24
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/372457372457
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Barton Gilbert was a consultant in gynaecology and obstetrics. He was born in Wembley, London, on 28 October 1908. His father, Ernest Jesse Gilbert, was an accountant. His mother, Amy Louise (whose maiden name was also Gilbert), was the daughter of a leather-merchant. His family was descended from William Gilbert, president of the College of Physicians during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. During the First World War Barton went to school in Bordeaux, and later went to Middlesex County School, Isleworth, before going to study medicine at St Thomas's Hospital. At St Thomas's he was awarded the university entrance science scholarship in 1928. He also gained a BSc in physiology, the William Tite and Musgrove scholarships in anatomy and physiology, and the Haddon prize for pathology. After qualifying he completed junior posts at St Thomas's, working for Nitch and Mitchiner. He then went as RMO to the City of London Maternity Hospital and then the Chelsea Hospital for Women, where he was influenced by Victor Bonney and Sir Comyns Berkeley. In 1936 he returned to St Thomas's as registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology. He was subsequently appointed to the consultant staff of the Chelsea Hospital for Woman. During the Second World War he worked in the Emergency Medical Service, and later in the RAMC, serving mainly in Africa. At the end of the war he settled in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, in gynaecological practice, the first gynaecological surgeon in that country. He helped to set up its medical school and taught gynaecology and obstetrics there. He was consultant in gynaecology and obstetrics to the government and its armed forces. He retired in 1972. He published many papers and was co-author, with R Christie Brown, of the textbook *Midwifery: principles and practice for pupil midwives, teacher midwives and obstetric dressers* (London, Edward Arnold, 1940), which passed through many editions. Following his retirement he went to live in Orange County, California, where he died on 3 February 2006. He married Rosamund Marjorie Luff in 1941, by whom he had twin sons, Brian and Keith, who became scientific instrument makers. He married for a second time, to Anne.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000270
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Marlow, Frederick William (1877 - 1936)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-10-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E004000-E004999/E004500-E004599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/376734376734
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Cartwright, Durham County, Ontario, Canada, on 25 May 1877, the son of Nelson Marlow and Ann Parr, his wife. He was educated at Port Perry and took honours at Trinity Medical College, Toronto, in 1900. He served for a year as house surgeon at St Michael's Hospital, and then proceeded to London, where he studied at University College, Middlesex, and King's College Hospitals. Returning to Toronto, he was appointed assistant surgeon at St Michael's Hospital in 1904, became surgical registrar at the Toronto General Hospital and was attached to the gynaecological service, then under Professor J F W Ross, until 1911. Two years later (1913) he was appointed associate professor of gynaecology in the University of Toronto, and he became the senior attending gynaecologist at the Toronto General Hospital. He was also on the staff of the Wellesley Hospital and of St John's Hospital. During 1903-06 he was demonstrator of anatomy in the University of Toronto. In 1913 he became a founding Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; in 1919 he was president of the Ontario Medical Association, and in 1928 he was elected president of the Toronto Academy of Medicine. Marlow joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a private when it was organized in 1900 and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. During the war he was ADMS for military district No 2, and was Inspecting Officer of the CAMC throughout Canada. He married in 1903 Florence Elizabeth Walton of Thorold. She survived him but without children, as their daughter had died in 1916. During the last two years of his life Marlow busied himself with a farm. He died suddenly on 22 August 1936 and was buried, after a largely-attended funeral service, at St Paul's Church, Toronto. He is described as a man of commanding presence, keen, forceful, an indefatigable worker, a ready speaker, and of pleasing personality.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004551
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Searle, Walter Netley (1904 - 1953)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-04
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/377583377583
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born on 20 May 1904 at Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand, fourth child and third son of Walter Searle, a car importer, and Mary Fox his wife, he was educated at Waitaki Boys High School and Otago Medical School, Dunedin. After postgraduate study at Guy's Hospital, he devoted himself to gynaecological surgery, served as resident obstetrical officer at the Royal Maternity and Women's Hospital, Glasgow, and took the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1931. He was successively house surgeon and resident medical officer, registrar and radium officer at the Chelsea Hospital for Women, and gynaecological registrar and tutor at Westminster Hospital. He took the Fellowship in 1937 and was elected surgeon at the Chelsea Hospital, obstetric surgeon at the Westminster Hospital, and lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Westminster Medical School. He was also gynaecological surgeon to East Ham Memorial Hospital and obstetric consultant to Enfield borough council. He examined for the Central Midwives Board, the Society of Apothecaries, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of which he was admitted a Fellow in 1948. He was twice called upon to deliver living quadruplets. Searle married in 1930 Agnes (Cissy) daughter of R Bell, formerly professor of mathematics at Otago, who survived him with their son. He died suddenly in the motorship *Duquesa*, outward bound for New Zealand down the English Channel, on 30 August 1953, aged 49; he had been ill for three years. He lived at 29 St Edmund's Terrace, NW8, and practised at 44 Wimpole Street. Searle was a keen cricketer and a collector of antiques. He usually spent his holidays in the Isle of Arran. Publications: Two cases of haematocolpos. *Lancet* 1933,1, 961. Operative treatment of prolapse. *J Obstet Gynaec Brit Emp* 1934, 41, 69. Pregnancy after haematocolpos. *Ibid* 1937, 44, 729.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005400
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching de Vere, Roger Duchene (1921 - 2010)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Michael Pugh
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/374113374113
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Roger de Vere was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Westminster Hospital, London. He was born on 23 May 1921 in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, the son of Gaston de Vere, an Oxford extramural studies tutor and translator of Vasari's *Lives* of Renaissance artists, and Margaretta Josephine née Hamilton-Williams. Sadly, Roger's parents' marriage was dissolved when he was a young child, and he was brought up by his mother in north London. His first school was Beacon Hill, which was founded by the philosopher Bertrand Russell, a friend of his father. The school took an unusual approach to the curriculum, concentrating on natural history. Pupils spent most of their time outside, only coming in during bad weather. After leaving Beacon Hill at the age of 10, Roger could only manage his two times table and later he was to say 'it is wrong to experiment on children'. But he did manage to become a fluent French speaker, after spending long summer holidays with an aunt in France. From Beacon Hill he went to the City of London School, and from there to St Thomas' Hospital, where he qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1945. He completed his National Service in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, serving in the South East Asia Command. He was posted to a French hospital ship, which had been acquired by the Royal Navy, until General de Gaulle requested the ship's return. After his National Service, he received his specialist training at St Thomas' and finally at Queen Charlotte's and the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He was subsequently appointed to the staff of the Westminster Hospital. Roger de Vere had an engaging manner and was a man of great charm, but also had an incisive, enquiring mind, which enabled him to get to the crux of a problem very quickly. He possessed a special quality, an ability to bring together colleagues of different disciplines to work together, which enabled him to make the Westminster a centre of excellence. As an obstetrician he could not bear to hear the sound of women in pain during labour and, together with J B Wyman, his anaesthetist, he established an epidural service, which was readily available to all his patients, from domestics to duchesses. They all appreciated his care and the comfort he gave them. He earned himself the sobriquet 'Divine de Vere'. He was an early exponent of vaginal hysterectomy in the repair of prolapse, a more comfortable and less traumatic operation than abdominal hysterectomy. There were other fields to which he brought his talent of bringing together specialist teams. With Gerald (Charlie) Westbury radical pelvic surgery for malignant disease was developed. Richard Bayliss, the distinguished endocrinologist, had been a student with him and they established an infertility clinic. With John 'Titus' Oates, a consultant venereologist, and Richard Staughton, a consultant dermatologist, they started a clinic for diseases of the vulva which met every month, after lunch! Working with him was never a chore: his operating lists were preceded by a generous lunch, often a roast, with his house surgeon invited to carve under a watchful eye. He was the most generous man, with a warm and charming personality; he brought credit to his hospital and also his busy private practice, which included at one time a clinic in Paris, before the French medical profession eased him out. He served as chairman of the examination committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and examined for Cambridge, London and Birmingham universities. He was also a civilian consultant to the Royal Navy. Always good company, he was an eloquent raconteur with a large collection of jokes and risqué stories, but underlying this was his fascination for 'what made people tick' and exploring 'the human condition'. He was a member of the Gynaecological Club of Great Britain and the Garrick. Roger de Vere retired at 62 to care for his wife, Elizabeth née Crothers Parker, who had severe renal disease. They settled in Mildenhall, Wiltshire. Roger painted in oils, had a fine collection of water-colours and attended weekly philosophy classes. He was a keen fisherman and an active of member of the Savernake Flyfishers, serving at one time as their chairman. He was also an excellent marksman and belonged to two shoots. He regularly fished for trout in the Kennet and became aware that the river was compromised, with low water levels and contamination from a local sewage farm. With his friend Jack Ainslie, Roger founded Action for the River Kennet in 1990 to campaign to persuade Thames Water to correct this problem. He enlisted the help of Gareth Rees of the Farnborough College of Technology to carry out a study, and they persuaded Thames Water to invest in phosphate stripping equipment at the sewage farm and at other significant points along the river. The river became clean and fish have returned. This triumph led to Roger being named Countryman of the Year by *Country Life* magazine in 1997. Sadly his wife Elizabeth Crothers Parker died in 2002. They had three children, Georgina (formerly a medical secretary), Guy (a systems analyst) and Stephen (an award-winning wildlife cameraman). Roger died on 30 November 2010 at the age of 89.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001930
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Brown, John Andrew Carron (1925 - 2008)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2008-08-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372734372734
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details John Carron Brown, known to his colleagues as ‘JCB’, was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Norwich. He was born in Sutton, Surrey, on 29 June 1925, the older son of Cecil Carron Brown, a general practitioner, and Jessamy Harper, a solicitor. Educated first at Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton, in 1939 he went to Oundle School for four years, before entering the Middlesex Hospital Medical School for his medical training, where he captained the cricket team. He felt fortunate to have as basic science teachers John Kirk in anatomy, Sampson Wright in physiology and Robert Scarff in pathology. He was greatly influenced in his clinical training by Richard Handley and Charles Lakin. Qualifying in 1949, he became house surgeon to Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor and then to the obstetric and gynaecology unit, before becoming house physician at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in 1952. General surgical training continued at St John and Elizabeth’s Hospital and at Redhill and Reigate Hospital, and at the Middlesex Hospital under David Patey and L P LeQuesne, colo-rectal experience being obtained with O Lloyd Davies. His training in gynaecology and obstetrics was at the Chelsea Hospital for Women under Sir Charles Read, John Blakeley and R M Feroze, at the Middlesex Hospital under W R Winterton and as a senior registrar at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Following his appointment as consultant in Norwich in 1963 he led a busy life in clinical practice. He led the development of maternity services and specialised in gynaecological malignancy. He was a great supporter of Cromer and District Cottage Hospital, where he held weekly clinics and operating sessions until he retired in 1990. Described as “a superb clinician and teacher of medical students, midwives and doctors”, his enthusiastic approach led many into careers in obstetrics and gynaecology. He also worked with physiotherapists in the prevention and treatment of stress incontinence. He examined for the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham in obstetrics and gynaecology, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Central Midwives Board. In East Anglia he was a member of the regional advisory committee for eight years, being chairman for two years, and a member of the subcommittee making a confidential enquiry into maternal deaths. For RCOG he was elected member’s representative on council for six years, and served on the finance and executive and the hospital recognition committees. He was made an honorary fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists in 1995. He served on the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM) and the Physiotherapy Board, and was vice chairman of CPSM. In Norwich he became chairman of the consultant staff committee and was very involved with the planning of the new hospital. Throughout his schooldays and in medical school he played cricket, tennis and soccer. Carron Brown started playing golf at the early age of six and resumed this once he became established in his chosen career. He enjoyed shooting and in retirement took up fly fishing. He was interested in history, especially of Napoleon and the Indian Empire. Gardening was an abiding passion, particularly the cultivation of roses. He married Marie Mansfield Pinkham, a Middlesex nurse, in 1952. They had three daughters (Susan Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane) and one son (Charles). Following his wife’s death in 1970, he married Susan Mary Mellor, sister of the special care nursery in Norwich, and they had two daughters (Helen Mary and Sarah Louise). He died on 27 May 2008 in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after a ruptured aortic aneurysm. A thanksgiving service was held at Norwich Cathedral, where he worshipped. Sue survives him, as do the children and 16 grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000550
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Shaw, Wilfred (1897 - 1953)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2014-06-04
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/377589377589
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Birmingham on 12 December 1897 son of Isaac Shaw JP, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and at St John's College, Cambridge where he was an open entrance scholar and won a foundation scholarship and Wright's prize and took first-class honours in the first part of the Natural Sciences tripos in 1918. During the war of 1914-18 he had served as a surgeon probationer in the Royal Navy. He received his clinical training at St Bartholomew's where he won the Matthews Dunn and the Lawrence gold medals and the Lawrence and Cattlin research scholarships. He won the Raymond Horton Smith prize at Cambridge in 1929. He was house surgeon at St Bartholomew's to Sir Charles Gordon-Watson, took postgraduate courses in Dublin and Vienna, and was for two years chief assistant and subsequently surgeon-in-charge of the obstetrics and gynaecology department at Bart's. He was resident assistant physician-accoucheur under Dr Herbert Williamson 1926-31. This was a post specially created for him, involving teaching and the handling of emergencies. He was also on the staff of St Andrew's Hospital, Dollis Hill and the Brentwood Hospital. He was awarded a certificate of merit for his Jacksonian Essay at the College in 1931 and gave an Arnott demonstration in 1933. He examined in midwifery for Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities and for the Conjoint Board. He served on the Council of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Shaw was a voracious reader and an active reviewer of books, for he was a ready writer. He published several important articles and his two textbooks became extremely popular with students and have been revised by later editors. A third textbook, on operative gynaecology, was completed only two weeks before his death. He was an excellent anatomist and pathologist, conservative in his methods but bold and fearless in emergency. He was a man of the highest Christian motives, endowed with wisdom and a sense of fun, and a gift for attracting the confidence of his patients and many friends. He found time for gardening and collecting ivory. Shaw fell ill in his fifty-fourth year and died on 9 December 1953 three days before his fifty-sixth birthday. He was survived by his wife, three sons, and a daughter. He was already a leader in his specialty, with a great reputation as a teacher. Publications: *Textbook of Gynaecology*. Churchill 1936; 6th edition 1952. *Textbook of Midwifery*. Churchill 1943; 3rd edition 1948. *Textbook for Midwives*. Churchill 1948. *Textbooks of operative Gynaecology*. Livingston 1954. The pathology of ovarian tumours, *J Obstet Gynaec Brit Emp* 1932, 39, 13, 234, 1933, 40, 257, 805, 1125.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005406
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Chapple, Harold (1881 - 1945)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-05-20
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/376149376149
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born in Australia on 13 February 1881, the seventh child and third son of Frederic Chapple, CMG, head master of Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, and his wife Elizabeth Sarah Hunter. Chapple graduated in science at Adelaide University and then entered St John's College, Cam¬bridge. He took honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part I, 1904, and won a half-blue for tennis; he was also prominent at rugby football, swimming, and acting. He entered Guy's Hospital in 1905 when Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, whose daughter he afterwards married, was at the height of his fame as surgeon to the hospital. Chapple served as an assistant in the obstetric department of the Charite-Krankenhaus, Berlin, and was then appointed obstetric registrar at Guy's. In 1913 he was appointed obstetric surgeon on the death of J H Targett, FRCS, and ultimately became senior obstetric surgeon and gynaecologist. He was also lecturer on obstetrics and gynaecology at Guy's Medical School. Chapple was consulting obstetric surgeon and gynaecologist to the London Jewish Hospital, the Victoria Hospital, Kingston, St John's Hospital, Lewisham, and the Buchanan Hospital, St Leonards. During the first great war he served in France as a captain, RAMC. He examined in midwifery and diseases of women for the Royal College of Physicians and the Universities of Cambridge and London. Chapple was a foundation Fellow of the British, now Royal, College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Chapple married in 1911 Irene Briscoe Arbuthnot Lane, second daughter of Sir W A Lane, FRCS, who survived him with two sons. He died at Orchard Court, W, on 8 March 1945, aged 64. He had practised at 149 Harley Street. A memorial service was held at Guy's Hospital on 20 March. He left, subject to life interests and legacies, the residue of his fortune to Prince Alfred College, Adelaide. Chapple was a collaborator in the well-known text-books "by Ten Teachers" - *Midwifery* 1917 and *Diseases of women* 1918, both of which went through several editions. But he made his mark in personal and clinical practice. Possessed of charm, courtesy, and kindliness, he was peculiarly successful with timid or difficult patients. He was also very helpful to his students and assistants, though not so unaware of their shortcomings as he appeared to be. He was president of the Medical Golfing Society from 1940 to 1945. Publications:- *Intestinal stasis and Lane's operation*, 1910. Unusual case of hermaphroditism. *Brit med J*1937, 1, 802. Prolapse of the rectum in women. *Brit med J* 1945, 1, 661 (posthumously published).
Resource Identifier RCS: E003966
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bonham, Dennis Geoffrey (1924 - 2005)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/372453372453
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Dennis Bonham was head of the postgraduate school of obstetrics and gynaecology at the National Women’s Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. He was born in London on 23 September 1924, the son of Alfred John Bonham, a chemist, and Dorothy Alice Bonham, a pharmacist. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Nuneaton, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He then went to University College Hospital for his clinical training and for junior posts. He spent three years in the RAF at Fighter Command headquarters at Bentley Priory and then returned to University College to work with Nixon, researching into polycystic ovarian syndrome and the use of Schiller’s iodine in carcinoma of the cervix. In 1962 he was seconded to the British perinatal mortality survey as the obstetrician and co-authored its report with Neville Butler. In December 1963 he went to New Zealand as head of the postgraduate school of obstetrics and gynaecology in the University of Auckland. There, over the next 25 years, he made huge contributions to medicine and perinatal outcome, marked by an 80 per cent fall in perinatal mortality. He established the Foundation for the Newborn and the New Zealand Perinatal Society, and was adviser to WHO, receiving the gold medal from the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies. He went out of his way to encourage women into his specialty, setting up job-sharing training schemes. In 1990 he was involved in a controversial study into carcinoma of the cervix, which led to a national outcry, an inquiry and his censure by the New Zealand Medical Council. He married Nancie Plumb in 1945. They had two sons, both of whom became doctors. A big man, with colossal energy, he had many interests, notably sailing on the Norfolk Broads and New Zealand coastal waters, garden landscaping, building stone walls and designing terraced gardens. He was a passionate grower of orchids, becoming president, life member and judge of the New Zealand Orchid Society. He was awarded the gold medal of the 13th World Orchid Conference in 1990. He died in Auckland on 6 April 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000266
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Gilliatt, Sir William (1884 - 1956)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/377623377623
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born in 1884 at Boston, Lincolnshire son of William Gilliatt, he received his medical training at the Middlesex hospital, where he was an outstanding student. He won the Hetley clinical scholarship, the junior Broderip scholarship, the Leopold Hudson scholarship and the Lyell gold medal and scholarship. After qualification in 1908 he held house appointments at the Middlesex Hospital as house physician, house surgeon, obstetric house physician and, finally, obstetric registrar and tutor. He was elected to the staff of King's College Hospital in 1916 retiring as senior gynaecologist in 1946, having been a member of the committee of management from 1932 onwards and, in 1945, vice-chairman. His other appointments included those of gynaecologist to St Saviours's Hospital, Maudsley Hospital and the Bromley Cottage Hospital. He was an examiner for the Universities of Cambridge, London and Bristol and for the Conjoint Board. For more than twenty years he had been gynaecologist to the Royal Household and, in 1952, became gynaecologist to the Queen attending at the births of Prince Charles and Princess Anne. He also attended the Duchess of Kent at the births of her three children. In 1954 he was elected president of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was a brilliant clinician and a skilful surgeon and combined these attributes with great ability as a teacher by writing and by the spoken word. An ideal chairman of a committee, he was eminently fair but could be ruthless if necessity arose. He was President of the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 1946 to 1949, when his common sense and dignity combined with his administrative ability were of the greatest value. A simple and abstemious man he was rather reserved, the result not of pride but of an essentially shy nature. He married Dr Anne Louise Kann, daughter of John Kann of Lyne, Surrey, by whom he had a son, now on the staff of the National Hospital, Queen Square, and a daughter, at one time secretary to Sir Winston Churchill. His wife was an anaesthetist to the Royal Free and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospitals before her marriage. He died suddenly on 27 September 1956 as a result of a motoring accident at Long Cross, Chertsey.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005440
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Evans, Arthur Briant (1909 - 2005)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23
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/372241372241
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Briant Evans was a former consultant obstetric and gynaecological surgeon at Westminster Hospital, Chelsea Hospital for Women and Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital. He was born in London in 1909, the eldest son of Arthur Evans, a surgeon at the Westminster Hospital. He was educated at Westminster School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before completing his clinical studies at the Westminster Hospital. On the day he qualified in April 1933 his father, who had a large number of theatrical clients, took him to the theatre. They went to see Sir Seymour Hicks in his dressing room in the interval. On hearing that Briant had just qualified, he asked “How do I look?” Briant said, “Very well sir.” “Good, here’s your first private fee,” he replied, handing him a £1 note from his coat pocket. Following junior appointments at Westminster Hospital, Chelsea Hospital for Women and Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital, he acquired his FRCS and the MRCOG. During the war he served in the Emergency Medical Service in London and was in the RAMC from 1941 to 1946, serving in the UK, Egypt (with the 8th General Hospital, Alexandria), Italy and Austria (where he was officer in charge of the No 9 field surgical unit) and was obstetric and gynaecological consultant to the Central Mediterranean Force. He ended the war as a lieutenant colonel. He was subsequently appointed obstetric and gynaecological surgeon to Westminster Hospital, obstetric surgeon to Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital and surgeon to the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He examined for the Universities of Cambridge and London, and for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Briant was much loved and respected by his patients and colleagues. He made operating appear easy. Quiet in manner and ever courteous, he loved teaching and was never happier than when accompanied by students on ward rounds and in the theatre. After retiring he bought a farm in Devon and his son Hugh was brought in to run it. He loved country life. He was a keen gardener, enjoyed sailing and had been a good tennis player in earlier days. His last home was in Buckinghamshire. In 1939 he married Audrey Holloway, the sister of David Holloway, who was engaged to Briant’s sister, Nancy. His wife died before him. They leave three sons (Roddy, Martin and Hugh), eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren. He died from a stroke on 3 March 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000054
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Cook, Frank (1888 - 1972)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/378417378417
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Frank Cook was the son of Frank Plant Cook, and was born on 6 November 1888 at Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. He went to Bedford Modern School and Guy's Hospital Medical School, where he had a brilliant career as a student. Having obtained a university scholarship and research studentship in physiology, he, with two others, assisted Sir Arthur Hurst (then Dr Hertz) with his pioneer researches into the physiology of the alimentary tract, using for the first time radiological methods. After qualifica¬tion he held the usual house appointments at Guy's before joining the RAMC in August 1914, with which he saw service, mostly in France and in Mesopotamia. In 1917 he married Edith Harriette Wallace, whom he met while serving in France. For the last two years of the war he was a surgical specialist. On his return to civilian life in 1919 he was appointed surgical registrar at Guy's, and then obstetric and gynaecological registrar. He was made consultant obstetric surgeon and gynaecologist to that hospital in 1925, and soon afterwards was appointed to the consultant staff of the Chelsea Hospital for Women. While a registrar he held a Beit Fellowship, and investigated urinary secretion in normal pregnancy and in pregnancy toxaemia. He was twice elected a Hunterian Professor: in 1917 he lectured on gunshot wounds of joints, and in 1924 on the results of his work on urinary secretion. Cook was a fine clinician, a dexterous and careful operator, and a good, if unusual teacher; in particular his registrars learnt much from him, not only operative technique, but also how to be good doctors. He was immensely interested in people and behaviour. He maintained a great interest in physiology throughout his life, and was largely instrumental in founding the first departments of gynaecological endocrinology in this country at Guy's and the Chelsea Hospital for Women, with Dr P M F Bishop the first consultant to both hospitals. As an operator Cook showed the influence of Victor Bonney whom he greatly admired, but he had an early grasp of psychosomatic problems, which most British gynaecologists then lacked. He was not a prolific writer, but what he wrote was always lucid. He contributed to the "Ten Teachers" text-books on *Midwifery* and *Diseases of women* and at one time was editor of the latter. With the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 Frank Cook was soon back in the Army. After being evacuated from Greece and then Cyprus he spent his time in India, where he commanded the 60th General Hospital with the rank of Colonel; he made a most successful commanding officer. In 1945 he was demobilised and quickly returned to a busy life in civilian practice. He was elected to the Council of the RCOG in 1956, and became the first Honorary Consultant (Civilian) to Queen Alexandra's Hospital, Millbank in the same year. He served on various Boards of Governors and made a considerable contribution to the developing hospital service. In 1958, when he retired from the active staff of his hospitals, he became Dean of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Postgraduate Medical Federation, a post he filled admirably, since he had a real sense of friendship for the men and women from all over the world who attended as students. Cook was a very humble man, who never fully appreciated his own ability and influence. He was a Freeman of the Society of Apothecaries. He got much pleasure out of horse racing and as a young man enjoyed flying; both he and his wife obtained their pilot's certificates. He died on 25 February 1972 aged 84.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006234
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Campbell, William Stewart (1907 - 1966)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/378214378214
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details William Stewart Campbell was born on 17 November 1907, the son of Sir John Campbell, a leader in gynaecology in Ulster. His mother was one of the earliest women graduates in medicine in Belfast. After a distinguished school career at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, in which he also found time to play excellent rugby, Campbell graduated MB, BCh, BAO at Queen's University, Belfast, with first-class honours in 1932. With the exception of his first year he obtained every single prize, medal, and scholarship throughout his course, and, in addition, first-class honours in the BSc. In 1937 he took the FRCS after a time spent as demonstrator in anatomy at his old university. Resident posts in obstetrics and gynaecology followed, but 1941 found him in the RAMC, where he served as a surgical specialist in Malta, Lebanon, and North Africa. After demobilization with the rank of major, he took the MRCOG in 1947; he became FRCOG in 1960. In 1948 he was appointed to the obstetric staff of the Jubilee Maternity (Belfast City) Hospital, and he was elected in 1950 to the staff of the Samaritan Hospital for Women, Belfast, where his father had served for many years. He was a Fellow of the Ulster Medical Society, and had been President of the Ulster Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society. Bill Campbell was a shy man, too modest to advertise his great abilities in any way, but when he took part in clinical meetings he always had something useful to contribute. In 1963 the Gynaecological Travellers, of which he was a popular member, met in Belfast under his chairmanship - a meeting remembered as outstanding. He was probably at his best in his frequent informal classes with the obstetric house-surgeons and registrars, whose training was one of his great interests. He liked to tease, a trait that sometimes nonplussed his juniors until they learnt to look for the secret twinkle in his eyes. He read widely, and took particular pleasure in collecting the local history of Templepatrick, near Belfast, where his ancestors lived, and where he regularly attended the old church in which his grandfather had been minister. He published an interesting account of the origin and early years of the Samaritan Hospital, Belfast. He felt honoured to be invited to give the Robert Campbell Memorial Oration later in 1966, and at the time of his death was engaged in its preparation. His illness came as a surprise to all who knew him. Though well aware of its serious nature, he faced it with exemplary courage. Campbell died on 7 July 1966 after a short illness aged 58, at his home 1 Upper Crescent, Belfast. He was survived by his wife, his son Robert, who was a medical student, and his daughter Patricia. He was a man of strong principles, brilliant but self-effacing.
Resource Identifier RCS: E006031
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Stevens, Thomas George (1869 - 1953)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

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/377756377756
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born on 25 March 1869 at Stoke Newington Green, North London, eldest of the three children of George Jesse Barnabas Stevens MRCS 1866 and his wife Charlotte Honey, he was educated at St Paul's School and Guy's Hospital where he served as house surgeon and resident obstetric officer, after qualifying with honours. He was resident medical officer at Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital and the Evelina Hospital for Children, having determined to specialise in gynaecology and obstetrics. He took the Fellowship in 1895 and the MRCP in 1896; in later years under the influence of his friend Victor Bonney he opposed the formation of a third Royal College, but when the British College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (as it was called at first) was formed in 1929 he accepted Fellowship and served on the first Council till 1935. During 1896 Stevens was demonstrator of biology at Guy's and examined in biology for the Conjoint Board. He was elected an assistant surgeon to the Hospital for Women in Soho Square in 1899, and was ultimately con¬sulting surgeon. In 1902 he was appointed tutor in obstetrics at St Mary's Hospital, and in 1908 physician to out-patients at Queen Charlotte's. He was elected assistant obstetric surgeon at St Mary's in 1912 on the retirement of C M Handfield-Jones, was promoted surgeon two years later on the unexpected retirement of W J Gow, and finally became consulting obstetric surgeon. He was also gynaecologist to the Mildmay Mission Hospital. Stevens examined for the Conjoint Board and for London University. He served as Vice-President of the section of obstetrics and gynaecology at the British Medical Association's annual meetings at Aberdeen in 1914 and at Winnipeg in 1930. He was a frequent contributor of cases and papers to the like section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Stevens was a skilled operator of wide experience, and excelled as a teacher, particularly in practical teaching, and was popular with students in spite of his caustic wit. He was an active Freemason and was Master of the Sancta Maria lodge in 1917. He practised at 8 Upper Wimpole Street, and retired in 1934 to Bournemouth. He married on 31 August 1899 Lizzie Jane, eldest daughter of John Reeves of Blackheath; she died on 2 April 1953. Stevens died at 6 Dunkeld Road, Talbot Woods, Bournemouth on 10 November 1953 aged 84, survived by his only son T Russell Stevens FRCS, surgeon to the Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester. He was a short man with a pointed beard. His recreations were golf and fishing, and he was an accomplished artist, particularly fond of painting interior scenes. Select Publications: *Diseases of women* University of London Press, 1912 426 pp. The treatment of salpingitis; acute and chronic. *Lancet* 1926, 1, 192 and 249. Ovarian tumours from the pathological aspect. *J Obstet Gynaec Brit Emp* 1931, 38, 256.
Resource Identifier RCS: E005573
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Herman, George Ernest (1849 - 1914)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-04-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002200-E002299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/374388374388
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born February 8th, 1849, son of the Rev G L Herman, of Kilwarlin, Co Down, entered the London Hospital in 1866, where he became Resident Accoucheur in 1870, Medical Registrar in 1873, and Junior Resident Medical Officer in 1874. He was deeply influenced by Dr Henry Gawen Sutton's teaching of pathology, which afforded a real understanding of many abnormal physical signs in place of traditional explanations or want of explanations. He was much guided by Dr Matthews Duncan's expositions of midwifery, at first in Edinburgh and then at St Bartholomew's Hospital; also by the older obstetricians, Smellie and Ramsbotham. In February, 1876, Herman was elected Assistant Obstetric Physician, and in June, 1883, Obstetric Physician, to the London Hospital on the death of Dr Palfrey. For the succeeding two years he also carried on the Out-patient Department until he was given a junior colleague. In those nine years he collected notes whilst he gained much further experience on obstetrics as Physician to the General Lying-in Hospital and to the Royal Maternity Charity. Much attention was then concentrated on the flexions and versions of the uterus, and his notes enabled him to relegate these conditions to their proper place in gynaecology. For puerperal eclampsia he advocated early morphia and opposed rapid methods of emptying the uterus. During his time operative gynaecology enormously developed. Herman started under the conditions laid down in particular by Spencer Wells and Lawson Tait; he was a brilliant operator, and his results were very good, but he did not advance altogether in attention to detail. He was an excellent teacher, basing himself always on common sense and observation, but rather sparing of words. The same applies to his style of writing. He was an active member of the Obstetrical Society of London, serving as Librarian 1880-1881, Secretary 1882-1885, and President 1893-1895. He also attended the Hunterian Society and was President in 1896-1897. He was Examiner in Midwifery at the Conjoint Board and at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, Durham, and the Victoria University. He practised at 20 Harley Street, and his advice there was sought especially by Jews, among whom he enjoyed a great reputation. After twenty years as Obstetric Physician he was elected in July, 1903, Consulting Obstetric Physician, and on that occasion his former Residents entertained him to dinner. He began his speech to them in a paraphrase of a familiar text: "As has been well said, there is more joy over one senior that resigneth, than over ninety and nine just appointed persons." In 1913 he retired to Caer Glou, Cam, Gloucestershire, and died from acute pneumonia on March 11th, 1914. He was survived by his wife, daughter, and four sons. He had married in 1884 Miss Emily Gibbings, of Chichester. Good portraits accompany his obituary notices in the *London Hospital Gazette*, 1914, xx, 211, and the *British Medical Journal*, 1914, I, 857. Publications:- *Difficult Labours*, 1894; editions appeared in 1895, 1901, 1910, 1912. *Diseases of Women*, 1898, and subsequent editions. Many other works on midwifery and gynaecology.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002205
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Burton, Richard Michael (1926 - 2003)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2012-03-21
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/373707373707
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Michael Burton was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Hillingdon and Ealing hospitals. He was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on 28 July 1926, the second son of Rennie Cooksey, a general practitioner, and Elsie Jane née Laycock, the daughter of an adviser in music. He began his education at King Edward VII School in Sheffield, but was subsequently evacuated to the United States during the Second World War. He attended Newton High School in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and later Phillips Academy in Andover. He was very well cared for by his foster parents in the United States, with whom he formed a strong relationship. He returned to England at the age of 17, with the aim of volunteering for the Royal Air Force. Instead, being too young, he was called up as a 'Bevin boy' and worked in the coalmines. He did eventually join the Royal Air Force, and was selected for pilot training and also as a potential officer. As a part of his training, he was sent to Durham University for six months, where he studied engineering before being commissioned. He completed his training as a pilot, but did not see active service as the war in Europe finished and he was not posted to the Far East. After demobilisation, he enrolled as a medical student in Sheffield and qualified in 1954. He was then awarded a travelling scholarship to complete his pre-registration year in America, and at the same time gained his American MD. He served as a rotating intern at the Albany Medical Center, in Albany, New York. As a postgraduate, he went to Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied anatomy and physiology. He became a casualty registrar in Sheffield and his specialist training was at the Jessop Hospital, Sheffield, later in Chelmsford and the North Middlesex Hospital. During this time he became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, becoming a fellow in 1977. He was a fellow of both the Edinburgh and English Royal Colleges of Surgeons, and he also became a master of midwifery of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. In 1968, he was appointed as a consultant at Hillingdon and Ealing hospitals. He contributed papers on a case of chorion epithelioma with pulmonary complications (*Tubercle*. 1963 Dec;44:487-90), catastrophes in labour and 'pulseless' disease (*J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw*. 1966 Feb;73[1]:113-8). He had keen service interests. After leaving the Royal Air Force, he served in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and achieved the rank of squadron leader. Later, he became a territorial, eventually becoming a colonel, commanding the 257 (SI) at General Hospital. He was awarded the territorial decoration. He was also a distinguished member of the St John's ambulance and was awarded the decoration of the Commander of St John. Another lifelong interest was scouting. He was a keen swimmer and reached international standard whilst a postgraduate at Cambridge, where he was awarded a blue for swimming and water polo. He also continued to fly until poor health stopped him. He had the misfortune of developing a dissecting aortic aneurysm and was operated on very successfully by Sir Magdi Yacoub. He was able to return to work, but was left with limited dexterity in the left arm. He had to stop operating and retired from active practice. However, he continued to examine for the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board and also to do medical examinations for pilots for the Civil Aviation Authority. He had two daughters and a son by his first marriage. His son was also medically qualified, served in the Royal Air Force and eventually became a consultant in accident and emergency medicine. Michael was later married to Toni, who survived him. He died on 31 March 2003. Michael Pugh
Resource Identifier RCS: E001524
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Lewis, Thomas Loftus Townshend (1918 - 2004)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12
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/372280372280
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Tom Lewis was a respected London obstetrician and gynaecologist. He was born in Hampstead on 27 May 1918, but regarded himself as a South African of Welsh origin. His great-grandfather, Charles Lewis, had run away to sea from Milford Haven and settled in Cape Town in about 1850, where he established a sail-making business that was profitable until the coming of steam. His son, A J S Lewis, was a civil servant who became mayor of Cape Town and was ordained into the Anglican Church on retirement. In turn, A J S’s son, Tom’s father, Neville went to London to study art at the Slade School, where he met and married a fellow art student from Dublin, Theodosia Townshend. When the marriage broke up, Neville was left with three children under five, including Tom. They were sent to Cape Town, where they were brought up by their grandparents, A J S and Annie Solomon. Tom was educated at the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, where he had a good education, boxed and played rugby. Every two or three years their father would arrive unannounced from England, and they would go off by car all over South Africa to paint portraits. On one occasion a spear was thrown through a painting, which was feared to be taking part of the soul of its subject. In 1933, Neville and his second wife, Vera Player, bought a house in Chelsea and sent for them. Tom then went to St Paul’s School, from which he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, and Guy’s Hospital. As a student he won the gold medal in obstetrics. In 1943, he travelled by ship to Cape Town and enlisted in the South African Air Force as a doctor, but was then seconded to the RAMC, with whom he served in Egypt, Italy and Greece. After the war, he returned to Guy’s to take the FRCS and specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology. He captained the Guy’s rugby XV from 1946 to 1948, and was only prevented from playing for England against France by hepatitis. He played his last game for the first XV when he was aged 46. He was appointed as a consultant at Guy’s just before his 30th birthday, and to Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital and the Chelsea Hospital for Women two years later. A meticulous surgeon, he was a very distinguished teacher. He wrote three textbooks of obstetrics and gynaecology and his book *Progress in clinical obstetrics and gynaecology* (London, Joe A Churchill, 1956) became a classic. He served three times on the council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, was its honorary secretary from 1961 to 1968, senior vice-president from 1975 to 1978 and Sims Black travelling professor in 1970. He was President of the obstetric section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was a consultant gynaecologist to the Army and an examiner to the Universities of Cambridge, London and St Andrews, the Society of Apothecaries and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. As a student, Tom had fallen in love with a Guy’s student nurse, Alexandra (‘Bunty’) Moore. They married in 1946 and had five sons. The eldest, John, became a doctor. In retirement, they built a holiday home on the island of Elba. A superb host, Tom was an authority on wine, fungi and astronomy. He died after a difficult last illness on 9 April 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000093
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Griffith, Walter Spencer Anderson (1854 - 1946)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2013-07-25
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/376479376479
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born 1 December 1854 the elder son of the Rev John Griffith, LLD, head master of Brighton College, and his wife Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Foster of Brooklands, Cambridge. His younger brother Francis Llewellyn Griffith, DLitt, became professor of Egyptology at Oxford and died in 1934. He was educated at Brighton College and began to study medicine at the Royal East Sussex Hospital, later entering St Bartholomew's Hospital and qualifying MRCS 1878. He determined to take a university degree, and while beginning to practise in London kept the statutory terms at Cambridge by staying for weekends at Downing College; he graduated MB 1885 and proceeded MD 1889. He had taken the FRCS in 1881, and having decided to devote himself to obstetric medicine he took the MRCP in 1883, and was elected FRCP in 1893. Griffith was appointed physician accoucheur to the Great Northern Hospital; physician to out-patients at the Samaritan Hospital; and physician to Queen Charlotte's Hospital, where he worked in close collaboration with Chapman Grigg, MD. At St Bartholomew's Griffith came under the inspiration of James Matthews Duncan, MD, FRCP, and succeeded him as tutor in midwifery. When Duncan died unexpectedly in 1890, Francis Champneys, FRCP was recalled from St George's to the post of physician accoucheur. Griffith was appointed to assist him, with charge of out-patients. Hitherto the department's surgical operations had been referred to the hospital surgeons, latterly to Harrison Cripps, but Griffith was fully competent and ready to perform the necessary surgery, for he was an operator of natural ability. In due course he succeeded Champneys, and when he in turn resigned 1919 on reaching the age-limit, he was appointed consulting physician accoucheur, and a governor and member of the house-committee of the Hospital. During the war of 1914-19 he was consultant at the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank, and was awarded the CBE for his services. Griffith represented the Royal College of Surgeons on the Central Midwives Board, and at one time lectured on midwifery at Cambridge. He was president of the section of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal Society of Medicine, and president of the Medical Defence Union 1932. At the Royal College of Physicians he was an examiner 1893-97 and a councillor 1914-16. In the British Medical Association he served as secretary of the section of obstetric medicine at the London meeting 1895, and president of the section of Obstetrics and gynaecology at Ipswich 1900. He wrote no book, though he contributed several papers to the professional press. Griffith married twice: (1) in 1885 Mary Anne, youngest daughter of T Kinder, JP of Sandridge Bury, St Albans, and had a son; (2) Ella F Kennedy, daughter of William Jackson Kennedy, MD of Lisaghmore, Kirkcaldy, Fife, who survived him. He lived at 19 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea and, after retirement, at Brae Cottage, Grayswood, Haslemere, Surrey. He died on 26 February 1946 aged 91; a memorial service was held in St Bartholomew's-the-Less on 5 March. His pupil O D Barris, FRCS, who was physician-accoucheur at St Bartholomew's 1925-39, died three days before him. Griffith bequeathed one-third of the residue of his fortune to St Bartholomew's Hospital, for the development of the obstetrical and gynaecological department and to perpetuate the name of Matthews Duncan, and another third to the Hospital's medical college. Walter Griffith was a tall, strong man of serious outlook, conscientious, painstaking, and determined in his own views. He was a lucid and practical teacher, and when instructing his class used to perch on a high stool and usually wore a black velvet skull-cap. Like his chief Sir Francis Champneys he was a skilled musician; Champneys played the organ and Griffith the cello.
Resource Identifier RCS: E004296
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Wells, Sir Thomas Spencer (1818 - 1897)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-03-22 2012-03-14
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372395372395
Occupation General surgeon Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at St. Albans, Hertfordshire, on February 3rd, 1818, the son of William Wells, a builder, by his wife Harriet, daughter of William Wright, of Bermondsey. He soon showed a marked interest in natural science and was sent as a pupil, without being formally apprenticed, to Michael Thomas Sadler, a general practitioner at Barnsley in Yorkshire. He afterwards lived for a year with one of the parish surgeons at Leeds, where he attended the lectures of William Hey II (q.v.) and Thomas Pridgin Teale the elder (q.v.), and saw much practice at the Leeds infirmary. In 1836 he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he learnt more surgery from Whitley Stokes, Sir Philip Crampton, and Arthur Jacob. In 1839 he entered St. Thomas's Hospital, London, to complete his education under Joseph Henry Green (q.v.), Benjamin Travers, senr. (q.v.), and Frederick Tyrell. Here, at the end of the first session, he was awarded the prize for the most complete and detailed account of the post-mortem examinations made in the Hospital during the time of his attendance. He joined the Navy as an Assistant Surgeon as soon as he had qualified, and served for six years in the Naval Hospital at Malta. He combined a civil practice with his naval duties, and was so highly spoken of that the Royal College of Surgeons of England elected him a Fellow in 1844. His term of service at Malta being completed, he left the Navy in 1848, having been promoted Surgeon on Feb. 3rd of that year. He then proceeded to Paris to study pathology under Magendie and to see the gunshot wounds which filled the hospitals after the struggle in June, 1848. He afterwards accompanied the Marquis of Northampton on a journey to Egypt, where he made some valuable observations on malarial fever. Wells settled in practice at 30 Brook Street, London, in 1853 and devoted himself at first to ophthalmic surgery. In 1854 he was elected Surgeon to the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women and Children, which was then an ordinary dwelling-house - 27 Orchard Street, Portman Square - with hardly any equipment. It had been established for seven years and was little more than a dispensary, as there was no accommodation for in-patients. About the same time he was editor of the *Medical Times* and *Gazette* for seven years (1851 ?-1858). Wells temporarily abandoned his work in London on the outbreak of the Crimean War, volunteered, and was sent first to Smyrna, where he was attached as Surgeon to the British Civil Hospital, and afterwards to Renkioi in the Dardanelles. He returned to London in 1856, and in 1857 lectured on surgery at the School of Anatomy and Medicine adjoining St. George's Hospital, which was commonly known as 'Lane's School'. Wells did an unusual amount of midwifery in his youth, but never thought seriously about ovariotomy until one day in 1848 when he discussed the matter at Paris with Dr. Edward Waters, afterwards of Chester. Both surgeons came to the conclusion that, as surgery then stood, ovariotomy was an unjustifiable operation. Spencer Wells and Thomas Nunn (q.v.) of the Middlesex Hospital assisted Baker Brown (q.v.) in his eighth ovariotomy in April, 1854. This was the first time that Wells had seen the operation, and he admitted afterwards that the fatal result discouraged him. The ninth ovariotomy was equally unsuccessful, and Baker Brown himself ceased to operate on these cases from March, 1856, until October, 1858, when Wells's success encouraged him to recommence. The experience of abdominal wounds in the Crimea had shown Wells that the peritoneum was much more tolerant of injury than was generally supposed. He therefore proceeded to do his first ovariotomy in 1858 and was not disheartened although the patient died. He devoted himself assiduously to perfect the technique, and the rest of his life is practically a history of the operation from its earliest and imperfect stage, through its polemical period, to the position it now occupies as a well-recognized and most serviceable operation, still capable perhaps of improvement, but advantageous alike to the individual, the family, and the State. It has saved many lives throughout the world, has opened up the field of abdominal surgery, and has thereby revolutionized surgical practice. Wells completed his first successful ovariotomy in February, 1858, but it was not until 1864 that the operation was generally accepted by the medical profession. This acceptance was due chiefly to the wise manner in which Wells conducted his earlier operations. He persistently invited medical men in authority to see him operate. He published series after series of cases, giving full accounts of the unsuccessful as well as the successful cases, until in 1880 he had performed his thousandth ovariotomy. He had operated at the Samaritan Free Hospital for exactly twenty years when he resigned his office of Surgeon in 1878 and was appointed Consulting Surgeon. He frequently modified his methods throughout the whole of this time, and always towards greater simplicity. The hospital never contained more than twenty beds, and of these no more than four or five were ever available for patients needing ovariotomy. At the Royal College of Surgeons Spencer Wells was a Member of Council from 1871-1895; Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology, 1877-1888, his lectures dealing with "The Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Tumours"; Vice-President, 1880-1881 ; President, 1882 ; Hunterian Orator, 1883 ; Morton Lecturer "On Cancer and Cancerous Diseases", 1888 ; and Bradshaw Lecturer "On Modern Abdominal Surgery" in 1890. He received many honours, acting as Surgeon to the Household of Queen Victoria from 1863-1896 ; he was created a baronet on May 11th, 1883, and he was a Knight Commander of the Norwegian Order of St. Olaf. He married in 1853 Elizabeth Lucas (*d*. 1886), daughter of James Wright, solicitor, of New Inn and of Sydenham, by whom he left five daughters and one son, Arthur Spencer Wells, who was Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1893-1895. Spencer Wells's operations were models of surgical procedure. He worked in absolute silence, he took the greatest care in the selection of his instruments, and he submitted his assistants to a rigorous discipline which proved of the highest value to them in after-life. At the end of every operation he personally superintended the cleaning and drying of each instrument. He was an ardent advocate of cremation, and it was chiefly due to his efforts and to those of Sir Henry Thompson (q.v.) that this method of disposing of the dead was brought into early use in England. Almost to the last Wells had the appearance of a healthy, vigorous country gentleman, with much of the frankness and bonhomie of a sailor. He was an excellent rider, driver, and judge of horseflesh. Besides his London residence, 3 Upper Grosvenor Street, he owned the house and fine gardens at Golder's Green, Hampstead, which were bought for public recreation in 1898. He drove himself daily in a mail phaeton with a splendid pair of horses down the Finchley Road from one house to the other, dressed in a grey frock-coat with a flower in the buttonhole and a tall white top hat. A half-length oil painting by Rudolph Lehmann executed in 1884 represents Wells sitting in the robes of a President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It was bequeathed to the Royal College of Surgeons at his death. A bust executed in 1879 by Oscar Liebreich is in possession of the family. He appears in Jamyn Brookes's portrait group of the Council. PUBLICATIONS:- *The Scale of Medicines with which Merchant Vessels are to be Furnished…with Observations on the Means of Preserving the Health and Increasing the Comforts of Seaman*, 12 mo, London, 1851 ; 2nd ed., 8vo, 1861. *Practical Observations on Gout and its Complications,* 8vo, London, 1854. *Cancer Cures and Cancer Curers*, 8vo, London, 1860. *Diseases of the Ovaries : their Diagnosis and Treatment,* 8vo, London - vol. i, 1865 ; vol. ii, 1872. It was also issued in America, and was translated into German, Leipzig, 1866 and 1874. *Note-book for Cases of Ovarian and other Abdominal Tumours*, 8vo, London, 1865 ; 2nd ed., 1868 ; 7th ed., 1887. Translated into Italian, Milan, 12mo, 1882. *On Ovarian and Uterine Tumours, their Diagnosis and Treatment*, 8vo, London, 1882. Translated into Italian, 8vo, Milan, 1882. *Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Tumours*, 8vo, London, 1885. Translated into French, 8vo, Paris, 1886.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000208
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bland-Sutton, Sir John (1855 - 1936)

2024-04-29T11:05:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-18 2012-03-22
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372412372412
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Enfield Highway on 21 April 1855, eldest son and second of the nine children of Charles William Sutton, who had a farm where he fattened stock, killed it and sold it in Formosa Street, Maida Hill. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Wadsworth, a Northamptonshire farmer. Bland-Sutton says that he learnt from his father to stuff birds, beasts, and fishes, to charm warts and to pull teeth; from his mother an intimate knowledge of the Bible. Educated at the local school, he acted there for two years as pupil teacher with the intention of becoming a schoolmaster, but being a biologist at heart he determined to become a doctor as soon as he had the money necessary to pay the fees. He attached himself therefore to the private school of anatomy kept by Thomas Cooke, F.R.C.S., which then occupied a tin shed in a disused churchyard in Handel Street, just off Mecklenburgh Square. Here he learnt anatomy, and taught it to lazy and backward medical students until he had earned enough to pay the fees at the Middlesex Hospital. He entered there as a student in October 1878 and was immediately appointed prosector of anatomy, (Sir) Henry Morris being lecturer on the subject. In 1879 he was advanced to be junior demonstrator, became senior demonstrator in 1883 and lecturer 1886-96. In 1884 he was Murchison scholar at the Royal College of Physicians. Two years later he was elected assistant surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital, with the proviso that he should remain in London during the months of August and September, when the senior surgeons were accustomed to take their annual holiday. He performed his duties thoroughly, and devoted himself especially to pelvic operations upon women. In 1886 he became assistant surgeon to the hospital for women, then a small institution in the Fulham Road, and was promoted surgeon six months later with charge of fifteen beds. Here he soon acquired fame as an operating surgeon, and disarmed criticism by welcoming professional men and women to the operating theatre and by publishing his results widely in the medical papers. In 1889 he changed his name by deed pool from J. B. Sutton to John Bland-Sutton. In 1905 he became surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital and filled the post until 1920, when he resigned and was made consulting surgeon. During his tenure of office he was a most liberal supporter of the hospital. In 1913 he presented to it the Institute of Pathology, which was built on the site of the museum, of which he had been curator from 1883 to 1886. To the hospital chapel he gave a beautiful ambry, a piscina, and a font, and made considerable contributions towards the cost of the mosaic pavement in the baptistry. He also assisted largely in the purchase of a playing field for the students of the medical school. At the Royal College of Surgeons he won the Jacksonian prize in 1892 with his essay on diseases of the ovaries and the uterine appendages, their pathology, diagnosis and treatment. In 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1889-91 he gave the Erasmus Wilson lectures on the evolution of pathology. He was elected a member of the Pathological Society in 1882, and served on the council of the society from 1887 to 1890 but held no other office. He was an examiner in anatomy for the Fellowship in 1895. He was a Hunterian professor of comparative anatomy and physiology for the years 1888-89 and gave a lecture again as Hunterian professor in 1916; was Bradshaw lecturer in 1917; and Hunterian orator in 1923. Elected to the Council in 1910, he was vice-president in 1918, 1919, and 1920, and was President for the years 1923, 1924, and 1925, being preceded by Sir Anthony Bowlby and succeeded by Lord Moynihan. In 1927 he was elected a trustee of the Hunterian collection. During the war he was gazetted major, R.A.M.C.(T.) on 16 September 1916 and was attached to the 3rd London General Hospital at Denmark Hill. The surroundings and discipline of a military hospital proved uncongenial, and in 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, placed upon an appeal board, and directed to collect he specimens of gunshot wounds which formed a unique display in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, till they were destroyed by the bombing of 1941. Always interested in animals, their habits and diseases, Bland-Sutton became a prosector at the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park in 1881 whilst he was still a student at the Middlesex Hospital. He retained his interest in the gardens throughout his life, and in 1928 was made vice-president of the Zoological Society of London. In 1891-92 he lectured on comparative pathology at the Royal Veterinary College in Camden Town in succession to Prof. John Penberthy, F.R.C.V.S. He was president of the Medical Society of London 1914; president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 1929; president of the Royal Society of Medicine 1929; president of the International Cancer Conference held in London in 1928. He was, too, a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem from 1924. He married: (1) in 1886 Agnes Hobbs of Didcot, who died in 1898; and (2) in 1899 Edith, the younger daughter of Henry Heather Bigg. She survived him but there were no children by either wife. Lady Bland-Sutton died in 1943 and was by her will a most generous benefactress to the College. She founded a research scholarship in memory of her husband, and also bequeathed a suite of Chippendale furniture for the president's room, and the silver table ornaments made for the dining hall at 47 Brook Street, mentioned below, as well as much other furniture. Bland-Sutton died after a short period of failing powers at 29 Hertford Street, Mayfair on Sunday, 20 December 1936. His body was cremated, and memorial services were held in the chapel at the Middlesex Hospital on the 23rd and in Westminster Abbey on 29 December. *Portraits*: Three-quarter length, sitting, in presidential robes, by the Hon. John Collier, R.A., hangs in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It is a good likeness and is well reproduced in black and white in Sir A. E. Webb-Johnson's eulogy in the *Middlesex Hospital Journal*, 1937, 37, 4, and in the *Annals* of the College, 1950, 6, 362. An earlier portrait by Collier is at the Royal Society of Medicine. The Middlesex Hospital has a marble bust by Sir George Frampton, and a drawing by George Belcher. Bland-Sutton's professional life was typical of his generation. Born into a large middle-class family where money was not too abundant, he had to rely entirely upon himself. This he did, as was then usual amongst the younger men who aspired to the staff of a teaching hospital, by coaching. Some did this by taking a house, marrying, and securing as many resident pupils as possible, each of whom paid an inclusive fee of £126 a year. The less fortunate, like Bland-Sutton, had to content themselves with private classes at £8 to £10 a head, for a three months' course of tuition. The direct way to promotion was through the dissecting room, for as yet pathology was little more than morbid anatomy. Sutton was a first-rate teacher and soon made enough money to travel as far as Vienna. He climbed the ladder by the ordinary steps, slowly at first as a junior demonstrator of anatomy, then as curator of the hospital museum, next as assistant surgeon to a small special hospital, finally as assistant surgeon, surgeon, and consulting surgeon to his own hospital, the Middlesex. He had to fight every step of the way, for there was plenty of competition and continuous opposition, but he had good health, a constant fund of humour, was a loyal friend, and was generous in giving both publicly and in private. He had hobbies, too, which sustained him: a love of travel, a curiosity about animal life and a certain artistic sense. Throughout his life he was a general surgeon, more especially skilled in abdominal operations. Of slight physique and with very small and bright eyes, he had a curious bird-like habit of rapidly cocking his head sideways when he wished to emphasize a joke or a witty remark. A fluent writer and an entertaining after-dinner speaker, he retained and perhaps cultivated his native and marked cockney accent. He lived at 22 Gordon Street, Gordon Square, from 1883 to 1890; at 48 Queen Anne Street, 1890 to 1902, and thereafter at 47 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. Here he built in 1905, at the back of the house, a copy, reduced by one-third, of the Apodama or audience chamber at Susa or Shushan (in Persia) where it is recorded in the Book of Esther that Ahasuerus gave the great feast and afterwards invited Vashti to show her beauty to the assembled princes and people. In the reduced copy of this splendid hall Bland-Sutton and his gifted wife delighted to exercise a generous hospitality; Rudyard Kipling, and old and intimate friend, was a frequent guest. The house and the hall were pulled down for an extension of Claridge's Hotel, and Bland-Sutton moved finally to 29 Hertford Street, Mayfair. *Publications*: Comparative dental pathology, in J. Walker *Valedictory address*, Odontological Society, 1884. *A descriptive catalogue of the pathological museum of the Middlesex Hospital*, with J. K. Fowler. London, 1884. *An introduction to general pathology*, founded on lectures at R.C.S. London, 1886. *Ligaments, their nature and morphology*. London, 1887; 4th ed. 1920. *Dermoids*. London, 1889. *Surgical diseases of the ovaries and Fallopian tubes*. London, 1891. *Evolution and disease*. London, 1890. *Tumours innocent and malignant*. London, 1893; 7th ed. 1922. Osteology in H. Morris *Treatise of anatomy*, 1893. Tumours, and Diseases of the jaws in Sir F. Treves *System of surgery*, 1895, 1. *The diseases of women*, with A. E. Giles. London, 1897, 8th ed. 1926. Tumours in Warren and Gould *International textbook of surgery*, 1899, 1. *Essays on Hysterectomy*. London, 1904. *Gall-stones and diseases of the bile-ducts*. London, 1907; 2nd ed. 1910. Tumours in W. W. Keen *Surgery*, 1907, 1 and 1913, 6. *Cancer clinically considered*. London, 1909. *Essays on the position of abdominal hysterectomy in London*. London, 1909; 2nd ed. 1910. *Fibroids of the uterus*. London, 1913. *Misplaced and missing organs* (Bradshaw lecture R.C.S.). London, 1917. *Selected lectures and essays*. London, 1920. *John Hunter, his affairs, habits and opinions (the Hunterian Oration)*. London, 1923. *Orations and addresses*. London, 1924. *The story of a surgeon*. London, 1930. *On faith and science in surgery*. London, 1930. *Man and beast in eastern Ethiopia*. London, 1911. *Men and creatures in Uganda*. London, 1933.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000225
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset