Search Results for

First Title value, for Searching Crozier, Alexander William (1816 - 1863)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-07 2014-06-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373533373533
Occupation Military surgeon
Details Was a surgeon in the Bengal Army (52nd Regiment) at the time he became a Fellow. He is confused in the *Calendar* with the better-known William Crozier. He died apparently some time between 1862 and 1865. **See below for an expanded version of the original obituary which was printed in volume 1 of Plarr's Lives of the Fellows. Please contact the library if you would like more information lives@rcseng.ac.uk** Alexander William Crozier was a surgeon in the Indian Army. He was born on 3 November 1816 in Cape Town, where his father, Robert Crozier, was Postmaster General of the Cape Colony. He studied medicine at Guy's Hospital and gained his MRCS in 1839. In December of the same year he joined the East India Company as an assistant surgeon. From 1841 to 1843 he served with HM 26th Regiment in China and was present at the taking of Amoy, the recapture of Chusan and the occupation of Ningfo, for which he received a medal. Returning to India, he served in the Gwailor Campaign and was present at the battle of Punniar, for which he received the Bronze Star. In January 1846 during the First Sikh War he served with the 16th Lancers, who led the cavalry charge against the well trained Sikhs at the battle of Aliwal. The Lancers lost nearly half their men but managed to break through. Sir Harry Smith, the officer in charge, especially thanked Crozier for his services that day and he received another medal. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons on 1 December 1854. During the Indian Mutiny he officiated as superintending surgeon in the action on 1 July 1857 near Agra. He had a horse shot under him and was again mentioned in despatches. He was in medical charge of the 3rd European Regiment in action at Agra and Oreyah, serving the whole hot weather campaign of 1858. His regiment had joined the Mynpoorie Movable Column under the command of Colonel WM Riddel, who wrote in his dispatch, quoted in *The Edinburgh Gazette* on 24 September 1858: 'The services of Surgeon A W Crozier have been most valuable and owing to his unremitting attention to the sick no less than his judicious sanitary precautions, I attribute in great measure the almost perfect immunity from sickness we have been mercifully permitted to enjoy.' He received another medal and was promoted to surgeon major on 19 December 1859. Altogether he was thanked 12 times for efficient and valuable services. He died on 7 March 1863 at Dehra Dun aged only 46, survived by his only surviving child, Robert George, and his wife Caroline née Cracklow. Deborah van Dalsen
Resource Identifier RCS: E001350
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cuff, Herbert Edmund (1864 - 1921)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Cumming, Robert Butterfield ( - 1887)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Cutliffe, Henry Charles (1832 - 1873)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Daglish, George (1805 - 1870)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dalby, Sir William Bartlett (1840 - 1918)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373549373549
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch and came of an old Leicestershire family. He was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and at St George's Hospital, where as resident he occupied rooms in the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. He practised first in Chester, but finding his life uncongenial, returned to London, bent on studying diseases of the ear. To this only a few medical men were at that time devoted, the chief being Toynbee, Allen, and Hinton, who had almost a monopoly of aural practice. Dalby became assistant to James Hinton, then practising as an aural surgeon in Savile Row, and succeeded to the practice on Hinton's death in 1874. He soon began to make a large practice, and was a pioneer in the education of the deaf and dumb by means of lip-reading and articulation. He published a book with this title in 1872, and another *On the Educational Treatment of Incurably Deaf Children* in 1880. For his educational labours Dalby received a knighthood in 1886. In 1872 he became Aural Surgeon to St George's Hospital, this being the first time any such appointment was made. His practice steadily increased; in the twenty years from 1875 to 1895 it was very large, and in the eighties his waiting-room was overfull. Dalby was a link between the periods of non-operative and operative aural surgery; he never performed the complete mastoid operation, though he was one of the first to remove exostoses from the external auditory meatus by means of a dental drill. Sir William Dalby was a man of fashion, well dressed, a clubman, fond of society, literature, and the arts. He retired from practice soon after reaching the age of 60, and died at his London residence, 14 Montague Place, on December 29th, 1918. By his marriage in 1878 with Hyacinthe, the daughter of Major Edward Wellesley, he had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son was drowned in a boating accident at Sandhurst; the second was seriously wounded in the Great War. He was survived by his widow, his son, and three married daughters. His portrait accompanies his life in the *Provincial Medical Journal*, 1894; it is also in the College Collections and the *Vanity Fair* Album. Early in 1923 Lady Dalby handed to the Royal Society of Medicine the sum of £500, the interest on which, after accumulating for five years, was to form the Dalby Memorial Prize to be awarded to the person who during that period has done or published the best original work for the advancement of otology. Publications: *Lectures on Diseases and Injuries of the Ear*, 12mo, London, 1873; 4th ed., 1893. *The Education of the Deaf and Dumb by means of Lip-reading and Articulation*, 8vo, London, 1872. *On the Educational Treatment of Incurably Deaf Children*, 8vo, London, 1880. "On the Influence of the Study of Science upon the Mind: Being the Introductory Address delivered at St George's Hospital on 1st October, 1879," 8vo, London, 1879; reprinted from *Lancet*, 1879, ii, 525. Article on "Diseases of the Ear" in Holmes and Hulke's *Surgery*, 3rd ed., 1883. Article on "Diseases of the Ear" in Quain's *Dictionary of Medicine*. He edited Oscar Dodd's translation of 3rd ed of Adam Politzer's *Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde*, 8vo, illustrated, London, 1894. "Short Contributions to Aural Surgery," 8vo, London, 1887; reprinted from *Lancet*, 1875-86. The same. Reprinted from *Lancet*, 1875-89, and the *Brit. Med. Jour.*; 2nd ed., 8vo, London, 1890. The same. From *Lancet*, 1875-96, 8vo, 3 illustrations, London, 1896. "Bubble Remedies in Aural Surgery," 8vo, London, 1891; reprinted from *Lancet*, 1891, i, 815. "Foreign Bodies and Osseous Growths in the External Auditory Canal, including Neoplastic Closure" in *System of Diseases of the Ear, Nose, * etc. Philadelphia, 1893. "Strange Incidents in Practice," 12mo, London, 1893; reprinted from *Lancet*, 1893, i, 240. "Dr Chesterfield's Letters to his Son on Medicine as a Career," 12mo, London, 1894; reprinted from *Longman's Magazine*. This contains amusing and rather cynical advice to a medical student. "Non-purulent Catarrh of Middle Ear." - *Trans Med.-Chir. Soc.*, 1873, lvi, 1. "Diseases of Mastoid Bone." - *Ibid.*, 1878, lxii, 233. "Cases in which Perforation of the Mastoid Cells is Necessary." - *Ibid.*, 1885, lxviii, 115.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001366
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dale, Frederic (1857 - 1913)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001300-E001399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373550373550
Occupation General surgeon
Details Came of a family well known in the neighbourhood of York, and was the son of R Dale, solicitor, of York. He was baptized at St Peter-le-Belfry. He was educated at St Peter's School, York, and at the University of Cambridge, where he began the study of medicine at Caius College, to which he was admitted on October 1st, 1874. He took an ordinary degree, probably in Natural Science, in 1878, and was at one time, after 1883, Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical School of the University. Entering the Medical School of St George's Hospital, he qualified in London, took his Cambridge Medical degree (MB), and then pursued a long course of study in Paris and Vienna. He next became House Surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and eventually joined his uncle, George Peckitte Dale (qv), in practice in Scarborough. Frederic Dale practised at Park Lea, Belmont Road, Scarborough, from about 1887 onwards. He was for a long period on the staff of the Scarborough Hospital and Dispensary as Hon Surgeon and Hon Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon, and was Consulting Surgeon at the time of his death, when he was also Hon Medical Officer of the Ida Convalescent Home for Children at Scarborough. He was Hon Consulting Medical Officer and Hon Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon of the Kingscliffe Hospital in the town. He enjoyed a large practice and occupied a prominent position both professionally and in civic life. An active worker in the Conservative cause, he was for some time Ruling Councillor of the Scarborough Habitation of the Primrose League. He was likewise for some twelve years before his death an energetic magistrate. A year or two before the close of his life he went to reside at Haybrow, Scalby, while still carrying on in Scarborough, at Nicholas Parade, the practice he formerly had at Park Lea, Belmont Road. On October 25th, 1913, shortly after his return from a day's shooting, he died unexpectedly at Scalby. He was survived by Mrs Dale and a son and daughter. Publications: "New Style for Facilitating Treatment of Stricture of Lachrymal Duct." - *Lancet*, 1887, i, 30.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001367
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dale, George Peckitte (1821 - 1893)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dickinson, Nodes (1776 - 1855)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dickinson, William F Daniel (1810 - 1865)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dickson, Henry Arthur David (1870 - 1898)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dickson, Thomas (1805 - 1875)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dingley, Allen (1857 - 1925)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Docker, Edward Scott (1816 - 1887)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dodd, Ambrose Thomas Sturges (1803 - 1847)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-28 2015-08-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373612373612
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Chichester on January 16th, 1803, the son of the Rev Moses Dodd, of Fordham, Essex. He was a pupil of Mr Lightford, of Oxford Street, and while there suffered from a serious inflammatory illness, the nature of which was not diagnosed. He became in time a student at Guy's Hospital, and was eventually appointed Curator of the Museum and Demonstrator of Anatomy. His connection with Guy's Hospital lasted some five or six years. In 1828, Mr Guy, general practitioner at Chichester, invited Dodd to join him in partnership. Within a few days of coming to Chichester he was appointed Surgeon to the Infirmary. He succeeded Guy in his practice, and took an active part in the life of the old Sussex city, interesting himself especially in the Literary Institution, where he lectured and helped to form the Museum, of which the ornithological department was collected and arranged by him. In 1843 his health broke down, and he suffered from the second of two serious attacks of haemoptysis. In 1844-1845 he took a trip to America, but did not recover sufficiently to resume practice at Chichester. In 1845 he went to Ryde, where he was soon invited to join partnership with a practitioner of long standing. At Ryde his health improved, and in December, 1845, he called a public meeting for the purpose of establishing an infirmary for the Isle of Wight. He became the active secretary of the new undertaking, which prospered in his hands. Although he did not live to see the foundation laid, yet he may be said to be the posthumous originator of this institution, which can be looked upon as his last work. In August, 1846, Dodd again fell ill, and he died on January 30th, 1847. As the nature of his case and cause of his death were matters of doubt, puzzling to the specialists of the day, including Sir James Clark and Drs Watson and Walsh, who had at different times seen him, he desired that his chest might be examined after death. This was done by Mr Marriott, his partner, and two other colleagues. A full account of the post-mortem and the discussion which it produced will be found in the *Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal* for 1847, pp. 103-4 and 138-9. He married in 1832, and left a widow and four children. Dodd was latterly a Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, and was an early member of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, to which he was much attached. As one of its most distinguished members he delivered the Retrospective Address on Surgery at the Southampton Meeting in 1840. Publications: Dodd was a frequent contributor to medical journals, and wrote able articles in *Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology*.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001429
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dodd, Henry Work (1860 - 1921)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-09-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373613373613
Occupation General surgeon Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Born at Victoria, Vancouver Island, the son of Charles Dodd, of the Hudson Bay Company. At the age of 3 years he was brought to Norwich in England, where he was educated under the Rev Augustus Jessop, DD, at the Norwich Grammar School. He received his professional training at first under Dr Gibson of Norwich, attending the Norwich Hospital during his pupilage. Before coming to London he was Resident Surgical Dresser for eighteen months at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. He completed his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital, of which he was elected a Governor in 1896. In November, 1884, he was appointed House Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, and in January, 1889, Surgical Registrar. In July, 1890, he was elected an Assistant Surgeon, and in 1896, following his bent for ophthalmic surgery, became Assistant Ophthalmic Surgeon. In 1900, on the retirement of Grosvenor Mackinlay, he became full Ophthalmic Surgeon, and Clinical Lecturer on Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery in the Medical School of the Royal Free Hospital. He became Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon on his retirement in June, 1913. Concurrently with his appointment at the Royal Free Hospital, he held the posts of Surgeon to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital and Ophthalmic Surgeon to the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases, becoming latterly Consulting Surgeon in each case. He was also, at the time of his death, Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Eltham and Mottingham Cottage Hospital and Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Booksellers' Provident Institution. In 1892 he was Hon Secretary of the Ophthalmological Section of the Nottingham Meeting of the British Medical Association. He was Surgeon in earlier life to a ship of the Telegraph Construction Company, and made voyages to South America, Cochin China, and South Africa. He continued a traveller in later life, making almost yearly visits to Norway or Sweden, Germany or Switzerland. A keen member of the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps, he was first in the Artists' Corps and then in the RAMC(T), from which he retired with the rank of Major. He was specially interested in Freemasonry. He was a great reader, and was able to sit in a room with people talking or playing cards and enjoy his book, quite undisturbed by what was going on around him. History books in particular appealed to him, but all standard novels - Thackeray, Dickens, Jane Austen, and the like - attracted him, and he had a great faculty for remembering what he had read. He could read German and French as easily as English, and was able to converse in both languages, especially the former. He was a member of the Savage and Reform Clubs. A rather reticent man, he was much liked by his colleagues and intimate friends for his geniality and kindness. He had a fine bass voice, and for many years studied singing at the London Academy of Music under Signor Denza. He was a good operator, took a keen interest in his work, and had a large practice. He practised at 136 Harley Street. About the year 1913 his health began to fail, but in spite of manifold difficulties he continued his work to the very end, and died suddenly in his consulting-room on June 28th, 1921. He was survived by his widow, Agnes, youngest daughter of James Legasick Shuter - a sister of James Shuter (qv) - by a daughter, and by two sons, of whom one was in the Indian Civil Service and the other in the Diplomatic Service. Publications:- Dodd's contributions to the literature of ophthalmology were mostly published in the *Trans. Ophthalmol. Soc.* of the United Kingdom. He was specially interested in 'green vision' and 'orientalism'. "The Optical Conditions existing in 50 apparently Normal People." - *Trans. Ophthalmol. Soc.*, 1892-3, xiii, 208. "Green Vision in a Case of Tabes Dorsalis." - *Ibid.*, 1899, xix, 281. "Green Vision." - *Ibid.*, 1900, xx, 264. "One Hundred Consecutive Cases of Epilepsy: Refraction and Treatment by Glasses." - *Brain*, 1893, xvi, 534. "Bilateral Resection of Superior Cervical Ganglion for Glaucoma." - *Lancet*, 1900 ii, 1071. "Orientalism." - *Ibid.*, 1906, i, 1753.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001430
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by David Arkell
Publication Date 2011-09-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373618373618
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Initially trained as a general surgeon, John Considine later specialised in urology and spent his consultant career at Heartlands Hospital (formerly East Birmingham Hospital) in the West Midlands. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, on 30 January 1925 and was educated at University College Dublin. After graduating in 1949 he trained in Glasgow and London before his appointment as consultant urologist to East Birmingham and Solihull health authorities. Although quietly spoken, with an unassuming manner, he possessed a sharp analytical mind. He was a keen and enthusiastic trainer of surgical registrars, many of whom were initiated into urology under his guidance. His calm and patient approach converted many a young surgeon to take up the specialty as a future career. He published articles on the retrocaval ureter (whilst in training) and developed a suction diathermy electrode for the cystoscopic treatment of superficial bladder tumours. His interest in bladder cancer led him to participate in numerous trials as a member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), but even this did not dissuade him from continuing to enjoy smoking his pipe. In the days when it was still allowed in hospitals he was easy to track down by the clouds of smoke issuing from the consultant's room! He was a very private individual, rarely mixing socially with colleagues. However, those that did meet him found him to be a true gentleman, always stylishly dressed and a most intelligent conversationalist. His French wife Marie predeceased him. They had three children, two sons, Vincent and Laurence, and a daughter, Marie. He died following a severe chest infection on 27 December 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001435
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Matthews, Hugoe Redvers ( - 2011)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Richard S Steyn
Publication Date 2011-09-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373619373619
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Hugoe Matthews was an eminent thoracic surgeon who was an expert on the diseases of the oesophagus; he was also an authority on the Victorian nature writer and mystic Richard Jefferies. He was educated at Sutton County Grammar School where, even as a teenager, he knew he wanted to be a surgeon. He qualified in medicine and surgery at University College London (despite pronouncing a 55-year-old woman pregnant in his practical exams). After a number of jobs in London, he moved to Bristol in 1968 as a registrar in cardiothoracic surgery. Then, following a spell as a senior registrar in Liverpool, he became a consultant at East Birmingham Hospital in 1976. During his career as a consultant at East Birmingham (now Birmingham Heartlands) Hospital, 'HRM' (as he was fondly known by his juniors and staff) developed several new techniques to improve treatment of a range of problems of the chest and oesophagus. In the field of thoracic surgery, he developed what has become known as the 'minitrach' (short for mini-tracheostomy) - a small plastic tube placed in the windpipe during chest surgery through which the lungs can be cleared with a suction device. The minitrach has been used on the battlefield as an emergency breathing aid - saving the lives of soldiers in Afghanistan and other war zones. His own interests focused on diseases of the oesophagus. He established a laboratory for oesophageal disorders (which became a referral centre for the whole of the West Midlands). He had great success in reducing death rates among people with oesophagal cancer by giving chemotherapy before their operations - an unusual move at the time. He set up a programme encouraging overseas fellows to spend time in Birmingham being exposed to oesophageal practice. In 1984 he set up the Oesophagal Cancer Research Appeal to raise money for a laboratory which was opened in 1989. This research programme supported several higher degrees and generated a steady output of research papers. His research and clinical registrars all remember his tutelage fondly and will never forget his logical approach to surgical thinking and practice, and an unerring ability to know when a trainee was unsure of their ground no matter how confidently they presented themselves. He was instrumental in establishing the British Oesophageal Group (which still adheres to many of the principles he espoused) and worked closely with a former patient to establish an Oesophagal Patients' Association in 1985 which is now a well-established national charity with many local associations supporting patients throughout Britain. In the early 1990s he developed links with the department of biological sciences at Warwick University, with the result that he was created an honorary professor of thoracic surgery. His work at Warwick helped to lay the foundations for a flourishing postgraduate medical school. He published many papers and was editor of the professional journal *Thorax*. He lectured around the world and served as vice-president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons from 1993, and as president in 1995. He performed one of the first surveys of cardiothoracic consultant staff nationally trying to predict retirements and vacancies to more formally establish workforce planning and trainee numbers. At Birmingham he and a colleague set up an Escapists' Dinner Club for consultants where medical talk was banned and guests discussed their hobbies instead. His own hobby was Richard Jefferies, a contemporary of Thomas Hardy, known for his semi-mystical writing about nature and the countryside. He had stumbled across Jefferies by chance, thinking that his *The gamekeeper at home* might be a sequel to *Lady Chatterley's lover*. He read every known work published by Jefferies (and much unpublished work in his notebooks and letters), gaining a clear insight into the development of his writing and the evolution of his thoughts and ideas. He served as president of the Richard Jefferies Society and in 1993, with George Miller, published a thorough and authoritative bibliography of Jefferies's work. He followed this with *The forward life of Richard Jefferies: a chronological study* (Oxford, Pelton, 1994, written with Phyllis Treitel). He also produced a new index and anthology of Jefferies's works with the assistance of Rebecca Welshman. A contemplative man who enjoyed a pipe and listening to jazz, Matthews devoted himself to books and, after his retirement in the mid-1990s, developed his skills as an artist. He exhibited his pictures at shows held by the Tiverton Arts Society, of which he was a member. In 1968 he married Judy Thain, who survived him with their son and daughter. Hugoe Matthews died on 10 March 2011.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001436
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wright, Peter Randell (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Michael Edgar
Publication Date 2011-09-29
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373620373620
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Peter Wright was a well-known and well-regarded figure in the British Orthopaedic Association of the 1970s and 1980s as an articulate contributor to the biannual conferences. Much of this arose from his considerable experience of working in developing countries, notably Malawi, Burma and South Africa. His active involvement in World Orthopaedic Concern also derived from that experience. Peter Randell Wright was born on 11 January 1919. He grew up in Leeds, the product of a Christian (Methodist) household. He was the eldest of three brothers, all of whom entered medicine, the other two becoming general practitioners, the elder having obtained his FRCS. His father, Herbert Randell Poulter Wright, was a commercial representative and his mother Alice Jane Wright née Wooley, the daughter of a brick manufacturer, was a classical musician, instilling a musical interest in her eldest son. From Roundhay High School, Leeds, Peter moved to Leeds Grammar School from 1927 to 1937. He was attracted to medicine by the example of the family's GP in Leeds and won an open scholarship in natural sciences to the Queen's College Oxford in 1937, supported by the Leeds senior city scholarship in medicine. He did his clinical studies at the Radcliffe Infirmary and became a house surgeon to Sir Herbert Seddon, who was then involved in his classic work on peripheral nerve injuries at the Wingfield-Morris Hospital, Oxford. Called up to the RAMC in 1943, he progressed to the rank of major as a deputy assistant director medical services in South East Asia Command, from 1945 until his demobilisation a year later. Peter Wright returned to be a house surgeon to Sir Hugh Cairns at the Radcliffe Infirmary and, after passing the FRCS, was appointed as a registrar in general surgery to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, from 1948 to 1949. He returned to Oxford as a senior registrar to the accident service at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1949 and, a year later, moved back to the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital as the resident surgical officer under George R Girdlestone and Joseph Trueta. Peter Wright achieved his consultant appointment in 1952 to the Canterbury and Thanet Health District, with what he has described as a fortunate balance. This comprised trauma at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital with beds for elective orthopaedics at the Royal Sea-Bathing Hospital Margate, free from the constraints of an increasing trauma load at the acute hospital. During his valued 29 years in this position until his retirement from the NHS in 1981 he was joined by five colleagues who formed an integrated and happy team. The re-organisation of specialty training in the late sixties enabled Canterbury and Margate to become part of the King's College Hospital higher surgical training programme in orthopaedics. In 1966, Peter was seconded for a year to Burma by the NHS, under the Colombo plan, to start a training programme in trauma and orthopaedics, initially involving seven young Burmese surgeons. During that period he advised the Burma government on the establishment of a national trauma service based at the main teaching hospitals in Rangoon (Yangon) and Mandalay. He returned for further three-month secondments between 1972 and 1984. Retirement from the NHS in 1981 at the age of 62 left him with more time to be involved in the orthopaedics of developing countries. With the opportunities in Burma no longer available, he turned his attention to Africa, becoming orthopaedic surgeon to the government of Zululand between 1982 and 1987. In 1983 he advised the government of Brunei on paediatric orthopaedics. He worked in the MAP (Malawi Against Polio) programme until his total retirement from clinical orthopaedics in July 1989, aged 70. Peter's private life was full. He married Margaret Alice Milward in 1943. They had two natural sons, Martin John and David Charles, and then, 10 years later, two daughters by adoption, Elizabeth Jeanetta and Alison Mary. His wife Margaret predeceased him in 1996. He subsequently married Jean Davies, a teacher. They moved back to Oxford. Peter and Jean participated in the activities of the Senior Fellows Society. Peter Wright's orthopaedic contributions included papers on traumatic chylothorax, posterior dislocation of the shoulder, and fractures of the forearm in children in the British volumes of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery*. He was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association council from 1965 to 1966. As a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine he was on the orthopaedic section committee from 1964 to 1966. He was a member of and made significant contributions to the meetings of World Orthopaedic Concern from 1974 until his last few years. Outside medicine, he was a member of his local Rotary Club from 1956 to 1997 and the Samaritans from 1982 to 1986. In 1997, he joined the then 'Blairite' Labour Party and also in 1997 threw his weight behind the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. Peter Wright achieved success at golf, squash and rugby fives in school teams and represented his college at cricket and rugby during his Oxford days. Thereafter, he continued with his interests in rock climbing and mountain walking. In later years he enjoyed travelling widely and developed ornithological expertise, particularly in Burma and South Africa. Music was always an important hobby following his mother's early encouragement. He played a range of keyboard instruments, built and played his own clavichord and harpsichord and was always in demand to accompany voice and strings. He died on 10 April 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001437
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Walkey, Gilbert Benjamin Rowland (1916 - 2009)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2011-09-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373621373621
Occupation General surgeon
Details Gilbert Benjamin Rowland Walkey - known as 'Ben' - was a surgeon who spent most of his working life in India. He was born in Marazion, Cornwall, on 27 June 1916. His father, Oliver, was a clerk in holy orders. Ben was one of seven children. He had an older brother, Sam, and five younger brothers and sisters - Lucy, Josephine, Barbara, Jack and Richard ('Dick'). Ben went to Wallingbrook School in north Devon and Truro Cathedral School, as well as being home-tutored, together with his brothers and sisters, by his father, a strict disciplinarian. Ben often used to reminisce wryly about his father's rule that each morning the boys should have a dip in the icy stream running through their garden. Ben set his heart on studying medicine, and his father, who by this time was working in India, eventually agreed. It was made financially possible by his generous benefactor, Maude Heaton, whom the Walkey family had got to know in Cornwall. Ben studied at King's College, London, from October 1935 until September 1938, and went on to Westminster Hospital to finish his medical training. He qualified in 1941 and, after a year of internship, joined the Indian Medical Service in February 1942. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Burma Campaign with the 14th Army and took part in the occupation of the Malay peninsula after the surrender of the Japanese in August 1945. He was twice mentioned in despatches. He was demobilised in 1946. After leaving the Indian Medical Service, he worked in the West Middlesex Hospital until 1948, and passed the FRCS whilst there. In later years he recorded his excitement at leaping up the marble staircase to receive his diploma from the examiners who included Stanford Cade from the Westminster. In 1950 he joined the Dohnavur fellowship, a Christian missionary organisation, in India, where he stayed until 1963. During this time he married Margaret Pauline Craig - 'Peggy' - and they had a son, Martin Rowland, who, tragically, lived only a few hours. Ben contracted polio soon after arriving in Dohnavur, but was very relieved that it did not affect his violin playing, though he was left with a limp. After Dohnavur, Ben worked at the Catherine Booth Hospital in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, and in 1966 moved on to the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore. He worked alongside Paul Brand, developing techniques for the surgical reconstruction of hands, feet and eyes deformed by leprosy. Ben also taught in the department of surgery at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore. During this time Ben and Peggy became mission partners with the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship - now Interserve. Ben's last six years in India were spent working in Bethesda Leprosy Hospital in Andhra Pradesh, which he described as being professionally the most fulfilling. He left India in April 1982 and worked as a locum general practitioner in Tamworth, Staffordshire, until he retired at the age of 79 in 1995. He and Peggy spent their final years in Pilgrim Homes, Evington, Leicester. He died on 21 December 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001438
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Doratt, Sir John ( - 1863)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-10-05 2013-08-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373623373623
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Doratt, a pupil of John Hunter, practised in Bruton Street, in Brussels, for many years in Paris, and then again in London. His address was for a long time in Pall Mall, and then, after various changes of residence, he settled at 4 St Martin's Place. He was twice an Embassy Physician, accompanying the first Earl of Durham to Russia in 1835-1837, and to Canada in 1838. He received the honour of knighthood at St James's Palace on February 14th, 1838. He died in 1863 at the age of 91 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London. There is a manuscript in the College (Stone Collection) written by Sir John Doratt which gives an account of an embalming "performed by Mr Home, myself acting as Assistant: the Body was an Earl of Moira, all under the immediate direction of Mr John Hunter". His name is spelt Dorat in the French manner in the *Medical Directory*.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001440
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Doubleday, Edward (1798 - 1882)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Duffin, Alfred Baynard (1834 - 1913)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-10-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373625373625
Occupation Physician
Details The son of Edward Wilson Duffin, MD (qv); was educated at King's College, London, and at the Universities of Edinburgh and Berlin. He came under the influence of Virchow in Berlin, and thus acquired an interest in pathology which coloured all his later work as clinician and teacher. He was House Physician at King's College Hospital in 1858 under Drs George Budd, Todd, and George Johnson. He became Assistant Physician there at the same time as Edward Liveing and Symes Thompson, but did not become Physician to in-patients until 1874. During the latter part of this long service in the out-patient room he devoted one afternoon a week to the treatment of out-patients with skin diseases, and his teaching in this subject was much appreciated by the students. In 1876 he succeeded Lionel Beale as Professor of Pathological Anatomy, and in 1893 was elected Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine. He held this latter chair alone for a few years, till joined in its duties by Burney Yeo, who succeeded him when he became Professor of Clinical Medicine. He was for a long period an active member of the Committee of Management of King's College Hospital. On retiring from service on the hospital staff in 1898 he was made Consulting Physician and Emeritus Professor of Medicine. From 1894-1896 he was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Physicians, and from 1889-1892 was an Examiner in Medicine. He also examined in medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He somewhat prided himself on being one of the few physicians practising medicine who possessed the qualification of FRCS. He was examiner for various Assurance Companies, and attended pretty regularly the meetings of the Pathological Society and the Clinical Society. For many years he was Physician to the Church Missionary Society, and was himself a man of strong religious convictions on Missions. He lived and practised for long at 18 Devonshire Street, Portland Place, W, and died, after his retirement, at his residence, Wallington, Surrey, on February 10th, 1913. He never married, but devoted his life to the companionship and care of an invalid relative. He left net personalty of over £48,000. Portraits of him accompany his biographies in the *Lancet* and *British Medical Journal*. Publications: "Cellular Pathology." - Beale's *Archives*, ii. "Perforation of Peritoneum." - *Ibid*. "Stricture of the Sigmoid Flexure: Colotomy." - *Trans. Pathol. Soc.*, 1868, xix, 197. "Temperature in Syphilis." - *Trans. Clin. Soc*., 1870, iii, 170. "Early Diagnosis of Small-pox." - *Ibid.*, 1871, iv, 117. "Treatment of Hydatids of the Liver." - *Ibid.*, 1878, vi, 23. "The Abstraction of Blood, Clinically Considered." - *King's College Hosp. Rep.*, 1895 i, 31. "Perinephric Abscess." - *Med. Times and Gaz.*, 1870, ii, 362.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001442
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Druitt, William (1820 - 1887)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Douglas-Crawford, Douglas (1867 - 1927)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-10-05
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001400-E001499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373627373627
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born in Liverpool, the son of a local medical man. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he was Junior Demonstrator in Pathology; after graduating he became Demonstrator of Anatomy to Professor Melville Paterson at University College, Dundee. He pursued his medical studies in Berlin, and at University College Hospital. After obtaining his Fellowship he joined the staff of the University of Liverpool as Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy under his former chief, Professor Paterson. Until the day of his death the importance of anatomy in surgery was an outstanding feature of his life's work. By every means in his power he sought to promote the study of anatomy as applied to surgery, both general and dental. In 1903 he became Lecturer at the University in Surgical and Applied Anatomy; in 1907 Lecturer in Clinical Surgery; in 1912 Lecturer in Clinical Surgery for Dental Students. In the same year he was a Vice-President of the Section of Anatomy at the Liverpool Meeting of the British Medical Association, and in 1925-1926 he was Chairman of the Faculty of Medicine. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Stanley Hospital in 1895, and full Surgeon in 1898. In 1910 he became Surgeon to the Royal Southern Hospital, where till the time of his death the bulk of his hospital surgery was carried out, and where he was latterly Senior Hon Surgeon. At the time of his death he also held the posts of Consulting Surgeon to the Liverpool Dental Hospital, the Hoylake and West Kirby Cottage Hospital, and the Druids Cross Hospital. During the Great War he served in Liverpool, and abroad with the 1st Western General Hospital. Much of his energy was given at one time and another to the Liverpool Dental Hospital and to teaching in the University. He was Tutor to Dental Students, to whom his instruction made a special appeal and among whom his reputation was high. He practised at 75 Rodney Street. A most active man, of breezy, cheerful manners, he had just been granted an extension of his term of office as Senior Surgeon of the Royal Southern Hospital, when he died suddenly while engaged in his usual work, on February 7th, 1927. He left a widow, but no children. Publications:- "Intraspinal Tumours, with Case of Successful removal." - *Liverpool Med.-Chir. Jour*., 1909, xxix, 815. "Chronic Prostatitis: its Cause and Treatment." - *Ibid.*, 1910, xxx, 300. "Volvulus." - *Ibid.*, 1911, xxxi, 891. "Jejunostomy for Malignant Stricture of Oesophagus." - *Ibid.*, 1914, xxxiv, 270.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001444
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Brennan, Thomas Gabriel (1937 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2012-03-22
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/372429372429
Occupation General surgeon
Details Tom Brennan was a general surgeon in Leeds and an outstanding trainer, both of medical students and postgraduate trainees. He was born in Dundalk and graduated from University College Dublin in 1962, before going to England to specialise in surgery. After junior posts in London he became a registrar in Leeds and subsequently a senior registrar in the Leeds/Bradford training scheme. From 1972 to 1974 he was a lecturer in surgery at St James University Hospital Leeds under Geoffrey Giles, where he was later appointed as a consultant. He worked at Leeds until his retirement in 2005. He was a truly general surgeon, but also an innovator, establishing a multidisciplinary clinic for women with diseases of the breast. He was the first in Leeds to carry out interventional laparoscopy. He was highly regarded as a trainer and for many years was an examiner for both the Irish and English Colleges. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland presented him with a special medal in appreciation of his commitment to training. A passionate sportsman (he particularly enjoyed golf), he was a great colleague, a bon viveur, a lover of wine, and was good company. He died on 12 November 2005, leaving his widow Mary and four children (Jessica, Jennifer, Michael and Catherine).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000242
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lessington-Smith, Caroline Mathilda (1918 - )

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2009-05-07
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/372430372430
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Caroline Lessington-Smith was an ENT surgeon at King’s College Hospital, London. Born Caroline van Dorp on 25 May 1918, she was the daughter of a Dutch pastor based in London. She qualified at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1941 and, choosing ENT as a career, she became senior registrar to the ENT departments at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, and the Royal Infirmary, Leicester, and senior registrar to the department of surgery of the General Hospital, Leicester. She was subsequently appointed as surgeon in charge of the ENT department of St Giles Hospital, Camberwell, and the Dulwich Hospital. She was interested in paediatric ENT and later worked at the Belgrave Hospital for Children. All three of these hospitals became part of the King's College Hospital group in the early 1960s. A highly intelligent and amiable colleague, she brought her extensive experience to the foreign body endoscopy unit at Camberwell and published a paper in the *Journal of Laryngology & Otology* (1954) entitled ‘Unusual foreign body in the maxillary antrum’, which turned out to be a flat metal ring measuring 7.7cms in diameter which had penetrated the antrum. A year earlier she wrote ‘Tonsillectomy for carcinoma of the tonsil in a dog – with survival’ in the *Veterinary Record*. Whilst at Camberwell in 1963 she met and married Hugh Sim, who had been injured at the Battle of Arnhem and was at the time a hospital administrator. They had two sons. Hugh died whilst Caroline was still working and, shortly after her retirement in the mid 1970s, she remarried and lived in her delightful cottage in Mayfield, East Sussex. She is believed to have died in late 2001 or early 2002, as noted in the *Medical Directory* 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000243
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Porter, Richard William (1935 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2012-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372431372431
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Richard William Porter was a distinguished orthopaedic surgeon in Aberdeen. He was born on 16 February 1935 in Doncaster, the son of J Luther Porter, a china merchant and Methodist minister, and Mary Field. He was educated at Oundle and Edinburgh University, and completed his surgical training at Edinburgh. Following house appointments he became a ships' surgeon for three months before returning to Edinburgh as a senior house officer and passing the FRCS Edinburgh and the DObstRCOG. He began his surgical training as a registrar in Sheffield and after obtaining the FRCS England in 1966 he became a senior registrar on the orthopaedic training programme at King's College Hospital, where he was much influenced by Hubert Wood and Christopher Attenborough. He returned to Doncaster as consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Royal Infirmary and soon took an interest in low back pain, a common problem among the coal miners. He set up a research programme and established a department of bioengineering which attracted postgraduate students from home and abroad. He became an authority on the use of ultrasound in the investigation of back pain published papers and a book on the subject and was awarded an MD in 1981 for this work. His reputation resulted in the presidency of the Society for Back Pain Research and a founder membership of the European Spine Society. He was also on the council of the British Orthopaedic Association and the Society of Clinical Anatomists. In 1990 he was appointed to the Sir Harry Platt chair of orthopaedic surgery in Aberdeen and developed links with China and Romania, and later became the first Syme professor of orthopaedics in the University of Edinburgh and director of education and training at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Following his retirement he returned to Doncaster and, as a devout Christian, played a very full part in the local Evangelical Methodist Church. He published extensively and was the author of three textbooks. In 1964 he married Christine Brown, whom he had known since his schooldays. They had four sons, one of whom is an orthopaedic surgeon, two are Anglican ministers and one a Methodist minister. He died on 20 July 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000244
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cutler, Geoffrey Abbott (1920 - 2000)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-05-10
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372529372529
Occupation General surgeon
Details Geoff Cutler was a surgeon in New South Wales, Australia. He was born on 29 February 1920 in Manly, a suburb of Sydney. He was the second of the three sons of Arthur and Ruby Cutler. Their father was a sales representative for Remington, who had been a crack shot and twice winner at Bisley. He was killed in a car accident in 1935 and Geoffrey left school at 17 to work in a bank, whilst studying for a degree at night. When the war came he was keen to enlist, but his mother would not sign the papers as his elder brother, later to become Sir Roden Cutler, future diplomat and Governor of New South Wales, had been seriously wounded in Syria, winning the VC, but losing his leg. Geoff joined the RAAF when he was 21. While he was learning to fly he became bored during a long formation flight to Goulbourn and decided to slip away to do a few loops and rolls, and then found to his consternation that he was quite alone and not sure where he was. He landed his Tiger Moth in a suitable field, but was quickly surrounded by a group of men in uniform, who told him that he was in the middle of a prison farm. Undeterred, on getting directions for Goulbourn, he persuaded them to hang on to his plane’s tail until he had sufficient power to take off. (He kept this story secret for many years.) Later he became a test and ferry pilot, and saw enemy action in Burma and New Guinea. After the war he was able to enrol in medicine, his first love, through the repatriation arrangements provided for ex-servicemen. Enrolling with 726 other students, they were warned that 50 per cent of their year would be failed at the end of the year. He graduated with honours in 1952 and did his house appointments at Manly Hospital, having been attached to the Royal North Shore Hospital as a student. He went to England in 1954, intending to specialise in gynaecology and obstetrics, but changed to surgery, and did junior jobs in Middlesex, Northampton, Guildford and Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, as well as attending courses at the College. After passing the FRCS he returned to Australia in 1957 to a registrar position at the Royal North Shore Hospital, and started in private practice in 1958. Among his other interests were reading history, and breeding Hereford cattle on his farm, which he owned for 25 years. He had met Dorothy Arnold, another Australian, when she was nursing in London. They married in 1959 and had three children, two boys and a girl. Stephen, the eldest, represented Australia at rugby for ten years, before going to the USA to work for the pharmaceutical firm Quintiles. Anne became a physiotherapist and Rob became a solicitor in Sydney. Geoff Cutler died on 20 October 2000 from carcinoma of the colon.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000343
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Drew, Alfred John (1916 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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/372239372239
Occupation General surgeon
Details Alfred John Drew, known as ‘Jack’, was a former consultant general surgeon in Walsall. He was born in Ceylon on 17 February 1916, the son of the chief pilot for the harbour at Colombo. He was educated at Nuwara Eliya, and was then sent to Ipswich School at the age of 11. He became head boy and rugby captain. He went on to study medicine at Guy’s, qualifying in 1939. At medical school he swam and played rugby for the first XV. After house appointments at Guy’s and with the south east sector of the Emergency Medical Service during the war, he went to Preston Hall, Maidstone, as a surgical trainee. He then moved to Pembury, where he became a senior lecturer in anatomy, living in a baronial house with many others from Guy’s. After obtaining his FRCS in 1941, he moved to Sheffield as resident surgical officer to Sir Ernest Finch. Drew then joined the Navy, initially as a specialist with the First Submarine Flotilla in the Eastern Mediterranean, managing to survive the sinking of the *Medway*. He was transferred to *HMS Zulu*, and ended up in Beirut. He then spent a long period at the Massawa Naval Base on the Red Sea. He returned to the UK, as a senior surgical specialist at Chatham, having asked to be posted to the Pacific, where the fighting was continuing. Following demobilisation, he returned to Guy’s as a senior surgical registrar, working under, among others, Brock, Slessinger, Ekhof, Grant-Massey, Stamm, Wass and Kilpatrick. He also worked at St Mark’s as a clinical assistant to Gabriel. In 1951 he was appointed general surgeon to the Walsall Hospitals (the Manor and the General), where he worked for the next 30 years. A true general surgeon, he taught trainees from all over the world, spending time visiting them during his retirement. He loved to sail, and, once he had retired to Lymington in 1981, he was able to devote more time to sailing along the south coast and to France. He was also able to tend his garden and watch rugby on television. He died in Lymington on 29 February 2004, and is survived by his wife, Patricia, his daughter, Sally, and his sons, Richard and Peter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000052
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Eddey, Howard Hadfield (1910 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372240372240
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Howard Eddey was a former professor of surgery at Melbourne University. He was born on 3 September 1910, in Melbourne. His father was Charles Howard Eddey, a manager, and his mother was Rachel Beatrice née Hadfield, the daughter of a teacher. He was educated at Melbourne High School, where he was captain of boats and featured in many winning crews. He was also in the school lacrosse team. He went on to the University of Melbourne, where he won a university blue. He was subsequently a resident at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for two years. He then went to the UK, where he studied for his FRCS, winning the Hallet prize in the process. During the second world war he served in the Australian Imperial Force with the 2/13 Australian General Hospital, becoming a Major in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He was captured by the Japanese and spent time in prisoner of war camps in Changi and then in North Borneo. While he was captured he was involved in 'kangkong' harvesting and the treating of a local wild vegetable, to produce a drink that was rich in vitamins. Howard made sure the soldiers drank this frequently, as it reduced the incidence of beriberi and pellagra. During his time in captivity Howard also wrote notes on anatomy on scrap paper. This later became a key anatomy text, used by generations of medical students. He returned to the Royal Melbourne Hospital after the war as an honorary surgeon. He was dean of the clinical school there from 1965 to 1967. As a clinician he gained an impressive reputation as a head and neck surgeon. In particular his parotid gland surgery and cancer work with radical neck dissection gained considerable prominence. In 1966 the University of Melbourne decided to establish a third clinical school at the Austin Hospital and Eddey was invited to become the foundation professor of surgery. He had no background in research, but recruited a team of young surgeons with research skills and the research reputation of the department of surgery was rapidly established. In 1971 Eddey became dean and held this position until 1975. He was a member of the board of management from 1971 to 1977, and was vice-president from 1975 to 1977. In honour of his contribution to the development of Austin as a clinical school, the new operating theatres and library have been named after him. Eddey was regarded as an outstanding teacher and, through his role with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), helped surgical education in South East Asia. He made many visits to Asian hospitals and was involved with examinations and giving lectures. The RACS created the Howard Eddey medal in recognition of his work in Asia. He was a member of the board of examiners at the RACS from 1958 to 1973, and was chairman from 1968 to 1973. He was a member of council from 1967 to 1975 and served as honorary librarian from 1968 to 1975. He served on many other bodies, including the Cancer Institute and the Anti Cancer Council. His service to the community was recognised by his appointment as honorary surgeon to Prince Charles and he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He was married to Alice née Paul from Kew, Victoria, for 30 years. They had three children - Robert Michael, Peter and Pamela Ann. Eddey died on 16 September 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000053
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Evans, Arthur Briant (1909 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Falloon, Maurice White (1921 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Fiddian, Richard Vasey (1923 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2007-08-23
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/372243372243
Occupation General surgeon
Details Richard Vasey ‘Dick’ Fiddian was a consultant general surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital from 1964 to 1989. He was born on 6 October 1923 in Ashton-under-Lyne in Lancashire, where his father, James Victor Fiddian, was a general practitioner-surgeon. His mother, Doris Mary née White, came from a farming family. Dick was the last of five children, and the second son. From the age of eight he attended the Old College boarding school in Windermere, and then, at 11, went to Manchester Grammar School. In October 1941 he went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to read for the natural sciences tripos. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army and spent three years as a fighting soldier in the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of captain. As well as serving in the field with the 14th Army in Burma, he also helped to oversee the rebuilding of the Burma Road with the help of Japanese POWs. In October 1946 he returned to Emmanuel College, completing his first and second MB. He was also awarded an MA in anthropology, physiology, pathology and biochemistry. Whilst at Emmanuel, Fiddian became captain of the golf team, and was awarded a Cambridge blue. After qualifying, he did two years of house appointments at Bart’s, including anaesthetics, and a further year as junior registrar (SHO) to Rupert Corbett and Alec Badenoch. He then took a year off as a ship’s doctor on the Orsova of the Orient Line, before taking his Fellowship in 1956. He then became a registrar to Norman Townsley and John Stephens at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. When the Queen came to open the new operating theatres, Fiddian escorted the Duke of Edinburgh round the male Nightingale ward and introduced him to his patients, one of whom had been operated on by Dick, but failed to recognise his surgeon. He was heard to say in a broad Norfolk accent: “Nice to meet the Duke, but who was that good-looking young man in a white coat walking with him?” Dick returned to Bart’s in 1958 as chief assistant to John Hosford, whom Dick greatly admired. He also worked with Sir Edward Tuckwell, whose rapidity as an operator was legendary. After two years he went to the North Middlesex Hospital under Basil Page, the urologist. Spending a year in Boston, Massachusetts, he worked as an assistant in surgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital under Francis Moore, professor of surgery at Harvard and chief surgeon at the Brigham. In 1963 he completed a Milton research fellowship in surgery at Harvard Medical School. In 1964 he was appointed as a consultant to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. There he developed a special interest in wound infection and made some useful contributions on the use of metronidazole. He retired from the NHS in 1989. In 1985 he started learning Spanish at the local adult education college in Luton, continuing to study the language until he was 80. He visited Spain many times and often went on cultural trips, which he thoroughly enjoyed. After his retirement he studied Spanish literature at Birkbeck College, and received an award from the Institute of Linguists for his command of the language. He married twice. His first wife was Aileen, an Australian he met on board ship. They had one son, Jonathan. After her death he married Jean née Moore, a medical secretary, by whom he had a son, James, and two daughters, Emily and Sarah. They also adopted the child of one of Jean’s friends. Although they became estranged, they remained good friends and Jean cared for him in his latter days, which were marred by a degree of dementia. He died on 30 December 2004. Dick Fiddian was an extremely affable man who was everyone’s friend, not because of a wish to be universally liked, but for his capacity to see the best in people. He was a self-effacing man, describing his contributions to the literature as “numerous, none of which were important”. Conversation with him was always a pleasure, as was listening to his after-dinner speeches which were interspersed with bon mots and limericks which probed the idiosyncrasies of the company, never with malice but always with a twinkle in his eye.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000056
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Fison, Lorimer George (1920 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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/372244372244
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Lorimer Fison was an innovative ophthalmic surgeon who introduced a revolutionary new procedure for the repair of retinal detachment from the United States. He was born on 14 July 1920 in Harrogate, the third son of William James Fison, a well-known ophthalmic surgeon, and Janet Sybil née Dutton, the daughter of a priest. He was educated at Parkfield School, Haywards Heath, and then Marlborough College. He then studied natural sciences at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and then went on to St Bartholomew’s Hospital. After qualifying, he joined the Navy during the war as a Surgeon Lieutenant. Following demobilisation, he became a resident surgical officer at Moorfield’s, despite having caught tuberculosis. He then became a senior registrar at St Thomas’s Hospital and later at Bart’s. In 1957 Fison went to the Schepens unit in Boston in the United States, after Sir Stuart Duke-Elder, the then doyen of British ophthalmology, suggested that fellows be despatched to learn the new techniques of retinal detachment surgery. There Fison learnt the procedure of scleral explantation, and was also impressed by the ophthalmic instruments then available in the US. Back in England, Fison faced some opposition when he attempted to introduce the new procedures he had been taught in the States, but was finally given beds at Moorfield’s annexe in Highgate. With the help of Charles Keeler, he modified the Schepens indirect ophthalmoscope, which was put into production and sold around the world. Fison was also the first to introduce the photocoagulator, the forerunner of the modern ophthalmic laser, which was developed by Meyer-Schwickerath in Germany. In 1962, after a brief appointment at the Royal Free Hospital, he was appointed as a consultant at Moorfield’s. He was held in great affection by his colleagues and juniors, who remember his warmth and generosity. Fison was President of the Faculty of Ophthalmologists from 1980 to 1983 and of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom from 1985 to 1987. He was an ardent supporter of the merging of these two organisations – they became the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in 1988. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was an examiner for the FRCS in ophthalmology, Chairman of the Court of Examiners in 1978 and a member of Council. He married Isabel née Perry in 1947 and they had one daughter, Sally, who qualified in medicine. On his retirement he moved to Sidmouth, where he continued his hobbies of woodworking and sailing. He died on 12 February 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000057
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dunstone, George Hargreaves (1925 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Hickey, Brian Brendan (1912 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Hickinbotham, Paul Frederick John (1917 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Rihan, Robert Stanley (1927 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-06-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372547372547
Occupation General surgeon
Details Robert Rihan was a consultant surgeon at Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield. He was born on 22 October 1927 in Birmingham, the son of Alexander Rihan, a general practitioner, and Ruby Lillian Floyd. He attended Edgbaston preparatory school and, during the war years, Rydal School, Colwyn Bay. In 1945 he gained a place at Birmingham Medical School and qualified in 1951. He was house surgeon to A L d’Abreu and then joined the RAMC, becoming an acting major and deputy assistant director of medical services to the 7th Armoured Division and, more importantly, also their cricket secretary. On demobilisation he returned to Birmingham to complete his surgical training, including a spell as a registrar at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He was appointed consultant surgeon at Good Hope Hospital, one of a team of three general surgeons. His particular interests were in vascular and paediatric surgery. Robert was a gifted technical surgeon, blessed with considerable insight and good judgement, and thus confident about when to operate and when to treat conservatively. He was extremely thorough and conscientious, always available to his junior staff, and he insisted on reviewing emergency and elective cases himself before management decisions were taken. He always liked to be involved, and sometimes found it difficult to suffer fools gladly, but he was greatly liked and respected by senior colleagues, as well as the juniors he trained, the nursing staff, and his patients. Robert was active in various aspects of hospital life, becoming chairman of the surgical division, where his tenure was marked by quiet, thoughtful and mature decisions. He retired from the NHS in 1990. Robert married Barbara Potts, a physiotherapist, in September 1957, and they had four daughters. There are eight grandchildren. Following his retirement he moved with Barbara to the Cotswolds. There he threw himself into the local social life, demonstrating his surgical skills by carving the Christmas turkey at the local history society dinner. Sadly his last years were marred by all the problems of cardiac and renal failure, although he bore his ill health with great fortitude. He died at home with his family on 19 February 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000361
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Travers, Eric Horsley (1910 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-06-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372548372548
Occupation General surgeon
Details Eric Travers was a consultant surgeon to Sedgefield and Stockton and Thornaby hospitals. He was born on 7 June 1910 in Brantingham, Yorkshire, where his father John (‘Jack’) Francis Travers was a solicitor. His mother was Beatrice Mary Horsley. The eldest of three, he and his two younger sisters (Mary and Rachael) grew up to enjoy riding and shooting. He was educated at Repton, where he was found to be a talented mathematician and woodworker, enjoying carpentry for the rest of his life. On leaving school he spent a few months in his father’s office, but found the work uncongenial. He told his father: ‘I never want to look at another damned deed again’. So he went to Edinburgh to study medicine, and qualified in 1936. He was house surgeon at Derby Royal Infirmary. He had joined the Territorial Army as a gunner, but found his medical work interfered with his training sessions and transferred to the RAMC. In 1939 he married Beryl Newby, and was about to take up the position of demonstrator in anatomy in Cambridge when the war broke out and he was posted to France, from which he was safely evacuated. He took the opportunity to sit and pass the FRCS. He was then posted to Singapore when news came of its surrender, and his ship was re-routed to the Middle East. There he found himself in a field hospital in Basra, where he practised his small arms skills by going wild fowling, and in the evenings became a fine bridge player. He ended the war as commanding officer of his field hospital. While at this posting a single dose of penicillin was received and he was asked which patient should be given it. He answered, the patient most in need. His staff remonstrated – this patient was an Italian prisoner of war. Travers repeated his orders. He was demobilised in 1945 and then worked as a registrar at the Westminster Hospital under Sir Stanford Cade until 1948, when he was appointed consultant surgeon to Sedgefield, and Stockton and Thornaby hospitals, their first non-GP specialist, retaining this appointment when the National Health Service was set up. He was particularly interested in abdominal surgery. From time to time he acted as medical officer to Sedgefield and Stockton racecourses. Outwardly shy, mild and well-mannered, in hospital he demanded the highest standards for his patients. Outside medicine, he learned to sail dinghies with his eldest daughter Jane and son John, and helped his other daughter, Mary, with her pony. He also bought a small farm. He retired at the age of 60 to a neglected Elizabethan cottage in Surrey, where he and Beryl transformed the interior and recreated the garden. He died after a prolonged illness on 2 September 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000362
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Walker-Brash, Robert Munro Thorburn (1920 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-06-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372549372549
Occupation General surgeon
Details Munro Walker-Brash was a consultant general surgeon at Orpington and Sevenoaks hospitals. He was born in London on 15 November 1920, the second son of John Walker-Brash, a general practitioner, and his wife Gloria Lilian née Parker. He was educated privately at Colet Court in Hammersmith and Cliveden Place School, Eaton Square, and then entered Westminster as a King’s scholar, remaining there from 1934 until 1939. He was a chorister for Royal events in Westminster Abbey, including the coronation of King George VI. From Westminster he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, and on to St Bartholomew’s for his clinical training in 1942, spending part of his time in Smithfield during the Blitz, and part at Hill End Hospital, a former mental hospital to which Bart’s students were evacuated. After qualifying, he was house surgeon to Sir James Paterson Ross and John Hosford, by whom he was greatly influenced. He did his National Service in the RAMC, rising to the rank of major, and returned to Bart’s to be junior registrar to Basil Hume. After six months at Great Ormond Street he returned to the surgical unit at Bart’s under Sir James Paterson Ross, and then went to Norwich as registrar to Charles Noon and Norman Townsley, and the Jenny Lind Hospital for Sick Children. He returned to Bart’s in 1954 as chief assistant to Rupert Corbett and Alec Badenoch, progressing after one year to senior registrar on the ‘Green’ firm. He was noted for his dexterity, clinical judgment and teaching ability. At this time senior registrars continued their training in Bart’s sector hospitals, in Munro’s case this was at Southend General Hospital, where he worked with Rodney Maingot, who was also at the Royal Free Hospital, and Donald Barlow, who also worked at the Luton and Dunstable and London Chest hospitals. In spite of spending so much time on the road, both were prolific writers and had thriving private practices. During this period Munro was much influenced by his namesake Andrew Munro, who later moved to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. Munro’s definitive consultant posts were at Orpington and Sevenoaks hospitals, from 1960 until his retirement in 1984. He used his extremely wide general surgical training and admitted that ‘he was overworked at two peripheral hospitals’. Surgical Tutor at these hospitals for five years from 1970, he said he wrote ‘nothing of importance’. Despite his sizeable frame, his main hobby was riding: he was a show-jumping judge and an early supporter and helper of Riding for the Disabled. He married Eva Frances Jacqueline Waite, a Bart’s nurse in 1945. They had two children, Angela, who became a personal assistant in the legal department at Scotland Yard, and Robert, who emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, to work as an insolvency accountant. Munro’s wife was diabetic and predeceased her husband, dying in 1985. Following her death, he was befriended by Pauline Smeed. Munro had a fall in May 2006 and died in hospital on 15 September 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000363
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Williams, Henry Thomas Gee (1925 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Beck, Alfred (1912 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372551372551
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Alfred Beck was a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon in Cardiff. He was born in Uhersky Brod, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), on 28 January 1912. His father, Ignaz, was a wholesale merchant and councillor, from a prominent family in the Jewish community which included rabbis and businessmen. His mother was Rose Fürst. Alfred qualified at King Charles’ University, Prague, in 1935 and, after six months as a house surgeon at Ruzomberok, he completed two and a half years in the Czechoslovakian Army, before becoming a surgical registrar in Benesov, near Prague. A year later the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia and Alfred secretly crossed the border into Poland, where he joined a volunteer unit. He first went to France and then to England, where he was accepted at St George’s. He then worked as a doctor at Colindale Hospital, and narrowly escaped death in a bombing raid. After the war he found that his parents, two brothers and several other relatives had been killed by the Germans in Aüschwitz. He specialised in orthopaedic surgery, was for many years a registrar at St Mary Abbott’s Hospital, and then at Cardiff, where for over 20 years he was consultant in charge of the accident unit at St David’s Hospital. After retirement from the NHS he joined an independent medical group in the City of London, where he continued to work until he was 80. He published on stress fractures, devised an instrument for extracting the femoral neck, and a way of measuring disuse atrophy. A man of exceptional patience and modesty, he was a keen gardener, specialising in cacti. He died on 24 October 2006, and is survived by his wife Martha, whom he married in 1953, and his son Richard. His daughter Linda predeceased him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000365
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bell, David Millar (1920 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Blumberg, Louis (1920 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Brock, Bevis Henry (1922 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Evans, Ivan Tom Gwenogfryn (1938 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25 2009-01-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372555372555
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Ivan Tom Gwenogfryn Evans, known to colleagues, friends and patients as ‘Og’, was a consultant surgeon in Newport, Gwent. He was born in London on 11 November 1938, in a house between Battersea Power Station and the Dogs Home. His parents Evan Evans and Margaret née Jones were Welsh and kept a family general store. Like many other children living in the heart of the capital at the time of the Blitz, the infant Og was evacuated to an aunt in west Wales and when time and circumstances permitted after the war he was joined by his parents, who returned permanently to Wales to live near Newcastle Emlyn in Cardiganshire. He was educated at the local Aberbanc Primary School and Llandysul Grammar School, and then won a place at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff in 1957, where for a time he trained with Cardiff City Football Club. He did house officer posts in Cardiff, where he married his childhood sweetheart, Marion, who was a teacher in Cardiff. He trained in general surgery before selection for a training post in ENT in Cardiff. His mentors in ENT were Hector and Alun Thomas, and he especially enjoyed the variety of surgical skills in this specialty, whether it was the exacting microsurgery of the middle ear or the use of the knife in the head and neck. Also in Cardiff was Stephen Richards who had worked with Hal Schucknecht in Boston. He persuaded Og to take up a fellowship in Detroit in 1974 with Ted McGee, one of the doyens of ear surgery at that time. His appointment was to the Providence Hospital, Southfield, Michigan. This proved to be a very fulfilling professional experience for Og and a happy year for Og, Marion and their young son, Andrew. After a year they returned to Cardiff and Og was appointed consultant surgeon in Gwent with appointments at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, Nevill Hall in Abergavenny, and Pontypool and District Hospital. At the Royal Gwent he established a first class otological service for the county of Gwent in collaboration with audiology colleagues Gavin Davies and Ann Thomas. Due to his wide training he was an all-round surgeon in his specialty and was as comfortable with delicate ear surgery as with the demands of major head and neck work. He was widely read and meticulously conscientious in his standards and care for patients, and he enjoyed teaching, so that he attracted trainees. He was appointed College surgical tutor for ENT in south Wales. His colleagues elected him chairman of the Gwent Medical Society and he served for several years with distinction as secretary to the Welsh Otolaryngological Society. He enjoyed family life with Marion, and especially their grandson Dylan, in their favourite location, Newport Pembrokeshire, where they had a second home. Og was passionately proud of his Welsh language and heritage. A practical man, he did all the do-it-yourself jobs around the house and, until the advent of electronics, serviced his cars himself. He had been a keen cricketer and continued to follow soccer. Og had a remarkable gift of communication with people and could speak as easily and kindly to a child as to an old person. He died in September 2006 from metastatic cancer of the pancreas that only revealed itself two months before his death.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000369
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Freebody, Douglas Francis (1911 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372556372556
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Douglas Freebody was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Kingston Hospital. He was born in Woolwich, London, on 19 April 1911, the son of a successful tailor, and attended the City of London School, before entering Guy’s Hospital Medical School, which he represented at hockey and boxing. After qualifying he filled a number of junior surgical posts around London, and in the early part of the war worked for Burns and Young at the major casualty hospital at Botley’s Park, so beginning an orthopaedic career. In 1946 service with the RAMC took him to Egypt and Palestine, where he ran the orthopaedic services at Fayid and Bir Yaacov respectively. On his release from the Army in 1948 Douglas was mentioned in despatches for distinguished service, and was soon appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Croydon General Hospital, East Surrey Hospital Redhill, and later the Kingston and Richmond Area Health Authority. There he concentrated his activities and made a major contribution to orthopaedic surgery, devising an anterior transperitoneal approach for fusion of the lower lumbar spine. This he demonstrated widely at home and abroad and was the subject of his contribution to the third edition of *Contemporary operative surgery* in 1979 and of an educational film awarded a silver medal by the BMA. He was a founder member of the International Society of the Lumbar Spine. Douglas Freebody was a dignified man with a great sense of humour, devoted to his family, his dogs and his garden, where he was an expert on orchids. He died from heart failure on 12 October 2005 at the age of 94, and is survived by his wife, Yvonne, a former physiotherapist at Middlesex Hospital whom he met in Egypt during the war, and their children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000370
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jonasson, Olga (1934 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372557372557
Occupation General surgeon
Details Olga Jonasson was professor of surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a pioneer in organ transplantation. Born in Peoria, Illinois, the daughter of a Swedish Lutheran pastor and a nurse, she was first attracted to medicine by following her father round on his hospital visits. After Lyman Trumbull Elementary School and North Park Academy, she attended Northwestern University as an undergraduate, and won honours for her MD from the University of Illinois, a tough medical school whose practice included the notorious Cook County Hospital. She did her residency under Warren Cole at the Illinois Research and Education Hospital at a time when the department was devoted to the hunt for cancer cells in the venous blood draining cancers, many of those being actually monocytes. Exceptionally tall and blonde, she stood out from her fellow residents for her fearless and outspoken criticism of her peers and her seniors. After her residency Olga did a fellowship in immunochemistry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, which was followed by a second fellowship in transplantation immunology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1969 she did the first renal transplant in Illinois. She was one of the first to realise the importance of HLA (human leukocyte antigen) matching, setting up a nationwide matching scheme. In 1967 she became chairman of the department of surgery at Ohio State University College of Medicine, the first woman in the United States to become head of a department of surgery. She served as director of education and surgical services at the American College of Surgery from 1993 to 2004. Her interests were not limited to transplantation: she studied inguinal hernia, pointed out that watchful waiting was appropriate in many cases, and carried out clinical trials comparing open versus laparoscopic repair. She was also a determined advocate of helmets for motorcycle riders. Despite having a formidable reputation as an ‘ice queen’, she was highly regarded by her peers, and went out of her way to encourage young women to take up careers in surgery, although she warned them not to marry or, if married, to get divorced. However, this did not stop her from being a sympathetic friend to them and their spouses. She was involved in the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, Chicago, raising huge sums of money to repair its fabric, and was an expert cook and a lover of opera. She was made an honorary FRCS in 1988. She died on 30 August 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000371
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Belcher, John Rashleigh (1917 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372558372558
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details John Rashleigh Belcher was a thoracic surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, London. Born in Liverpool on 11 January 1917, he was the ninth in a long line of doctors who originally hailed from Bandon in Cork. He was educated at Epsom and St Thomas’ Hospital, where he graduated at the age of 21, having asked for an early viva. At the outbreak of war St Thomas’ was evacuated to Farnham and there he met his wife, Jacqueline Phillips. It was a watershed time in medicine: on one side of the ward leeches were being applied and on the other an early sulphonamide drug (M&B 693) was being prescribed. He joined the RAFVR as soon as possible and was posted to Cottesmore. He became FRCS in 1942 and was posted to Canada. On his return he went to RAF Wroughton, where he gained huge experience from D-day casualties. After demobilisation, he returned to St Thomas’ as resident assistant surgeon, before becoming interested in thoracic surgery. He worked at the Brompton in 1947 and became senior registrar at the London Chest and Middlesex hospitals. In 1951 he was appointed to the North West Thames region as a thoracic surgeon, a post which included the London Chest Hospital and places as far afield as Arlesey, Pinewood and Harefield. He was appointed consultant thoracic surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital in 1955. He promoted lobectomy for lung cancer at a time when the conventional wisdom, endorsed by Tudor Edwards, was that nothing short of pneumonectomy was of any use, and he published on the treatment of emphysematous cysts. He performed over 1,000 closed mitral valvotomies, even as fourth operations, and reported on these. He was Hunterian lecturer in 1979. Unfortunately his reputation in this field was less widely acknowledged than his expertise in ‘lung volume reduction surgery’. He was a kind, supportive and tolerant boss who was always ready to praise. He was president of the Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in 1980. He travelled extensively with the British Council and set up cardiothoracic units abroad. A devoted family man, he had wide musical tastes, was a compulsive gardener and an accomplished artist and photographer. Jacqueline died in 2006 and he died on 12 January 2006, leaving a daughter and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000372
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Levy, Ivor Saul (1941 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2012-03-14
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/372434372434
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details Ivor Levy was a consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. He was born in Manchester on 29 June 1941 and educated in Manchester, at Pembroke College, Oxford, and at the London Hospital. After junior appointments, he held a research fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, USA, which led to his special interest in neuro-ophthalmology. He was appointed to the Royal London Hospital in 1973. He had a particular interest in collecting books, especially those of Sir Frederick Treves. In 2000 he developed a tremor, which was found to be caused by a communicating hydrocephalus, for which he underwent shunt surgery. He died at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, on 21 March 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000247
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Siegler, Gerald Joseph (1921 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2009-05-07
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/372436372436
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Gerald Joseph Siegler, or ‘Jo’ as he known to colleagues, was an ENT consultant in Liverpool. He was born in London on 3 January 1921, and studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He held junior posts in Huddersfield, Lancaster, Nuneaton and Birkenhead, before completing his National Service with the RAF. After passing his FRCS he specialised in ENT, becoming a registrar at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and then a senior registrar at Liverpool, where he was appointed consultant in 1958. He was past president of the North of England ENT Society and an honorary member of the Liverpool Medical Institute. After he retired in 1986 he continued to be busy, working for Walton jail until 1995. He died from the complications of myeloma on 4 October 2005, leaving a wife, Brenda, two daughters, Sarah and Pauline, and three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000249
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Yellowlees, Sir Henry (1919 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-21 2012-03-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372437372437
Occupation Chief Medical Officer
Details Sir Henry Yellowlees was Chief Medical Officer for England from 1973 to 1983. He was born on 16 April 1919 in Edinburgh, the son of Sir Henry Yellowlees, a psychiatrist, and Dorothy Davies, a cellist. He was educated at Stowe and University College, Oxford, but deferred his medical training to join the RAF, where he became a flying instructor. After the war he went up to Oxford to read medicine, going on to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical studies. After house appointments he became a resident medical officer at the Middlesex. His skilful handling of an epidemic among the staff drew him to the attention of Sir George Godber and before long Henry was involved in medical administration, first as medical officer at the South West and later the North West Regional Hospital Boards, and finally the Ministry of Health. There he became Deputy Chief Medical Officer in 1966 and finally Chief Medical Officer in 1973, despite having suffered a coronary thrombosis. During his time the NHS went through a series of massive and destructive reorganisations, wrought by Barbara Castle and her successors just at a time when important new developments were taking place in medicine and surgery. After he left the Department of Health he worked at the Ministry of Defence, restructuring the medical services of the Armed Forces. He married Gwyneth 'Sally' Comber in 1948. They had three children, Rosemary (a nurse), Lindy (a psychiatrist) and Ian (an anaesthetist and pain specialist). After his wife's death in 2001 he married Mary Porter. He died on 22 March 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000250
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First Title value, for Searching Glaser, Sholem (1912 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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/372438372438
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sholem Glaser was a general surgeon at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. Born on 12 May 1912 in Cape Town, the son of Hessel Glaser, a fruit-grower, and Sonia née Zuckerman, he was educated at the South African College School and the University of Cape Town, where he followed his cousin Solly Zuckerman as senior demonstrator of anatomy and won the Croll memorial scholarship. He was an enthusiastic climber, and indeed courted his wife Rose Nochimovitz on Table Mountain. They were married in 1934. He then entered the London Hospital for his clinical studies, where he won the Frederick Treves prize in clinical surgery and the Sutton prize in pathology, gained honours in his MB BS, and again demonstrated anatomy while he studied for the FRCS. At the outbreak of war he volunteered for the RAMC and was for a time a regimental medical officer in Edinburgh before being posted to Bath Military Hospital. He served as major with 8 Casualty Clearing Station in North Africa, where he was the first British surgeon ashore with the Allied landing. He was later at the landing in Salerno. Finally he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in command of a surgical division. His experience in Italy prompted a lifelong interest in the Italian language, which he continued to study in retirement. He travelled extensively in North America, visiting teaching centres, including the Mayo Clinic, before being appointed consultant surgeon to the Royal United Hospitals, Bath. There he set about organising postgraduate teaching for general practitioners and surgical trainees, offering the latter beer and sandwiches at home. He developed a special interest in urology, and was a highly respected member of BAUS. He retired in 1971. In addition to several surgical papers he published a biography of Caleb Hillier Parry and wrote several entries for the *Dictionary of National Biography*. His many hobbies included needlework, at which he was very skilled, fly-fishing, and medical history. In the sixties he took up fruit farming in Devon. Sholem was a delightful, amusing and stimulating companion. He died on 31 January 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000251
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Grimley, Ronald Patrick (1946 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22 2007-02-09
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/372439372439
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Ron Grimley was born in Birmingham on 21 February 1946 and was educated at grammar school in Small Health and Birmingham University. After junior posts, mainly at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, he was a lecturer on the surgical unit under Sir Geoffrey Slaney. He was appointed vascular and general surgeon to the Dudley Health Authority in 1983, where he developed a busy vascular and endocrine practice, as well as a special interest in melanoma of the lower limb. He published extensively and was a keen teacher of young surgeons. He was an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Intercollegiate Board, and a member of the Specialist Accreditation Committee in General Surgery and the first clinical sub-dean. He was a prime mover in the foundation of the undergraduate teaching centre which was opened and named after him on 14 March 2006. He died from a myocardial infarct on 26 September 2005. He was married to Penny and they had three children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000252
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Ford, Colin Gagen (1934 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2007-02-09
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/372245372245
Occupation General Practitioner
Details Colin Gagen Ford was a former general practitioner in Chislehurst, Kent. He was born in Merton Park on 11 December 1934, the son of Bertram Leonard Ford and Kathleen May née Gagen. He attended Rutlish School, but left at 16 after gaining his O levels. He joined Cable and Wireless, becoming a proficient morse operator, and whilst working there attended evening classes to gain the necessary A levels for entry to medical school. His studying was interrupted by his National Service: he served with the Royal Marines, winning the coveted green commando beret and serving in Cyprus. He went on to St Mary’s to study medicine, graduating in 1962. He played rugby for the second XV and rowed for the college. After qualifying, he was a house surgeon to Sir Arthur Porritt and H H G Eastcott at St Mary’s and was then a house physician at Paddington General Hospital. He then went into general practice, but later returned to hospital medicine and developed an interest in orthopaedics. However, he failed to gain a place on a training programme, being told he was “too old and too experienced”, although he did achieve his FRCS in 1973. After several locums, he returned to general practice. He married Ann McAra, a consultant anaesthetist, in 1969 and they had two sons and two daughters – William, Kate, Robert and Helen. He was interested in old cars, sailing and golf. He had a long battle with alcohol and finally retired in 1991 on medical grounds. He died from pancreatitis as a result of alcoholic liver disease on 29 March 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000058
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Fuller, Robert Charles (1914 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-22
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/372246372246
Occupation General surgeon
Details Robert Fuller was born in Acton, London, on 4 January 1916. His father, Charles, was a company director. His mother was Mildred Kate née Lambert, a housewife. Robert was educated at St Paul's from 1928 to 1934, and then went on to St Mary's Hospital to study medicine. After qualifying in 1939, with the surgery prize, and following a series of house appointments, he joined the RAF in 1941. He served in the UK, India and South East Asia, where he was involved in the Battle of Imphal, which saw the defeat of the Japanese attempt to invade India. After the war, he returned to specialise in surgery and did registrar jobs in Birmingham, Worcester and London, becoming resident surgical officer at St Mark's, where he developed a special interest in proctology. He was appointed consultant surgeon to Acton, Wembley and Hammersmith Hospitals, and was also visiting consultant to HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs, from 1977 to 1981. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Medical Society of London. He married Betty Elaine Maud née Jones, a practising barrister, in 1967. They retired to Herefordshire to grow apples for cider. His hobby was carpentry. He died on 9 May 2004, from peripheral vascular disease and diabetes.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000059
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Gatehouse, David (1944 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-22
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/372247372247
Occupation General surgeon
Details David Gatehouse was a consultant surgeon, first at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Consett, County Durham, and then at Hexham Hospital. He was born in York in 1944 and went on to study medicine at Birmingham University, qualifying in 1968. He held specialist posts in surgery in Birmingham, as a registrar at Selly Oak Hospital and then as a senior registrar on the surgical rotation. In 1980 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at Shotley Bridge. In 1996 he transferred to Hexham. The loss of sight in one eye did not prevent him working as a surgeon. He had a particular talent for endoscopic work, and was one of the first to establish endoscopic biliary and colonoscopy services, progressing later to laparoscopic surgery. He was secretary of the Northern Region Consultants and Specialists Committee, a member of the Central Consultants and Specialists Committee, a surgical tutor for the College and a member of the Court of Examiners. He was a keen Territorial and a keen gardener. He was married to Gwyn and they had three children. He died of a carcinoma of the oesophagus on 28 January 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000060
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Gayton, William Robertson (1912 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Williams, Thomas Meurig (1910 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2008-08-21 2010-02-04
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/372729372729
Occupation General surgeon
Details Thomas Williams was a consultant general surgeon at the West Suffolk General Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. He was born into a medical family in Canterbury, Kent, on 6 May 1910, the son of Moses Thomas Williams FRCS. Tom’s schooling was first at Sir Roger Harwood’s Grammar School, Sandwich, and then Rugby School, from which he entered Oriel College, Oxford, and gained a BA degree before going on to St Thomas’ Hospital for his clinical training. After qualifying, he became a casualty officer and later a house surgeon at St Thomas’, working with Philip Mitchiner and Oswald Lloyd Davies, both of whom influenced him greatly. Later he was a resident surgical officer to St Mark’s Hospital. He had the highest regard for Norman Tanner and visited him frequently, as did many aspiring gastric surgeons. During the Second World War he served in India with the RAMC, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. His wide general experience did not extend to vascular surgery and in later years at Bury St Edmunds he referred these cases to a newly appointed surgeon who had a wide experience in this field. Tom was a good golfer, and went abroad on regular skiing trips in his early days. He married a Miss Thomas in 1943: they had two daughters. He re-married and his second wife, Chrissie, cared for the two daughters and her own son. Retiring in 1975 to live first in Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds, he later moved to Winchester to be near his family. He died on 31 August 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000545
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Nisbet, Norman Walter (1909 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-08-21 2009-05-01
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/372730372730
Occupation General surgeon
Details Norman Walter Nisbet was a former director of research at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry. He was born in Edinburgh on 23 March 1909, the son of a science master. He first qualified as a dentist, but abandoned dentistry in favour of medicine. After completing his training in general surgery in Edinburgh and Birmingham, he began his orthopaedic career. In 1938 he was appointed as a house surgeon at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, where at the outbreak of the Second World War he became resident surgical officer. During the war years, the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt was virtually a military hospital. Nisbit was responsible for the surgical care and rehabilitation of many war casualties. One German airman crashed not far from the hospital. Norman treated his serious fractures by standard methods and his burns with ‘Tannifax’, which turned the burnt area black. When the airman saw the black area he was horrified, thinking that he had been deliberately painted black as a distinguishing mark - what the English do to their prisoners - according to German propaganda. He was only reassured by seeing a British soldier, similarly treated, peeling away the black tan on his own injury to reveal healthy skin underneath. Of the hundreds of war wounded Nisbet treated, the German patient was the only one who sent him a letter of thanks. During this time, he had an unrivalled opportunity of learning all aspects of orthopaedic and fracture surgery under the influence and guidance of Sir Harry Platt, Sir Reginald Watson-Jones and Sir Henry Osmond-Clarke, amongst others. He also worked closely with Dame Agnes Hunt, the founder of the hospital. Between 1946 and 1947 he served in the Royal Air Force as a senior orthopaedic consultant with the rank of wing commander, in charge of the orthopaedic unit at the RAF Hospital, Wroughton, Wiltshire. On demobilisation, he became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital, Coventry. He also held the posts of orthopaedic surgeon to the Paybody Orthopaedic Home and the Coleshill Orthopaedic Hospital for Children. Nisbit was in New Zealand from 1950 to 1962 as associate professor in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Otago and director of the orthopaedic and fracture department of the Dunedin Hospital. The University of Otago later created a personal chair of orthopaedic surgery for him, its first personal chair. He always had a keen interest in medical research. While he was in Dunedin, spurred on by the then professor of surgery, Sir Michael Woodruff, he began working on the biology of transplantation with special reference to immunology and genetics. He returned to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hosptial in 1964 as the first director of the purpose-built Charles Salt Research Centre. He continued his work in immunology and published extensively. He retired as director of research in 1983, at the age of 74. However, having received a personal MRC grant to further his work into the origins of osteoclasts, he stayed on for another three years. With his wife, Mary, he retired to the south coast of England. His passion had always been shooting. He maintained a gun in a shoot in Sussex until the age of 93. Thereafter he continued shooting clay pigeons. Mary, who had been in declining health for many years, died in 2005. They had been married for 60 years. Nisbet, having looked after Mary for many years, continued to live completely independently. He swam daily, shopped, cooked and cleaned for himself and carried on driving his car until, at the age of 95, his health slowly went down hill and he began to depend on others. He died on 25 September 2007 at the age of 98 and is survived by his daughter, Lesley, son-in-law St John and grandchildren, Katherine and Tom.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000546
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching O'Malley, Eoin (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-08-21
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/372731372731
Occupation Cardiac surgeon
Details Eoin O’Malley was a cardiac surgeon and a past president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was born on 5 April 1919 in Galway, where his father was professor of surgery. From Clongowes Wood College he went to medical school, at first in Galway and later at University College, Dublin, where he proved himself a formidable debater and rugby football player, and won prizes and distinctions in every subject. He completed house appointments in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and went on to specialise in surgery at Southend General Hospital and the Lahey Clinic in Boston. He was appointed to the consultant staff of the Mater Hospital as a general and cardiac surgeon in 1950 and became professor of surgery in 1958. At first an all round general surgeon, he was one of the first to specialise in cardiac surgery and succeeded in setting up a specialist unit, which was later named after him. As a teacher he was noted as a skilled and thoughtful lecturer and a sympathetic examiner. As a trainer of young surgeons he took care to see that his pupils expanded their vision by going abroad to other centres for clinical experience and research. Indeed, to encourage his colleagues to travel, he founded the Irish Surgical Travellers Club. Together with other Irish professors of surgery, Eoin organised a national surgical training programme, a planned rotation scheme, entry to which was to be by competitive examination. He soon became involved in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, was elected to its council in 1965 and became president in 1983. His presidency was marked by the celebration of the bicentenary of the college. His interests outside surgery included fishing, meteorology, literature, theatre, history and politics. Eoin married Una O’Higgins, a young solicitor, in 1952. Una was the daughter of the Irish national hero Kevin O’Higgins, the hard man of the liberation movement and first minister of justice in the new republic, who was assassinated when Una was only five months old. Later Una became a nationally celebrated poet, whose verse sang of peace and forgiveness. Una was a prime mover in the reconciliation movement and a founder of the Glencree Reconciliation Centre. They had six children, of whom Kevin has followed his father and grandfather into surgery. A man of great dignity, utterly without bombast or arrogance, Eoin was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and distinctions, including the honorary Fellowship of our College. Enid Taylor
Resource Identifier RCS: E000547
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Barton, Rex Penry Edward (1944 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-08-21
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/372732372732
Occupation Otolaryngologist ENT surgeon
Details Rex Barton was a former otolaryngologist, head and neck surgeon at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. He was born in Carmarthen, Wales, on 3 May 1944, the eldest son of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Cecil Barton of the Royal Sussex Regiment and Gwendolen Margaret Gladwys née Thomas, who qualified at the Royal Free Hospital and became a pathologist in Salisbury. Her father, David J Thomas, was formerly medical officer of health for Acton. Educated at the Cathedral School, Salisbury, Harrow School (where he received the Exeter prize for biology) and University College, London, Rex Barton qualified from University College Hospital Medical School, where he was both house surgeon and house physician. After senior house officer posts in Bristol, he elected to pursue a career in ENT and was subsequently appointed registrar and later senior registrar (with plastic surgery) to St Mary’s and the Royal Marsden hospitals, London. Here he was much influenced by Ian Robin and Anthony Richards. During this period he spent four months at the Victoria Hospital, Dichpalli, India, sponsored by the Medical Research Council and LEPRA, where he researched into the ENT manifestations of leprosy. This led to a number of landmark papers and a continued interest in the subject. Appointed consultant head and neck oncologist and ENT surgeon to the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Loughborough General hospitals, Rex Barton was instrumental in establishing a multidisciplinary head and neck oncology service. Sadly because of ill health he was obliged to retire early in 1994. Rex Barton had a firm Christian faith and always resolved to live accordingly. In 1969 he married Nicola Margaret St John Allen, a state registered nurse. They had three children, Thomas, Jennifer and Samuel. Rex Barton died on 18 June 2006. Neil Weir
Resource Identifier RCS: E000548
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Hankinson, John (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
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/372733372733
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details John Hankinson, known as ‘Hank’, was a consultant neurosurgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, and professor of neurosurgery at the University of Newcastle. He was born in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, on 10 March 1919, the son of Daniel Hankinson, a company director, and Anne née Kavanagh. He described himself as half-Irish, from Kilkenny, and half-English, from Cheshire. He was educated at Thornleigh College, Bolton, and entered the medical school of St Mary’s Hospital, London, in 1941. He edited the St Mary’s Hospital *Gazette* and, in 1945, was a member of the London University medical group which visited Belsen, an experience of which he later spoke little, though it affected him markedly. The group helped to care for the survivors, many of whom suffered from typhus, tuberculosis or other serious diseases. After qualifying in 1946, he held house appointments at St Mary’s, with Arthur Dickson Wright and John Goligher, the Seaman’s Hospital, Greenwich, the Middlesex Hospital, and Harold Wood Hospital. Dickson Wright, though a general surgeon, included neurosurgery in his wide practice and it was while working with him that Hankinson’s interest in this specialty developed. In 1951 he became a house surgeon to Wylie McKissock and Valentine Logue at the neurosurgical unit of St Georges’s Hospital at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital, Wimbledon. He progressed to registrar and senior registrar, interrupting this with a year in the USA, at the Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, with Luis Amador and as research assistant at the neuropsychiatric institute, University of Illinois, with Ralph Gerrard, returning as senior surgical registrar to Atkinson Morley’s Hospital in 1955. In 1954 he developed diabetes, requiring insulin for its management. McKissock encouraged him to continue in neurosurgery in spite of this, which he did, without difficulty. He spent 1956 and 1957 at the National Hospital, Queen Square. In September and October 1956 he was clinical assistant in Lund to Lars Leksell, an early exponent and developer of stereotaxic surgical technique. While at Queen Square he frequently met Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, who was carrying out research for his centenary lecture on Sir Victor Horsley, given at BMA House. In 1957 Hankinson was appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, and to the Regional Neurosurgical Centre. He came into contact with G F Rowbotham, who had set up neurosurgery in that city. He also held an academic post as senior lecturer in neurological surgery at the University of Newcastle. In 1972 he was appointed to a chair of neurosurgery, which he held until his retirement in 1984. Hankinson’s main interests were stereotaxic functional neurosurgery and the surgical treatment of syringomyelia, upon both of which he wrote a number of papers and chapters. He was secretary of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons from 1972 to 1977, president from 1980 to 1982 and, from 1977 to 1983, neurosurgical adviser to the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health and Social Security. Hankinson married Ruth Barnes, a theatre sister at St Mary’s, in 1948. There were two daughters of the marriage (Barbara and Elizabeth). His first wife died in 1982 and he married Nicole Andrews, a radiographer and later a managing director of a plastics engineering works. He was a keen yachtsman and also played the organ at the local church. Hankinson was a popular figure in neurosurgery. He had a droll sense of humour and was an amusing and entertaining conversationalist. He died suddenly on 9 March 2007. T T King
Resource Identifier RCS: E000549
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Brown, John Andrew Carron (1925 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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
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First Title value, for Searching Langstaff, Joseph (1778 - 1856)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Pitcairn, Sir James (1776 - 1859)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-02-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372637372637
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on July 18th, 1776, the eldest son of the Rev Robert Pitcairn, of Brasenose College, Oxford, Vicar of English Combe, Somerset, and Incumbent of Spring Chapel, London. The family originated in Pitcairn, Fifeshire, and to it belonged the two well-known physicians – William Pitcairn, MD (1711-1791), Physician and Treasurer to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and President of the College of Physicians; and his nephew, David Pitcairn, MD (1749-1800), his successor as Physician to St Bartholomew’s. James Pitcairn went to school in London, and then was a pupil of Sir Everard Home at St George’s Hospital at the same time as Benjamin Brodie. Having graduated MD at Edinburgh, he returned to become house surgeon at St George’s Hospital. He was thereupon selected by Sir Everard Home for special service at the request of the Commander-in-Chief, was gazetted at once a Staff Surgeon on Aug 30th, 1799, and was sent in 1814 to Holland, where he served to the end of the campaign, and then with the Russian Contingent at Guernsey. In 1800 he went to Ireland to the charge of the 56th Regiment, which was soon dispatched to the Mediterranean under Sir Charles Stewart, and joined the Army under Sir Ralph Abercrombie on the expedition to Egypt where he served to the close of the campaign. He returned to Dublin in 1802 in charge of the Recruiting Staff, and organized arrangements in view of the threatened invasion of England by Napoleon. From 1804-1815 he supervised the encampments formed at the Curragh and in the Connaught District of Ireland. In 1816 his services were transferred to Munster, and at Cork during thirty-one years he personally superintended the arrangements for foreign service and the embarkation. The position was full of difficulties and obstacles which his good sense and affable nature tended to lessen and remove. He was knighted by Lord Normandy in 1837 for professional services. In 1847 he succeeded Dr George Renny as Director-General of the Medical Department for Ireland until 1852, when he retired with the rank of Inspector of Hospitals. The Medical Officers of the Army presented him with a service of plate and an address. It was said of him that he discouraged criticism of the absent with such interruptions as: “Never let your mouth be opened unless for good; if you cannot speak to the credit of a man, keep it shut. This has been my rule through life and I have never had cause to regret it.” He died at 3 Haddington Road, Dublin, on Jan 12th, 1859.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000453
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Soden, John Smith (1780 - 1863)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-02-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372638372638
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Coventry on March 29th, 1780; was educated at King Edward’s Grammar School. He was then apprenticed to George Freer, of Birmingham, the author of *Aneurysm and some Diseases of the Arterial System* (1807), who evidently inspired his pupils with higher aims that the mere routine of practice, for Soden was Jacksonian Prizeman in 1810 with an essay on “The Bite of Rabid Animal”. Moreover, Joseph Hodgson (q.v.), a fellow pupil with Soden, President of the College in 1864, was the author in the following year (1811) of the Jacksonian Prize Essay on “Wounds and Diseases of the Arteries and Veins” – an elaborate piece of work. Having qualified in 1800, Soden entered the Army as a Hospital Mate on June 13th, 1800, became Assistant Surgeon in the 79th Highlanders three days later, served in Egypt, and resigned before April 16th, 1803. After returning to London he settled in practice at Bath, where he was appointed Surgeon to the United Hospitals, the Eye Infirmary, the Penitentiary, and the Lock Hospital. He thus took up a position as a leading practitioner in Bath, a successful operator and eye surgeon. He was an original member of the British Medical Association. He practised at 101 Sydney Place, Bath, and died in retirement on March 19th, 1863. His son, John Soden (q.v.), succeeded to his practice. He was ambidextrous in operating for cataract, sitting facing the patient, the patient also sitting; he made the lower incision by means of Baer’s triangular knife. Puncturing the cornea almost vertically, he watched for the jet of aqueous humour, then carried the knife across the anterior chamber without touching the iris. Soden made an admirable collection of the Portraits of Medical Men – Ancient and Modern, British and Foreign. It was presented after his death to the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society by his son John Soden, of Bath. The collection consists of four folio volumes containing 872 mounted medical portraits, with two additional volumes, the one of caricatures and newspaper cuttings, the other of autograph letters and signatures of medical men. The six volumes are preserved at the Royal Society of Medicine, where they are known as ‘The Soden Collection’. Publications:- “On Inguinal Aneurysm, Cured by Tying the External Iliac Artery.” – *Med-Chir. Trans.*, 1816, vii, 536. “Of Poisoning by Arsenic” – *London Med Rev*, 1811. *Address* at the Third Anniversary of the Bath District Branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, 1839, 8vo, Bath, 1839. *Address* at the Annual Meeting of the Bath and Bristol District Branch of the above, 1854.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000454
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wilson, Peter Ernest Heaton (1932 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372559372559
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Peter Wilson was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. He was born in Deptford, London, on 16 October 1932, the son of Joseph Henry Wilson, a housing administrative officer for Bermondsey Borough Council, and Sarah Heaton, a teacher of physical training whose father had owned a brewery. The first of his family to go into medicine, his younger sister also eventually became a doctor. He was educated at several schools, including Upholland Grammar School and Newcastle-under-Lyme High School, where he gained colours in hockey, cricket and rugby, before going on to St Thomas’ Hospital in 1950. After junior posts he did his National Service in the Royal Navy and then specialised in orthopaedics, becoming a registrar at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry and then a senior registrar at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Birmingham under Peter London and J H Hicks. He was appointed consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital in 1970. Peter was particularly interested in the treatment of multiple and major injuries and was a pioneer in the operative fixation of fractures. Having been chairman of the regional junior hospital staff committee from 1968 to 1970 and a member of the BMA junior group council (from 1969 to 1970), he went on to chair the regional senior hospital staff committee from 1970 onwards, and was medical director of the trust board. He was active in the St John Ambulance Brigade. He retired in 1994, and continued to play golf, cricket and cultivate his garden. He was married twice. In 1951 he married Sheila Patricia Hansen, who predeceased him. They had three children, a daughter (Sallie Anne) and two sons, Michael John, a solicitor, and David Ian, a plastic surgeon. In 2002 he married Anne Elizabeth Mary Stott née Binnie. Peter Wilson died on 19 November 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000373
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kindersley, Hugh Kenyon Molesworth, Second Baron Kindersley of West Hoathly (1899 - 1976)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Al-Sheikhli, Abdul Raazak Jasim (1936 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-07-25 2008-11-28
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372561372561
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Abdul Razaak Jasim Al-Sheikhli was an ENT consultant at the Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 20 November 1936 in Baghdad, the son of Jasim Al-Sheikhli, an Imam, and his wife, Sabria. He was educated at the Al-Risafa Intermediate School and Adhamiya Secondary School, in Baghdad, before going on to Baghdad Medical College. During his residency period at the Republic Teaching Hospital of Baghdad he witnessed and treated the victims of revolutions, and saw the body of the recently murdered president, General Kasim, and his body guards, lying in the mortuary. After doing his National Service as a lieutenant in the Iraqi Air Force, where he served in Basra, he went to England with a scholarship from the Iraqi Ministry of Health, to train in surgery. He was a senior house officer at Ipswich and Clare Hall, and was subsequently a registrar at Southampton Chest Hospital. In 1970 he returned to Iraq, as a general and thoracic surgeon in the Hilla district and Mirjan, Al-Shaab, Al-Tuwithw and Labourers hospitals. He returned to England in 1973 to specialise in ENT, becoming a senior house officer at Farnborough Hospital and registrar at Ipswich and the Royal Ear Hospital, where he was greatly helped by Bill Gibson. He was then a senior registrar at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for nearly two and a half years. In 1981 he was appointed ENT consultant at the Mayday Hospital. He published on talc granuloma of the vocal cords following intubation, pain in the ear, and the microbiology of the adenoids. He married Sheila née Page, a nurse, in 1968. They had two sons, Peter, an artist, and Stephen, a musician. He died on 4 February 2007 of acute myeloid leukaemia.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000375
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Buck, John Edward (1915 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-08-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372562372562
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details John Buck was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the Woolwich and Greenwich area. He was born in Hove, Sussex, on 30 October 1915, the son of Arthur Herbert Buck, a general surgeon, and Lilian Maude Bligh, a theatre sister who was a direct descendant of the captain of the Bounty. John was brought up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and was educated at St Michael’s School and Brentwood College. He then went to Edinburgh University to read medicine. There he won a blue for rowing, and swam and sailed for the university. He was springboard diving champion for Scotland in 1937 and 1938, and remained a keen sportsman for the rest of his life. After qualifying, he became house surgeon to the surgical outpatients at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, house physician to the Deaconess Hospital and then house surgeon to the orthopaedic department at the Royal Infirmary. He listed David Wilkie, John Fraser, Walter Mercer, Ian Smellie and Ritchie Russell among his memorable teachers. At the outbreak of the second world war he was house surgeon at the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. On completion of this appointment, he was commissioned into the RAMC, serving first in 180 Field Ambulance. In 1941 he was promoted to Captain and posted to the Military Hospital in Delhi. He then joined the 151/156 Parachute Regiment as its regimental medical officer, accompanying them to Egypt and later to Europe, where he was taken prisoner at Arnhem. Released in 1944, he returned to the UK, as a trainee surgeon at the Royal Herbert Hospital at Woolwich. Following demobilisation, he returned to the Royal Sussex Country Hospital, as a resident surgical officer, acquiring the Edinburgh FRCS in 1946. He later trained in orthopaedic surgery, at the Royal National Orthopaedic and Charing Cross hospitals. In 1951 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Woolwich, Greenwich and Deptford hospital group. He retired in 1984. John was a member of the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Association of Sports Medicine, and was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. He had a special interest in sports injuries and in the lumbar spine, developing an original operation (Buck’s fusion) for spondylolysis and published several papers on these topics. He was surgical adviser to Charlton Athletic Football Club for many years. He was a life member of the United Hospitals Sailing Club and a member of the Bexley Sailing Club, only giving up at the age of 83. He remained a parachutist and skydiver until the age of 64. He married his former ward sister, Dorothy Maud Kench, in 1995. He died on 30 March 2006, aged 90.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000376
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Evans, Ieuan Lynn (1927 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26 2014-06-18
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/372458372458
Occupation General surgeon
Details Lynn Evans was a consultant surgeon to the Lewisham groups of hospitals in London. He was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, on 15 July 1927, the son of the Rev. Thomas John Evans and Jenny Lloyd Williams, daughter of a newspaper editor and publisher. His brother, Thomas Arwyn Evans, is also a surgeon and a Fellow of the College. Lynn was educated at Bradford Grammar School on a Nuttall scholarship, and then went on to Haverfordwest Grammar School. He studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital, where he won a prize for pathology, and, on qualifying, became house surgeon to Dickson Wright and John Goligher. He was then house surgeon to Seddon, Jackson Burrows and David Trevor at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Lynn Evans did his National Service in the RAMC, where he was new growth registrar at Millbank, a post which brought him into contact with Sir Stanford Cade. After National Service he returned to St Mary's as a senior registrar, spending a Fulbright year as a research fellow at Baylor University, Texas, under Michael De Bakey. On his return he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Lewisham group of hospitals and honorary tutor in surgery to Guy's Hospital. He practised as a general surgeon with a special interest in vascular surgery, at a time when this specialty was beginning to develop. He married in 1956 and had a son and daughter. His hobbies included skiing, book collecting and music. He died on 27 June 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000271
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Chakrabarti, Ramakanta (1945 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372459372459
Occupation General surgeon
Details Ramakanta Chakrabarti was a respected surgeon in Calcutta. He was born in Calcutta on 1 October 1945, the son of Rajchandra and Kadambini Chakrabarti. He studied medicine at Calcutta National Medical College, where he subsequently held intern and house surgeon posts. In 1973 he was appointed as a senior house surgeon in general surgery and urology at the Rama Krishna Mission, Seva Prathishthan. He then became a senior surgical resident and postgraduate student at the Willingdon Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, where he was awarded a masters degree in surgery with a thesis on emergency prostatectomy in clinically benign enlargement of the prostate. He was subsequently surgeon to the Lalbag Hospital in Murshidabad. He then went to the UK for further surgical training. He was a senior house officer in the trauma and accident department at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City, and then senior house officer in orthopaedics at Oldham Royal Infirmary. He then held appointments at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, in urology and transplantation, and at Hull Royal Infirmary in orthopaedics. During this period he passed his FRCS from the London and Glasgow Colleges. He was then a registrar at Withybush General Hospital, Haverfordwest, under David Bird, where he further developed his interest in vascular and urological surgery. In 1986 he returned to Calcutta as a visiting general surgeon to the Dum Dum Municipal Hospital, where he became an outstanding figure, keeping up-to-date with the latest developments in endoscopic surgery by attending seminars and meetings, and becoming a popular member of the Dum Dum branch of the Indian Medical Association. He was married to Maitreyee, a teacher, and they had one daughter, Madhumanti, who is studying at Queen Mary College, London. He died on 3 August 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000272
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, John Douglas Chalmers (1924 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372460372460
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details John Douglas Chalmers Anderson, known as ‘Jock’, was an ophthalmologist who spent much of his career working in Afghanistan. He was born in Redbourne, Lincolnshire, on 21 August 1924, the second of three sons of William Larmour Anderson, a general practitioner, and Eileen Pearl née Chambers. He was educated at Bedford School, where he won the Tanner prize in science, and then went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, on a state bursary. After a year his studies were interrupted by the war and he joined the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, where he was a technical assistant, working on magnetrons. During the war he also served in the Home Guard and found time to obtain a BSc and a certificate of proficiency in radiophysics from London University. He returned to Cambridge in 1947 to complete his preclinical studies, and then went on to Middlesex Hospital, where he won the Mrs Charles Davis prize in surgery. After qualifying he completed house jobs at Bedford General Hospital and, after a year as a trainee assistant in general practice, returned as a demonstrator in anatomy at Cambridge. He was then an orthopaedic registrar at Bedford General Hospital. Influenced by his deeply held Christian beliefs, he accepted an invitation to work as a general surgeon at the Church Mission Society in Quetta, Pakistan. He was later an ophthalmic registrar at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. In 1959 he returned to the UK, as an ophthalmic registrar at Northampton General Hospital and completed a course in London for the diploma in ophthalmology. He also raised funds for Afghanistan, returning there in 1961 to set up a moveable ‘caravan hospital’, taking general medical, surgical and ophthalmic services to remote desert communities. He returned to the UK as a clinical assistant in ophthalmology at Southampton Eye Hospital to study for the final FRCS. In 1967, having gained his FRCS, he was appointed consultant ophthalmologist with the National Organisation for Ophthalmic Rehabilitation in Kabul, establishing a 100 bed eye hospital and teaching centre there, from which subsidiary outpost treatment camps were organised. His centre survived the invasion by the Russians and the enmity of the Taliban, with only occasional interruptions. In 1973 he was appointed associate director (West Asia) of the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship, which involved two tours of three months every year in west Asia, taking him to Kunri, on the edge of the Sind Desert. In 1978 he returned to Southampton as a lecturer in ophthalmology, where he remained until 1980, when he returned to Kabul. Civil unrest meant he had to return to the UK earlier than expected. By now a world expert on trachoma, he joined the newly formed department of preventive ophthalmology at Moorfields and was appointed OBE in 1981. He carried out studies on the prevention of blindness in Zanzibar and the Sudan, and in 1984 was made an honorary consultant at Moorfields. He retired in 1988 after developing a tumour of the spinal cord. After several operations he became paraplegic. He married Gwendoline Freda Smith (‘Gwendy’), a Middlesex Hospital nurse, on 25 July 1953. They had two daughters (Ruth and Jean) and a son (Christopher). He died on 16 June 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000273
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bradbury, Sir Eric Blackburn (1911 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26 2009-01-09
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/372461372461
Occupation General surgeon
Details Surgeon Vice Admiral Eric Blackburn Bradbury RN was the medical director general of the Royal Naval Medical Service from 1969 to 1972, a period when many changes were being made in the services. He was born on 2 March 1911, the son of A B Bradbury of Maze, County Antrim. His education was at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute and Queen’s University, Belfast. After qualifying in 1934, he decided on a career with the Royal Navy and was commissioned as a Surgeon Lieutenant. After basic training, he was soon at sea and from 1935 to 1936 served in HMS *Barham*, *Endeavour* and *Cumberland*. Essential hospital service was spent at the RN hospitals in Haslar, Chatham, Plymouth and Malta. His wartime sea service was spent in HMS *Charybdis* and HM Hospital Ship *Oxfordshire*. Promotion to flag rank arrived in 1966 when he became a Surgeon Rear Admiral and was appointed medical officer in charge of Haslar Hospital, the senior teaching hospital of the Royal Navy. He also became the command medical officer of Portsmouth and an honorary physician to HM the Queen. In 1968 he became a Companion of the Bath. He was soon selected as the medical director of the Royal Naval Medical Services and was appointed in 1969, serving until 1972. He was promoted Surgeon Vice Admiral in 1971 and appointed Knight Commander of the British Empire. In 1972 our College conferred the fellowship on him. In 1939 he married Elizabeth Constance Austin, daughter of J G Austin of Armagh. They had three daughters – Ann, Elizabeth and Valerie. After retirement he was chairman of the Tunbridge Wells DHA from 1981 to 1984, during which time advances were made in the accident and emergency services. He died on 6 January 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000274
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Calvert, James Murray (1924 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26
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/372462372462
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details James Calvert, neurosurgeon, was born at Mount Bute, near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, where his parents owned a sheep farm. He was educated first at the local state school and then at Ballarat Grammar School. On leaving school, he worked briefly for the Commercial Bank of Australia, before enlisting at the age of 18 in April 1943 in the Australian Army. After initial training in South Australia he was sent to the 2/8th Australian Field Regiment, which had recently returned to Australia after taking part in the Battle of El Alamein. The regiment was now training for the invasion of Sarawak and Brunei in Borneo and sailed from Townsville in May 1945, initially to Morotai and then for Brunei, where it landed on 10 June. Though there was little resistance initially, an ambush of a patrol in which Calvert was taking part resulted in the death of three of his immediate companions. The Japanese surrender occurred in August 1945 and Calvert was discharged in September 1946. He then spent a year at a coaching college, obtaining the necessary exams to enter the medical school at the University of Melbourne. To accommodate the influx of ex-serviceman the University had set up a branch at a former RAAF base in Mildura, in the north west of Victoria, and there Calvert entered the first year of the course. For later years he was resident at Queen’s College, Melbourne University, where he rowed in the first eight, played football and took part in athletics. His clinical studies were done at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where after qualifying he did his house jobs. He then became a surgical registrar there, and later at the Western General Hospital, Footscray. In 1959 he obtained the FRACS, went to England, passed the FRCS at the first attempt, without doing a course, which he could not afford, and entered neurosurgical training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham under Brodie Hughes. He returned to Melbourne in 1962, working initially at the neurosurgical department of the Alfred Hospital as an honorary (unpaid) assistant neurosurgeon until 1969. During this time he did GP locums at the weekend to make ends meet. In 1967 he took up the post of neurosurgeon to the Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne, and there he worked for the next 20 years as senior neurosurgeon. He also held an appointment to the Repatriation Hospital, close to the Austin, which dealt with ex-servicemen, and at the Peter McCallum Clinic, the Victorian Cancer Centre. He retired from the Austin in 1987 and from the Repatriation Hospital two years later, though continuing to do medico-legal work. Calvert was a person of quiet and retiring demeanour who worked long hours and was much liked by his patients. He was an active member of the Neurosurgical Society of Australia, being treasurer for some years and president from 1980 to 1981. He was also closely associated with the Returned Services League, the Australian ex-servicemen's association and was vice-president of his regiment. In 1956 he married Marnie Fone. They had four daughters and a son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000275
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Coakley, Patrick Kevin (1928 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26
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/372463372463
Occupation General surgeon
Details Patrick Kevin Coakley was born on 19 December 1928 at Bantry, County Cork, Eire. He attended Blackrock College, Dublin, and studied medicine at the University of Cork, qualifying in 1952. After the surgical rotation he passed the FRCS in Ireland. In 1955 he was appointed to a short service commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was quickly promoted to Captain. After his basic military training he was posted to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital (QAMH) as a junior specialist in surgery, the first of many postings. Later in the year he moved to the British Military Hospital Lagos, where he developed an excellent relationship with the local Nigerian surgeons. On his return to UK in 1957 he served for a short period at the British Military Hospital Chester, before moving to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith, to work with Ian Aird on a sabbatical year as an honorary registrar. While he was there he passed the FRCS England. After this he was made a senior specialist in surgery and then moved to the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot. Whilst there he was graded as consultant in surgery by the Armed Services Consultant Approval Board of our College and then posted to the British Military Hospital Hong Kong. Here he established good contacts with G B Ong and was soon involved in teaching. His next appointment in 1965 to the British Military Hospital Hanover, Germany, again resulted in a good liaison, with the Medizin Hochschule at Hanover. His teaching ability was now recognised by his appointment as assistant professor of military surgery at the Royal Army Medical College and QAMH Millbank. The Army oncology unit worked closely with the service at the Westminster Hospital and required a surgeon with special skills, and these he had. Another period of postgraduate training was spent in vascular surgery at St Mary’s Hospital. In 1972 he moved to the Cambridge Military Hospital, where large numbers of casualties of the Parachute Regiment from Northern Ireland were being treated. His excellent service here was recognised by the award of the Mitchiner medal from our College and the Royal Army Medical College, and promotion to Colonel. In 1978 he was posted again to Hanover and he renewed his connections with the University. During this time he volunteered to serve with the field surgical team in Belfast, for which he was awarded the General Service medal with NI clasp. Shortly after his return to Hanover he was appointed an officer of the Order of St John in recognition of his work with battle casualties and the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) task in war. In 1982 he was promoted to Brigadier and appointed command consultant in surgery at HQ BAOR, where he became responsible for surgeons and surgery in NATO. Promotion to Major General followed in 1986, when he was appointed director of army surgery, consultant to the Army and honorary surgeon to HM the Queen. He retired in 1988 to Fleet, Hampshire, where he continued playing golf at the Army Golf Club and freshwater fishing in Ireland. His house repair skills were much in demand. On the 18 January 2004 he died from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was a happy family man and left a wife Janet and children Janet, Fiona and Brendan. He son John predeceased him. He had five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000276
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Coghlan, Brian (1962 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Corry, Martin (1939 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-10-26 2015-09-14
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/372465372465
Occupation General surgeon
Details Martin Corry was born on 23 May 1937 in Oxford, the son of D C Corry, a distinguished surgeon in that city and a Fellow of the College. It seems to have been assumed from early on that he would follow his father's profession and, after schooling at the Dragon in Oxford and at Rugby, he went up to Queen's College, Oxford, to read medicine. Going on to the University College Hospital in London for his clinical training, he qualified MRCS in 1964, graduating BM in the following year. After a number of junior hospital posts in and around London, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, St Mary's Hospital and Stoke Mandeville, he became a surgical registrar at Arrowe Park Hospital in the Wirrall and later a research associate at St Thomas's Hospital. He gained his FRCS, but evidently found little enthusiasm for a fully committed surgical career. He assisted in his father's private practice for a time and took a series of locum posts but held no long-term appointment. Sailing was his hobby, and he kept his boat on the Fal. After his parents' death he continued to live alone in the family home and his health began to suffer with poorly controlled diabetes. Vascular complications and an infection led to leg amputation and he was admitted to a care home. He died after a long illness on 27 September 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000278
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Henson, Philip (1914 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Nevill, Gerald Edward (1915 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-09
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/372467372467
Occupation General surgeon
Details Gerald Nevill was a consultant surgeon in Kenya. He was born on 22 December 1915 in Nurney, County Carlow, Ireland, the son of Alexander Colles Nevill, Archdeacon of the Church of Ireland, and Rosettah Fitzgerald, a teacher of modern languages and one of the first women to graduate from the University of Dublin. He was educated at Kilkenny College, where he gained a scholarship to Campbell College, Belfast. He subsequently won the McNeil medal for mathematics and played rugby for his school. He won an entrance sizarship to Dublin University, won first class honours in all his examinations, came first in the final examinations, was awarded the Hudson medal and scholarship, and played rugby for the university. After qualifying, he was house surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, Salford Royal Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brighton. From 1940 to 1944 he served with the East African Forces. He went to London to do the Guy’s FRCS course and, having passed the FRCS, returned to Kenya as the successor to Roland Burkitt in Nairobi. He was appointed honorary consultant surgeon to the Native Civil Hospital, later the King George VI Hospital, and subsequently the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. He held honorary lecturer appointments at the Makerere University Hospital, Kampala, and the University of Nairobi Medical School, and was on the organising committee of the new medical school. He published many articles on general surgical topics in the *East African Medical Journal* and was a foundation member and later president of the Association of Surgeons of East Africa. Gerald Nevill married twice. His first wife was Hilda Francis Lurring, a school teacher, by whom he had three sons, one of whom became a doctor. His second marriage was to Mary Evelyn Furnivall née Brown. He continued on the rugby field for many years as a referee and was chairman of the Kenya Referees Society from 1965 to 1980. He was a keen fisherman and freemason. He died on 23 January 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000280
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Moshakis, Vidianos (1946 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Wright, John Kenneth (1918 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372469372469
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Kenneth Wright was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Fylde. He was born on 8 May 1918 in Haslingden, Lancashire, the son of Thomas Smethurst Wright, a pharmacist, and Ellen Bleazard, a schoolteacher. He was educated at Haslingden Grammar School, proceeding to Manchester University, where he graduated BSc in 1939 and in 1942 qualified with the conjoint diploma and MB with the clinical surgery prize. After house appointments at Manchester Royal Infirmary he joined the RAF in 1943, serving in India and Burma, and for a time was medical officer to the famous ‘Dam Buster’ squadron. He returned to Manchester in 1946, undertaking orthopaedic training with Sir Harry Platt and Sir John Charnley, becoming a lecturer in orthopaedics before being appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Fylde in 1956. He retired in 1978. He was involved with Sir John Charnley in the early development of the eponymous hip replacement and was himself an innovator of both orthopaedic and non-orthopaedic devices, including a patented ‘fish lure’. He died on 19 March 2003 and is survived by his wife Vicky, whom he married in 1946, and their two children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000282
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wilson, James Noël Chalmers Barclay (1919 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-09 2007-03-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372470372470
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details James Noël Chalmers Barclay Wilson, known as ‘Ginger’, was an orthopaedic surgeon. He was born on Christmas Day 1919 in Coventry, the son of Alexander Wilson, a schoolmaster, and Isobel Barbara née Fairweather, many of whose relatives were general practitioners. His parents later moved to Kenilworth, where a great friend of the family was W E Bennett, a founder member and the first treasurer of the British Orthopaedic Association. Bennett may have influenced Wilson’s later choice of specialty. Wilson was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, where he began to study classics, but switched to science, much to the disgust of his headmaster, and won the Newsome memorial gold medal for physics and a prize for shooting. He studied medicine at Birmingham University, where he passed the primary as an undergraduate, won the Peter Thompson prize for anatomy, as well as the senior surgical and Arthur Foxwell prizes, and qualified with honours. In 1939 he was called up as an emergency dresser and lived in the General Hospital, Birmingham, until January 1940. He was one of the first students to enter Coventry after the notorious raid of 14 November 1940. This was followed a few days later by a massive air raid on Birmingham, when the hospital took in over 240 patients in one night. He qualified in 1943. After six months as a house surgeon at Birmingham General Hospital (during which time he won the Heaton award for being the best resident) he joined the RAMC. There he served as regimental medical officer, qualified as a parachutist, and was attached to the 9th Armoured Division, the 11th Armoured Division and the First Airborne Division, with whom he landed at Arromanches shortly after D-Day. In April 1945 he was recalled to the 1st Airborne to prepare for the attack on Denmark and Norway. He flew in on 9 May in a Stirling bomber, landing at Gardermoen. He remained in Norway until late August, returning in time to marry Pat McCullough, a nurse he had met in Birmingham, on 3 September, celebrating with champagne liberated from a German cache in Norway. After the war he returned as supernumerary registrar to Birmingham and, after passing the FRCS, spent a year at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital as an orthopaedic registrar, followed by three years at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, where he was much influenced by Sir Reginald Watson-Jones, Sir Henry Osmond Clarke and A M Henry. He earned his ChM degree for a thesis on supracondylar fractures of the elbow, written at Oswestry. In 1952 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, but after three years moved to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital London to set up the accident service at Stanmore, where he was on call three nights a week and alternate weekends. He was also consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square. His orthopaedic interests were at first general, and he helped to develop the Stanmore total hip replacement, along with John Scales and was the first to put one of them in. Later the same team developed the method for replacement of the upper femur and hip for bone tumour. He devised his own osteotomy for the treatment of hallux valgus in adolescents, and set up the RNOH bone tumour registry, which he directed until his retirement. He established the London Bone Tumour Registry. He described a new sign in the early diagnosis of osteochondritis dissecans of the knee, which became known in the USA as ‘Wilson’s sign’, and described two new conditions - ‘Winkle-Pickers’ disease’ and ‘the Battered Buttock’. After retirement he devoted his energies to developing orthopaedic services throughout the third world, travelling to Addis Ababa (where he was made professor of orthopaedics in 1989), Nigeria, Ghana, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. He revised and edited the fifth and sixth editions of Watson-Jones’s textbook on *Fractures and joint injuries* and published more than 60 papers in orthopaedic journals. He was founder member and president of the World Orthopaedic Concern, president of the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine, an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a member of the editorial board of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery*. In the College he was the Watson-Jones lecturer in 1988, and Jackson Burrows medallist in 1991. He was appointed OBE in 1995 for services to orthopaedics worldwide. Among his hobbies he included his vintage Bentley, occasional golf, and making things out of rubbish. He died suddenly on 2 March 2006, leaving his wife (who died two weeks later), two daughters (Sheila Barbara and Patricia Elizabeth Jane), two sons (Michael Alexander Lyall and Richard Noël) and three grandchildren (Sam, Rosie and Alice).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000283
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Copeland, Thomas (1781 - 1855)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2013-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372576372576
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in May, 1781, the son of the Rev William Copeland, Curate of Byfield, Northants. He studied under Mr Denham at Chigwell in Essex, and under Edward Ford, his maternal uncle, and he attended medical classes at Great Windmill Street and at St Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1804 he was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the 1st Foot Guards, with which regiment he embarked for Spain under Sir John Moore, and was present at the Battle of Corunna in 1809. He resigned 29th June, 1809, settled in his uncle's resident at 4 Golden Square, and was appointed Surgeon to the Westminster General Dispensary. He attained distinction in his profession, particularly in the field of rectal surgery. He was elected FRS in 1834, Hon Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1843, and Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria in 1837. He died of an attack of jaundice at Brighton on Nov 19th, 1855, and his wife died on Dec 5th of the same year. He left £180,000, bequeathing £5000 both to the Asylum for Poor Orphans of the Clergy and to the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000392
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Callaway, Thomas (1791 - 1848)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Babington, George Gisborne (1795 - 1856)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2016-01-29
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372580372580
Occupation General surgeon
Details Fourth son of T Babington, MP, of Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, who was brother-in-law of Zachary Macaulay, father of the historian, Thomas Babington Macaulay. Babington was attached to St George's Hospital, where he was Assistant Surgeon in 1829-1830, and Surgeon from 1830-1843. He was also at one time Surgeon to the London Lock Hospital. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was a Member of the Council from 1836-1845, and in 1842 delivered the Hunterian Oration. In 1817 [1] he married Sarah Anne, daughter of John Pearson, of Golden Square. He died at his house, 13 Queen's Gardens, Hyde Park, on Jan 1st, 1856. Babington was eminent as a surgeon, and made some important contributions to medical literature on the subject of syphilitic diseases. Publications:- "Cases Illustrative of the Different Forms of Phagedenic Ulcer." - London Med. and Physical Jour., 1826, lvi, 204. "Observations on Sloughing Sores." - Ibid., 1827, Iviii, 285. Hunterian Oration, 8vo, London, 1842. Several contributions in the Lancet and Med.-Chir. Rev. Was one of the editors of John Hunter, more especially the Treatise on Venereal Disease in Palmer's edition of the works, 1837, ii. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] '1817' is deleted and '18.9.1816' added]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000396
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Liston, Robert (1794 - 1847)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Morgan, John (1797 - 1847)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Pennington, Robert Rainey (1766 - 1849)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372583372583
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied under Percivall Pott at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and Pott was one of his eight examiners for Membership of the Corporation. He practised in Lamb's Conduit Street, and was President of the National Institute of Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery. For the last two years he practised in Portman Square, where he died on March 8th, 1849. The following by J F C appeared in the *Medical Times and Gazette*, 1869, i, 361;- “SOMETHING ABOUT ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL “The late Mr Pennington, who was a fellow-student at St. Bartholomew's with Mr Abernethy, related to me the following anecdote in the course of a conversation at a very advanced period of his life. He and Abernethy were dressers at the same time to the celebrated Percivall Pott, and each claimed precedence. Pennington was certain that he was entitled to be first, but for some time, in order to avoid a quarrel, gave way to the ‘pretension’ of Abernethy. On one occasion, however, ‘Johnny’ carried his presumption a little too far. Pott was crossing the quadrangle of the Hospital, followed by the students. He was giving a kind of ‘running clinique’ on a case in which Pennington was deeply interested, and, anxious to hear all that was said, he stuck close to the teacher. Abernethy came up and absolutely elbowed me out of my position. I then found it was time to put a stop to his impertinence, particularly as the insult was given in the presence of so many of our fellows. I took no notice of it at the moment, though the circumstance did not escape the observation of Mr Pott. Immediately on the conclusion of “the round”, I made up my mind to act, and accordingly, in the presence of a number of students, I addressed Abernethy: “Jack, this won't do; I have given way to you too long, and for the future you must be content to play second fiddle.” Abernethy began to bluster, and said, “I'll be d—d if I do!” At that time disputes of the kind were settled in a summary way, and I immediately prepared to assert my right by an appeal to the fist. The place of combat was in the corner of the ground which is near to the anatomical theatre, and thither we repaired, followed by our anxious and admiring confrères. I took off my coat and prepared for action. Jack did not follow suit, and began, like Bob Acres, to show unmistakable symptoms of not coming to the scratch. In fact, he declined the ordeal of battle, and I was for the future first. We were closely associated for nearly fifty years afterwards, but we never had an angry word. Dining with him some forty years after in Bedford Row, the old quarrel between us accidentally cropped up. “Well,” said Abernethy, “the truth of the case was this – the moment I saw you uncover your biceps, I was certain I should be thrashed, and so, my boy, I surrendered at discretion.”’ “Pennington was a great physicker, and has often been called the originator of ‘homeopathy’. However this may be, he was in the habit of ordering three, four, or more draughts a day, to be ‘continued’ until further orders. These repetitions amounted, on an average, to one hundred a day, and his dispensary in Keppel Street, behind his house in Montagu Place, was a regular manufactory of physic. The boys who ‘took out the medicine’ were furnished with a string and hook, and the parcel was let down into the area by this simple mode. When orders were given by the patient that no more medicine was required, the fact was duly announced in a book kept for the purpose. ‘Ah,’ said Pennington, ‘I see I must change the medicine; I will call to-morrow.’ He did so, changed the colour of the dose, and the repetition was ordered for three weeks. In those days this was regarded as orthodox; but chiefly in respect to the ‘tip-top apothecary’. But then Pennington attended eleven out of the twelve judges, and could do pretty much as he liked. In proof of this I may mention a circumstance which was related to me by a gentleman who at one time was one of his dispensing assistants in Keppel Street. This gentleman some years since retired from general practice on account of ill health, and is now deservedly high in the profession as a dentist. “The late Lord Wynford, then Serjeant Best, was subject to severe attacks of the gout. The serjeant was irritable, and Mrs Best anxious and nervous. When she wished to see Pennington about her husband, she used to lie in wait for him in Keppel Street, and follow him into his dispensing establishment. Here she would stay with wonderful patience until he had finished his entries. On one occasion, says my informant, Mrs Best looked up imploringly to ‘the great man’. ‘The serjeant is very bad,’ said his wife, ‘in great pain.’ ‘Well,’ said Pennington, ‘what am I to do? I saw him yesterday; let him go on with his medicine.’ ‘But do tell me when you will kindly see him again.’ ‘Well,’ said he, ‘I will tell you to a minute. I will see him this day six weeks at 25 minutes to 12.’ But Pennington, however much he enjoyed a joke, did not carry this one out. He was at Best's house the next morning before breakfast. “Pennington boasted that he had never worn a great-coat in his life; nay, in the coldest weather you might see him in his pumps and silk stockings, for to the last he was proud of his ‘leg’. ‘Ah,’ said he to me on one occasion, ‘I am not such a fool as to neglect my creature comforts. I am clothed in flannel underneath, and have a pair of lamb's-wool stockings under the silk.’ I may mention here, en passant, that the late Dr Clutterbuck, who lived to nearly 90 years, and then succumbed to an accident, used to boast that nobody had ever seen him wear an outer coat, but he wrapped up almost like a mummy underneath. “Pennington's practice was large and laborious, and, in addition to seeing patients in town, he was frequently called upon to pay visits in the country. These he always managed to make at night. He would, after a hard day's work, take a warm bath, and travel in a post-chaise all the night, getting back in the morning sufficiently early to see his home patients. He had a vigorous constitution, and could sleep almost anywhere. It is said that Pennington made £10,000 a year for many years by physic. At all events he accumulated a very large fortune. He sold his practice to Mr Hillier, who, however, did not succeed in keeping it together. Pennington was a thorough man of business, and did not attend the societies. He was, however, very sociable and hospitable. When the National Association of General Practitioners was instituted, he was elected President, but he was then an octogenarian and did not display any of his former energy or ability. He was not a man of much acquirement, but he was possessed of a large amount of good common sense, had considerable power of diagnosis, and was most successful as a prescriber. He was a remarkably handsome man, with a fine presence and a manner which inspired confidence. He was in harness to the last.” A fine mezzotint in the College collection (Stone) represents Pennington as a quaint-looking old man with a humorous expression. It is from a painting by F R Say, and was engraved by W Walker in 1840.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000399
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Nixon, Thomas ( - 1853)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372586372586
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was commissioned Assistant Surgeon to the 1st Foot Guards on Dec 25th, 1796. This, says Colonel Johnston in a note, is “the earliest date of a Regimental Assistant Surgeon's commission, though not the first to be gazetted”. The first to be gazetted was Robert Lawson, Assistant Surgeon to the 4th Dragoons, Feb 2nd, 1797. Nixon was gazetted Surgeon to the same Regiment on March 20th, 1799, being styled Battalion Surgeon after 1804. On June 9th, 1814, he was promoted to Surgeon Major, and on Nov 10th, 1824, was made Inspector of Hospitals, and later Inspector-General of Hospitals. He served in the Peninsular Campaign in 1812-1814, and held the local rank of Deputy Inspector of Hospitals in Spain and Portugal only, from Sept 10th, 1812. He retired on half pay on Nov 11th, 1824, and resided or practised at Papplewick, Notts, where he died on April 13th, 1853.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000402
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Carter, James Francis (1933 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Patrick G Alley
Publication Date 2009-08-14
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372829372829
Occupation General surgeon
Details James Francis ‘Jim’ Carter was a general surgeon in Auckland, New Zealand. He was born on 17 March 1933 in Rawene Northland, New Zealand, one of six children of hardworking share milkers and agricultural labourers who frequently had to move to seek work in those days of depression. He was educated at Kawa Kawa High School and Kaitaia College, before studying medicine in Otago. He did his junior posts in Wellington and then spent two years in Blackball, on the west coast, serving the mining community. In 1959 he married Dorothy Rees, a staff nurse at Wellington Hospital, and in 1962 they went to England, where he passed the FRCS and worked as a registrar in London, ending as senior registrar at St Mark’s Hospital. He returned to New Zealand in 1968 as a surgical tutor and specialist in general surgery at Green Lane Hospital in Auckland. He introduced the resection and immediate anastomosis for acute left colonic conditions, which was at that time regarded as revolutionary. Two years later he founded the northern regional training scheme for surgical registrars, whereby registrars would rotate outside the main teaching centres, then a novelty in New Zealand. From 1972 he entered and developed a successful private practice, but at the same time was given an honorary academic appointment at the Auckland Medical School by Eric Nanson, who recognised his ability in clinical research. There he set up a unit for the investigation of disorders of oesophageal motility. The North Shore Hospital was opened in 1984, with Jim Carter, P G Alley, John Gillman and Kerry Clark running the general surgical service, which soon became sought-after by trainees studying for the FRACS. He was active in the Australasian College, serving on the court of examiners and its New Zealand committee, which was to become the New Zealand board of surgery and was a founder member of the New Zealand Association of General Surgeons. He was a truly general surgeon, excelling in endocrine, head and neck, colorectal and upper GI surgery. He established breast clinics at the North Shore and Mercy hospitals. A keen athlete, he was a member of the Owairaka Running Club, with several marathons to his credit, always doing his training in the early mornings. He died on 19 September 2008, leaving his widow, Dorothy, a daughter Rosemary and son Richard.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000646
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Adams, Josiah Oake (1842 - 1925)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Adams, Matthew Algernon (1836 - 1913)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372831372831
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in 1836 and received his professional training at Guy's Hospital. He practised at Leeds, where he was for a time Senior Resident Surgeon at the Public Dispensary; he was also Assistant Surgeon to the 9th Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers. Before 1871 he had removed to Ashford Road, Maidstone, where he was Surgeon to the Kent County Ophthalmic Hospital. Later he was appointed Public Analyst for the County of Kent and for Maidstone, and was a Member of Council and then President of the Society of Public Analysts, as well as a Member of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. He was also for a time Medical Officer of Health and Gas Analyst for the Borough of Maidstone. In 1870 he had been appointed a Certificated Teacher in the Science and Art Department. He resided and practised for many years at Trinity House, Maidstone, and then moved to The Kulm, Bearsted, Kent, where he died during April, 1913. At the time of his death he was still Public Analyst for Kent and Maidstone, and was Vice-President of the Society of Public Analysts and a Fellow of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, as well as Consulting Surgeon to the Kent County Ophthalmic Hospital. He was the inventor and author of “The Hormagraph, an Instrument for Investigating the Field of Vision”. Publications: *Pocket Memoranda relating to Infectious Zymotic Diseases*, 24mo, London, 1885. “Contribution to the Etiology of Diphtheria.” *Public Health*, 1890. “The Relationship between the Occurrence of Diphtheria and the Movement of the Sub-soil Water.” * 7th and 8th internat. Congr. of Hygiene and Demography*, 1891 and 1894. “On the Estimation of Dissolved Oxygen in Water.” *Trans. Chem. Soc.*, 1892. *Annual Reports of the Medical Officer of Health for the Borough of Maidstone, to the Local Board, for the years* 1879-81, 8vo, Maidstone, 1880-82. *Report to the Local Board on the Outbreaks of Small-pox in Maidstone*, 8vo, 2 diagrams, Maidstone, 1881.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000648
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Adams, William ( - 1892)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Adams, William ( [1] - 1900)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21 2016-01-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372833372833
Occupation General surgeon
Details [2] Studied anatomy and physiology at the Webb Street School, which was then under the management of Richard Grainger (1798-1861), the younger brother of the talented but ill-used founder. In 1838 he entered as a medical student at St Thomas's Hospital, where he came under the influence of Joseph Henry Green (qv) (1791-1863), the philosophical surgeon whose memory he always held in the highest esteem. [3] In August, 1842, he was appointed Curator of the Museum and Demonstrator of Morbid Anatomy in the Medical School of St Thomas's Hospital, then situated in the Borough. These posts were held until 1854, when he joined the Grosvenor Place or Lane's Medical School in Kinnerton Street [4] near St George's Hospital. Here he lectured on Surgery and Hospital Practice, having Thomas Spencer Wells (qv) as a colleague. About this time Adams began to devote his attention more particularly to orthopaedic surgery, of which he became one of the leading exponents and most successful practitioners in this country. He was appointed Surgeon to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Surgeon to the Great Northern Hospital, and Surgeon to the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic before it had specialized in brain surgery. At the Great Northern (now the Royal Northern) Hospital he devised the operation which became known by his name - osteotomy of the neck of the femur within the capsule of the hip-joint. For this purpose he invented a saw with a short cutting surface and a long blunt shank - "my little thaw," as he always called it - by which the bone could be divided through a minute incision in the skin. He also brought into prominence the treatment of Dupuytren's contraction by subcutaneous division of the fibrous bands. In 1864 he was awarded the Jacksonian Prize for "Club-foot, its Causes, Pathology and Treatment". The essay is a classic, for it is an epitome of the knowledge of the time. In 1872 he severed his connection with the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in consequence of a quarrel between the staff and the management, in which it was thought by his contemporaries that the staff was in the right. In 1876 he was President of the Medical Society of London, and in that capacity visited the United States and Canada as a delegate to the International Medical Congress held in September at Philadelphia. He was accompanied by Dr Lauder Brunton and Richard Davy (qv). With Lister (qv) he watched Professor Sayre excise the hip-joint in a boy. He lived and practised until 1896 at 5 Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, where is now the College of Nursing. He retired to 7 Loudon Road, St John's Wood, and died there on Feb 3rd, 1900, the morning of his ninetieth birthday. [5] He never married. [6] Adams was a careful but slow operator who maintained his interest in general surgery and pathology to the end of his life. He had been one of the promoters and first members of the Pathological Society of London as early as 1846. He was a good but prolix talker, with a soft voice and well-marked lisp. Sir James Paget used to complain of him that he never finished his sentences, and when one of us (D'A P) was curator of the Museum at St Bartholomew's Hospital, he would often come in later days and waste two or three hours of valuable time, having himself nothing to do. His talk, however, was interesting, for he would tell of his reminiscences of 'resurrection days' and the snatching of bodies for the purposes of anatomy. He took with him from Grainger's School Tom Parker as his dead-house assistant at St Thomas's Hospital. Tom Parker was a notorious resurrectionist, and there is good reason to suppose that he was the executioner who cut off the heads of the four men sentenced for high treason after the Cato Street Conspiracy in 1820. Publications:- "Observations on Transverse Fracture of the Patella." *Trans. Pathol. Soc.*, ii, 254. "The Enlargement of the Articular Extremities of Bone in Chronic Rheumatic Arthritis." - *Ibid*., iii, 156. (He refuted in this paper the teaching of Rokitansky.) Lectures on Orthopaedic Surgery, 1855-8. "Presidential Address on Subcutaneous Surgery." - *Proc. Med. Soc. Lond.*, 1857. *On the Reparative Process in Human Tendons after Subcutaneous Division for the Cure of Deformities, with a Series of Experiments on Rabbits and a Résumé of the Literature of the Subject,* 8vo, plates, London, 1860. (A piece of good pathological work illustrating the method of repair of divided tendons.) *Lectures on the Pathology and Treatment of Lateral and other Forms of Curvature of the Spine*, 8vo, 5 plates, London 1865; 2nd ed., 1882. *Club-Foot, its Causes, Pathology and Treatment* (Jacksonian Prize Essay), 8vo, illustrated, London, 1866; 2nd ed, 8vo, 6 plates, London, 1873. (The original manuscript is in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons.) "Congenital Dislocation of Hip-Joint." - *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1885, ii, 859; 1887, i, 866; 1889, i, 243; and *Trans. Amer. Orthop. Cong.*, 1895. "Congenital Wry-Neck" - *Trans. Amer. Orthop. Assoc.*, 1896. "Rotation of the Spine in the so-called Lateral Curvature." - *Ibid.*, 1899, etc. The following are in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons:- *A New Operation for Bony Anchylosis of the Hip Joint by Subcutaneous Division of the Neck of the Thigh Bone*, 8vo, 4 plates, London 1871. "On the Successful Treatment of Hammer-Toe by the Subcutaneous Division of the Lateral Ligaments", 8vo, plate, London, 1868, from *Proc. Med. Soc. Lond*., ii; 2nd ed., 1892. "On the Successful Treatment of Cases of Congenital Displacement of the Hip-Joint", 8vo, 2 illustrations, London, 1890, from *Brit. Med. Jour*. "Subcutaneous Surgery: its Principles, and its Recent Extension in Practice" (Sixth Toner Lecture), 1876, in *Smithsonian Miscell. Collections*, xv, 8vo, Washington, 1877. *Observations on Contractions of the Fingers (Dupuytren's Contraction), and its Successful Treatment by Subcutaneous Divisions of the Palmar Fascia and Immediate Extension; also on the Obliteration of Depressed Cicatrices after Glandular Abscesses or Exfoliation of Bone by a Subcutanous Operation*, 8vo, 4 Plates, Washington, 1879. The 2nd edition appeared with the title, *On Contractions of the Fingers (Dupuytren's and Congenital Contractions) and on 'Hammer-toe'*, etc., 8vo, 8 plates, Washington, 1892. "The International Medical Congress in Philadelphia" (Presidential Address before the Medical Society of London). - *Proc. Med. Soc. Lond.*, 1875-7, iii, 97; printed as an 8vo volume, London 1876. *Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. Letters and Documents in reference to the recent Arbitration by a Committee appointed by the Council of the Metropolitan Branch of the British Medical Association to investigate Certain Charges made by Mr W Adams against Mr Brodhurst, in connection with the Events which have lately occurred at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital*, 8vo, London, 1872. *Principles of Treatment applicable to Contractions and Deformities*, 1893. Special section contributed to the 2nd edition of William Spencer Watson's *Diseases of the Nose and the Accessory Cavities*, 8vo, London, 1890. Adams delivered the Lettsomian Lectures before the Medical Society of London in 1869, his subject being the "Rheumatic and Strumous Diseases of the Joints and the Treatment for the Restoration of Motion in Partial Ankylosis." In the same year he cut through the neck of the thigh bone, but Mr Brodhurst had already performed this operation several times. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] 1820 (1st February); [2] Son of James Adams L.S.A. of 39 Finsbury Square, a Governor of S. Thomas's Hospital.; [3] His eldest brother, James, was also a pupil of J.H. Green, became an ophthalmic surgeon & died aged 31.; [4] 'Kinnerton Street' is deleted and 'Grosvenor Place' added; [5] 'the morning of' is deleted and '2 days after' is added, and 'ninetieth' is deleted and '80th' added; [6] 'He never married.' is deleted, and the following added 'He married 21 August 1847, Mary Anne MILLS, who died in 1897, and had 2 sons & 1 daughter - all now (1931) dead without descendants (information from P.E. Adams MRCS, nephew). the last surviving son died in 1920. He is also reported to have had "two harems(?)"'; Portrait (No.1) in Small Photographic Album (Moira & Haigh).]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000650
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Agnis, John Crown (1828 - 1866)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372834372834
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Langford, Malden, Essex, on Nov 11th, 1828, and dying unmarried was the last representative of an ancient Cambridgeshire family. He was a very promising lad, and at the age of 16 entered University College, London, and soon carried off the Senior Greek Prize, “being a mere boy in comparison with his competitors” (*Lancet*). He received his medical education at University College Hospital, became House Surgeon, and was gazetted to the 3rd Light Dragoons on Aug 11th, 1854. He afterwards became Assistant Surgeon to the Horse Guards Blue in 1860 (Sept 18th), holding this post to the end of his life. As an operator he was “bold and skilful”, “notably endowed”, as his *Lancet* biographer remarks, “with that special surgical acumen which is logic in action”. His talents were such that his friends urged him to bring himself into greater evidence. Accordingly he began to study deformities and “energetically followed out a series of special researches into their general surgical pathology.” In 1864 the Examiners for the Jacksonian Essay Prize awarded an Honorarium to Agnis for his essay on “Club-foot, its Causes, Pathology and Treatment”. The many illustrations to the Essay were drawn by the author, but the paper has not been published. Agnis was a skilful artist, “an enthusiastic entomologist, and versed in almost every branch of natural science”. He died in London on June 28th, 1866, after a brief illness. He had previously suffered from the effects of a severe hunting accident.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000651
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Aikin, Charles Arthur (1821 - 1908)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Ainger, Major (1820 - 1861)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Albert, Eduard (1841 - 1900)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Alcock, Sir Rutherford (1809 - 1897)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Aldersey, William Hugh ( - 1885)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372839372839
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy's Hospital and, in addition to the other qualifications, he passed the First MB Examination at the University of London in 1856. Served as Medical Officer on the Indiana during the Crimean War, and afterwards practised at Buntingford, Herts, for the South-Eastern District of which he was Medical Officer. Later he moved to Hayling and Havant in Hampshire, acting as Medical Officer of Health for the Urban and Rural Districts. He retired to Surbiton, living at 7 St James' Road, where he died on Sept 7th, 1885. He was a Fellow of the Obstetrical Society.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000656
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Aldersmith, Herbert (1848 - 1918)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21 2016-01-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372840372840
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he gained the senior scholarship, and during his career as a student won the Gold Medal at the Society of Apothecaries and the Scholarship and Gold Medal at the MB Examination of the University of London. He filled the offices of House Surgeon and House Physician at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and, settling in Giltspur Street, was appointed in 1872 Medical Officer of Christ's Hospital (the Bluecoat School), then in Newgate Street. This post he held until 1913, moving with the school to Horsham. He continued to live at Horsham after his connection with the school ended, died suddenly at Carlton Lodge, Horsham, on March 24th, 1918, and was buried at Itchingfield. [1] Aldersmith lived entirely for the Bluecoat School, and greatly to its advantage. His kindness of heart and his friendly interest endeared him to all the boys brought into contact with him. The declaration made by the Orator at the Speech Day on the occasion of his retirement, that "there is no healthier school in England than Christ's Hospital", was a tribute to his skill and care. He was an influential and respected honorary member of the Medical Officers of Schools Association, who became an authority on ringworm before the recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. He began life as H A Smith, became H Alder-Smith when he began to practice, and finally H Aldersmith, by which name he was generally known in later life. Publications:- Ringworm and Alopecia Areata: their Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment, 8vo, illustrated, 4th ed., London, 1897. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] His daughter Dorothy Constance, wife of Charles Ernest Robinson of Hillcote, Storrington died 20 Sept, 1940 (*The Times* 23 Sept 1940)]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000657
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Soomro, Jamil Ahmed (1948 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2006-12-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372341372341
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Jamil Soomro was an orthopaedic surgeon at Orpington. He was born in Shikarpur, Sind, Pakistan, on 28 March 1948. His father, Haji Moula Bux Soomro, was a farmer. His mother was Fazlaan Soomro, a housewife. Jamil was educated at the Government High School, Shikarpur, where he gained a distinction in Islamic studies, and went on to the C&S College, Shikarpur, where he gained a first in intermediate science. He studied medicine at Liaquat Medical College, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, passing with the highest marks of his year. After house posts in the Navy in Pakiston, he came to England in 1975. He was a senior house officer at Lewisham Hospital and then at Stoke-on-Trent. He then held a post in the accident and emergency department at Stockport for six months, before moving to Birmingham, where he carried out paediatric surgery for a year in the Children’s Hospital. He then worked in Hull, at the Royal Infirmary, as a paediatric surgeon. He then moved to Crawley, as a senior house officer, and embarked on his career in orthopaedics. He worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at Chelmsford, then Portsmouth, before joining Orpington Hospital, Bromley Hospital NHS Trust, in 1980. He became an associate specialist in 1990, and developed a special interest in knee surgery. He retired in 2003. He was an excellent surgeon and an active and enthusiastic teacher, teaching staff at all levels and regularly helping junior doctors prepare for their MRCS examinations. He had a warm bedside manner and is remembered not only for his surgical skills, but also for his politeness, kindness, sincerity and dedication to his work. In July 2006 a plaque was unveiled at Orpington Hospital to commemorate his service to the trust. He was married to Nigar. They had a daughter, Hibba, who is an ophthalmologist, and two sons, Omer, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, and Mohammed, a pharmacist. Jamil Soomro died on 12 September 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000154
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stephens, John Pendered (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372342372342
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Stephens was a general surgeon at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. He was born on 29 March 1919 in Northamptonshire, where his father was an engineer with farming interests. Educated at Stowe School, his scholastic achievements were complimented by a flair for sport, particularly rugby. At Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he read natural sciences, played for the University XV (winning a wartime blue) and represented the University at tennis. Clinical training followed at St Bartholomew's Hospital during the Blitz, where he captained a strong Bart's rugby XV. He held house appointments with J Basil Hume at Friern Barnet, one of the hospitals used by Bart's during its evacuation from London. On joining the RAMC in 1943, he served as regimental medical officer to the 1st Battalion Sierra Leone African Regiment in Sierra Leone, Burma and India. His release testimonial described him as "…a first class officer who fully understands the African soldier and as a result exerts an excellent influence over the whole battalion". Returning to civilian life in 1947, he passed the Cambridge qualifying examination, followed by the FRCS a year later. Further surgical experience was gained as a supernumerary registrar with J Basil Hume and Alan Hunt at Bart's, during which time he continued to play rugby for Bart's, Blackheath, Northampton and Kent. In 1952, John went to Norwich as a surgical registrar to the Norfolk and Norwich and allied hospitals, including the Jenny Lind Hospital for Children and the West Norwich Hospital. This widened an already good general surgical base, to which he added thoracic and cardiac procedures. He gained his masters in surgery in 1953 and in 1955 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon in Norwich. He developed an interest in breast diseases and, as an enthusiastic protagonist of immunology and the use of BCG therapy for breast cancer, was ahead of his times. Sadly, he never published his results. He was a modest, charming man, with an excellent sense of humour. Despite having large hands, he was a gifted surgeon - those working with him admired his all round ability and remarkable clinical judgement. Norfolk suited his balanced life, combining medical practice with his outside pursuits. Ever a countryman at heart, he loved his thatched house at Bergh Apton, with its large garden, greenhouses and trees. He was a golfer, fly fisherman, ornithologist, skier and an excellent shot, rearing pheasants for his own shoot. Sailing was an abiding interest. In retirement he kept his boat on the west coast of Scotland. Retiring in 1984, his last few years were dogged by immobility due to spinal stenosis. John died on 11 April 2004 at the age of 85, and is survived by his wife, Barbara, two daughters and a son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000155
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stephenson, Clive Bryan Stanley (1933 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2007-02-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372343372343
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Clive Stephenson was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 12 November 1933 and was educated at Scots College. He studied medicine at Wellington, where he qualified in 1957, held house posts and was a surgical registrar. After a year demonstrating anatomy in Otago, he went to London in 1962 to specialise in surgery and completed SHO jobs at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital for a year, and registrar posts at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Hackney General Hospital. In 1965 he was a lecturer in surgery at St Mary’s Hospital, London, where he became particularly interested in vascular surgery. He went on to be a senior registrar at Chelmsford for two further years. In 1969 he returned to Wellington as a full-time vascular and general surgeon, becoming surgical tutor in 1970, and finally visiting vascular and general surgeon at Wellington Hospital in 1971, a post he combined with that of visiting general surgeon at Hutt Hospital. He died in Lower Hutt on 3 July 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000156
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Thackray, Alan Christopher (1914 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372344372344
Occupation Pathologist
Details Alan Thackray was professor of morbid histology at the Middlesex Hospital and a notable authority on breast, salivary and renal tumours. He was educated at Cambridge University, from which he won the senior university scholarship to the Middlesex Hospital. After house jobs he specialised in pathology, working at the Bland-Sutton Institute. In 1948 he was placed in charge of the department of morbid anatomy and histology. He was appointed reader in 1951. In 1966 he was appointed to the newly created chair of morbid histology at London University. He resigned from the Bland-Sutton in 1974, but continued to work at the Florence Nightingale Hospital for another 10 years. He was one of the small group of eminent pathologists who were invited by the College and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to set up a reference panel to whom difficult or interesting histological problems could be referred. A modest, reserved man, with great charm, he was a keen photographer and a knowledgeable gardener. He died after a short illness on 10 August 2004, leaving a son (Robert) and four grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000157
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Banister, George (1819 - 1884)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bankart, James (1834 - 1902)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Banks, Sir William Mitchell (1842 - 1904)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372931372931
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Edinburgh on Nov 1st, 1842, the son of Peter S Banks, Writer to the Signet. He received his early education at Edinburgh Academy and passed from there to the University of Edinburgh. Graduated MD with honours, and won the Gold Medal for his thesis on the Wolffian bodies in 1864. Acted for a time as Prosector to Professor John Goodsir and later as Demonstrator of Anatomy under Professor Allen Thomson at the University of Glasgow. Served as dresser and as House Surgeon to James Syme (qv) at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and visited Paraguay to act as Surgeon to the Republican Government. He became assistant to E R Bickersteth (qv) at Liverpool in 1868 in succession to Reginald Harrison (qv), and joined the staff of the Infirmary School of Medicine, first as Demonstrator and afterwards as Lecturer on Anatomy. This post he retained with the title of Professor when the Infirmary School was merged in University College, Liverpool. He resigned the Chair in 1894 and was then honoured with the title of Emeritus Professor of Anatomy. Meanwhile, having served the offices of Pathologist and Curator of the Museum, he succeeded Reginald Harrison as Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Liverpool, in 1875, served as full Surgeon from 1877 till Nov, 1902, when he resigned and was appointed Consulting Surgeon. The Committee of the Infirmary paid him the unique compliment of assigning him ten beds in his former wards. Mitchell Banks was the first representative of the Victoria University on the General Medical Council, and was a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1890-1896. He was one of the founders of the Liverpool Biological Association and was elected the first President. He was placed on the Commission of the Peace as JP of Liverpool in 1892 and in 1899 he received the honour of knighthood. He was an honorary LLD of Edinburgh. He married in 1874 Elizabeth Rathbone, daughter of John Elliot, a merchant of Liverpool, and by her had two sons, one of whom survived him. He died suddenly at Aix-la-Chapelle on Aug 9th, 1904, whilst travelling home from Homburg, and was buried in the Smithdown Road Cemetery in Liverpool. Mitchell Banks deserves recognition both as a surgeon and as an organizer. The modern operation for removal of the cancerous breast is largely due to his practice and advocacy. He recommended, in the face of strenuous opposition, an extensive operation that should include removal of the axillary glands when most surgeons were contented with local amputation. He drew attention to his method in 1878 and made it the topic of the Lettsomian Lectures at the Medical Society of London in 1900. As an organizer he formed one of the band who built up the fortunes of the Medical School at Liverpool. Finding it a provincial school at a very low ebb, Banks and his associates raised it by dint of hard work first to the rank of a medical college and, finally, to that of a well-equipped medical faculty forming part of a modern university. The plan involved the rebuilding of the infirmary, and Banks was a member of the medical deputation which, with characteristic thoroughness, visited many continental hospitals to study their design and equipment before the foundation stone of the Liverpool building was laid in 1887. Mitchell Banks had a sound knowledge of the history of medicine. His collection of early medical works was sold in seventy-eight lots by Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in June, 1906. He wrote good English in a pleasant style, as may be seen in “The Gentle Doctor”, a scholarly address to the students of the Yorkshire College at Leeds in Oct, 1892, and in “Physic and Letters”, the Annual Oration delivered before the Medical Society of London in May, 1893. His portrait, painted by the Hon John Collier, was presented to him by his colleagues and students, when he retired from active duties at University College, Liverpool. “The William Mitchell Banks Lectureship” in the University of Liverpool was founded and endowed by his fellow-citizens in his memory in 1905. Publications:- A paper dealing with a more extensive operation in cases of cancer of the breast appeared in the *Liverpool and Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports*, 1878, 192. *Some Results of the Operative Treatment of Cancer of the Breast*, Edinburgh, 1882. *The Gentle Doctor*, Liverpool, 1893. *Physic and Letters*, Liverpool, 1893.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000748
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alderson, John Septimus ( - 1858)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bartlett, William (1808 - 1873)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Aldred, George Edward (1816 - 1868)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Aldridge, John Petty (1813 - 1884)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Alexander, Charles Linton (1820 - 1887)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-08-21 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372845372845
Occupation General surgeon
Details Apprenticed to Francis Bennett at the Dispensary, Gateshead, Durham, and entered as a matriculated student at King's College, becoming a student at the hospital as soon as it was opened. He was one of the Surgeons of the Royal South London Dispensary until "the dignity of the profession" required that the staff, Messrs Osborn, Johnson, Berrell, Wood, and Alexander, should resign in a body. He was also Surgeon to the Board of Guardians of St Mary's, Newington, whose sick poor he attended, on the death of the regularly appointed surgeon, during an epidemic of typhus fever from which he himself suffered severely. He practised first at 12 Brunswick Street, Dover Road, SE, and afterwards at 45 Trinity Square, Borough, SE, where he died Jan 27th, 1887.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000662
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alexander, Henry ( - 1859)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Alexander, James ( - 1895)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2012-08-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372847372847
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised at Edenbridge, Kent, from 1843-1847; then at 12 North Audley Street, W, and at Scarborough from 1853-1856. His last address is given at 30 Walbrook, EC. He died either in 1894 or 1895.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000664
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alexander, William ( - 1919)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372848372848
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Holestone, Co Antrim; educated at Queen’s College, Belfast, where he had a brilliant career and took the University Gold Medal and Exhibition at his MD examination. Coming to Liverpool as soon as he had graduated, he was appointed Resident Medical Officer at the Workhouse Hospital, and in 1875 became Visiting Surgeon to that institution, his address being 102 Bedford Street South. He was awarded the Jacksonian Prize in 1881 for his essay on “The Pathology and Surgical Treatment of Diseases of the Hip-joint”, and in 1883 he won the Sir Astley Cooper Prize at Guy’s Hospital with an essay on “The Pathology and Pathological Relation of Chronic Rheumatic Arthritis”. He held the office of Surgeon to the Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool, from 1889-1910, and on his retirement was elected to the honorary post of Consulting Surgeon. For forty years he acted as Visiting Surgeon to the Brownlow Hill Infirmary. At the time of his death he was Lecturer on Clinical Surgery at the University of Liverpool, Ex-President of the British Gynæcological Society, and a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Territorial Force doing duty with the First Western General Hospital. He died after a few days’ illness on March 9th, 1919, at Heswall, near Liverpool, and is buried there. He had been a widower for many years, and his only son, Dr Moore Alexander, the pathologist, died in 1915. Alexander was a good operator, but his claim to remembrance is his work on epilepsy and his determined attempt to relieve those who suffered from the condition, as was shown by his becoming the founder of a Home for Epileptics at Maghull, of which he was the Visiting Surgeon, and where he obtained good results by ligature of the vertebral arteries and division of the sympathetic nerves. He may justly be regarded as the pioneer of surgery of the sympathetic system, which was developed later by Jaboulay and Leriche (qv) in 1882. He also introduced a new method in the treatment of inveterate uterine displacements by shortening the round ligaments. Publications: *The Cure of Epilepsy and of Inveterate Uterine Displacements*, 8vo, London, 1882, reprinted from articles contributed to the *Med. Times and Gaz.*, 1881, ii, 598; 1882, i, 250, 327. “The Treatment of Epilepsy.” – *Brain*, 1883, v, 170. “Effect of Ligature of Vertebral Arteries in Certain Spinal Diseases.” – *Liverpool Med.-Chir. Jour.*, 1882, 124. *The Treatment of Backward Displacements of the Uterus and of Prolapsus Uteri by the New Method of Shortening the Round Ligaments*, 8vo, London, 1884.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000665
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alford, Henry (1806 - 1898)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372849372849
Occupation General surgeon
Details Third son of the Rev Samuel Alford, of Queen's College, Oxford, who graduated BA in 1797 and MA in 1800. He was born at Curry Rivel, near Taunton. The Alford family had held property in West Somerset from the middle of the sixteenth century, and son had succeeded father in the church for several generations. Henry Alford (1810-1871), Dean of Canterbury, and Bishop Alford were cousins of Henry Alford, FRCS. Alford became a house pupil at the Bristol Infirmary in 1822, and five years later came to London to complete his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital. After qualifying, he practised at Ilminster until he was appointed Surgeon to the Somerset and Taunton Hospital in 1830, when he settled in Taunton. He resigned his office in 1859 and was appointed Consulting Surgeon. He was Bailiff of Taunton, a churchwarden of St Mary's Church, a keen politician, and a hearty supporter of Sir Robert Peel in his policy of repealing the Corn Laws. He died at South Road, Taunton, in his 92nd year on June 29th, 1898. He married twice, and by his first wife left four children. His son, Henry J Alford, MD MRCS, was also educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and was Medical Officer of Health for Taunton.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000666
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alford, Richard (1816 - 1893)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372850372850
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of the Rev Samuel Alford, of Curry Rivel, and younger brother of Henry Alford (qv). Educated at University College. Practised at Tewkesbury, where he was Surgeon to the Dispensary, and removed to Weston-super-Mare in 1855, continuing to practise there until 1886. He was one of the founders of the old Dispensary which developed into the Weston-super-Mare Hospital. He acted as Surgeon to the Dispensary and as Consulting Surgeon to the Hospital. He died at 6 Ozil Terrace, Weston-super-Mare, on March 30th, 1893. Publications: "A Case of Spasma Glottidis." - *Prov. Med. and Surg. Jour.*, 1847, 625. "A Case of Jugular Vein Opened by Ulceration: Death." - Quoted in Liston's *Practical Surgery*, 6th ed. "A Case of Mortification from Head of Fibula to Crest of Ilium; Recovery." -* Assoc. Med. Jour.*, 1853. "Induction of Premature Labour by Ergot of Rye and Puncturing the Membranes." - *Lond. Med. Rev.*, 1861-2, ii, 511.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000667
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Alford, Stephen Shute (1821 - 1881)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372851372851
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College, London, and acted as House Surgeon to the North Staffordshire Infirmary. He moved to London, becoming Surgeon to the North St Pancras Provident Dispensary, Surgeon to the Keepers and Helpers at the Zoological Gardens, Hon Surgeon to the Asylum for Infirm Journeymen Tailors, Medical Officer to the Orphan Workhouse School at Haverstock Hill, and Surgeon-in-Ordinary to the North St Pancras Provident Dispensary. He lived at 7 Park Place, Haverstock Hill, and died on July 5th, 1881, as the result of a railway accident. Alford was an active supporter of the British Medical Association, and throughout his life was interested in the treatment of dipsomania. At the time of his death he was Hon Secretary to the Society for the Promotion of Legislation for the Control and Cure of Habitual Drunkards. Under the auspices of a Committee of the British Medical Association he had organized a home for that purpose near his house, 61 Haverstock Hill, which he had hoped to supervise. Publications: *A Few Words on the Drink Craving, showing the Necessity for Legislative Power as regards Protection and Treatment*. *Dipsomania, its Prevalence, Causes and Treatment.* *The Habitual Drunkards Act, with an Account of a Visit to the American Inebriate Homes.*
Resource Identifier RCS: E000668
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Allard, William (1818 - 1894)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Allen (or Allan), James (1821 - 1892)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Allen, Robert Marshall (1818 - 1893)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Allen, William Edward (1834 - 1885)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Allfrey, Charles Henry (1839 - 1912)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372856372856
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated as an Associate Scholar at King's College, London, and professionally at King's College Hospital, where he served as House Physician. After qualifying in London in 1861 he spent some time in Edinburgh, where he acted as Dresser and Clinical Clerk in the Edinburgh Infirmary, and then proceeded to Paris. He practised in partnership with Dr J Heckstall Smith at St Mary Cray, and took an active part in founding the Chislehurst and Cray Valley Hospital. He was Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator of the 3rd District of the Bromley (Kent) Union, Surgeon to the Governesses' Benevolent Institution, Chislehurst, and District Surgeon to the Metropolitan Police. He left Chislehurst in 1890 for St Leonards-on-Sea, where he practised as a physician. He was elected Assistant Physician to the East Sussex Hospital in 1892, and was Consulting Physician at the time of his death. He served on the Town Council for many years, and was active as Chairman of the Sanitary Committee at the time of the establishment of the Isolation Hospital. He was also a JP and Chairman of the South-Eastern Branch of the British Medical Association. In politics he was a Conservative. He died on April 16th, 1912, suddenly, whilst walking on the parade at St Leonards. Publication: *Sanitary Reports on Chislehurst and Cray Valley*, 1875.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000673
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Allingham, Herbert William (1862 - 1904)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-18 2016-01-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372857372857
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on April 17th, 1862, the eldest son of William Allingham, (qv); was educated at Chatham House, Ramsgate, and University College School in London. He entered St George's Hospital in 1879, where Timothy Holmes (qv) and Pickering Pick (qv) were surgeons. Here he rapidly developed a marked talent for teaching and for surgery; at school he had been undistinguished. Served as House Surgeon in 1883-1884, and at the end of his term of office was appointed Surgical Registrar and Demonstrator of Anatomy. Elected Assistant Surgeon to St Mark's Hospital in 1885, resigning in 1890, and in 1887 he became Surgeon to the Great (now the Royal) Northern Hospital, a post he held until 1896. Elected Assistant Surgeon to St George's Hospital in 1894. [1] He was appointed Surgeon in Ordinary to the Prince of Wales, now His Majesty King George V, having been previously Surgeon to the Household of King Edward VII. He also filled the offices of Surgeon to the Surgical Aid Society and to the Osborne Home for Officers. He practised at 25 Grosvenor Street, W. He married in 1889 Fraülein Alexandrina Von der Osten, who died in January, 1904, when her husband had become inoculated with syphilis whilst operating in 1903. After her death he became mentally depressed, started for a holiday to Egypt, and died at Marseilles on Nov 4th, 1904, from an overdose of morphia. Allingham was a fine surgeon who did not confine himself to his father's specialty. As an operator he was rapid, neat, and accurate; as a man he was handsome, courteous, and helpful to his juniors. His affectionate nature was shown by the utter prostration into which he was thrown by the death of his lively and charming wife. Publications: Colotomy, Inguinal, Lumbar and Transverse, for Cancer or Stricture with Ulceration of Large Intestine, 8vo, London, 1892. The Treatment of Internal Derangements of the Knee-joint by Operation, 8vo, illustrated, London, 1889. Jointly with his father, Allingham on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Rectum, 5th ed., London, 1888. Operative Surgery, 8vo, London, 1903. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] '1894' is deleted and '1895' put in its place, together with '[information from Sir Humphry Rolleston]'; Portrait in College Collection.]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000674
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching House, Howard Payne (1907 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-28 2013-10-11
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/372264372264
Occupation Otolaryngologist ENT surgeon
Details Howard Payne House was a pioneering ear specialist. During his long career he treated thousands of patients, including Howard Hughes, Bob Hope and the former President, Ronald Reagan. A graduate of the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, House perfected the wire loop technique to replace the stapes bone of the middle ear and developed procedures to reconstruct middle ear parts. In 1946 he established the House Ear Institute as a research facility dedicated to the advancement of hearing research and education. A year later, he was appointed Chairman of the subcommittee on noise and directed the national study on industrial noise that set the Occupational Safety and Health Administration hearing conservation standards in use today. House was head of the department of otolaryngology at University of Southern California School of Medicine from 1952 to 1961 and served on the faculty as clinical professor of otology. House received numerous awards and honorary degrees. He served as President of many professional associations in the US, including the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery and the American Otological Society. He was awarded the University of Southern California's outstanding career service award, and was named a physician of the year by the California Governor's committee for employment of the handicapped. House died from heart failure on 1 August 2003 at St Vincent Medical Center, Los Angeles. He is survived by his sons, Kenneth and John, and his daughter Carolyn, and nine grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000077
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Howkins, John (1907 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-28 2007-08-09
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/372265372265
Occupation Gynaecologist
Details John Howkins was a gynaecological surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He was born in Hartlepool, County Durham, on 17 December 1907, the son of John Drysdale Howkins, a civil engineer, and Helen Louise née Greenwood, the daughter of a bank manager. He was educated at Cargilfield Preparatory School and was then a scholar at Shrewsbury, where he was a prefect, and developed a lifelong interest in fast cars. This led to a temporary set-back: he was spotted driving a girl in his Frazer-Nash, reported to the headmaster, and expelled. This did not prevent him winning an arts entrance scholarship to the Middlesex Hospital, where he fell under the spell of Victor Bonney. After qualifying, he did junior jobs at the Middlesex and the Chelsea Hospital for Women, and then became resident assistant physician-accoucheur at Bart’s. He also gained his masters in surgery, his MD (with a gold medal) and his FRCS. At the outbreak of war he joined the RAF, rising to Wing-Commander and senior surgical specialist, eventually becoming deputy chief consultant to the WAAF. At the end of the war he returned to Bart’s, where a post was created for him. He was subsequently appointed to the Hampstead General and the Royal Masonic Hospitals. He was a prolific writer, talking over *Bonney’s Textbook of gynaecology* as well as Shaw’s textbooks of *Gynaecology* and *Operative gynaecology*. He was Hunterian Professor of the College in 1947 and was awarded the Meredith Fletcher Shaw memorial lectureship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1975. Small in stature, he was an accomplished skier, and chairman of the Ski Club of Great Britain, and had a memorable sense of humour. He enjoyed salmon fishing and renovating old houses. In retirement he took up sheep farming in Wales. He married Lena Brown in 1940. They had one son and two daughters. He died on 6 May 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000078
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hudson, James Ralph (1916 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372266372266
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details James Hudson was an ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields in London. He was born on 15 February 1916 in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. His father, William Shand, was a mechanical engineer and farmer. His mother was Ethel Summerskill. He was educated in Massachusetts, at Winchester County Day School and then Belmont High School, before he went to England, where he attended the King’s School, Canterbury, and then Middlesex Hospital, where he was Edmund Davis exhibitioner. After qualifying, he joined the RAFVR, where he rose to the rank of Squadron Leader. In 1947, he went to Moorfields as a clinical assistant, trained in ophthalmology, and was appointed consultant in 1956 to Moorfields and to Guy’s Hospital. He also held posts at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, London, and ran a private practice in Wimpole Street. He retired in 1981. He was a most competent general eye surgeon. An expert in surgical technique rather than an innovator, he devoted much of his time to the diagnosis and management of retinal detachment in an era when subspecialisation within ophthalmology was still new. In this field he made his reputation. For 25 years he presided over the retinal unit at the High Holborn branch of Moorfields, setting new standards by his unique and thorough methods of retinal examination and his meticulous records. His patients included the Duke of Windsor. He taught by example, and juniors soon learned that the soft cough at the end of a case presentation meant that something was not to his liking. He wrote chapters in Matthew’s *Recent advances in the surgery of trauma* and contributed to Rob and Rodney Smith’s *Operative surgery.* He was President of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and the Faculty of Ophthalmologists, representing that faculty on the Council of the College. He was an examiner in ophthalmology to the Court of Examiners of the College. He was consultant adviser in ophthalmology to the DHSS and a civilian ophthalmic consultant to the RAF. His services were recognised by the award of the CBE in 1976. Abroad he was a respected member of the Société Française d’Ophtalmologie and represented the United Kingdom on several European committees. He was a member of the International Council of Ophthalmology and helped found the Jules Gonin Club, an worldwide association of retinal experts. He was interested in motoring, travel and cine-photography. He married Margaret May Oulpe, the daughter of a translator, in 1946. They had four children (Ann, Jamie, Sarah and Andrew) and five grandchildren (Matthew, Timothy, Mark, Jessica and Olivia). He died after a long illness on 30 December 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000079
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hulbert, Kenneth Frederick (1912 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Jayasekera, Kodituwakku Gnanapala ( - 2001)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Johnson-Gilbert, Ronald Stuart (1925 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12 2012-03-22
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/372269372269
Occupation Administrator College secretary
Details Ronald Stuart Johnson-Gilbert, or 'J-G' as he was known with affection throughout the College, was our secretary from 1962 to 1988. He was born on 14 July 1925, the son of Sir Ian A Johnson-Gilbert CBE and Rosalind Bell-Hughes, and was proud to be a descendant of Samuel Johnson. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and Rugby, from which he won an exhibition in classics and an open scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford. During the second world war he served in the Intelligence Corps from 1943 to 1946 and learnt Japanese. On demobilisation he became a trainee with the John Lewis partnership for a year and then joined the College on the administrative staff in 1951, becoming the sixth secretary in 1962, having previously been secretary of the Faculties of Dental Surgery and Anaesthetists. He worked under 13 presidents, from Lord Porritt to Sir Ian Todd, bringing to everything he did an exceptional administrative skill, an ability to write succinct and lucid prose, an unrivalled knowledge of the most arcane by-laws of the College and above all an unruffable charm. He served as secretary to the board of trustees of the Hunterian Collection, the Joint Conference of Surgical Colleges and the International Federation of Surgical Colleges. He was the recipient of the John Tomes medal of the British Dental Association, the McNeill Love medal of our College and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons medal. He served the Hunterian Collection as a trustee for 10 years. A skilled golfer, his other interests included music, painting, literature and writing humorous verse. He married Anne Weir Drummond in 1951 and they had three daughters, Clare, Emma and Lydia. He died on 23 April 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000082
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jackson, William (1790 - 1867)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-01-16 2014-08-15
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/372763372763
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied in Dublin and London. He lectured on midwifery and surgery at the Sheffield Medical School, and died in retirement at Sheffield on Sept 28th, 1867. See below for an amended version of the published obituary: William Jackson was a general surgeon in Sheffield, and a co-founder of the Sheffield Medical School, where he was a lecturer and professor of anatomy. He was born on 16 July 1790 in Hawkshead, Lancashire. His family had farmed for generations in the Bradfield area of Yorkshire. His father, Abraham, spent a period in the Lake District and returned to farming in Yorkshire; some of the family land was later sold to provide part of the site of Middlewood Hospital. His mother was Martha Jackson née Shaw. William attended Hawkshead Grammar School and, on arriving in Yorkshire, was apprenticed in 1805 to Charles Hawksley Webb, chief surgeon at the Sheffield General Infirmary. He later became a pupil at St George's Hospital, London, of Sir Everard Home, the King's Surgeon and fellow of the Royal Society. In October 1810, he set off on a journey to Dublin to train at Trinity College, Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Rotunda Hospital. He embarked on a ship from Liverpool but, in the course of the voyage, a severe storm developed and the ship was wrecked off the Welsh coast. Many lives were lost. William succeeded in swimming to shore and, undaunted, hired a post-chaise to take him to Holyhead, where he re-commenced his journey to Dublin. (A letter from William to his father describing this experience is in the possession of the family.) By 1812, he had returned to Sheffield and in that year became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He practised as a surgeon in the Sheffield area for over half a century; his obituary in the Sheffield newspapers said: 'It is the opinion of those who knew him best during the zenith of his career that there perhaps never was a man who was in all the departments of his art as a whole his superior; as a medical practitioner in sickness, an operator in surgery; and an obstetrician in its most serious aspects.' He was among the group of senior medical professionals who set up the Sheffield Medical School, initially known as the Sheffield Medical Institution. A meeting took place in Sheffield in February 1828, chaired by William Jackson, when a resolution (proposed by Arnold Knight) was agreed to establish the new Medical Institution with the purpose of 'the delivery of professional lectures, to be accompanied with scientific demonstrations and experiments on Surgery and Materia Medica'. William Jackson became one of the proprietors of this Institution from the beginning. These proprietors constituted the council, which governed the Institution, and the records of this council show that William Jackson often presided at meetings of the council. He lectured for many years - from the inception of the School onwards - on anatomy, surgery, physiology, midwifery, the diseases of women and forensic medicine. He became joint professor of anatomy, and was one of the English surgeons to be granted the national 'Licence to practise anatomy' in the first two years after the Anatomy Act of 1832. He was also elected president of the Sheffield Medical School on a number of occasions, up to the age of 74 in 1864. Another institution in which he played a role was the precursor of the Sheffield Royal Hospital - known initially as the Sheffield Dispensary - which William Jackson helped to found in 1832; he was a governor from the outset and a surgeon there. At national level, the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association (which later became the British Medical Association) was formed on 19 July 1832. William Jackson was elected by the Yorkshire branch on to the national council and he remained on the national council for a number of years. He was a vigorous member, speaking at several of its national conferences, and contributing professional papers. He published on subjects, including 'Cases of chickenpox', 'Foetal abnormalities', 'A difficult case of parturition', 'A case of malaena', 'A serious cyst in the pelvis', 'Rupture of the uterus', 'Cases illustrative of disease in the cerebellum', 'Cases of hydrophobia' and 'A case of abscess of the neck'. In December 1843, the Royal College of Surgeons of England elected him one of the original 300 fellows. William Jackson was the one of the main founders of the Sheffield General Cemetery; he was the chairman of the directors for many years. He indicated that the purpose had been 'that the town of Sheffield might be able to avoid the burial of the dead under such circumstances as to be frightfully injurious in its consequences to the health of the living in large towns'. He placed importance on involvement in local professional groups, including the Sheffield Medical Society, the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society (of which he was a founder member in 1828, the museum's curator and the president of the Society for eight years), and the Yorkshire Geological Society. He was described as having 'a large number of friends' and 'the esteem of a large number of his medical brethren'. It was said of him that 'strong bodily health, indomitable energy, and untiring industry, lent their substantial aid to success'. He showed compassion for the wretched conditions of many families in Sheffield at the time, and he wrote a series of strongly-argued letters to local newspapers about 'the miseries that I have witnessed and the severe impairment to the health of women caused by long-continued privations'. He married Louisa Smith and they had ten children. (His third son Edward (1827 to 1888) was a founder and a main surgeon at the Sheffield Hospital for Women, established in 1864.) William Jackson died on 28 September 1867 in Sheffield. Anthony Jackson
Resource Identifier RCS: E000580
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph (1791 - 1865)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-01-16
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/372764372764
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of William Pettigrew, whose ancestor, the Gowan Priest ‘Clerk Pettigrew’, is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in *Rob Roy*. The father was a Naval Surgeon who served in the *Victory* before the time of Nelson. Thomas was born in Fleet Street, London, on Oct 28th, 1791, and was educated at a private school in the City. He began to learn anatomy at 12, left school at 14, and after acting for two years as assistant to his father, the parish doctor, was apprenticed at the age of 16 to John Taunton, founder of the City of London Truss Society. He afterwards entered the United Borough Hospitals and acted as Demonstrator of Anatomy at the private medical school kept by his master - Taunton. He was elected a Fellow of the Medical Society of London in 1808, and was made one of the Secretaries in 1811 after a contest with Dr Birkbeck. In 1813 he was appointed registrar and took up his residence in the Society’s house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street. In 1808, as one of the founders of the City Philosophical Society, which met in Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, he gave the first lecture, choosing “Insanity” as his subject. In 1810 he helped to form the Philosophical Society of London and gave the inaugural address, “On the Objects of Science and Literature and the Advantages ensuing from the Establishment of Philosophical Societies”. In 1813 he was appointed, by the influence of Dr John Coakley Lettsom, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society, a post he resigned in 1820, after receiving in 1818 the Society’s medal for the restoration of a person who was apparently dead. In 1819, together with Chevalier Aldini of the Imperial University of Wilna, Pettigrew engaged in experiments at his house 22, Spring Gardens on the effects of galvanism in cases of suspended animation. He became known to the Duke of Kent whilst he was Secretary of the Humane Society, who made him successively Surgeon Extraordinary and Surgeon in Ordinary to himself and, after his marriage, Surgeon to his wife, the Duchess of Kent. In the latter capacity he vaccinated her daughter, afterwards Queen Victoria, the lymph being obtained from one of the grandchildren of Dr Lettsom. Shortly before his death the Duke recommended Pettigrew to his brother, the Duke of Sussex. The latter appointed him Surgeon and occupied him in cataloguing his library, which was housed in Kensington Palace. The first volume of the catalogue was published in two parts in 1827 with the title *Bibliotheca Sussexiana*. The second volume appeared in 1839. The undertaking was on too large a scale, the theological portion of the library alone was dealt with, and the catalogue remained unfinished when the books were sold in 1844 and 1845. The catalogue was well received. Pettigrew was honoured with the diploma of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Göttingen on Nov 7th, 1826. In 1816 Pettigrew became Surgeon to the Dispensary for the Treatment of Diseases of Children then newly founded in St Andrew’s Hill, Doctors’ Commons. The Dispensary afterwards developed into the Royal Hospital for Children and Women in the Waterloo Road. He resigned the office in 1819, when he was elected Surgeon to the Asylum for Female Orphans. In this year, too, he delivered the Annual Oration at the Medical Society, taking as his subject “Medical Jurisprudence”, and pointing out the neglected position occupied by forensic medicine in England. He moved from Bolt Court to Spring Gardens in 1818 and became connected with the West London Infirmary, which had been founded by Dr Benjamin Golding that year in St Martin’s Lane. The Infirmary was the immediate forerunner of the Charing Cross Hospital. Pettigrew was appointed the first Surgeon when the hospital was opened in 1822, and held office until 1836. He lectured on physiology from 1834-1836 and on anatomy from 1835-1836. He resigned his post of Surgeon and Lecturer in consequence of a quarrel with the Board of Management, and for some years afterwards he continued to practise in Savile Row, where he lived from 1825-1854. Pettigrew was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1827, and 1830 he took a leading part in securing the election of the Duke of Sussex as President on the retirement of Davies Gilbert. For many years before his death he was a prominent Freemason. Pettigrew’s love for antiquarian knowledge grew on him as he aged. His attention to the subject of embalming began in 1822, and in 1834 he published a work on the subject. When the British Archaeological Association was founded in 1843, he at once took a leading part in its management. He acted as Treasurer and was a Vice-President, and the town meetings were held at his house for some years. He married in 1811 and had twelve children, three sons and three daughters surviving him. One of his sons was William Vesalius (qv); a second, Frederick Webb, was admitted MRCS on June 3rd, 1845, but did not obtain the Fellowship of the College. He died on Nov 23rd, 1865, at his house, 16, Onslow Gardens, where he lived after the death of his wife in 1854. There is a steel engraving of Pettigrew, No 9, in the fourth volume of the *Medical Portrait Gallery*. The portrait in the College Collection is said to be a good likeness. PUBLICATIONS: *Views of the Base of the Brain and the Cranium*, 4to, London, 1809. *Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late John Coakley Lettsom, MD*, 3 vols, 8vo, London, 1817. *History of Egyptian Mummies and an Account of the Worship and Embalming of the Sacred Animals*, 4to, London, 1834. Biographies of physicians and surgeons in Rose’s *Biographical Dictionary* down to Claude Nicholas le Cat. To this work he contributed 540 articles. *Bibliotheca Sussexiana*. A descriptive Catalogue, accompanied by Historical and Biographical Notices, of the Manuscripts and Printed Books contained in the Library of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex in Kensington Palace, by Thos Joseph Pettigrew, vol i, part 1, finely illustrated with full-page illustrations and a portrait, comprising Burman Manuscripts, Singhalese Manuscripts, Arabic Manuscripts, English, Dutch, and Italian Manuscripts, Latin Manuscripts, Greek Manuscripts, etc, 2 vols in 8 parts, London: vol i, 1827; vol ii, 1839. *Memoir of John Cheyne*, 8vo, London, 1839. *The Medical Portrait Gallery*, 4 vols, 4to, London, 1840. *On Superstitions connected with the History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery*, 8vo, London, 1844. *Life of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson*, 2 vols, London, 1849. *An Historiall Expostulation… by John Halle*, edited for the Percy Society, 1844.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000581
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Makin, Myer (1919 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372506372506
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Myer Makin was professor of orthopaedics at Hadassah University, Jerusalem. He was born in Birkenhead in March 1919, the son of Leon Makin and Rebecca nee Goldman, furniture dealers. He studied medicine at Liverpool University and was house surgeon at Walter Municipal Hospital, Liverpool, before joining the RAMC. He was mentioned in despatches in 1945 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre in France. In 1946 he was appointed to the staff of the Rothschild Hadassah University Hospital. In the early 1950s he spent two years in New York, at the New York Orthopaedic Hospital, Columbia University, as a clinical fellow in orthopaedic surgery and then the senior Annie C Kane fellow. In 1952 he returned to Jerusalem, becoming director of the department of orthopaedic surgery in 1955. At the College he was a Hunterian Professor in 1957, and in the same year was the Lord Nuffield research scholar at Oxford. He was awarded the Robert Jones gold medal and prize of the British Orthopaedic Association in 1960. In 1965 he was made a Fellow of the College by election. He was a member of many prestigious associations, and was invited as visiting professor to the Albert Einstein Medical College and elsewhere. He was corresponding editor of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* in 1962 and of *Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research* in 1967. His method of transposing the flexor pollicis longus tendon to make the thumb opposable is widely used. He was declared a Distinguished Citizen of Israel in 1960. He died on 27 October 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000319
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Barwell, Richard (1827 - 1916)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372967372967
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Norwich of an old Norfolk family; entered St Thomas’s Hospital and was dresser to Joseph Henry Green in 1847, and later House Surgeon. During the cholera epidemic of July to September, 1849, he superintended the admission of cholera patients, and subsequently recorded his experiences. “Beyond all doubt,” he stated quite erroneously, “cholera spreads by an epidemic or atmospheric quality, and contagion has little or nothing to do with it. Hence there is nothing about the spread of cholera through pump water infected by sewage.” He acted as Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical School until 1855 when he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital. Among his seniors Hancock was the most distinguished. He lectured on comparative anatomy from 1856-1866, and on anatomy from 1866-1874, when he was appointed Lecturer on Surgery. In 1872 he became Surgeon to the hospital, and retired in 1888. His chief attention was devoted to orthopaedic surgery, on which he gained additional experience as Surgeon to the Homes for Crippled Boys and Girls. For the treatment of club-foot he advocated instrumental methods, and opposed the excessive adoption of tenotomy by the so-called subcutaneous surgery then prevailing. Scoliosis was at the time excessively common among girls and young women, and he elaborated a mass of devices, hardly needed at all now that girls prevent themselves from becoming the subjects of lateral curvature. Barwell wrote about antiseptic surgery, and whilst expressing appreciation of Lister’s methods, appears not to have adhered to the strictest Listerian precautions, at a time when there was no alternative way of performing an operation aseptically. Hence his recommendation to ligature the right common carotid and right subclavian artery on the distal side of an innominate aneurysm was not free from danger. Barwell used a strip of the aorta of an ox, first dried. This was a broad ligature, which when tightened round an artery did not divide the inner and middle coats. In that particular Barwell correctly anticipated the more careful aseptic procedure of Sir Charles Ballance. The danger of a septic ligation of the common carotid in its continuity was experienced when Barwell did this for a case of unilateral hypertrophy of the head and face; death followed from secondary haemorrhage. Later he described the case of a thoracic aneurysm, treated by electro-puncture, an even more hazardous way than distal ligation, of promoting intra-aneurysmal clot formation. Barwell was an enthusiastic skater at the Skating Club in the Toxophilite Gardens, Regent’s Park, and this, along with fishing, contributed to his hale old age. “No one would imagine that his trim figure and almost boyish step and carriage belonged to a man approaching 90 years of age”, said his obituary notice. His photograph is in the Fellows’ Album. After being for several years Senior Fellow of the College he died at Norwich on Dec 27th, 1916. He married Mary Diana Shuttleworth, of Preston, Lancashire; his son Harold Shuttleworth Barwell followed his father and took the FRCS diploma. Publications: *On Asiatic Cholera*, 1855. *On Aneurysm, Especially of the Thorax and Root of the Neck*, 1880; also in Ashhurst’s *Surgery*, iii. “Experience and Specimens of Ox Aorta Ligature.” – *Med.-Chir. Trans*., 1881, lxiv, 225. “Case of Unilateral Hypertrophy of the Head and Face.” [Specimen in Charing Cross Hospital Museum]. – *Pathol. Soc. Trans.*, 1881, xxxii, 282. *On the Cure of Club Foot without Cutting Tendons, and on Certain New Methods of Treating other Deformities*, 1863, 1865. *Lateral Curvature of the Spine*, 1868, 1877, 1895, 1905. The 4th and 5th editions contain a description of the scoliosis gauge for obtaining a precise measurement of all deviations. *Diseases of Joints*, 1861, 1881; also in Ashhurst’s *Surgery*, iv. An edition appeared in Philadelphia in 1861 and in New York in 1881. “Case of Thoracic Aneurysm Treated by Electro-puncture.” – *Lancet*, 1886, i, 1058.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000784
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Mayo, William James (1861 - 1939)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-11
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372648372648
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Le Sueur, Minnesota on 29 June 1861, the elder son of William Worrall Mayo and Louise Abigail Wright, his wife. The younger son Charles Horace Mayo was also an Honorary FRCS. For an account of W W Mayo, their father, see the life of C H Mayo, above. William J Mayo, was educated at the Rochester High School and at Niles Academy, working in a local drug store during the vacations. When a tornado struck Rochester in 1883, W Worrall Mayo was appointed to take charge of an improvized hospital and a number of Sisters of St Francis worked with him to help the wounded. The Mother Superior proposed to build a permanent hospital in memory of the catastrophe, provided sufficient money for the purpose and nominated Mayo to take charge of it. The hospital was opened in 1889 under the name of St Mary's Hospital with thirteen patients. It was always the rule that each patient paid according to his means, that fees would not be required from charitable organizations, and that the patient's promise to pay was a sufficient guarantee. The institution quickly became known, first as the Mayo Clinic, later (1915) as the Mayo Foundation. The Mayo brothers gave $1,500,000, and on making the endowment William Mayo, speaking also for his brother, said “We never regarded the money as ours; it came from the people, and we believe it should go back to the people.” The two brothers worked throughout in the utmost harmony and to the end of their lives had a common pocket book in which each wanted the other to have the greater share. Both had the essential attribute of a true gentleman, consideration for others. At first neither brother specialized in surgery; later William was the more inclined to operate upon the abdomen, Charles upon the head and neck. Of the two “Willie” was the better administrator, “Charlie” the more original. Both were simple in their lives and actions, both were humble-minded in spite of their great success in life, and both were witty, each in his own way. During the war William, who had received a commission as a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps in 1913, was promoted major in 1917 and later colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps. During 1917-19 he was chief consultant for the Medical Service; he was appointed colonel, Medical Reserve Corps in 1920 and brigadier-general in 1921. A regent of the University of Minnesota since 1907, William Mayo was president of the Minnesota State Medical Society in 1895, president of the American Medical Association 1905-06, president of the Society of Clinical Surgery 1911-12, president of the American Surgical Association 1913-14, president of the American College of Surgeons 1917-19, and president of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons 1925. In 1919 he was awarded a gold medal by the National Institution of Social Sciences for his services to mankind. In 1933 he received a special award from the University of Minnesota in recognition of his distinguished services in the furtherance of scientific studies. He married Hattie M Daman of Rochester, Minnesota. She survived, him with two daughters: Mrs Waltman Walters, wife of a director of the Mayo Clinic, and Mrs Donald C Balfour, wife of the director of the Mayo Foundation. He died in his sleep at Rochester, Minnesota, on 28 July 1939, after suffering from a sub-acute perforating ulcer of the stomach, for the relief of which he had been operated upon in the previous April.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000464
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rumsey, Henry Wyldbore (1809 - 1876)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-11 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372649372649
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Chesham, Buckinghamshire, on July 3rd, 1809, the eldest son of Henry Nathaniel Rumsey, a surgeon, by his wife, Elizabeth Frances Catherine, second daughter of Sir Robert Murray, Bart, whom he had married late in life. His grandfather, the youngest son of an old Welsh family, had settled and practised in Chesham from the middle of the eighteenth century. Rumsey's father had taken shorthand notes of John Hunter's lectures in 1786 and 1787. His notes were printed by James F Palmer in his edition of Hunter's works, who says of them, "one might almost suppose that the writer had had access to the Hunterian manuscript: for besides being generally more full, it never omits examples and illustrations in proof of opinions. The style too is characteristically Hunterian." Rumsey received a desultory education, one of his tutors being the Rev Joseph Bosworth, DD (1789-1876), the eminent Anglo-Saxon scholar. He was apprenticed at the age of 16 to Dr Attenburrow at the Nottingham Hospital, and afterwards became a house pupil of Caesar Hawkins (q.v.), Surgeon to St George's Hospital. In 1831 he was Resident Physician for three months to Lord Dillon at Ditchley, in Oxfordshire, after which he returned to Chesham and took over the family practice. Three years later he went to Gloucester, where he remained for twelve years, acting as Surgeon to the Dispensary, and being appointed Cholera Inspector in 1849. Having overworked himself in this office, he retired to Cheltenham, and from 1851 built up a large practice by his delicate generosity, untiring industry, his suavity, and his kind-heartedness. He got into financial difficulties towards the close of his life owing to the failure of *The European*, and his friends - Dr William Farr being Chairman of the fund - presented him in 1876 with a handsome sum of money, a service of silver plate, and obtained for him a Civil List pension of £100 a year. He died at Prestbury, near Cheltenham, on Oct 23rd, 1876. Rumsey was one of the leading sanitarians of his generation. Lacking the science, philosophic insight, organizing power, and literary genius of Sir John Simon, and the masterly command of statistics possessed by Dr William Farr, he was none the less a great man. In 1835, after having devoted much attention to the establishment of provident societies among the working classes, he commenced his labours as Hon Secretary of the Sick Poor Committee of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association - labours which were continued for ten years. He furnished materials for a series of Reports, on which was founded a Bill, introduced into the House of Commons in 1840 by Mr Serjeant Talfourd, for the better regulation of Medical Relief under the Poor Law. This led to his being examined, first in 1838 by the Poor Law Committee of the House of Commons, and again in 1844 by Lord Ashley's Select Committee on Medical Poor Relief, when he submitted a mass of evidence, collected with much labour, relating to the sickness prevalent among the poor in towns, and forcibly showing the need of preventive measures, under the superintendence and control of a General Department of Public Health. The results of these investigations, and of his previous inquiries into the working of the so-called self-supporting Dispensaries, were embodied in two pamphlets, one published in 1837, on *The Advantages to the Poor of Mutual Assurance against Sickness*, the other in 1846, in connection with Lord Lincoln's Public Health Bill and Sir James Graham's Bill for the Regulation of the Medical Profession, on *The Health and Sickness of Town Populations*. After the publication in 1836 of his paper on the "Statistics of Friendly Societies", with suggestions and forms for an improved Registration of Sickness in connection with them, Rumsey on many occasions, either singly in papers of remarkable ability, or in co-operation with others, pointed out with much clearness and force certain "Fallacies of Vital and Sanitary Statistics", and the difficulty of drawing correct conclusions regarding the Public Health from returns of mortality, apart from records of sickness. In 1848, in his "Remarks on the Constitution of the Authorities under the Public Health Bill", then before Parliament, he anticipated and indicated with great precision the defects - many of which had remained unremedied - of that important measure. The same high intelligence and remarkable mental activity and acuteness were conspicuously manifested by him in the prominent part he took in all the subsequent phases of sanitary legislation, and in the valuable evidence given by him before the Royal Sanitary Commission in 1869. He was consulted in 1849 by the authorities of the Colony of St Christopher's, and in 1850 by the nascent Colony of New Zealand, on their sanitary schemes. His merits and public services were repeatedly recognized. In 1863, by the advice of the Privy Council, he was nominated by the Queen a Member of the General Medical Council; in 1868 and 1869 he was nominated a Member of the Royal Sanitary Commission. It was mainly under Rumsey's guidance, and largely at his instigation, that the British Medical Association procured the appointment of the Royal Sanitary Commission, whence has sprung the improved sanitary legislation of our days; and he will be remembered among the band of workers - Farr, Simon, Stewart, Michael, Acland, Stokes, Clode, and Chadwick - who have placed the health of the people upon a new and surer footing. He died at the beginning of November, 1876, and at the time of his death was an honorary member of the Metropolitan Association of Health Officers and a Fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society. Rumsey's best-known book, which for many years was the only work on the subject, was his *Essays on State Medicine* (8vo, London, 1856). To attempt to write his full bibliography would be useless in any short notice of his life, but the following remarks by his able biographer in the *British Medical Journal* may be taken as covering most of the ground: "The very numerous and able papers presented by him...to the British, the Social Science, and the British Medical Associations, and to the Manchester Statistical Society, or published either separately or in various reviews, form a record of unwearied literary and philanthropic activity such as not many public men can boast of. Amongst the most important of these, not already adverted to, are his Address on Sanitary Legislation and Administration read at the first Meeting of the Social Science Association in 1857; Public Health, the right use of Records founded on Local Facts, in 1860; A Proposal for the Institution of Degrees or Certificates of Qualification in State Medicine, in 1865; Comments on the Sanitary Act, in 1866; an Address on State Medicine, delivered at the Dublin Meeting of the British Medical Association in 1867, and followed by the formation of the Joint Committee of the British Medical and Social Science Associations, which applied for and obtained from Her Majesty's Government the appointment of the Royal Sanitary Commission in 1868. On Population Statistics, with reference to a County Organization for Sanitary Administration, in 1870; and a paper on The State Medicine Qualification, which was read before the London Meeting of the British Medical Association in 1873, and led to the appointment of a Committee for the promotion of legislation on that subject."
Resource Identifier RCS: E000465
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Seager, Charles Dagge (1779 - 1844)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Percival, William ( - 1849)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Norman, George (1783 - 1861)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372653372653
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of a surgeon in good practice in Bath. After a short stay in London he returned to Bath and began professional life as his father’s assistant in the year 1801. On the death of an elder brother, a surgeon, he began to practise on his own account. In 1817 he succeeded his father as surgeon to the Casualty Hospital, and in 1826 was the first surgeon appointed to the Bath United Hospital, then newly formed by the Union of the Casualty Hospital and the City Dispensary. He continued to hold office till 1857, discharging his duties with the utmost attention. This long period of service was the more honourable to him because, during the greater part of it, from the wide extent of his private practise, the calls upon his time were so incessant that his gratuitous labours must have entailed upon him sacrifices which few are found willing to make. In his private practice he took the highest position in Bath, and while he was at his zenith his practice probably exceeded that of any other provincial surgeon. For a long period his receipts verged upon, if they did not exceed, £4,000 a year. On his retirement from the hospital he was at once made one of its Vice-Presidents, and his bust, executed in marble by the then popular sculptor Behnes, was set up in the hall of the institution. After this honour had been paid him the working men of Bath presented him with a handsome testimonial to mark their sense of his services to the public. His professional character stood very high, and he has been described as the very type of an English gentleman – simple, unaffected, perfectly self-possessed. In politics he was a strong Liberal and was an active politician. For forty years he was a member of the Bath Corporation and twice Mayor of the City. He was also Deputy Lieutenant of the County. At the time of his death he was Consulting Surgeon to the United Hospital, Surgeon to the Puerperal Charity, Vice-President of the British Medical Association, and Fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society. He died of pleuropneumonia after a few days’ illness on Jan 17th, 1861, at his residence, 1 Circus, Bath. Norman contributed three papers to the *Medico-Chirurgical Transactions*, of which the first (1819, x, 94) on aneurysm, contains the history of two hospital patients in whom he had successfully tied the external iliac artery. In a second paper (1837, xx, 301) he described the dissection, twenty years afterwards, of one of these men. In a third paper (1827, xii, 348) he describes a remarkable case of extra-uterine foetation, which, in the ninth month of pregnancy, the foetus was extracted by means of an incision through the posterior wall of the vagina. He communicated also some three or four other papers, dealing with remarkable cases, to the Bath and Bristol Branch of the British Medical Association. A numerous and valuable series of preparations made by him for the Museum of the United Hospital, of which they constituted the first nucleus, must not be omitted form the list of his scientific labours. A fine mezzotint portrait of Norman is in the Young Collection (No 59). It was published by Henry Benham on Oct 16th, 1840, and is engraved after the painting by W O Geller. It represents a seated figure in the typical professional costume of the period.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000469
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Kidd, Thomas (1777 - 1849)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372598372598
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Aug 25th, 1777. He was Regimental Mate in the 49th Foot from June 17th, 1796, to Jan 23rd, 1797, and Surgeon's Mate on the Hospital Staff, not attached to a regiment, from Jan 24th to April 5th, 1797. He was gazetted Assistant Surgeon to the 13th Regiment of Foot on April 6th, 1797, was transferred to the 14th Dragoons on March 15th, 1799, and became Surgeon to the 4th Battalion of the 60th Foot on April 25th, being transferred to the 63rd Foot on July 25th. He became Staff Surgeon on Aug 27th, 1803, and Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, afterwards Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals (Brevet), on July 17th, 1817. The last-mentioned grade was abolished from 1804-1830, but the rank Deputy Inspector-General (Brevet) seems to have been conferred during that period. Kidd was again gazetted Deputy Inspector-General on Jan 27th, 1837, and became Inspector-General of Hospitals on Dec 16th, 1845, on which date he retired on half pay. He had served in the Peninsular War in 1810-1813, and had devoted his life to the service of his country in various parts of the globe, being stationed at one time at Corfu. He was held in high esteem by his brother officers. He died from bronchitis after a few hours’ illness on Dec 24th, 1849.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000414
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Carpue, Joseph Constantine (1764 - 1846)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18 2016-04-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372599372599
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on May 4th, 1764, at Brook Green, the son of a gentleman of small fortune descended from a Spanish family. As a Roman Catholic he was educated at the Jesuits' College, Douai, being at first intended for the Church. At the age of 18, before the Revolution, he travelled about France on foot, saw Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the dinner table with Philip Egalité, Duke of Orleans, waiting on them. Later, in Paris, he listened to the declamations of Danton, Marat, and Robespierre. This was the beginning of what he continued through life, journeying on foot through Wales and the Highlands of Scotland with Sharon Turner the historian, also through Holland, Italy, Germany, and even, in 1843, the Tyrol. After the Church Carpue next thought about becoming a bookseller in succession to an uncle Lewis in Great Russell Street; then his admiration for Shakespeare turned his thoughts towards the stage, and up to the time of his death he continued to advocate the erection of a colossal iron statue of Shakespeare at the mouth of the Thames. Finally, fixing on surgery, he studied at St George's Hospital under Keate and George Pearson. On qualifying as a surgeon he was appointed Staff Surgeon to the Duke of York's Hospital, Chelsea, in 1799, and, through Pearson, became an ardent vaccinator. The former post he resigned Oct 1st, 1807, because he declined to go on foreign service, but he continued Surgeon to the National Vaccine Institution until his death. At the Duke of York's Hospital he held classes in anatomy with a fee of 20 guineas for the course, and had for years an overflowing attendance. He delivered three courses of daily lectures during the year without intermission except for a few days in summer. He also gave lectures on surgery twice a week in the evening. A strange occurrence happened in 1800. West, President of the Royal Academy, Sir Joseph Banks, and Cosway, agreeing that the classical representation of the Crucifixion was unsatisfactory, called upon Carpue. A murderer was about to be executed. Keate, Master of the College of Surgeons, gave permission. A structure was erected, including a cross, near the place of execution. The executed murderer, whilst still warm, was nailed on the cross, the cross suspended, and after the body had fallen into position, a cast was taken under the direction of Banks. The cast was removed to Carpue's anatomy theatre, and in 1843 was still in existence in the studio of Behnes. In connection with his anatomy teaching Carpue published a *Description of the Muscles of the Human Body*. He took up medical electricity, had a fine plate machine in his dining-room and made many experimental researches, including that on himself for the relief of lumbago, by passing the current through his loins. He published a book on the subject in 1803. On the occasion of the illness of Princess Amelia, at Worthing, Carpue was introduced to the Prince Regent, who talked with him on medical subjects, as he did later when king. Hence, when Carpue published his *Account of Two Successful Operations for Restoring a Lost Nose*, in December, 1815, he dedicated it to the Prince Regent. Carpue began with an historical account of the Tagliacotian operation by tracing the first description of the operation to the Sicilian surgeon Branca in 1442. Tagliacozzi (1546-1599) first noted his operation in his *Epistola ad Hieronymum Mercurialem de Naribus multo ante abscissis reficiendis*, 1587. He described it more fully in *De Curtorum Chirurgia per Insitionem*, libri duo, 1597, which included the well-known engraving of an arm attached to the nose by a flap of skin. Outside Italy the only reported case subsequently had been that by Griffon, of Lausanne, in 1590, mentioned by Fabricius Hildanus. The operation had been popularly confused with transplantation of skin, particularly from the buttock of a donor. Butler, in the 1st canto of his *Hudibras*, had mixed up this transplantation of skin with the superstition about sympathy. The nose restored from the donor's buttock, Butler's 'parent breech', was said to disappear on the death of Nock, the donor, the portion of the donor's spirit, or numen, having to rejoin that of its parent breech, alias Nock- "When the date of Nock was out, Off dropped the sympathetic snout." What had occurred in several instances was healing by first intention when a cut-off nose had been sutured into place at once. Carpue entered upon a long disquisition concerning healing by first intention, and mentioned more or less veracious instances. Yet owing to cold or other causes, a restored nose might shrivel up or slough off. Carpue's attention had been attracted to the description of the Indian method in the *Gentleman's Magazine*, 1794, given by two English surgeons, Thomas Cruso and James Findlay. It was also described in Pennant's *View of Hindoostan*, 1798, ii, 237, as a procedure practised from time immemorial by the caste of the Koomas - potters and brickmakers. His first case was that of an officer the tip of whose nose had sloughed in 1809, not so much the result of syphilis as from the excessive administrations of mercury for hepatitis. There are four plates in illustration of the operation and result. The second case was that of an officer the tip of whose nose had been cut off at the Battle of Albuera, in 1810; Plate V illustrates the deformity and the result of the operation. In both instances an exceedingly good result was obtained considering the surgery of the time. In 1819 Carpue published a *History of Suprapubic Lithotomy*, giving a history of other methods, without adding anything from his own experience, but the book is a useful compendium. Carpue saw the operation performed in Paris by Soubervielle. Franco had pushed up the calculus in a boy's bladder; John Douglas and Cheselden injected water to distend the bladder. In either procedure the fold of peritoneum was likely to be raised. But Frère Côme introduced his sonde-à-dard, by an incision in the perineum, to push forward the wall of the bladder after he had emptied it of urine. Consequently a perforation of the fold of peritoneum was likely. Either this accident, or the over-distension of the bladder causing rupture, was the reason why the operation failed. Suprapubic lithotomy was resuscitated by Carson, who showed that the fold of peritoneum was raised when the rectum was inflated; by Petersen, of Kiel, who carefully distended the bladder; and by the method of Sir Henry Thompson in pushing up the exposed fold bluntly with the fingers. Carpue was also Surgeon to the St Pancras Infirmary, and after seeing at Greenwich Hospital multiple punctures made into inflamed areas, he adopted the practice. It was especially through Sir Joseph Banks that Carpue was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. At the College of Surgeons he was one of the original Fellows but was not elected to the Council. Although successful at first in attracting a large anatomical class, private medical schools died out as the staff of the great hospitals set themselves to give medical instruction systematically and ceased to take private pupils. J F South, although he allowed that Carpue was a very good anatomist, depreciated him for holding private classes. Soon after the opening of the railways to Brighton, Carpue in travelling there put his two daughters in a first-class carriage, whilst he himself with two servants travelled in an open car. A collision occurred which threw him and his servants out upon the line. One of the servants was killed, and Carpue sustained severe contusions. After a tedious process at law he obtained a verdict for damages in the sum of £250, most of which had already been spent in costs. He did not recover, suffered from increasing bronchitis, and died on Jan 30th, 1846. His portrait, as well as a marble bust, was presented to St George's Hospital by his daughter, Miss Emma Carpue, who left St George's Hospital £6,500 and £1000 to the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men. Carpue is described as a tall, ungainly, good-tempered, grey-haired man who wore an ill-fitting suit of black relieved by an enormous white kerchief which encircled his neck like a roller towel. He was a facile draughtsman on the blackboard and thus earned the name of 'the chalk lecturer'. Each pupil was made to repeat after him and in identical words the description of the bone or organ which he had just given. Tom Hood alludes to Carpue in his "Pathetic Ballad of Mary's Ghost":- "I can't tell where my head is gone, But Dr Carpue can. As for my trunk, it's all packed up To go by Pickford's van." Publications:- "Cast of Crucifixion," from an unpublished MS in Carpue's handwriting. - *Lancet*, 1846, I, 167. *Description of the Muscles of the Human Body*, London, 1801. *An Introduction to Electricity and Galvanism, with Cases showing their Effects in the Cure of Disease*, London, 1803. *An Account of Two Successful Operations for Restoring a Lost Nose from the Integuments of the Forehead in the Cases of Two Officers of His Majesty's Army*, to which are prefixed historical and physiological remarks on the nasal operation, including descriptions of the Indian and Italian methods, with engravings by Charles Turner, London, 1818, translated into German, Berlin, 1817. *A History of the High Operation for the Stone by Incision above the Pubes* (with observations on the advantage attending it, and an account of the various methods of Lithotomy from the earliest periods to the present time), London, 1819.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000415
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bancroft-Livingston, George Henry (1920 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Barros D'Sa, Aires Agnelo Barnabé (1939 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-08 2014-07-18
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372601372601
Occupation Trauma surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Aires Barros D'Sa was a pioneering vascular and trauma surgeon in Belfast. He was born in 1939 in Nairobi, Kenya, into a Goan family. His father, Inaçio Francisco Purifcação Saúde D'Sa, was a civil servant. His mother was Maria Eslina Inês Barros. Aires grew up in Kenya and was educated at Duke of Gloucester School. He originally intended to study medicine in Bombay, but his plans changed following the Indian blockade of Goa, which heralded the end of Portuguese rule there. He went to Queen's University, Belfast, instead, on a scholarship, as one of only a handful of overseas students. He held a succession of junior posts across Northern Ireland, including at the Royal Victoria, Belfast City, Ulster and Lurgan hospitals. From 1975 to 1977 he was a senior registrar at the Royal Victoria Hospital, and then spent a year at Providence Medical Center, Seattle. In 1978 he was appointed as a consultant vascular surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital. He quickly stood out for his charm, warmth and humour, thirst for knowledge and superb clinical acumen. A loyal champion for his nurses and junior staff, he fought continually to ensure the best resources for them and for his patients, and had scant patience with red tape. He expected his own high standards to be met: lazy, incompetent staff were not tolerated and rude patients found terrorising nurses were simply wheeled off the ward, not to be readmitted. The Troubles in Northern Ireland reached their height in the 1970s and the Royal Victoria Hospital received the majority of victims. Many required treatment for horrific bomb blast, shrapnel and gunshot injuries. During this time, Aires gained an international reputation for his pioneering use of shunts in the management of complex limb vascular injuries. His surgical technique was unparalleled - his mentor, Sinclair Irwin, said Aires had the 'best hands' he had ever seen - and, aligned with his courage, stamina and coolness under pressure, he undoubtedly saved many lives and limbs. While Aires, along with colleagues, applied impeccable standards of care to all patients, he despised terrorists and had no time for extremists from either side. In recognition of his pioneering work in vascular trauma he was appointed Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1979. Over the next decades he travelled extensively as an invited lecturer, notably in 1983, when he was elected by the James IV Association of Surgeons to represent the British Isles as the 77th James IV Surgical Traveller to North America, Australia and South East Asia. Aires recognised clear advantages in developing vascular surgery as a distinct specialty. In 1978 he initiated the establishment of a dedicated regional vascular surgery unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital, only the third of its kind in the UK, and in 1979 instituted a clinical vascular lab. In 1996 he established a registry for vascular surgical patients in Northern Ireland, among the UK's earliest regional databases. It is still in use today. Despite increasing national and international commitments, Aires retained a love of teaching. Students learned from his expertise, not least his exceptional care and thoughtfulness towards patients in pain and anticipating major surgery. As a lecturer, his excellent knowledge of anatomy and dynamic delivery enlivened the driest subjects. Often he would arrive early for lectures and cover the blackboards with superb anatomical drawings. He designed crests for the Ulster Surgical Club and the Joint Vascular Research Group, one of five national and European societies of which he was a founding member. Hugely committed to vascular research, he published extensively, in particular on vascular trauma. He authored and edited three books, including *Emergency vascular and endovascular surgical practice* (London, Hodder Arnold, 2005). He sat on the editorial board of several vascular journals and was a reviewer on many more. The latter years of Aires' career brought many accolades. In 1999 he was made honorary professor of vascular surgery (personal chair) at Queen's University, and in 2000, in recognition of his services to the specialty, he was awarded an OBE. The following year he was president of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and hosted the annual conference in Belfast. In 2003 he became Deputy Lieutenant of County Borough of Belfast, and in 2005 the Royal Victoria Hospital honoured him by naming the laboratory he had founded 'The Barros D'Sa Clinical Vascular Laboratory'. Health problems prompted his premature retirement in 2001. His final operation was on a young man from South Africa with a large carotid body tumour. A recognised expert in this difficult field of surgery, Aires had one of the largest case series in Europe. He arranged a special weekend slot and successfully removed the tumour after eight hours of surgery. Aires was a true gentleman, a generous friend with an infectious joie de vivre, and a legendary host. His interests spanned politics, literature and the arts; he was an orchestra patron, an environmentalist, and a keen supporter of Irish rugby. Travel remained his foremost love; he and Libby had several global excursions planned for their retirement years. Above all, he was a passionate family man and believed that his life's greatest achievement was raising his four daughters. In his final year, the arrival of a grandson brought him enormous joy. Aires Barros D'Sa died on 29 January 2007 from bronchopneumonia a week after having cardiac surgery. He was 67. He was survived by his wife Libby, a retired anaesthetist, daughters Vivienne, Lisa, Miranda and Angelina, and grandson Tom Barnabé. Lisa Barros D'Sa Paul Blair
Resource Identifier RCS: E000417
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ainslie, Derek (1919 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-08 2009-02-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372602372602
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details Derek Ainslie was an ophthalmologist and a pioneer in the development of vision corrective surgery. He was born in Hereford on 19 September 1919, the third child and second son of Janet (née Rogers) and William Ainslie, a surgeon and a fellow of the Edinburgh College. Derek Ainslie was educated at Hereford Cathedral Preparatory School, Sherborne and Clare College, Cambridge, going on to complete his clinical training at the Middlesex Hospital. He subsequently joined the RAMC and was en route to the Far East when the war ended. He remained in the Army, working in Africa until 1948 and reaching the rank of major. He underwent training in ophthalmology at Birmingham Eye Hospital, the Middlesex Hospital, and as senior resident officer at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Soon after completing his training he was appointed consultant ophthalmologist to the Middlesex and Moorfields Eye hospitals, in 1962. His work in ophthalmology was remarkable: he was a pioneer in corneal refractive surgery, using a microkeratome and surgical cryolathe. He worked closely in parallel with José Barraquer, a Spanish surgeon, in what was then a contentious field of work, but which has developed into the laser refractive surgery of today. Derek wrote extensively on the use of antibiotics in ophthalmology, corneal grafting and refractive keratoplasty. Sadly his work was interrupted in 1975 with the onset of a severe illness compounded by deteriorating vision from glaucoma. He retired prematurely at the age of 55. He examined for the diploma in ophthalmology and was a member of the Court of Examiners for the FRCS in ophthalmology. He was an adviser to the Merchant Navy from 1953 to 1963, and ophthalmic surgeon to Chorleywood College for Girls, a school for the partially sighted and blind. He married Robina Susan Lock in 1960, a medical practitioner. They had one son and two daughters. He had a wide interest in music, was a keen salmon and trout fisherman, and an ardent supporter of Arsenal Football Club. He died on 1 August 2006, and is survived by his third wife, Diana, children and grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000418
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Crawford, Bernard Searle (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Dholakia, Kandarp T (1921 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Ellis, James Stokes (1912 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-08 2009-01-16
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372605372605
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Jim Ellis was professor of orthopaedic and accident surgery at the University of Southampton. He was born on 13 April 1912 in Selborne, Hampshire, the son of Frank Stokes Ellis, a wine merchant who went on to serve in the First World War with the Royal Fusiliers, and Ada née Parkes, whose family were jewellers in London. Ellis was educated at Eastbourne Preparatory School and then Charterhouse, where he decided to become a doctor. He went on to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he met Monica Verdon-Roe, then at Girton. After a five-year engagement the couple eventually married in 1938. After Cambridge, Ellis went to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, qualifying in 1937. Two years later he gained his FRCS, and the Cambridge MChir in 1941. After qualifying he worked in the casualty department at St Thomas’, as Bernard Maybury’s house surgeon. He was then appointed to the senior casualty post and, at the outbreak of the Second World War, was surgical registrar to W H C Romanis. During the war he was in the Emergency Medical Service, first on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, as a general surgeon. He then attended Watson-Jones’ first trauma course in Liverpool, and was sent to Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, in charge of what was later to become the orthopaedic department under V H Ellis from St Mary’s Hospital. In 1946 he transferred to the Army, as a major in the RAMC, in charge of the orthopaedic department at the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot. In 1948, Jim was a member of the first group of ABC (American-British-Canadian) Travelling Fellows, visiting North America. He retained his links with his North American colleagues, and was often host to United States and Canadian doctors. He returned to the UK, as chief assistant to the orthopaedic department at St Thomas’ under George Perkins. In 1950 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Winchester and Southampton group of hospitals. In 1968 he began to work part-time for the Wessex Regional Hospital Board, first as director of postgraduate studies and later also as chairmen of the board’s medical advisory committee. When the new medical school at Southampton was opened he became the first professor of orthopaedic and accident surgery in 1971. He retired in 1976. Ellis became a member of the editorial board of the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* in 1964 and completed two four-year terms of office. From 1970 to 1971, he was president of the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine, and was later chairman of the orthopaedic higher surgical training committee of the College and vice president of the British Orthopaedic Association (1975 to 1976). His main professional interest was in the surgery of the hand, and he was a member of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand. He was an examiner for Liverpool and Edinburgh universities and visited Iraq in 1973 and South Africa in 1976. Since childhood, Ellis had been fascinated by the theatre, with all aspects of costume and staging, as well as performance. His early memories included attending performances at Eastbourne’s Variety Theatre with his father. As a student at St Thomas’ he played in the hospital’s Christmas shows for five years before the war and then again ten years later, in the late 1940s. His performances were legendary and he might have pursued a successful stage career had he not chosen medicine. After becoming a consultant he performed in the local village drama group in Hampshire, in the annual pantomime, but also in plays and play readings. While he wrote outstanding music and lyrics for the pantomime, he himself would play the dame. These performances were superb and, with his exceptional comic talent and timing, he was able to reduce audiences to helpless laughter night after night. His last work in the theatre was directing *The Boy Friend* for the Winchester Amateur Dramatic Society, put on at the newly re-launched Theatre Royal Winchester. In retirement, Ellis and his wife went regularly to the theatre, to Chichester, Southampton and Salisbury, and, while on breaks to London, saw two plays a day for two or three days, keeping up with the latest performances. He was also interested in architecture, archaeology and, in earlier years, gardening. Ellis and his wife lived in a large early 19th century house near Otterbourne for 20 years, where they brought up their family of three children, two of whom survive him. They also had a holiday home at Welcombe, in north Devon, which they bought in the 1960s. Always adept with his hands, Ellis gradually modernised the cottage, undertaking all the plumbing and electrical work himself. Jim’s eyesight became increasingly compromised by macular degeneration, which he suffered without complaint. Monica died after a short illness in 2001. Jim continued to live alone in their house in Otterbourne village for a further two years, helped by a team of carers. He finally moved to a nursing home for the last years of his life, where he died on 3 May 2007, just after his 95th birthday.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000421
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Lowbury, Edward Joseph Lister (1913 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372606372606
Occupation Bacteriologist Poet
Details Edward Lowbury was an expert on hospital infection and also a distinguished writer and poet. He was born in London on 6 December 1913, the son of Benjamin William Lowbury, a general practitioner and a great admirer of Joseph Lister, after whom Lowbury was named. His mother, Alice Sarah Hallé, was a member of the family of the founder of the celebrated orchestra. He was educated at St Paul’s School, London, from which a leaving exhibition took him to University College, Oxford, where he won the War Memorial medical scholarship. He read for the honours school in physiology under Sherrington, Le Gros Clark and Howard Florey, and then went up to the London Hospital Medical College, where his teachers included Russell Brain and Donald Hunter. After qualifying he completed house jobs at the London and LCC sector hospitals, before training as a bacteriologist at the Emergency Public Health Laboratory Service in Cambridge. In 1943 he joined the RAMC as a specialist in pathology with the rank of major, and served in the UK and East Africa. Whilst in Kenya he took a particular interest in witch- doctoring and folk medicine. He returned to join the staff of the Medical Research Council, was a bacteriologist at the Common Cold Unit for three years, and then, in 1949, went to the MRC Burns Unit at the Birmingham Accident Hospital as head of bacteriology. Here he set up the Hospital Infection Research Laboratory, Dudley Road Hospital. He was also senior clinical lecturer in the pathology department of the University of Birmingham. During this period Lowbury confirmed Coleman’s suggestion that closed ventilated burns dressing rooms would reduce air-borne infection, a discovery that was to be applied widely, especially in orthopaedics, where, together with Owen Lidwell and others, he organised a huge MRC controlled trial in joint replacement surgery. He was especially interested in the mechanism and prevention of antibiotics resistance, and discovered the plasmid in pseudomonas aeruginosa that renders it resistant to carbenicillin and other antibiotics. He developed tests to measure the efficacy of hand disinfection, and chaired the MRC subcommittee that published the seminal *Aseptic methods in the operating suite* (1968). He wrote over 200 papers, chapters and articles, and, among his books, *Drug resistance in antimicrobial therapy* (Springfield, Illinois, Thomas, c1974) and *Control of hospital infection: a practical handbook* (London, Chapman and Hall, 1975). He retired from medicine in 1979, but continued to work, travelling the world to lecture. He was the recipient of many honours and awards, but, as a published poet, perhaps the distinction he prized most was that of being the John Keats memorial lecturer in 1973, jointly with Guy’s Hospital, our College and the Society of Apothecaries. He had won the prestigious Newdigate prize at Oxford as an undergraduate, published 14 volumes of poetry, and edited *Apollo, an anthology of poems by doctor poets* (London, Keynes, 1990). His notebook had ideas for poems at one end and for medical ideas at the other. They met in the middle, he said, for mutual enlightenment. Short, slim, quietly spoken, Lowbury had enduring love of steam-engines, whose noises he could imitate perfectly. He married Alison Young, with whom he was to write biographies of the poet and physician Thomas Campion (*Thomas Campion: poet, composer, physician*, London, Chatto and Windus, 1970) and his father-in-law, the poet Andrew Young (*To shirk no idleness: a critical biography of the poet Andrew Young*, Salzburg/Oxford, University of Salzburg Press, 1997). Alison was a professional pianist, and together they founded the Birmingham Chamber Music Society. He developed glaucoma, went blind, and after his wife died in 2001, he went into a nursing home. He died on 10 July 2007, leaving three daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000422
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Maiman, Theodore Harold (1927 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Pinker, Sir George Douglas (1924 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Kemp, Hubert Bond Stafford (1925 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-02-01
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372514372514
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Hubert Bond Stafford Kemp, known as ‘Hugh’, was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), Stanmore. Born on 25 March 1925, the son of John Stafford Kemp and Cecilia Isabel née Bond, he was educated at Cardiff High School, the University of South Wales and St Thomas’ Hospital. After various junior appointments, he received his orthopaedic training at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford and was appointed senior lecturer at the Institute of Orthopaedics at the RNOH in 1965 with honorary consultant status. In 1974 he relinquished the senior lectureship to become a full consultant at the RNOH, a post he held until his retirement in 1992. With the incorporation of the RNOH into the Bloomsbury Health Authority in 1984, he became a consultant at the Middlesex Hospital. He was honorary consultant orthopaedic surgeon to St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy between 1975 and 1990. His main surgical interest lay in the treatment of musculo-skeletal tumours and, between 1985 and 1991, he was a member of the MRC working party on osteosarcoma. He was chairman of the London Bone Tumour Unit from 1985 to 1991. He contributed to *Orthopaedic diagnosis* (Berlin/New York, Springer Verlag, 1984), *Postgraduate textbook of clinical orthopaedics* (Bristol, Wright, 1983, second edition Oxford, Blackwell Science, 1995), *Ballière’s clinical oncology* (London, Ballière Tindall, 1987-8) and *Essential surgical practice* (third edition, Oxford/Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann,1995). Hugh Kemp was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association and was awarded the Robert Jones prize and gold medal in 1969 for a dissertation on Perthes disease, winning a Hunterian professorship in the same year. He was also a member of the British Orthopaedic Research Society and the International Skeletal Society. He was an accomplished artist and enjoyed fishing. He died from heart failure on 25 November 2004, leaving a wife, Moyra (née Odgers), whom he married in 1967, and three daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000327
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Shah, Feroz (1927 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372515372515
Occupation General surgeon
Details Feroz Shah was a consultant general surgeon in Pakistan. He was born in Peshawar in 1927 and studied medicine at King Edward’s Medical College, Lahore. He went to England to specialise in surgery, working as a house surgeon in Croydon and a registrar at the Lambeth Hospital while he studied for the FRCS. On returning to Pakistan he became assistant professor at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, and, with the establishment of the Khyber Teaching Hospital, he became head of its surgery department for the next 15 years. An influential teacher, he published research on club foot, tetanus and oesophageal stricture. A devout Muslim, he was nevertheless untiring in his efforts to secure education for women in Pakistan and before his death was able to see the government establish its first medical college for women. He was also a staunch opponent of British intervention in Pakistan’s political affairs. His wife, Musarrat Shah, was an anaesthetist. They had a son and daughter. Feroz Shah died on 27 August 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000328
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Smith, Beatrice Gwendoline (1903 - 1990)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372516372516
Occupation General surgeon
Details Beatrice Smith was a surgeon at the South London and Marie Curie hospitals. She was born on 21 April 1903 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, the only child of Walter James Smith, a corn merchant, and Beatrice Amy née Gostling. She was educated at the Mount School, York, and University College Hospital, where she did house appointments in medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology. After a period as house surgeon at the County Hospital in York she returned to London as a surgical registrar at the Royal Free Hospital. She was appointed consultant surgeon at the South London and Marie Curie hospitals. During the war Beatrice served in the Emergency Medical Service. She married in 1936. Her married name was Riekie. After her retirement she devoted herself to music and gardening.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000329
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Kenyon, John Richard (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Ketharanathan,Vettivetpillai (1925 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching King, Philip Austin (1918 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Kirklin, John Webster (1917 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372277372277
Occupation Cardiovascular surgeon
Details John Kirklin, former chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, revolutionised cardiovascular surgery through his development and refinement of the heart-lung machine. Throughout his life, he sought new methods and techniques to improve the care of patients. Born in Muncie, Indiana, on 5 August 1917, his father was director of radiology at the Mayo Clinic. John earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1938. He then went on to Harvard, where he gained his medical degree in 1942. He completed an internship at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and then served as a fellow in surgery at the Mayo Clinic. From 1944 to 1946 he served in the US Army, with the rank of Captain. He then spent six months at the Boston Children’s Hospital. In 1950, he joined the staff of the Mayo Clinic, pioneering the development of cardiovascular surgery and performing the first operations for a range of congenital heart malformations. He also modified the Gibbon machine, improving the original pumping and oxygenator system, and performed the world’s first series of open-heart operations using a heart-lung machine. At Mayo he became chairman of the department of surgery, and trained the next generation of cardiovascular surgeons from all over the world. In 1966, Kirklin joined the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as chairman of the department of surgery and the surgeon in chief for UAB Hospital. He held these positions until 1982, during which time he built one of the most prestigious cardiovascular surgical programmes in the world. He retired from surgery in 1989. He wrote more than more than 700 publications, but he often stated that his greatest contribution was his textbook, *Cardiac surgery: morphology, diagnostic criteria, natural history, techniques, results, and indications* (Churchill Livingstone, 1956), which remains an important reference text in the field. He also served on multiple editorial boards and served as editor of *The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.* He received many awards, including the American Heart Association research achievement award (in 1976), the Rudolph Matas award in vascular surgery, the Rene Leriche prize of the International Society of Surgery and the American Surgical Association medallion for scientific achievement. In 1972 he was awarded the Lister medal by the College. Many universities awarded him honorary degrees, including the Hamline University, St Paul, Minnesota, Indiana University, Georgetown University, the University of Munich, Germany, and Bordeau and Marseille Universities, France. He was a member of more than 60 local, state, national and international associations and scientific societies, including the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (serving as President from 1978 to 1979), the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American College of Surgeons and the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. His wife Margaret Katherine was a physician. They had two sons and a daughter. The Kirklins have continued the medical tradition: his son is a cardiac surgeon and director of cardiothoracic transplantation at UAB, and his grandson is a medical student at UAB. John died on 21 April 2004 from complications from a head injury that occurred in January. The new clinic at Birmingham Alabama, designed by the world-famous architect I M Pei, is named in his honour.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000090
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leacock, Sir Aubrey Gordon (1918 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12 2012-03-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372278372278
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sir Aubrey Gordon Leacock, known as 'Jack', was a leading consultant surgeon in Barbados. He was born on 27 October 1918 in Barbados, into an established Bridgetown family. His father, Sir Stephen Leacock, was a leading merchant. He received his early education in Barbados, at Harrison College. In 1928, he won a scholarship to Rugby, from which he went on to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took first class honours. He went on to St Bartholomew's for his clinical training. He was a senior registrar at St George's, Tooting, and was on blood transfusion duty at the Channel ports when the British Expeditionary Force came back from Dunkirk, a heart condition having prevented him from active service. His interest was always in surgery and he became a senior registrar at St Bartholomew's when many of the consultant staff had both a national and international reputation. Jack Leacock's particular interest was in anorectal surgery. He might well have obtained a consultancy in the United Kingdom, but, when on a short trip home in 1948, he was offered an appointment at the General Hospital in Barbados. At this time general practitioners carried out the general surgery and gynaecology, the only specialists being in ENT and ophthalmology. His London training, surgical skill and imagination completely revolutionised the care of the people of Barbados. He was the first to introduce oesophagectomy for carcinoma of the oesophagus, replacing it with large bowel. His range of surgery was enormous, and done with a high degree of skill. Each year he would visit the USA or UK to keep up to date, particularly in the management of scoliosis, where he used Harrington's rods to correct the deformity. At the time of independence the British, as a goodwill gesture, built the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Barbados. Jack Leacock was involved in its design, and in setting up a blood bank, for which he had to overcome some local beliefs. Early on, he recognised the need for birth control in a small island with a burgeoning population and was one of the founders of the Barbados Family Planning Association in 1950, which effectively halved the birth rate. He was a keen sportsman, enjoying sailing, snow skiing, hang-gliding, wind surfing and polo. He rode until he was nearly 80, and began playing squash in his early seventies. He enjoyed travelling and was a talented pianist. He was equally keen on reading, and after he retired in 1977 he wrote a weekly column in the Barbados *Advocate*, in which he commented on a wide range of topics. He was knighted in 2002 for his many services to Barbados. He died in Barbados on 24 August 2003. He is survived by his wife, Margaret-Ann, whom he married in 1962, and two daughters from his first marriage and one from his second. He had two grandchildren. He gave instructions that there should be no funeral, just a simple cremation, to be followed a week later by a jazz party.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000091
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Leighton, Susanna Elizabeth Jane (1959 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12 2011-07-20
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/372279372279
Occupation Paediatric otolaryngologist
Details Susanna Elizabeth Jane Leighton née Hurley was a consultant paediatric otolaryngologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. She was born in Kobe, Japan, on 20 January 1959. She qualified at St Thomas's Hospital, London, where she completed an intercalated BSc in anatomy, and was vice-president of the Amalgamated Clubs and secretary of the Medical and Physical Society. After house jobs, she decided to train as a surgeon, and became the lead surgeon on the cochlear implant team at Great Ormond Street. She also developed an interest in airway management in craniosynostosis and wrote extensively on the subject, producing guidelines. She married Barry and had a daughter (Claudia) and two sons (John and Finn). She died from metastatic breast cancer on 6 August 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000092
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lewis, Thomas Loftus Townshend (1918 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lister, James (1923 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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/372281372281
Occupation Paediatric surgeon
Details Jimmy Lister was an emeritus professor of paediatric surgery at the University of Liverpool and a former vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Born in London on 1 March 1923, the son of Thomas Lister, a chartered accountant, and Anna Rebecca Lister, two of his siblings – John and Ruth – also entered medicine. He was educated at St Paul’s School as a foundation scholar, and then went on to Edinburgh University, qualifying in 1945. He then served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve for three years. His training in Edinburgh and Dundee was followed by a year as Halstead research fellow at the University of Colorado, where he decided on a career in paediatric surgery. On returning to the UK, he went first to Great Ormond Street Hospital, as senior lecturer and honorary consultant. In 1963 he became a consultant to the Children’s Hospital, Sheffield. In 1974 he was appointed to the newly established chair at the University of Liverpool, taking charge of the regional neonatal surgical unit at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, establishing an international reputation in neonatal surgery. Here his observations provided new insights into the pathogenesis and management of many life-threatening congenital disorders. Certainly his years in Liverpool were rewarded by a drop in mortality, from 30-40 per cent in the sixties, to less than 10 per cent. His unit soon attracted many young surgeons from many parts of the world: his ‘boys and girls’, as they were called, became distinguished paediatric surgeons all over the world. He inspired bonds of friendship and loyalty, which he maintained for his lifetime. For all his pre-eminence, Jimmy Lister remained a gentle, modest and self-effacing man who had a ready smile for all those he met. Many honours came his way. He was a council member and then vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and, as convenor of examinations, he was largely responsible for making major changes in the curriculum. He was President of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons, who awarded him the Denis Browne gold medal. He chaired the Specialist Advisory Committee on Paediatric Surgery in the UK, and was vice-president of the World Federation of Associations of Paediatric Surgeons. He was recognised for his many contributions, gaining some 18 honorary fellowships of medical and surgical bodies worldwide. His publications were many and included a major textbook *Complications of paediatric surgery* (London, Bailliere Tindall, 1986). He was also editor of *Neonatal Surgery* and associate editor of the *Journal of Paediatric Surgery. * He was married to Greta née Redpath, whom he had met while he was in the Navy, and they had three daughters. His wife and one daughter, Diana, predeceased him. He retired to the Borders, where he found it easier to fulfil his commitments to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He died on 9 May 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000094
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Longmire, William Polk (1913 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Mackie, David Bonar (1936 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2006-11-30
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/372284372284
Occupation General surgeon
Details David Bonar Mackie was a consultant general surgeon in Salisbury, Wiltshire. His parents David Taylor Mackie and Mary Gray née Chittick were Scottish. His father was a GP in Aberdour, Fife, and then moved to a general practice in Exeter, where Bonar was born in 1936. Bonar was educated at Sherborne School and Pembroke College, Cambridge, going on to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical studies. After house appointments he completed surgical registrar jobs at the Middlesex and Central Middlesex Hospitals, working for, among others, Cecil Murray, Leslie LeQuesne and Peter Riddle. In 1969 he won a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Mississippi. He was appointed as a consultant to the Salisbury District Hospitals in 1972. There he developed a short stay ward, and breast surgery and specialised urology services. In 1964 he married Jennifer Bland. They had three children, one of whom is a dental surgeon. A keen sportsman, Bonar particularly enjoyed golf and racing. He was medical officer to the Salisbury race course and owned, with friends, several more or less successful horses. He died on 25 January 2005, after a prolonged and slowly deteriorating Pick’s disease.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000097
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Marchant, Mary Kathleen (1924 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
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/372285372285
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Mary Marchant was a former plastic surgeon in Liverpool. Born in 1924, she qualified in medicine at Liverpool and began her career as a house officer at Smithdown Road Hospital. She trained in surgery and practised in and around Liverpool, before specialising in plastic surgery. She helped set up the first plastic surgery unit in Liverpool at Whiston Hospital. In 1965, she joined a missionary surgery in Uganda, spending four years there, returning to England in 1969 because of ill health. She joined a general medical practice in Penny Lane, Liverpool, and retired in 1983. She died on 18 August 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000098
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Murley, Sir Reginald Sydney (1916 - 1997)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-03-08 2007-03-21
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372520372520
Occupation General surgeon
Details Reginald Murley, known universally to friend and foe alike as ‘Reggie’, was a consultant surgeon at the Royal Northern Hospital and a former President of the College. He was born on 2 August 1916. His father, Sydney Herbert, was a fur trader and a general manager of the Hudson Bay Company. His mother, Beatrice, was a cousin of Lillian Bayliss, founder of the Old Vic theatre. Reggie was educated at Dulwich College, where some of the features of his rugged extrovert personality rapidly became apparent. In 1934 he entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital, then at its zenith as one of the leading teaching hospitals, where he won several prizes in anatomy and physiology. Anticipating that war was inevitable, he joined the Territorial Army early in 1939 and a week before the second world war began found himself in the No 168 City of London Cavalry Field Ambulance, and as a consequence had to wear breeches, spurs, and learn to ride a horse. He travelled widely in the Army, seeing service in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, gaining invaluable experience, mainly in plastic surgery. He returned to England in 1944 and was posted as a surgeon to No 53 Field Surgical Unit in France, Holland and Germany, and gained extensive experience of the surgical aspects of modern warfare prior to his demobilisation as a Major. Following his return to civilian life, he was appointed as an anatomy demonstrator at Bart’s. From 1946 to 1949 together he was surgical chief assistant there, with clinical assistantships at St Mark’s and St Peter’s Hospitals. He passed the final FRCS examination in 1946. In the same year, he was appointed consultant surgeon to St Alban’s City Hospital, and in 1952 as consultant surgeon to the Royal Northern Hospital in London. He continued to serve both these institutions with distinction for the remainder of his professional life. He did some excellent research on Geoffrey Keynes’ conservative approach to breast cancer and demonstrated that it had advantages in survival rate over the then widely practised radical mastectomy. He also worked on the detection and prevention of venous thrombosis, was awarded an Hunterian Professorship on this subject, and became an early advocate of emergency pulmonary embolectomy. Although he always saw himself first and foremost as a practising surgeon, by the mid 1940s Reggie became increasingly apprehensive about the introduction of a National Health Service and his interest in, or rather his disillusionment with, medical politics dates from this time. As a senior surgical registrar at a special meeting of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons just before the NHS began he had the courage and temerity to criticise the College and the President for “*a tactical blunder which had confused and divided the profession, weakened the position of the BMA and strengthened the hand of the minister*”. Though he and his fellow rebels lost the ensuing vote, Reggie remained opposed to ‘nationalised medicine’ and he firmly believed that the profession had been sold out by the machinations of a few senior members. He was a founder member of the Fellowship for Freedom in Medicine and was its President in 1974. As one of the College’s first surgical tutors and a regional adviser, he was elected to the Council in 1970, and as President on Bastille Day (14 July) in 1977. He devoted himself with his customary vigour to that office: he was frequently controversial, loyally adherent to his principles, acerbic but amusing, argumentative but endearing, and, above all, devoted to the College and its history. He was an accomplished public speaker and punctiliously disciplined in keeping to his allotted time span, which was remarkable given that he was an inveterate chatterer who attempted to dominate every conversation. Much as he enjoyed his three years as President, he came to feel in his latter years that his most important contribution to the College was his eight years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hunterian collection. John Hunter, the founder of scientific surgery, was Murley’s hero and his devotion to the collection of Hunter’s specimens knew no limits. Ever alert to the slightest whiff of a threat, he fiercely opposed any attempt to diminish the importance of Hunter in the College’s scheme of priorities. During a particularly difficult period, when his health was already in decline, he earned the unfailing support of the elected trustees during a long period of arduous meetings and only relinquished the chair when he felt that the ship was in calmer waters once more. Reggie’s appointment to the 1st Cavalry Division in 1939 was apposite, for this ambience suited his attributes well, and he remained a cavalryman at heart throughout his life. With his booming, resonant voice, accompanied by a hearty guffaw, staff and patients alike became aware of his arrival long before he appeared in person. Not for him the constraints of devious Machiavellian diplomacy which he generally termed ‘pussy-footing around’. He remained firmly wedded to the Cardigan principle of a full-blooded frontal assault, sabre drawn, no matter how great the odds. It was these very qualities which made him such a steadfast ally and stalwart opponent: no one was left long to linger in anguished doubt as to the respective camp to which they had been assigned. Reggie was without question a member of that rapidly dwindling band of men known as ‘characters’: a quality composed of a judicious mixture of intelligence, ability and individuality; difficult to define but instantly recognisable features common to many men who made our country great and now in very short supply. In 1947, he married Daphne Butler née Garrod who had been twice widowed in the war; he inherited a step daughter, Susan, and they had a further two daughters, Jennifer and Hilary, and three sons, David, Gavin and Anthony. There are nine grandchildren. Sadly his final years were clouded by steadily progressive disability and he died on 2 October 1997.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000334
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Stevens, Hugh Edward George (1934 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bland, Nicholas Chandos (1932 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Kmiot, Witold Andrzej Wladyslaw (1959 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2007-11-22 2018-05-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372611372611
Occupation Colorectal surgeon
Details Wit Kmiot was a consultant in general and colorectal surgery at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was born in London on 15 August 1959, to Polish parents. He was an undergraduate at King's College, London, and Westminster Medical School, qualifying in 1983. House officer appointments in Poole and King's Lynn were followed by an accident and emergency post at Charing Cross Hospital. He then moved to the Midlands and spent his registrar and senior registrar years in different hospitals in Birmingham. During this time he developed an interest in colorectal surgery and was awarded a travelling fellowship to the Cleveland Clinic in Florida, where he gained special coloproctological experience. He spent time as a research fellow in the academic department of surgery in Birmingham, where he studied the aetiology of acute reservoir ileitis after restorative proctocolectomy. In 1991 the resulting thesis was accepted for the degree of master of surgery, and in the same year he was awarded a Hunterian Professorship by the college for this work. In 1994 he returned to London as senior lecturer and honorary consultant in colorectal surgery at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith, working with Robin Williamson. He remained in this post for two years, before moving to an NHS consultant appointment at the Central Middlesex Hospital. A year later, in 1998, he was appointed consultant in general and colorectal surgery to St Thomas' Hospital, where he worked until his untimely death at the age of 47. By the time of his death he had already established himself at the forefront of academic coloproctology, with a stream of published papers in peer reviewed journals, chapters in textbooks and oral presentations at meetings at home and overseas. His early research interests were in molecular biology and clinical immunology, but he later became particularly involved with anorectal physiology and 3-D endoanal ultrasound. He supervised the research of several trainees, all of whom gained a higher degree. He was a co-editor of the *International Journal of Colorectal Disease*. Married to a nurse, he had two sons to whom he was devoted. He was a gourmet and every year entertained his firm at St Thomas' to Christmas lunch at an exclusive private dining establishment. As an undergraduate he had been a first class rugby player, playing in the Wasps first 15 and representing Middlesex as well as the United Hospitals. Perhaps, therefore, it is no surprise that he was a large man physically. He also had a big personality and could at times be somewhat outspoken, a trait which did not always endear him. Very sadly, he was found to have a malignant brain tumour after being involved in a minor road traffic accident caused by impaired vision which he had not recognised. Despite surgery and chemotherapy he died within a few months of diagnosis on 17 November 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000427
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Renton, Charles James Crawford (1930 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372612372612
Occupation General surgeon
Details Charles Renton was a consultant general surgeon in Hereford, specialising in vascular and breast surgery. He was born on 22 September 1930 in Glasgow, where his father and grandfather had been surgeons. He father was James Mill Renton, who worked at the Western Infirmary. His mother died three days after he was born and he was brought up by his grandmother, aunt and a governess, who became his stepmother. Charles was educated at Glenalmond College and Glasgow University. After house physician and house surgeon posts at the Western Infirmary and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, Charles completed his National Service, as RMO to the 4/7th Dragoon Guards in Germany, being briefly recalled for the Suez crisis. Following his National Service, he held posts at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. He was a surgical registrar in Glasgow and Dumfries, and then senior surgical registrar at the Southern General Hospital, Nottingham General Hospital and at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield, where he was also a clinical tutor in surgery at Sheffield University. In 1969 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon in Hereford, with a special interest in vascular and breast surgery. Following his retirement, the oncology unit at Hereford County Hospital was named after him. He was president of the Herefordshire Medical Society and the local branch of the BMA. Always active, he played golf, fished and sailed, and in his retirement wrote and researched two books, *The story of Herefordshire’s hospitals* (Almeley, Logaston, 1999) and *The story of Hampton Park Church* (Wooton Almeley, Logaston Press, 2004). He married Margaret, also a Glasgow graduate, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology, in 1959 and they had four daughters. He died on 9 February 2007 from complications following an atypical pneumonia.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000428
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Robson, Sir James Gordon (1921 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372613372613
Occupation Anaesthetist
Details Gordon Robson was a former director and professor of anaesthetics at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and Hammersmith Hospital, and the first anaesthetist to be elected vice-president of the college. He was born in Stirling on 18 March 1921, the son of James Cyril Robson and Freda Elizabeth Howard. He was educated at the high school in Stirling, and then Glasgow University. After a six-month house job in obstetrics he joined the RAMC and served in East Africa, where he began his career in anaesthetics. Following demobilisation in 1948, he returned to Glasgow as senior registrar in anaesthetics. Four years later, he went to Newcastle, as first assistant in the department of anaesthetics, under Edgar Pask, where he wrote his first scientific papers. In 1954 he was appointed as a consultant anaesthetist at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and in 1956 went to McGill University, Montreal, as the Wellcome research professor of anaesthetics. There he carried out research on halothane and the neurophysiology of anaesthetic drugs. In 1964 he was appointed professor of anaesthetics at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith in 1964, remaining there until he retired in 1986. During this time his department attracted anaesthetists from all over the world, both as trainees and visitors. He was active in the college, as a member of the board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, serving as dean from 1973 to 1976. He was elected vice-president of the college in 1977, the first anaesthetist to be appointed to that office. He was chairman of the committee of management of the Institute of Basic Sciences and later master of the Hunterian Institute. When the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties was established he became honorary secretary, serving from 1976 to 1982. During this period he published two reports, establishing the criteria for the diagnosis of brain death, which eliminated the requirement for electro-encephalography or neuroradiological investigations. These proved to be of great value to critical care and organ transplantation units. For a decade, from 1984 to 1994, he was chairman of the Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards. He held many other appointments, including that of consultant adviser in anaesthetics to the DHSS and honorary consultant to the Army. Among his many honours were the Joseph Clover medal and prize of the Faculty of Anaesthetists and the John Snow medal of the Association of Anaesthetists. He was president of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1986 to 1988. Gordon Robson married twice. His first wife was Martha Graham Kennedy, by whom he had one son. She died in 1975. He married Jenny Kilpatrick in 1984. He died on 23 February 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000429
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Whytehead, Lawrence Layard (1914 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-22 2008-03-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372614372614
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Lawrence Whytehead was a thoracic surgeon in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in Easty, Kent, on 7 February 1914 and educated at St Edmund’s and Charterhouse. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1938. During the Second World War he served in the RAF in North Africa, specialising in thoracic surgery when he returned to the UK. He was a senior registrar in thoracic surgery at Guy’s Hospital and then first assistant at Brompton Hospital. At Guy’s he published, with Brock, an influential paper on radical pneumonectomy for carcinoma of the lung. He was the first recipient of the Evarts Graham memorial travelling fellowship, which took him to the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he met and married Nancy, a nurse, who came back to England with him. In the early 1950s he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Brook and Grove Park hospitals. In 1955 he emigrated to Canada, where he set up in practice in thoracic surgery at the Manitoba Clinic. He retired in 1979. He was very active in church affairs. He taught in Sunday school, was a delegate to the General Synod of the Anglican Church and wrote a book on religious issues (Dying: considerations concerning the passage from life to death, Toronto, Anglican Book Centre, 1980). He was on the board of Agape Table, the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council and the Interfaith Pastoral Institute, which became the Aurora Family Therapy Centre. Many doctors from overseas were helped by Lawrence to qualify for practice in Canada. He had many other interests, and in retirement at his cottage in Minaki he enjoyed the company of his grandchildren. He died on 10 July 2005 in Winnipeg, leaving his widow Nancy (née Anderson) and four daughters, Mary Holmen, Louise Hunter, Jennifer Copeland and Catherine Whytehead.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000430
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Witt, Margaret June (1930 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-22 2009-03-13
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372615372615
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Margaret Witt was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the North Middlesex Hospital, London. She was born on 14 June 1930 in Leyton, London, the oldest daughter of Henry Witt, a chauffeur, and Bertha, a lady’s companion until she married. Margaret won a state scholarship to Walthamstow County High School for Girls and went on to St Bartholomew’s to study medicine, the only woman applicant out of 80 men. There she won the treasurer’s prize in practical anatomy, the Harvey prize in practical physiology, the university scholarship in science (physiology), and the Mathew Duncan gold medal and prize in obstetric medicine. She then held junior house officer posts in the gynaecological and obstetric department at Bart’s, and was house surgeon to Sir Clifford Naunton Morgan and Ellison Nash, and house physician to A W Spence and Neville Oswald. After taking the primary from a job as demonstrator in anatomy, she was locum registrar in Croydon and the North Middlesex hospitals. She then specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology, completing a series of registrar posts at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Queen Charlotte’s and Charing Cross hospitals. She was the first female registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Bartholomew’s, specially chosen by John Howkins, who was not known for favouring women applicants. She was appointed as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to the North Middlesex Hospital, becoming head of the department in 1991. She was honorary senior lecturer and honorary consultant endocrinologist at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal Free hospitals. She had a thriving private practice, with many patients from the Middle East, and she was often invited to see them in the Gulf states. She represented her consultant colleagues on various regional committees. She examined for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Many of her colleagues referred to her their major cancer cases. Margaret Witt never married. She had a zest for life, enjoying cooking, entertaining, fashion and travel, as well as music and the theatre. A colleague once said teasingly that:“Margaret was the only person who would take two fur coats, enough jewels to rival the Queen, and half a dozen pairs of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes for a weekend conference in Paris.” She was a member of the Harveian and Hunterian societies and the Medical Society of London. She sat on the committee of the Charitable Trust of the Royal Society of St George in the City of London, and was president of the Farringdon Ward Club and a governor of the Connaught School for Girls in Leytonstone, where a silver cup was dedicated to her memory for the girl who has achieved the highest all round points in the year, and a bench placed in the playground. She died on 30 October 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000431
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Brown, Robson Christie (1898 - 1971)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-03 2014-07-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372616372616
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Christie Brown was born on 1 July 1898 and was educated at the Royal Kepier Grammar School and Durham University, where he gained numerous prizes and scholarships. While an undergraduate he served for a few years of the first world war in a destroyer based on Scapa Flow, but returned to the University after the war and graduated in 1920. He specialised early in gynaecology and became obstetric tutor at Leeds University and later at the London Hospital. After a time he was appointed to the staff of the Samaritan Hospital for Women, the Metropolitan Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and many others in and around London. He became in due course an examiner to the Central Midwives Board and to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, of which he had been a founder member. Christie Brown's outstanding ability as an obstetrician was widely recognised, especially by his married colleagues, and he made a special study of the treatment of infertility in women; he was also the inventor of an unspillable hour-glass chloroform-inhaler for use by the patient when in labour. Christie Brown was an excellent lecturer and an able after-dinner speaker, much sought after at medical and other gatherings where eloquence and wit were in demand. He was a good organiser and took an active part in the work of the Samaritan Hospital. When there was talk of the Samaritan being completely merged in St Mary's Hospital, Christie Brown took up the defence of the Samaritan whose name was retained when the two hospitals were united. He contributed many papers on his specialty and his text book on midwifery was reprinted many times, running into its third edition by 1950. In addition to his other work Brown took an active interest in the problems of cancer and was one of the first to prescribe cytotoxic drugs to his patients. First in London and later at Loughton in Essex, he kept open house to his friends and colleagues; for outside interests he became a keen photographer and a first-class mechanic. For many years he was dogged by ill health (a nephrotic syndrome), which led to his early retirement in 1959. Robin Christie Brown's wife died in 1970; and their only son Jeremy Robin Warrington Christie Brown took up medicine; he himself died after a brief illness on 13 December 1971 at his home at Highcliffe-on-Sea.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000432
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Sheikh, Sardar Ali ( - )

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2008-01-17 2014-06-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372617372617
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sardar Ali Sheikh was professor of surgery at King Edward Medical College (now University), Lahore, the second oldest medical school on the Indian subcontinent. He joined the college in April 1947 as a demonstrator in the department of anatomy, went on to become a clinical assistant, and finally professor of surgery. He published a thesis in 1950 on hyperplastic ileocaecal tuberculosis. He was principal of King Edward Medical College from 1971 to 1973, when he retired. A student hostel has been named after him. He died prematurely from a heart attack at the age of 63.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000433
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Blacklock, Sir Norman James (1928 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-17
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372618372618
Occupation Urologist
Details Sir Norman Blacklock combined several careers; as a distinguished surgeon in the Navy, later as professor of urology at the University of Manchester, and as medical adviser to the Queen on her official trips abroad. He was born in Glasgow on 5 February 1928, the son of John William Stewart Blacklock, professor of pathology at Glasgow University and subsequently St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, and Isabella née Roger, a nursing sister. After the High School in Glasgow was bombed, Norman moved to the McLaren High School in Perthshire. He trained in Glasgow and was awarded the Rankine memorial prize and the Asher Asher gold medal. He graduated MB ChB in 1950. At the Western Infirmary he was influenced by Sir Charles Illingworth in surgery and William Snodgrass in medicine. At the Royal Infirmary professor of surgery, J A G Burton, and Arthur Jacobs awakened a lifetime interest in urology. National Service called and he volunteered for the Royal Navy, serving on HMS aircraft carriers *Theseus* and *Warrior*, where he dealt with injuries from flying training and crash landings. Back in civilian life, he became a surgical registrar and lecturer in surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He then moved to Ipswich, and subsequently the Royal Masonic and St Bartholomew’s hospitals in London. He was asked to rejoin the Royal Navy and was posted to the Royal Naval Hospital Chatham and then, in the true service pattern, to Royal Naval hospitals Plymouth, Malta and Haslar (the principal Navy teaching hospital). There he developed a department of urology with a keen interest in urinary tract stone disease. He was always happy to advise patients from the other services. In 1972 he was appointed the Royal Navy director of surgical research and was appointed OBE two years later. In 1976 the Queen’s honorary surgeon was unable to accompany her to Luxembourg, so Norman was nominated in his place. For the next 17 years he accompanied the Royal party on their trips overseas, duties which had to be fitted into his busy clinical and academic career. Norman carried his ‘black bag’, which contained a range of urgent remedies, pills and potions, first aid instruments and equipment, including a miniature resuscitator/defibrillator. Fortunately these were not required and, apart from mild gastric problems in the Far East, the Queen did not require medical advice, though her staff often did. The Duke of Edinburgh christened him ‘Dr Hemlock’, but never reported sick. Norman was knighted after his last trip with the Queen, to Hungary in 1993. In September 1978 he retired from the Royal Navy as a surgeon captain. Unusually for a service surgeon, he was appointed to an academic post, as professor of urology at the University of Manchester, working at the University Hospital of South Manchester. He developed lithotripsy in the north, obtaining the machine and training a team to use it. This pioneering enterprise reflected his long interest and experience of renal stone formation. Microanatomy of the prostate and causes of hyperplasia formed other research interests in his department. He published extensively in refereed journals from 1965 until his retirement. Outside medicine, he was interested in gardening, bread-making and cooking, and travelling in a motor caravan. He married Marjorie Reid in 1956. They had a son, Neil, and a daughter, Fiona. Both are medical graduates. Sir Norman died on his 50th wedding anniversary, after falling and hitting his head.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000434
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Helal, Basil (1927 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372619372619
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Basil Helal was an orthopaedic surgeon at Enfield, as well as at the London and Royal National Orthopaedic hospitals. He was born in Cairo on 28 October 1927, the son of Ibrahim Helal, director general of the state railways, and Helena née Sommerville. He was educated at the English School in Cairo, where he won prizes for literature, science and mathematics, and then entered the London Hospital, where he swam for the hospital and the university. After house appointments at the London, he became orthopaedic registrar to the United Liverpool Hospitals and then at the London, where he came under the influence of Sir Reginald Watson-Jones and Sir Henry Osmond-Clarke. He completed his orthopaedic training as a senior registrar at St George’s Hospital and the Woking and Chertsey Group of Hospitals, before his appointment as consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Enfield Group of Hospitals in 1965. He remained at Enfield until 1988, in the meantime becoming an honorary consultant to the London Hospital and, towards the end of his career, consultant hand surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Basil Helal’s orthopaedic interests were wide, but he was particularly interested in the surgery of the hand and foot, and the surgical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. He also had a long standing interest in sports injuries and was orthopaedic adviser to the British Olympic Association over five Olympics. He was a member of innumerable medical societies at home and abroad, and a regular attendee at their meetings, holding high office in many of them, including the presidency of the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Society for the Surgery of the Hand, and the Hunterian Society. He published extensively and contributed to several orthopaedic text books, and in retirement wrote a biography of the German surgeon Richard von Volkmann. Basil was a good all-round sportsman with a charming personality which made him a popular life member of the Savage Club. He married Stella Feldman, a fellow junior doctor in 1952, with whom he had two daughters (Dina and Amanda) and a son (Adam). They divorced shortly before her death in 1977 and he married Susan Livett, a theatre sister, whom he had known for many years, with whom he had two sons (Matthew and Simon). He died at his retirement home in Dornoch, Scotland, on 17 July 2007, after several years of declining health.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000435
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Welch, George Somerville (1935 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Taffinder, Nicholas James (1965 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2008-01-24 2018-05-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372621372621
Occupation Colorectal surgeon
Details Nick Taffinder was widely considered to be one of the brightest and most able young consultants when, at the age of 39, he was diagnosed with metastatic malignancy, from which he died two years later. He showed academic talent as a schoolboy, being a scholar at King's College, Taunton, from where he won an exhibition to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. His clinical training was undertaken at St Thomas' Hospital, London, where he won the Sutton Sams prize in obstetrics and gynaecology. Graduating in 1990, his first surgical house officer post was on the rectal firm and he retained this early interest in coloproctology throughout his career. Subsequent SHO jobs were in Southampton and Portsmouth, where he spent six months on the intensive care unit, before being appointed a specialist registrar to the training rotation of St Mary's Hospital, London. After a year on the academic surgical unit, he was seconded to Paris for a year, where he worked as a registrar in a world-renowned laparoscopic centre with Gérard Georges Champault and where he learned advanced laparoscopic skills. Returning to St Mary's he became a research fellow to Ara Darzi (later Lord Darzi), where he studied the quantification of manual dexterity in laparoscopic surgery, the effects of sleep deprivation on surgical dexterity and the impact of virtual reality on surgical training. His thesis on this subject was accepted for the MS degree and the work gained him two international prizes, one in the UK and one in the USA, as well as many publications. In the year 2000 he was awarded two travelling scholarships, both to European centres, to further enhance his laparoscopic skills and the following year he completed his colorectal training with an appointment as RSO at St Mark's and Northwick Park hospitals. He was then appointed consultant colorectal surgeon to William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, where he practiced and taught advanced laparoscopic surgery until his untimely death. Nick Taffinder contributed widely to surgery outside of clinical activity. He continued to publish regularly after his consultant appointment, his last paper appearing in print after his death. At the College, he taught on the care of the critically ill surgical patient course (CCRISP) and also trained the faculty for this course, a reflection of his own early experience in intensive care medicine. He was a faculty member on numerous laparoscopic courses, both basic and advanced. He was a council member of the section of surgery of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the Association of Endoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He was in constant demand as a lecturer at home and abroad. In private life he was equally talented. His first love was his family, Jane his wife and four children, Jacques, Louis, Max and Jessica. But outside of family life he was an enthusiastic pilot, a good games player (tennis and squash), a snowboarder, paraglider and oarsman, to say nothing of his ability as a conjurer. He was universally popular. In early 2004 he was diagnosed with malignant fibrohistiocytoma of the pelvis with lung metastases. He underwent multiple operations, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Throughout, he showed truly remarkable fortitude and wrote a moving personal view in the *British Medical Journal* (2005, 331, 463) of how he diagnosed a rectal cancer in a male nurse of his own age at four o'clock in the morning while he himself was an in-patient awaiting his third operation. Despite returning to work between operations and treatments his disease pursued a relentless course and deprived the profession of a much loved and greatly talented colleague before his full potential could be realised.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000437
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Forrest, Duncan Mouat (1922 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372622372622
Occupation Paediatric surgeon
Details Duncan Forrest was a distinguished member of that first generation of paediatric surgeons, most of whom trained at Great Ormond Street in the early years of the National Health Service, who pioneered specialist surgical units in children’s and in general hospitals across the country. Later in life he was to put the same enthusiasm and dedication into caring for the victims of torture. He was born on 19 December 1922 in New Zealand into a medical family. His father died when he was six and he was educated at a boarding school. He went on to Otago University, where he qualified in 1946 and then travelled to England to specialise in surgery, working his passage as a ship’s doctor. After junior posts at St George’s and gaining his fellowship in 1951, he went to Great Ormond Street as an able young surgeon whose faultless good manners barely concealed his passionate determination to develop and apply his surgical skills for the benefit of children with major congenital disorders. Unlike most of his contemporaries he was inspired not so much by the work of Denis Browne and his team, but by George Macnab, who was treating hydrocephalus by diversionary shunts, a treatment pioneered in the USA by Holter, which had so far been little employed by British neurosurgeons. Duncan soon developed considerable expertise in these procedures and when, following the completion of his training, he was appointed to the Westminster Children’s Hospital, to Sydenham Children’s Hospital and to Queen Mary’s Carshalton, although taking on a wide range of surgery with an interest in cleft palate in particular, he made hydrocephalus and spina bifida his main concern. It takes an element of idealism to pursue the management of some of these most severely disabled children, but this was a quality which Duncan possessed, fortunately modified by a shrewdness to perceive what was and what was not possible. He created at Carshalton a centre with an international reputation and contributed largely to the literature. He went on to distinguish himself as president of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons and of the section of paediatrics of the Royal Society of Medicine. From early in life he had been deeply involved in human rights issues and had campaigned with Amnesty International against torture. He became a senior medical examiner for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, examining many survivors, and travelling all over the world seeking evidence of the cruel treatment of Sikhs in Punjab, Kurds in Iraq, and prisoners in Israel, Egypt and Guantanamo Bay. He wrote extensively on these and allied topics, culminating in the textbook *Guidelines for the examination of survivors of torture* (Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, 1995 and 2000). He was predeceased by his wife June, a former actress who became a nurse. He died on 2 December 2004, leaving a daughter (Alison) and three sons (Ian, William and Paul).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000438
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Gun-Munro, Sir Sydney Douglas (1916 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24 2009-02-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372623372623
Occupation General surgeon
Details Sir Sydney Gun-Munro was a former Governor General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He was born on 29 November 1916, the eighth child of an extensive family of Scottish descent on the island of Grenada in the Windward Isles. His father, Barclay Justin Gun-Munro, died when Sydney was only seven. Sydney attended the Anglican Primary School in Grenada, from which he won a scholarship to the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School. On leaving, he gained the Grenada Island scholarship, which took him to London and King’s College Hospital, in the footsteps of his brother Cecil. Always an adaptable soul, Sydney fitted in well with life in London, as he did with his fellow students, despite being some four years their senior, showing one of the characteristics typical of him all throughout his life – his ability to mix comfortably with folk from the most varied backgrounds. As an accomplished raconteur, guitar player and competitive tennis player, he became a popular figure in the social life of his contemporaries. When the anatomy and physiology departments moved to Glasgow at the outbreak of the Second World War, he showed his adaptability by facing a harsh northern winter, always charming his Scottish landladies. When he eventually moved into a flat with three other students they rapidly learned another lifelong characteristic, his ability to organise those around him, in this case acting as kitchen hands and washers-up whilst Sydney presided over the cooking with the accomplishment of a professional chef. On returning to London to start clinical work, his group moved to Horton Emergency Hospital in Epsom, Surrey, with visits to King’s College Hospital for outpatients and special studies. He qualified MB BS with honours in medicine and a distinction in surgery. After qualifying he was house surgeon to the EMS Hospital in Horton throughout the Blitz, and was at his brother’s house when it was struck by a bomb. For four hours he lay buried in the debris and was almost given up for dead. Perhaps realising that the clinical material available at that time in the medical school was somewhat limited, he gained an appointment as medical officer to Lewisham Hospital, where he enjoyed the wide variety of clinical work, under the aegis of his medical director, Humphrey Nockolds, who became a lifelong friend. When Sydney returned to Grenada in 1946 he worked as a district medical officer until 1949, when he was appointed surgeon at the Colonial Hospital, Kingstown, Saint Vincent, continuing there until 1971, apart from a secondment to England to study for the diploma in ophthalmology. In 1963, he was joined by a second surgeon. Many of his contemporaries were surprised when he returned to the West Indies because, with his record, he could undoubtedly have gained prestigious appointments in this country. To those who had the good fortune to visit him there however the wisdom of his decision was soon explained. Apart from the charm of the Windward Islands, it was clear that Sydney had groomed himself for this task throughout his medical training. His wide knowledge of medicine and his skill as a surgeon made him completely fitted for his life on the island of Saint Vincent. The only surgeon to a population of about 90,000 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, he was able to give outstanding service in all branches of surgery and many of medicine. He dealt with general surgery, trauma, obstetrics and gynaecology, ear nose and throat surgery and ophthalmology, in which he was particularly interested, and continued to provide a clinic for many years after his retirement. After 20 years he had become known to virtually everybody on Saint Vincent and the neighbouring islands. He was respected for his own qualities and integrity, as well as for the work he had done as a surgeon, work which was recognised by our College, which granted him a fellowship *ad eundem*. It was not surprising therefore that he was appointed the first Governor of Saint Vincent in 1977, for which he was knighted. He became Governor General of the State of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines when independence came in 1979, becoming GCMG. As Governor General he always sought the welfare of the islands, established a successful arrowroot mill with Canadian assistance, a library, and a children’s charity for the welfare of the island’s young people. He married an English nurse, Joan Estelle Benjamin, and they became partners in a very happy marriage that lasted 60 years. Joan herself demonstrated remarkable adaptability in exchanging her life in the home counties for one in the West Indies, as the mother of a growing family, looking after a surgeon who was busy all hours of the day or night, and subsequently as wife of the Governor General, acting as hostess to members of the Royal Family and a broad spectrum of public figures from church and political life, as well as developing interests of her own, including distinguished service to the Red Cross. Apart from Sydney’s professional activities, his interests were in boating and tennis: he and Joan regularly won the mixed doubles at the island tennis club. He died on 1 March 2007, leaving his wife Joan, daughter Sandra and two sons, Rodney and Michael.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000439
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching MacFaul, Peter Alexander James Marsh (1935 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372626372626
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Alf Nachemson was one of the giants of his generation in the now recognised and developing specialty of orthopaedic spinal surgery. He spent a year or more in the USA, involved in editorial work and research, particularly at Boston, and remained a popular figure at American spinal conferences, where he drove home his strong views. Despite this, he remained scathing of what he considered to be the American tendency of resorting to surgery prematurely in situations where the outcome was still in question, citing particularly spinal fusion. Born on 1 June 1931, Alf Nachemson graduated in medicine from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1956 and, after his internships, studied for his PhD at Uppsala University. He then joined the staff of the Sahlgrenska Hospital, Göteborg, in 1961. Here he was appointed orthopaedic specialist and associate professor. He was promoted to professor and chairman of orthopaedic surgery at Göteborg University in 1971 and remained in this position until his retirement in 1996. He built up the research faculty of his department and developed a large research budget. His major involvement was in basic science research and clinical trials related to spinal orthopaedics. When he was first at Uppsala University, under the direction of Carl Hirsch, he became involved in the in-vitro and then in-vivo studies on lumbar disc mechanics. Initially this work involved intra-discal pressure measurements on post mortem specimens, but he developed his techniques to provide a safe method of measuring in-vivo intra-discal pressures in the lumbar spines of volunteers in different postures of flexion, extension and whilst lifting. This classic study, published in the *Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery* in 1964, and since corroborated in other centres, has become the scientific basis of our understanding of what is and what is not the correct use of the back in sitting, bending, lifting and carrying, according to the avoidance of disruptive internal disc pressures. From the late 1960s onwards, he set up a number of controlled prospective trials and random studies into the results of different spinal surgical procedures, correlating these with the outcomes of conservative treatment for the management of back pain arising in the workplace and in industry. Perhaps the main conclusions, which he derived from these controlled studies, was that bed rest for acute low back pain should be limited to no more than a few days and that lumbosacral fusion was rarely a useful treatment for chronic back pain, except where there is a clear mechanical cause, for example in cases of spondylolisthesis. He travelled the world and banged the table with this message (often literally), particularly in the USA, where there is a much higher prevalence of spinal fusion compared with Europe. Nachemson also made significant contributions to the field of spinal deformities and published on the poor longevity of severe infantile scoliosis, as well as the prevalence and pattern of back pain in different types of adult scoliosis. In the late 1980s he initiated an international multi-centre prospective control study into the effects of bracing in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis funded by the Scoliosis Research Society of the USA. This extended over some five years and its eventual publication concluded that bracing made a significant difference to the natural history of mild cases. Although the trial was at that time unique in its ambitious attempt to coordinate a study across several continents, unfortunately it did not extend the follow-up time long enough to answer the question as to whether bracing significantly altered the likelihood of a braced adolescent with scoliosis avoiding the need for eventual surgical correction. Alf Nachemson published over 500 scientific papers as first author or co-author and gave more than 1,500 lectures worldwide. Not only did he publish in Swedish and international journals, but was the co-founder of the journal Spine and remained their senior editor for 20 years. He was also one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration Back Review Group, established in 1993, which promoted a more scientific approach and the need for a higher standard of papers published in the spinal specialty journals. Among his many initiatives, he helped to found the European Spinal Deformities Society and the European Spine Society. Nachemson was appointed an honorary fellow of our College in 1987 and an honorary fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association the following year. In the last decade he had taken up the baton of promoting evidence based medicine, using this as a yardstick against which he felt that all treatments and methods of management must be judged. Undoubtedly his drive in this area has helped to make evidence based medicine not only a priority in spinal management, but also an everyday medical term. It could be said that Alf Nachemson’s greatest contribution was the establishment of a very successful university department of orthopaedics at Göteborg. Among his postgraduate students, 81 PhD theses were successfully defended, and 16 of his PhD students became notable professors in centres around the world. His department attracted many grants and achieved many awards. He worked in close collaboration with the Volvo car company based in Göteborg, which promoted research into back pain. There is good evidence that his team designed the anthropometrics for Volvo car seats. As with most distinguished medical Swedes, his English was impeccable and in addition he was an anglophile. As a result he enjoyed his frequent visits to friends and colleagues in the UK. These included not only to those in his own spinal specialty, but to general orthopaedic surgeons, of whom one stands out. Alf always enjoyed a good debate in the controversial areas of orthopaedics and it was Michael Freeman of the London Hospital who often provided this intellectual stimulus for him. Overall, Alf Nachemson was indeed highly gifted; not only as a lateral thinker with a research mind, but also as a good clinician, and one able to communicate with the patient over the options of treatment and their likely outcomes. One thing he despised was the ‘trigger happy’ surgeon. More than that, he was a charismatic team leader providing inspiration for a generation of spinal surgeons, not only in Sweden but worldwide and in this direction his energies were seemingly limitless. In one extended itinerary as a visiting professor he visited 50 universities in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South Africa, North and South America and Europe. Outside medicine his interests largely revolved around his close family circle. He died on 4 December 2006 and is survived by his wife Ann and his children Louise, Mikael, Lotta, Sophie and their families.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000442
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rajani, Manohar Radhakrishnan (1935 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372359372359
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on 19 January 1935, Manohar Rajani qualified in Bombay and after junior posts went to England to specialise in surgery. After passing the FRCS he did a series of training posts, before going to Canada in 1965, where he passed the Canadian FRCS and settled down in practice in Toronto. He died on 13 April 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000172
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2006-12-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372360372360
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Bob Williams was a distinguished urological surgeon based in Leeds. He was born on 18 December 1927 in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, the son of Robert Williams, a steelworker, and Janet McNeil. He was educated at Dalziel High School, Motherwell, and Glasgow Medical School. After house jobs in Glasgow he did his National Service in the RAMC, serving as resident medical officer to the Northumberland Fusiliers in Hong Kong. On his return, he received his general surgical training under Sir Charles Illingworth in Glasgow and John Goligher in Leeds, before deciding to specialise in urology, which in those days was emerging as a separate entity. He became senior registrar to Leslie Pyrah in Leeds, who had set up a pioneering stone clinic. There he carried out a painstaking and far-reaching study of the natural history of renal tract stone, which won him his MD. After this he went to work with Wyland Leadbetter at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, in 1964, where he carried out research on total body water and whole body potassium, which was to win him a commendation for his MCh thesis. On his return he was appointed to the consultant staff of the University of Leeds urological department in 1966. He had many interests which were shown in his numerous publications, most notably on urinary calculi, bladder cancer and lymphadenectomy. He followed Leslie Pyrah in the energetic pursuit of the establishment of urology as a separate discipline in the British Isles, which won him the admiration and respect of his colleagues. Bob was president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1989 and a very active member of BAUS, of which he was president from 1990 to 1992. He was awarded the St Peter’s medal of the Association in 1993. He examined for the Edinburgh and English Colleges, and was an invited member of Council of our College from 1989 to 1992. In 1958 he married Lora Pratt, an Aberdeen graduate who was a GP and part-time anaesthetist. They had a son (Duncan) and two daughters (Bryony and Lesley), all of whom became doctors. A genial, cheerful and amusing colleague, Bob was struck down by renal failure caused by polycystic disease of the kidneys, but continued with great courage to work and publish and play an active part in BAUS, despite the need for regular dialysis. A renal transplant unfortunately underwent rejection, and he was, reluctantly, obliged to retire in 1991. He died on 26 August 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000173
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Gough, David Christopher Simmonds (1947 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372361372361
Occupation Paediatric urologist
Details David Gough was consultant paediatric urologist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. He was born on 7 July 1947 in Almondsbury, near Bristol, to Alan Gough, an electrical engineer, and Gillian née Shellard. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Liverpool University, where he helped to build a magnificent steam engine float for rag week, and met his future wife, Elizabeth. After qualifying he completed junior appointments at Broadgreen, the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, Addenbrooke’s and the Welsh National School of Medicine, during which time he was greatly influenced by Walpole Lewin and P P Rickham. He then spent two years at the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital before being appointed to Manchester. At first he was a paediatric surgeon with a special interest in neonatal surgery, and gradually moved on to paediatric urology, where he was particularly interested in congenital abnormalities, including exstrophy (for which he set up the National Bladder Exstrophy Service) and spina bifida, for which he set up a special unit, the second in England. He was an enthusiastic proponent and founder-member of the British Association of Paediatric Urologists and of the European Society for Paediatric Urology. He inherited a passion for restoring old cars from his father, and in later life was interested in collecting art and enjoying good wine. A committed Christian, he worked tirelessly for the underprivileged in Manchester and Salford, for whom he established a refuge. He married Elizabeth Brice in 1970. They had three children, one of whom became a doctor. He died on 29 March 2005 after a short illness.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000174
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Green, Sydney Isaac (1915 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sarah Green
Publication Date 2006-01-13 2015-09-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372362372362
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details Sydney Green was a neurosurgeon based in Washington DC and Bethesda. He was born in Glasgow on 10 June 1915 and lived in a one bedroom apartment with his parents and four older siblings, Lionel, Fagah, Mae and Lillah. He often spoke lovingly about his parents Hymen Harry and Sarah Sayetta Green, and told many stories of life at Springhill Gardens. As he played in the courtyard, he would yell up to his mother, 'Ma, throw me a piece!' and his mother would fix him a bread, butter and sugar sandwich and lower it down to him on a pulley which she rigged up on the fourth floor. The family moved to London when Syd was 10. He decided to become a doctor like his brother Lionel and went on to study medicine at Guy's Hospital. He qualified in 1938. During the Second World War, he served as a captain in the RAMC and was aboard the *Dinard* when it was sunk after hitting a mine on D-Day. Later, he crossed the Rhine as surgeon in charge of the Glider Ambulance Unit, 6th Airborne Division, and was one of the first to liberate the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, an experience which profoundly shaped his feeling toward religion and his Jewish heritage. After the war he returned to specialise in neurosurgery under Hugh Cairns and Murray Falconer and in 1958 went to the United States, where he was in practice in Washington and then Bethesda, working mainly at the Sibley Memorial Hospital. He was much appreciated by his patients and admired by his peers, and was meticulous and incredibly thorough. Intensely devoted to each and every patient, he told how, during the war, he insisted on using more and more blood in an attempt to save one soldier. He was disciplined for his commitment to his patient. Throughout his career, his waiting room was often crowded. He simply wouldn't take shortcuts with any person, much less his patients - but he was well worth waiting for. In 1961 he met a widow, Phyllis Leon Brown. The story goes that she took him on a walk on their second date, and before he knew it they were in a jewellery store choosing rings. They married in 1962 and Syd instantly became a father to three boys, Stuart, Myles and Ken. A daughter, Sarah, was born in 1964. His pride in his family was transparent: family defined his life. He always tried to be home for dinner every night, even if it meant he would have to go back to work late into the evening. He didn't have many hobbies that would take him away from home, but he was passionate about his garden. He would drive up the driveway and, before going inside, he would take off his jacket and lie down in a patch of grass, painstakingly picking out the crabgrass. He would sometimes lose his glasses in the garden, only to find them crunched by the lawnmower weeks later or would come in the house frantically looking for them, only to realise that they were still on the top of his head. He loved to sing off key and tell jokes, good and bad, and to play games. He was intensely alive at every moment and took incredible pleasure in food, whether marmite on burnt toast, over ripe bananas and really crusty bread. Syd had the eccentric habit of grading every meal he ate. While his wife learned to accept a solid B with some satisfaction, other hostesses weren't so thrilled to accept that their meal was anything less than an A+. With Syd, there was no such thing as grade inflation. He was thrilled to see each of his children find his or her life partner, and was passionate about his grandchildren. As Sydney's family tree grew, so did his life force, it seemed. He was famous for travelling to new cities, finding phone books in hotel rooms and looking up anyone who had a name that vaguely resembled his mother's maiden name 'Sayetta'. If he found someone, he would call them and invite them for tea. Whether or not they were related, it was a new person to meet with the potential of connecting with them on some intellectual or emotional level: Syd was a people person to the very end. He saw a great deal during his long life, including two world wars and the horrors of the Holocaust. He was also around to see some of the most fantastic advances in technology and he made sure he kept up with the latest medical breakthroughs, even into his eighties. In 1996 he underwent a pneumonectomy and, after a prolonged battle with chest disease, he died on 14 September 2005. He was 90.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000175
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harris, Walter Graham (1928 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372363372363
Occupation General surgeon
Details Graham Harris was a consultant surgeon at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with a particular interest and expertise in surgery of the breast. He was born in Swindon village, Gloucestershire, on 5 June 1928, the son of Walter Albert Harris and Sarah Anne née Pitman. He was educated at Wycliffe College before joining the RAF in 1946, where he served with the radar section. In 1948 he entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School, where he completed the early part of his surgical training, becoming junior registrar. He was an assistant lecturer in anatomy at University College, where he published on degeneration in the cerebral cortex following experimental craniotomy. He went on to be senior registrar at Leeds, from which he obtained his consultant post in Huddersfield. There he led one of the then four breast screening units in the UK. An active member of the Moynihan Travelling Surgical Club, he was President of the Yorkshire Regional Cancer Research Group in the 1970s and 1980s. Outside medicine, he was President of the Honley Male Voice Choir. He took early retirement after a myocardial infarction, but continued with his music and his hobby as a caterer. He married Patricia Mary Tippet and they had five children. He died on 29 April 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000176
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lowden, Thomas Geoffrey (1910 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372364372364
Occupation Casualty surgeon Accident and emergency surgeon
Details Thomas Lowden was a casualty surgeon in Sunderland. He was born in Leeds on 25 March 1910, where his father, Harold Lowden, was an engineer and his mother, Ethel Annie Lamb, a schoolteacher. From Leeds Grammar School he won a Holroyd scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, and went back to Leeds for his clinical training, qualifying in 1934. After junior posts in Leeds General Infirmary and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne (from which he passed the FRCS), he joined the RAMC as a surgical specialist in 1941. He served in India, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, North Africa and Egypt, before taking part in the Sicily landings and the invasion of Italy, rising to the rank of acting lieutenant colonel. He remained for a time in Germany, before returning to specialise in accident and emergency surgery, becoming consultant in that specialty in Sunderland in 1946 and establishing its casualty department. He published The casualty department (Edinburgh and London, E & S Livingstone, 1956), and developed a subspecialty of hand surgery and was an early member of the Hand Club (later the British Society for Surgeon of the Hand). After he retired in 1970 he continued to do locums at Hexham General Hospital. He married Margaret Purdie, a doctor, in 1945. They had a daughter, Catherine, who became a teacher, and a son, Richard, a lawyer. Among his hobbies were mountain walking, especially in Norway, 16 mm photography and the history of the Crusades. He died on 9 October 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000177
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Reid, Douglas Andrew Campbell (1921 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372365372365
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Campbell Reid was a leading hand surgeon. He was born on 25 February 1921 in Cardiff, the son of David William Reid, a general practitioner, and Edith Mary née Smith, a nurse. His grandfather, David Spence Clark Reid, had also been a GP. He was educated at Christ’s College, Finchley, where he played in the first XI in football and cricket, and won prizes for shooting. After premedical studies at Queen Mary College he entered the London Hospital Medical College, which at that time was evacuated to Cambridge. After qualifying he was a house surgeon at Chase Farm Hospital and then at Hackney Hospital, where he worked through the V1 air raids. He was then a casualty officer, assistant anaesthetist and house physician at the London Hospital. From 1945 to 1946 he was a casualty officer at Chase Farm Hospital, and then went on to be an anatomy demonstrator at the London Hospital, passing his primary in April 1946. He then passed the final from a registrar post at Haslemere. He decided to specialise in plastic surgery, first as senior registrar to Sir Harold Gillies at Park Prewett, Basingstoke, and later as senior registrar to R G Pulvertaft at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield. During this time he was awarded a research prize for an essay on reconstruction of the thumb and was later the first to undertake pollicisation in the UK using the Littler neurovascular pedicle. In 1962 he was appointed consultant plastic surgeon to the United Sheffield Hospitals, the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital. He won the Frank Robinson silver medal from the United Hospitals of South Manchester in 1980, and was the Sir Harold Gillies lecturer and gold medallist of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons in 1981. He served on the council of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons from 1952 and was on the editorial board of the British Journal of Hand Surgery. He published widely on all aspects of hand surgery, including *Surgery of the thumb* (London, Butterworths, 1986) and *Mutilating injuries of the hand* (Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1979). Outside surgery he was a keen ornithologist and photographer. In 1946 he married Margaret Joyce née Pedler, who was an archivist and head of her division at the Foreign Office. They had a son and two daughters. In 1969 he underwent an emergency replacement of the aortic valve and in 1982 he retired to Eastbourne. He died on 16 August 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000178
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rhind, James Ronald (1943 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372366372366
Occupation General surgeon
Details Ron Rhind was a general surgeon with an interest in urology based in Hartlepool. He was born in Calcutta on 7 July 1943, where his father, James Albert Rhind, was a general surgeon. His mother was Dorothy Cornelia née Jones. From Sedbergh School Ron went to Leeds to study medicine and did house jobs there after qualifying in 1965. He remained on the surgical rotation, working in Yorkshire hospitals and developing a special interest in urology thanks to the influence of Philip Clarke, R E Williams and Philip Smith, to whom he became senior registrar before going to the Institute of Urology as an RSO. He became a consultant surgeon at Hartlepool General Hospital, where he continued to practice general surgery but concentrated increasingly on urological work. Small, dapper and bustling, Ron was full of energy and self-confidence which was sadly dented in 2001 when, already ill with cancer, he was accused of making errors in the treatment of patients with carcinoma of the bladder and faced with a GMC enquiry. He married Valerie Ross, a nurse, in 1968. They had a son and daughter. He died on 12 March 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000179
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Richardson, John Samuel, Lord Richardson of Lee in the County of Devon (1910 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372367372367
Occupation Physician
Details John Samuel Richardson was a former President of the General Medical Council and the British Medical Association who inadvertently played a key role in the resignation of Macmillan in 1963. The son of a solicitor, he was born on 16 June 1910 in Sheffield, where his grandfather had been Lord Mayor, Master Cutler, an MP and Privy Councillor. He was educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, going on to St Thomas’s to do his clinical studies, where he won the Bristowe medal and Hadden prize. After qualifying, he did his house jobs at St Thomas’s, winning the Perkins fellowship. He served in the RAMC in North Africa with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and there, in 1943, was assigned to be physician in attendance to King George VI (whom he treated successfully for sunburn), on which occasion he met and treated Harold Macmillan, with whom he became a close friend. After the war Richardson returned to St Thomas’s as a consultant physician, where he became very successful thanks to his considerable charm. In due course he became President of the General Medical Council, British Medical Association and the Royal Society of Medicine, and was the recipient of innumerable honours. Rather unfairly he is probably remembered today not for his many and considerable contributions to his profession but for being on holiday when Harold Macmillan developed acute-on-chronic retention of urine, formed the (wrong) impression that he was going to die of cancer and handed over the reins of government to Alec Douglas Home. Lord Richardson married the portrait painter Sybil Trist, who predeceased him. They had two daughters. He died on 15 August 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000180
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sanderson, Christopher John (1947 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Sen, Adosh Kumar (1942 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Shapland, Sir William Arthur (1912 - 1997)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-19 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372370372370
Occupation Accountant Philanthropist
Details Sir William Shapland, an honorary fellow of the College, was born on 20 October 1912, the son of Arthur Frederick Shapland and Alice Maud née Jackson. Educated at Tollington School, he joined the firm of Allen Charlesworth & Co, chartered accountants. He was given the responsibility of dealing with the accounts of John Blackwood Hodge & Co and Bernard Sunley & Sons, and, later, of advising the chairman, Bernard Sunley, a construction magnate. So valuable was his advice that, in 1946, he was invited to join the group as a non-executive director. In 1954 he became an executive director, succeeding Sunley as chairman of Blackwood Hodge ten years later. In 1960 he helped set up the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, which distributes almost £3 million a year to good causes. Charities and institutions as varied as the Scout movement, Charing Cross Hospital and the Wild Fowl Trust have benefited. Among his many honours he was a Waynflete fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and honorary fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford. He died on 1 October 1997, leaving his wife Madeleine and two daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000183
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shenolikar, Balwant Kashinath (1923 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372371372371
Occupation General surgeon
Details Balwant Shenolikar was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India, on 22 November 1923, where his father, Kashinath Shenolikar, was a lawyer. His mother was Indira née Garde. He was educated at the College of Science of the University of Nagpur, and Carmichael Medical College, Calcutta, where he won prizes and medals at every stage of his career, including the silver medal for surgery and the Ghosh gold medal for pathology in his finals. After qualifying he was a demonstrator in anatomy at the Medical College in Nagpur and lecturer in the Robertson Medical School in Nagpur, before going to Hammersmith as a house surgeon. After his surgical training there and in the Royal Halifax Infirmary, he went to be a lecturer and consultant surgeon in Georgetown, Guyana, where he remained, eventually becoming chief of surgery at the Government Hospital, Georgetown. He had close links with Great Ormond Street, where he was an honorary consultant thoracic surgeon. His first marriage to Joan Barbara Thomas in 1948 ended in divorce. They had a son, who became assistant professor of biochemistry in Houston, Texas, and a daughter. He married Audrey Heyworth in 1958, who predecesased him in 1979. They too had a daughter and son, who qualified MB ChB from Dundee. Balwant died on 4 August 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000184
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shepherd, Mary Patricia (1933 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-19 2007-02-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372372372372
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Mary Shepherd was a former consultant thoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex. She was born at Forest Hill, London, on 4 July 1933, the youngest of the two children of George Raymond Shepherd, an electrical and mechanical engineer, and Florence May Savile, whose father and grandfather had been general practitioners in Harrogate. She spent a year in school in Maryland when her father’s professional work took the family there, and this experience gave her a lifelong interest in the United States, to which she frequently travelled throughout her life. In 1946 she won a scholarship to James Allen’s Girls School, did well there, and had no difficulty gaining a place at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, where she again won several prizes, notably in surgery, which was always her first interest, and she qualified in 1957. After house jobs and a registrar appointment in surgery at the Royal Free, and passing her Edinburgh fellowship, she became a registrar at Harefield Hospital, where she spent the rest of her professional life, becoming a senior registrar and then consultant. She enjoyed a valuable year at the Toronto Children’s Hospital from 1966 to 1967, where she worked with Mustard, becoming a joint author of papers on membrane oxygenation and the diaphragmatic pedicle graft, later the subject of a Hunterian Professorship (1969) and her thesis for the MS London. Her professional contributions were considerable, with the publication of many papers, of which that on plombage (*Thorax* 1985) is perhaps the most influential. She maintained a characteristic style, with her striking appearance in theatre garb, her white Jaguar, and occasional performances on the piano accordion at social events. Her wide interests were exemplified by her service on the board of visitors at Wormwood Scrubs prison, and her decision to retire at 52. She had a home in Southwold, where she had always spent much of her free time through a lifelong friendship. Thereafter she divided her time between Suffolk and Cape Cod, United States, pursuing her interest in antiques. Her active life was ended when she developed cancer of the thyroid, with which she coped with characteristic fortitude. She died on 20 October 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000185
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Welbourn, Richard Burkewood (1919 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-19
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372373372373
Occupation Endocrine surgeon
Details Richard Welbourn was professor of surgery at Belfast and then at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, where he developed a reputation for endocrine surgery. He was born in Rainhill, Lancashire, on 1 May 1919, the son of Burkewood Welbourn, an electrical engineer, and Edith Annie Appleyard, a teacher. From Rugby School he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and did his clinical studies at Liverpool University. He qualified in 1942 and, after his first house job, joined the RAMC, where he served in field ambulances and a field dressing station, and took part in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, after which he was posted to general hospitals in Belgium and Germany. He eventually became a graded surgeon in Hamburg, where he remained until he was demobilised in 1947. On returning to England he became a registrar with Charles Wells in Liverpool, becoming a senior registrar in 1948. In 1951 he spent a year at the Mayo Clinic under James Priestley, then pioneering adrenalectomy for Cushing’s syndrome under cover of the newly described cortisone. He returned as consultant lecturer in surgery at the Queen’s University, Belfast, in Harold Rodgers’ department, where he continued to study the role of adrenalectomy in Cushing’s and later in carcinoma of the breast and prostate. He became a consultant surgeon to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, in 1951 and later to Belfast City Hospital. In 1958 he was appointed professor of surgical science. On the death of Ian Aird, Welbourn was invited to the vacant chair at Hammersmith in 1963, taking with him to the new post Ivan Johnston, his senior lecturer from Queen’s, who soon afterwards went on to the chair at Newcastle. His department was active, particularly in endocrine surgery, but supervised all the other disciplines, including urology. A keen teacher, his postgraduate courses at Hammersmith were widely sought-after. He wrote many publications and among other honours was a Hunterian Professor of our College in 1958, received the James Berry Prize in 1970, and was a visiting professor at Yale and many other universities. Among his many interests, stemming from his early involvement with the Student Christian Movement, were the philosophy and ethics of medical care, and he was one of the founders of the Institute of Medical Ethics and was a joint editor of the *Dictionary of Medical Ethics* (Bristol, J Wright, 1977 and London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1981). Unfortunately his last years were marred by a cardiac condition, worsened by the medication he was given. After retiring from Hammersmith in 1983 he was visiting scholar for research at UCLA, where he carried out a study of the history of endocrine surgery, which led to his last book in 1990. In 1944 he married Rachel Haighton, a dentist, by whom he had four daughters, Philippa Mary, Edith Rachel, Margaret June and Dorothy Alice, and one son, Charles Richard Burkewood Welbourn, a surgeon. He had 15 grandchildren. After a series of strokes he died in Reading on 3 August 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000186
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Young, Ian William (1929 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372374372374
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Ian Young was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon based in Swindon. He was born in Rugby on 25 February 1929, the only child of George Sangster Young, an electrical engineer and Margaret Fenton Wright Breingan. He was educated at Rugby School and Merton College, Oxford. He then went on to University College Hospital, London for his clinical studies, qualifying in 1954. After house jobs at UCH he served in the RAMC with the 1/6th Gurkha Rifles in Malaya and Hong Kong. He returned to continue his surgical training at UCH as a registrar from 1960 to 1962, and then to the Radcliffe Infirmary, where he specialised in orthopaedics and became senior registrar there and at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. He was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Swindon in 1967. He married Anne Martine Davies, another UCH medical graduate, in 1955. They had one son and one daughter. His hobbies included squash and bird-watching. He died on 30 August 2005 of a pulmonary embolism.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000187
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Hawkins, Caesar Henry (1798 - 1888)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-25 2012-03-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372375372375
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details One of the ten children of the Rev. Edward Hawkins, grandson of Sir Caesar Hawkins, Bart. (1711-1786), Surgeon to St. George's Hospital and Serjeant-Surgeon to George II and George III, who was descended from Colonel Caesar Hawkins, commanding a regiment of horse for Charles I. Caesar Hawkins was born on Sept. 19th, 1798, at Bisley, Gloucestershire, and, his father having died whilst he was still young, he was sent to Christ's Hospital (the Bluecoat School), where he remained from 1807-1813, when he had to be withdrawn as he was not destined for either Oxford or Cambridge. He was apprenticed to Mr. Sheppard, of Hampton Court, then the medical attendant of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards King William IV, who lived at Bushey Park. At the end of his indentures in 1818 he was admitted a student at St. George's Hospital under Sir Everard Home and Benjamin Brodie, and attended the chemistry classes of Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. As soon as he had qualified he began to teach anatomy at the Hunterian or Windmill Street School of Medicine, having Sir Charles Bell as his colleague. He was elected Surgeon to St. George's Hospital on February 13th, 1829, and resigned in 1861, when he was appointed Consulting Surgeon. In 1862 he was gazetted Serjeant-Surgeon to Queen Victoria, and was thus the fourth member of his family to hold a like office. He was a Member of the Council from 1846-1863, and of the Court of Examiners from 1849-1866; was Chairman of the Midwifery Board in 1860; delivered the Hunterian Oration in 1849, when H R H the Prince Consort honoured the College with his presence; was Vice-President in 1850, 1851, 1859, 1860; President in 1852 and again in 1861; and Representative of the College on the General Medical Council from 1865-1870. In 1871 he was elected a Trustee of the Hunterian Museum. He was elected FRS on June 9th, 1856. He married: (1) Miss Dolbel, and (2) Miss Ellen Rouse, but left no issue by either. He died on July 20th, 1884, at his house, 26 Grosvenor Street. As a surgeon Hawkins attained eminence and achieved success, his opinion being especially sought in complex cases. For long he was noted as the only surgeon who had succeeded in the operation of ovariotomy in a London hospital. This occurred in 1846, when anaesthetics were unknown. He did much to popularize colotomy. A successful operator, he nevertheless was attached to conservative surgery, and he was always more anxious to teach his pupils how to save a limb than how to remove it. Long after he had become Consulting Surgeon to his hospital he continued to be a familiar figure on the wards, where he gave his colleagues the benefit of his lifelong experience. Caesar Hawkins was a man of sterling worth and merit, as well as of great capacity. His family was, indeed, distinguished for talent, as evidenced by the fact, above alluded to, that four of them rose to the rank of Serjeant-Surgeon. Two of Caesar Hawkin's own brothers were men of mark - Edward (1794-1877) the well-known Provost of Oriel who played so great a part in the life of Oxford during the Tractarian Movement, and Dr. Francis Hawkins, the first Registrar of the General Medical Council, who was known as one of the best classical scholars among the physicians of his time. His nephew Sir John Caesar Hawkins (1837-1929), Canon of St. Albans, was the author of the well known *Horae Synopticae*. Hawkins was not remarkable for graciousness of demeanour on a first acquaintance - in fact, most men complained of him as somewhat dry and repellent under these circumstances. But this vanished on a closer acquaintance, when his genuine kindness of heart and sincerity became recognized. Everyone knew how firm a friend he was to those who had earned his friendship, and how trustworthy a counsellor, and he ended his days amid the universal respect and regard of the many who had been his colleagues and pupils. One of the latter, when addressing students of St. George's at the opening of the session of 1885, thus concluded a reference to the examples left them by their predecessors in the school:- "I would point out to you, as an example of what I mean, the great surgeon who has lately passed away from us, full of years and honours, endeared to those who had the happiness of being his pupils by every tie of gratitude and affection, and reverenced by all who can appreciate stainless honour. Caesar Hawkins was rich in friends, who watched and tended the peaceful close of his long and brilliant career. They can testify how well he bore Horace's test of a well-spent life, '*lenior et melior fis accedente senecta*' (Epist. ii. 211). The old words involuntarily occur to everyone who contemplates an old age so full of dignity and goodness: 'The path of the just is as a shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day'" (Proverbs v. 18). He has been described as one of the cleverest minds in the medical profession, a mind of unquestioned accuracy, unswayed by imagination, temper, or desire for renown. No one was more discreet and honest in council, or less influenced by self-interest. A bust by George Halse was presented to the College by Mrs Caesar Hawkins in June, 1855. Photographs are preserved in the College Collection. PUBLICATIONS:- Hawkins contributed largely to the medical journals, and reprinted his papers for private circulation under the title, *The Hunterian Oration, Presidential Addresses, and Pathological and Surgical Writings,* 2 vols., 8vo, 1874. Among these mention may be made of valuable lectures "On Tumours", and of papers on "Excision of the Ovum", "The Relative Claims of Sir Charles Bell and Magendie to the Discovery of the Functions of the Spinal Nerves", "Experiments on Hydrophobia and the Bites of Serpents", "Stricture of the Colon treated by Operation", etc.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000188
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Skey, Frederic Carpenter (1798 - 1872)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-25 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372376372376
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Upton-on-Severn on Dec. 1st, 1798, the second of the six children of George Skey, a Russian merchant in London. He was educated at one or two private schools in early life, the last being that of the Rev. Michael Maurice, the Unitarian preacher, father of Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), whose friendship he retained through life as they had been schoolfellows. A visit to his father's cousin, Dr. Joseph Skey, Inspector of Army Hospitals at Plymouth, was the beginning of Skey's professional education. During this visit Napoleon was brought to Plymouth in the Bellerophon, and Skey often referred in later life to the fact that he had seen the great Emperor on this occasion. From Plymouth he went to Edinburgh to begin his medical education, stayed there for a year or two, and then spent some months in Paris. He was apprenticed to John Abernethy on April 15th, 1816, paying the ordinary premium of 500 guineas. Abernethy had so high an opinion of his pupil's ability that he entrusted Skey with the care of some of his private patients whilst he was still an apprentice. By the interest of Abernethy, Skey was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1826. The appointment provoked considerable jealousy, more especially in the breast of William Lawrence (q.v.), and when other arrangements were made after the death of Abernethy, Skey resented them as unjust, and resigned in 1831. Associating himself with Hope, Todd, Marshall Hall, Pereira, and Kiernan, he reopened the Aldersgate Street School of Medicine, which had previously been a Cave of Adullam for discontented members of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The school soon became famous, one of the largest in London, and a thorn in the side of its neighbour. In this school Skey lectured on surgery for ten years, his lectures proving very attractive to students, many of whom became his staunch personal friends. His bearing towards them showed a frankness and cordiality which drew into intimate and enduring friendship not only his own private pupils, but also the great body of students, over whom he exercised an amount of influence larger perhaps than that of any other contemporary teacher. When fresh arrangements had been made in the Medical School at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Skey was elected Lecturer in Anatomy in 1843, a position he resigned on Jan. 5th, 1864. Although the work of St. Bartholomew's Hospital was completely severed from the proprietary Medical School attached to it, Skey was nevertheless elected Assistant Surgeon on Aug. 29th, 1827, after an unsuccessful contest in 1824 when Eusebius Arthur Lloyd (q.v.) was chosen. He did not become Surgeon until May 10th, 1854, and retired under a newly established age limit at 65 on Jan, 18th, 1864. He was then appointed Consulting Surgeon and continued for some time to give clinical lectures. Skey was appointed Consulting Surgeon to the Charterhouse in 1827; on April 10th, 1837, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1859 he acted as President of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was a Member of the Council from 1848-1867 and gave the Hunterian Oration in 1850. He was Arris and Gale Professor of Human Anatomy and Surgery, 1852-1854, when he lectured on "Muscular Action, Dislocations, and the Treatment of Disease"; a Member of the Court of Examiners, 1855-1870; Chairman of the Midwifery Board in 1862, and of the Dental Board in 1865. He served as Vice-President in 1861 and 1862, and was elected President in 1863. In 1864 his friend Benjamin Disraeli caused him to be appointed Chairman at the Admiralty of the first Parlimentary Commission to inquire into the best mode of dealing with venereal diseases in the Navy and Army. The report of the Committee led to the framing and passing of the Contagious Diseases Act which was afterwards repealed. For his services Skey was decorated C.B. He practised at 13 Grosvenor Street, but failing health led him to move to 24 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, where he died on Aug. 15th, 1872. There is a bust of Skey in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, of which there is a copy in the Royal Society of Medicine. A fine lithograph of J H Maguire's is in the College Collection. It was published in 1850 and is said to be a striking likeness, not only of his countenance and expression, but also of the very air and manner of the man. Skey was a man of great intelligence, energy, courage, candour, and good nature, a charming companion, with a genial disposition, full, even in advancing years, of youthful buoyancy. Sympathetic to all, he had in a special degree a fondness for animals. He was a good writer, a clear lecturer, and an excellent teacher. He concerned himself with the broad principles of his subject rather than with details. As a surgeon he was an able operator, and his great ability was conspicuously shown in his treatment of exceptional cases, for he was skilful and ingenious in diagnosis and, in the face of unusual difficulties, fertile in resource. PUBLICATIONS:- "On Structure of the Elementary Muscular Fibre of Animals and Organic Life." - *Proc. Roy. Soc.*, 1837, iii, 462. A creditable performance considering that abstract scientific research was not encouraged by the surgeons of his day and that he had to borrow the use of a microscope. *On a New Mode of Treatment employed in the Case of Various Forms of Ulcer and Granulating Wounds*, 8vo, London, 1837. The remedy was opium in small doses. He employed it with success in chilblains, and afterwards proposed to use it for troops on night duty in the Crimean trenches. *A Practical Treatise on Venereal Disease*, 8vo, London, 1840. The substance of his lectures at the Aldersgate Street School of Medicine in 1838-9. *On a New Operation for the Cure of Lateral Curvature of the Spine: with Remarks on the Causes and Nature of the Disease*, 8vo, London, 1841; 2nd ed., 1842. He divided the tendinous sheath of the longissimus dorsi subcutaneously. Pamphlets and a series of letters in *The Times* on the dangers of over-training. *Operative Surgery*, 8vo, Lond., 1850; 8vo, Phil., 1851; 2nd ed., Lond., 1858. This is a work of much merit, influenced throughout by the author's energetic protest against the use of the knife except as a last resource. He advocated the value of tonics and stimulants in preference to the bleeding and leeching which were still in use. His great energy of thought and action rendered him incapable of steady, constant labour, and it is reported that, when he undertook to write this work, incited by a friend who offered to publish it, he set about it forthwith without previous preparation or any special attention to the literature of his subject. He wrote chapter after chapter right off, mostly in the middle of the night or very early morning, for he slept but little. He lost one of the chapters between his house and hospital, and vehemently declared that he neither could nor would rewrite it, and that the work must either be given up or published without the missing portion. It was recovered by advertising in *The Times*. In his lectures on *Hysteria*, 8vo, London, 1867: 3rd ed., 1870, he maintains the advantages of the 'tonic' mode of treatment by 'bark and wine'.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000189
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Hodgson, Joseph (1788 - 1869)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-25 2012-03-22
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372377372377
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Penrith, Cumberland, the son of a Birmingham merchant. He was educated at King Edward VI's Grammar School and was apprenticed to George Freer, who was Surgeon to the Birmingham General Hospital from December, 1793, to the day of his death in December, 1823. Hodgson thus had much experience at the hospital, but, his father having fallen on evil days, owed the completion of his education to an uncle, who gave him £100. He entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and in 1811 gained the Jacksonian Prize for his essay on "Wounds and Diseases of the Arteries and Veins". The essay was expanded and was published in 1815 with a quarto volume of illustrative engravings from drawings made by the author. It was well received and was translated into French by M. Breschet. The drawings show that Hodgson was no mean artist. He practised at King Street, Cheapside, and eked out his scanty resources by taking pupils and acting as editor of the *London Medical Review*. He also served at the York Military Hospital, Westminster, where he remained for some time in comparatively comfortable pecuniary circumstances, but insufficient practice and a desire to marry his future wife, who was a sister of J. F. Ledsam, took him back to Birmingham in 1818, where he was welcomed and elected Surgeon to the Birmingham General Hospital in December, 1821, on the death of Samuel Dickenson. He soon attained a good practice, and had amongst his patients Sir Robert Peel and many members of his family, who were living at Drayton Hall, near Tamworth. Many years later - in 1850 - he was in personal attendance when the Prime Minister, who had just resigned his office, fell from his horse in Constitution Hill and received the injury which proved fatal. Hodgson resigned his post of Surgeon to the Hospital in April, 1848, and the Governors presented him with the portrait which now hangs in the Committee Room. In the autumn of 1823 he started a movement to establish an Eye Infirmary in Birmingham. It was successful, and the Charity was opened for the reception of patients on April 13th, 1824. He acted as sole Surgeon until May, 1828, when at his request Richard Middlemore (q.v.) was elected as his colleague. He was asked in 1840 to become Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital and Professor of Surgery at King's College, but declined both offers. It was not until 1849, after having made a considerable fortune in Birmingham, chiefly by lithotomy, that he gave up his house in Hagley Road and returned to Westbourne Terrace, Hyde Park. He was elected a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1849 and held office until 1868, being elected to the Court of Examiners, 1856-65; Chairman of the Midwifery Board, 1863; Vice-President, 1862 and 1863; and President, 1864. He delivered the Hunterian Oration in 1855. He was admitted F.R.S. on April 14th, 1831, and was President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1851. He died on February 7th, 1869, twenty-four hours after his wife, and left one daughter. With the exception of Joseph Swan, Joseph Hodgson was the first provincial surgeon to become a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, and he was the first surgeon from the provinces to be elected President. He was chosen because his reputation was not confined to the locality of a country town, but was great even in London. He was not brilliant as an operator, and, like most provincial and many London surgeons his contemporaries, he acted as a family practitioner. He was celebrated for the accuracy of his diagnosis, but his caution and his pessimistic prognosis did something to limit his practice. He was a good teacher and was fortunate in his pupils; in Birmingham he taught D. W. Crompton, S. H. Amphlett, Alfred Baker, and Oliver Pemberton; in London, William Bowman and Richard Partridge. Born a Conservatice, he had some lively passages at arms with his Radical fellow-citizens, but his benevolence and kindness of manner made him respected and beloved. He was consistently opposed to all reforms and steadfastly opposed the formation of a School of Medicine in Birmingham. The presentation portrait by John Partridge, painted in 1848, was engraved by Samuel Cousins in 1849. A proof, 'for subscribers only', is in the College Collection.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000190
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wormald, Thomas (1802 - 1873)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-25 2012-03-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372378372378
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Pentonville in January, 1802, the son of John Wormald, who came of a Yorkshire family, a partner in Child's Bank, and Fanny, his wife. He was educated at the Grammar School of Batley in Yorkshire, and afterwards by the Rev. W. Heald, Vicar of Bristol in the came county. He was apprenticed to John Abernethy in 1818, lived in his house and became a friend. Abernethy used him as a prosector, caused him to teach the junior students, and made him assist Edward Stanley (q.v.) in his duties as Curator of the Hospital Museum. During his apprenticeship he visited the schools in Paris and saw something of the surgical practice of Dupuytren, Roux, Larrey, Cloquet, Cruveilhier, and Velpeau. When Abernethy resigned his lectureship Edward Stanley was appointed in his place, and it was arranged that Wormald should become a Demonstrator. But when the time arrived Frederic Carpenter Skey (q.v.), an earlier apprentice of Abernethy, was chosen, and 'Tommy', as he was known to everyone, was disappointed. He therefore became House Surgeon to William Lawrence, who was of the opposite faction, in October, 1824. It was not until 1826 that Wormald became Demonstrator of Anatomy conjointly with Skey, and when Skey seceded from the medical school to join the Aldersgate School of Medicine, Wormald remained as sole Demonstrator, and held the post for fifteen years. He was elected Assistant Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital on Feb. 13th, 1838, on the death of Henry Earle, and spent the next twenty-three years teaching in the out-patient department without charge of beds. He became full Surgeon on April 3rd, 1861, on the resignation of Eusebius Arthur Lloyd (q.v.), and was obliged to resign under the age rule on April 9th, 1867, when he was elected Consulting Surgeon. He was Consulting Surgeon to the Foundling Hospital from 1843-1864, where his kindness to the children was so highly appreciated that he received the special thanks of the Court of Management and was complimented by being elected a Governor. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was a Member of Council from 1840-1867, Hunterian Orator in 1857, a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1858-1868, and Chairman of the Midwifery Board in 1864. He served as Vice-President in 1863 and 1864, and was elected President in 1865. He married Frances Meacock in September, 1828, and by her had eight children. He died of cerebral haemorrhage after a few hours' illness whilst on a visit to the sick-bed of his brother at Gomersal, in Yorkshire, on Dec. 28th, 1873, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. A pencil sketch by Sir William Ross (1846) is in the Conservators' Room at the Royal College of Surgeons, and a photograph taken later in life hangs by its side. Wormald was the last pupil of John Abernethy, and his death snapped the link connecting St. Bartholomew's Hospital with Hunterian surgery; but it is as a teacher of clinical surgery and not as a surgeon that Wormald is remembered. The long years first as a Demonstrator of Anatomy and afterwards in the out-patient room made him a teacher of the highest class. He was so perfect an assistant that it was said in jest he ought never to have been promoted. He is reported to have been cool, cautious, and safe as an operator, and in diagnosis remarkably correct, particularly in diseases and injuries of joints. He had some mechanical skill, for he invented a soft metal ring which was passed over the scrotum for the relief of varicocele, known as 'Wormald's ring', and would forge his own instruments. He read but little and trusted almost entirely to observation and experience. He exercised a great influence over students and put a permanent and effective stop to smoking and drinking in the dissecting-room. His manner was brusque but not offensive, and was modelled upon that of his master, John Abernethy, whose gestures and eccentricities he often mimicked. He drew well, and illustrated his demonstrations and lectures with freehand sketches on the blackboard. His style of speaking was easy, clear, and forcible. There was no hurry or waste of words, and he had the art of arresting and keeping the attention of his class, partly by his quaintness and originality, partly by his frequent reference to surgical points in the anatomy he was discussing, and partly by his inexhaustible fund of humour and of anecdotes, many of which were not quite proper. In person he was of a ruddy countenance, with light-brown hair lying thin and lank over his broad forehead, his eyes twinkling and roguish; his coat and waistcoat were 'farmer-like', his trousers tight-fitting, with pockets in which he usually kept his hands deeply plunged; his boots were thick and laced. He looked, indeed, more a farmer than a surgeon. PUBLICATIONS:- *A Series of Anatomical Sketches and Diagrams with Descriptions and References *(with A. M. MCWHINNIE, q.v.), 4to, London, 1838; re-issued in 1843. These sketches from one of the best series of anatomical plates made for the use of students. They are true to nature and not overloaded with detail.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000191
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Partridge, Richard (1805 - 1873)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-01-25 2012-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372379372379
Occupation General surgeon
Details The tenth child and seventh son of Samuel Partridge, of Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. He was born on January 19th, 1805, and was apprenticed in 1821 to his uncle, W. H. Partridge, who practised in Birmingham. During his apprenticeship he acted as dresser to Joseph Hodgson (q.v.) at the Birmingham General Hospital. He entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1827 and attended the lectures of John Abernethy, acting afterwards as Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Windmill Street School of Medicine. He was appointed the first Demonstrator of Anatomy at King's College, London, when the medical faculty was instituted in 1831, and held the post until 1836, when he was promoted Professor of Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy in succession to Herbert Mayo (q.v.). John Simon (q.v.) became Demonstrator in his place two years later, in 1838. On November 5th, 1831, occurred the 'resurrectionist' case in London which was instrumental in causing the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. Bishop, Williams, and May brought the body of Carlo Ferrari, an Italian boy, to King's College asking nine guineas for it. Partridge, being on the alert owing to the Burke and Hare case in Edinburgh in 1830, suspected foul play and delayed payment until the police were informed, saying that he only had a £50 note for which he must get change. Bishop and Williams were hanged, May was respited and sentenced to transportation for life. On Dec. 23rd, 1836, Partridge was elected Visiting or Assistant Surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital; he was promoted to full Surgeon on January 8th, 1838, and resigned the office on April 13th, 1840, when he was appointed Surgeon to the newly established King's College Hospital in Clare Market. He remained Surgeon to King's College Hospital until 1870. In 1837 he was elected F.R.S. He held all the chief positions at the Royal College of Surgeons, serving as a Member of Council from 1852-1868; he was a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1864-1873; Chairman of the Midwifery Board in 1865; Hunterian Orator and Vice-President in the same year; and President in 1866. He filled many offices at the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, where he was elected a Fellow in 1828; he was Secretary from 1832-1836; a Member of Council 1837-1838, and again in 1861-1862; Vice-President, 1847-1848, President, 1863-1864. Partridge succeeded Joseph Henry Green (q.v.) as Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy in 1853. He had himself some skill in drawing, having taken lessons from his brother John, the portrait painter. In the autumn of 1862 he went to Spezzia, at the request of Garibaldi's English friends, in order to attend the general, who had been severely wounded in the right ankle-joint at the Battle of Aspromonte. Having no previous experience of gunshot wounds, he unfortunately "overlooked the presence of the bullet", which Nélaton afterwards localized by his porcelain-tipped probe, and it was subsequently extracted by Professor Zanetti. This failure did him much harm professionally, though Garibaldi himself always wrote to him in the kindest terms, and he died a poor man on March 25th, 1873. Partridge has been described as a fluent lecturer, an admirable blackboard draughtsman, an excellent clinical teacher, and one who, though he operated nervously, paid close attention to the after-treatment of his patients. He was a painstaking but not a brilliant surgeon; minute in detail and hesitating in execution - a striking contrast to the brilliant performances of his colleague, Sir William Fergusson. He was somewhat of a wit, and it is recorded of him that, being asked the names of his very sorry-looking carriage-horses, he replied that the name of one was 'Longissimus Dorsi', but that the other was the 'Os Innominatum'. This was to a student. He wrote very little, and his copiously illustrated work on descriptive anatomy was never printed. There is a portrait of him by George Richmond, R.A., which was engraved by Francis Holl. There are in addition a lithograph by Maguire, dated 1845, and a photograph of a picture by an unknown artist representing Partridge attending the wounded Garibaldi; it is reproduced in the centenary number of the Lancet (1923, ii, 700, fig. 10).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000192
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Hilton, John (1805 - 1878)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-02-01 2012-03-22
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372380372380
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born at Sible Hedingham, a small village on the River Colne in the heart of Essex, on September 22nd, 1805, the first son of John and Hannah Hilton. His parents were in humble circumstances when he was born, but his father afterwards made money in the straw-plaiting industry, became the owner of some brickfields, and built the house in Swan Street which is still called Hilton House. In addition to John, the Hilton family consisted of a brother, Charles, who inherited his father's property, and two sisters, one of whom, Anne, married Charles Fagge on December 27th, 1836. Hilton was educated at Chelmsford and afterwards at Boulogne, and became a student at Guy's Hospital about 1824. Guy's separated from St. Thomas's during his student career, and he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy under Bransby Cooper (q.v.), his fellow-demonstrator being Edward Cock (q.v.), in 1828. The two demonstrators worked together in friendly rivalry, and when Sir Astley Cooper proposed that they should investigate the origin and distribution of the superior laryngeal nerve, Cock undertook the comparative and Hilton the human anatomy side of the question. The results were largely instrumental in causing his election as F.R.S. in 1839. From 1828 Hilton devoted himself so assiduously to the dissecting-room as to acquire the sobriquet 'Anatomical John'. When he was not dissecting or teaching he was making post-mortem examinations, and after sixteen years of this work he had gained an unrivalled knowledge of the anatomy of the human body and had become a first-rate teacher and lecturer. About 1838 he was engaged in making those dissections which, modelled in wax by Joseph Towne, still remain as gems in the Museum of Guy's Hospital. For this purpose Hilton spent an hour or two every morning in making a most careful dissection of some very small part of the body - usually not more than an inch or two. He then left, and Towne copied the dissection in wax. Towne worked alone in a locked room, and the secrets of his art died with him. Hilton was elected Lecturer on Anatomy in 1845 and resigned in 1853. As a lecturer and teacher he was admirable, for he had the power of interesting students by putting the trite and oft-told facts of anatomy in a totally new light, the result of his own observation and experience. He combined, too, elementary physiology with anatomy, for the two subjects had not then been separated. He was, however, a confirmed teleologist and tried to prove that anatomical distribution was due to design rather than to development. He had neither the education nor the inclination to appreciate anatomy in its scientific aspects. Hilton was elected Assistant Surgeon to Guy's Hospital in 1844, Thomas Callaway and Edward Cock being his colleagues, whilst John Morgan, Aston Key, and Bransby Cooper were full Surgeons. He thus had the distinction of being the first surgeon at one of the large London hospitals who was appointed without having served an apprenticeship either to the hospital or to one of its Surgeons. In 1847 James Paget was elected to a similar position at St. Bartholomew's Hospital without either of these qualifications, and the rule previously looked upon as inviolate soon became more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Hilton's period of probation in the out-patient room was of short duration. Aston Key (q.v.) died of cholera after an illness of twenty hours in 1849, and Hilton as the Senior Assistant Surgeon was promoted to fill his place. The ordeal was trying, for he had been an anatomist all his life and had never had charge of beds, but he came well through it. He did not acquire the brilliancy or expertness of the older surgeons, but the very exactness of his anatomical knowledge made him a careful operator. His caution is still remembered by that method of opening deeply-seated abscesses with a probe and dressing forceps after making an incision through the skin, which is known as 'Hilton's method'. He shone especially in clinical lectures, where he brought out the importance of every detail in a case, and so linked them together as to form a continuous chain which interested even the idlest student. He attracted to himself the best type of men, and to be a dresser to Hilton was considered a blue ribbon at the hospital. Yet he was no easy master to serve, for he was rough in speech and was prone to indulge in personalities designed to hurt the *amour propre* of those to whom they were addressed. At the Royal College of Surgeons Hilton was chosen a life-member of the Council in 1854. He lectured as Hunterian Professor of Human Anatomy and Surgery from 1859-1862, but it was not until 1865 that he became a Member of the Court of Examiners, a post he held for ten years. He served as Vice-President during the years 1865 and 1866, and was elected President in 1867, the year in which he delivered the Hunterian Oration. He resigned the Lectureship on Surgery at Guy's Hospital in 1870, though he continued to practise at 10 New Broad Street, E.C. In 1871 he was appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, and in the same year he was President of the Pathological Society. He married twice, and his children survived him. He died at Clapham of cancer of the stomach on September 14th, 1878. Hilton's claim to remembrance rests upon his essay "On the Influence of Mechanical and Physiological Rest in the Treatment of Accidents and Surgical Disease and the Diagnostic Value of Pain". The essay was delivered as his course of Arris and Gale Lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons in the years 1860, 1861, and 1862, with the title "Pain and Therapeutic Influences of Mechanical and Physiological Rest in the Treatment of Surgical Diseases and Accidents". It was published as an octavo volume in 1863; the second edition, with the shortened title *On Rest and Pain*, edited by W. H. A. Jacobson (q.v.), appeared in 1877; the third in 1880; the fourth in 1887; and the fifth in 1892. All the issues except the first are duodecimos; the third, fourth, and fifth contain no material changes. *Rest and Pain* is interesting historically as showing the state of surgery in a large general hospital when its practice was based entirely upon anatomy and was devoid of the assistance it now derives from histology, bacteriology, and anaesthetics. It bears perhaps the same relation to modern surgery as Chambers's *Vestiges of Creation* bears to modern geology and biology. There is much morbid anatomy, and great common sense mingled with very crude speculation. It remains a fascinating work, written by one who, though a master of one side of his subject, was unable to see the whole, partly because he was insufficiently acquainted with advances of his contemporaries, and partly because the means for developing the scientific aspects of surgery were not in existence. The particular points upon which Hilton laid stress in his lectures were the blocking of the foramen of Magendie in some cases of internal hydrocephalus; the cautious opening of deep abscesses; the pain referred to the knee by patients with hip disease and its anatomical explanation; the cause of triple displacement in chronic tuberculous disease of the knee; and the importance of the early diagnosis and treatment of hip disease. All this and many other things which are now the commonplaces of surgery, Hilton set out in *Rest and Pain*, in which the naïve description of his cases and their treatment is by no means the least attractive feature. It was said that no one looking at Hilton would have taken him for a great surgeon: he appeared much more like a prosperous City man. Short, rather stout, and plodding in his walk; dapper in a plain frock-coat with a faultless shirt front, a black stock or bow-tie, a fancy waistcoat festooned with a long gold chain which was hung from the neck; always in boots irreproachably blackened at a time when Warren's and Day & Martn's blackings were at the height of their vogue - such was the picture of Hilton as he sat on the bed of a patient in one of his wards examining an inflamed ulcer with a probe to determine the position of any exposed nerve. A life-size half-length oval portrait of Hilton by Henry Barraud (1811-1874) hangs in the Conservator's room at the College. It was presented by Mrs. Hilton in 1879. There is a photograph in the New Sydenham Society's "Portraits by President" portfolio; and a medallion given by Mrs. Oldham to C. H. A. Golding-Bird, F.R.C.S., in 1894 hangs in the Librarian's room at the College.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000193
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bacot, John (1781 - 1879)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372655372655
Occupation General surgeon
Details Came of Huguenot stock, an ancestor having taken refuge in England after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Both his father and grandfather were members of the medical profession and practised in John Street, Golden Square, London. Educated at St George’s Hospital, he was a fellow-pupil with Sir Benjamin Brodie (q.v.), whose intimate friend he became. In 1803 entered the Guards as Assistant Surgeon, and with the 1st Battalion of the Grenadiers was present at Corunna, Nive, Nievelles, and the taking of St Sebastian. Leaving the service in 1820, he began to practise in South Audley Street, and was appointed Surgeon to the St George’s and St James’s Dispensary. He early became a member of the Apothecaries’ Company, and served all the offices of that Society, being also a Member of its Examinations Commission. Up to the year 1826, in conjunction with Dr Roderick McLeod, he was Editor of the *Medical and Physical Journal*, and was one of the first Members of the Senate of the University of London. He was an active supporter of the various benevolent medical societies, was Inspector of Anatomy, first for the Provinces and then for London, and in 1854 was appointed a Member of the Board of Health. He retired from the Inspectorship of Anatomy about the year 1856, and was given a small pension. He enjoyed at one time a good private practice, and educated a son, J T W Bacot, to the profession, who after twenty-six years’ service in the Army retired before his father’s death as Hon Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals. John Bacot died at his residence, 4 Portugal Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on Sept 4th, 1870. At the time of his death he was Senior Fellow of the College. The *Medical Circular* of 1852 published an amusing and extremely impudent life of him up to that date. The article is notable as giving a Dickensian picture of the feelings of a candidate for the LSA entering “the cold dark shadows of that low portal in Water Lane” – in other words, Apothecaries’ Hall. The biography in its closing sentences describes Bacot as “an intelligent, judicious and honest medical politician. He is a small, plain man, of unassuming manners speaks calmly and gravely, and has been the champion of the interests of the Society of Apothecaries in the late discussion on medical reform.” Publications- *Observations on Syphilis*, London, 1821. *A Treatise on Syphilis, in which the History, Symptoms, and Method of Treating every Form of that Disease are fully Considered*. 8vo, London, 1829. *Observations on the Use and Abuse of Friction; with some Remarks on Motion and Rest, as Applicable to the Cure of Various Surgical Diseases*, 8vo, London, 1822. “A Sketch of the Medical History of the First Battalion of the First Regiment of Foot-Guards, during the Winter of 1812-1813.” – *Med.- Chir. Trans.*, 1816, vii, 373. “Case of Steatomatous Tumour under the Tongue.” – Lond. *Med. and Physical Jour*., 1826.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000471
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Wood, Richard (1779 - 1860)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Harris, John (1803 - 1861)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Badley, John (1783 - 1870)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Vaux, Bowyer (1782 - 1872)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Tjandra, Joe Janwar (1957 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-27 2013-11-25
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372660372660
Occupation Colorectal surgeon
Details Joe Tjandra was a colorectal surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Royal Women's Hospital, and associate professor of surgery at the University of Melbourne. He was born in Palembang, Indonesia, to Hasan and Tini Tjandra, who were of Chinese origin. His father ran a small trading business. After primary school in Indonesia, Joe Tjandra was sent to Singapore, where he learnt English. He went on to Melbourne, Australia, to Mentone Grammar School, and then studied medicine at the University of Melbourne. He was house surgeon to Alan Cuthbertson and Gordon Clunie in the colorectal unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He then went to the UK, where he trained under Les Hughes at Cardiff. He gained his FRCS in 1986. In 1987 he returned to Australia and carried out clinical research with Ian McKenzie at the Research Centre for Cancer and Transplantation at the University of Melbourne. They worked on monoclonal antibodies, hoping to target toxins specifically to cancer cells. Among the volunteers for his project was his old headmaster at Mentone. Tjandra was awarded his MD for this research and, in the following year, gained his FRACS while a surgical registrar in the colorectal unit. Tjandra then spent a year with John Wong in Hong Kong, after which he went to the Cleveland Clinic, USA, to work for two years with Victor Fazio. He then spent a further year with Les Hughes in Cardiff. In 1993 he returned to Australia and was appointed colorectal surgeon to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and to the Royal Women's Hospital. In 2002 he was made an associate professor at the University of Melbourne and, three years later, coordinator of the Epworth Gastrointestinal Oncology Centre. He also established a large private practice. He published over 150 scientific papers, wrote 70 chapters and edited six books. His *Textbook of surgery* (Malden, Mass/Oxford, Blackwell Scientific) is now in its third edition. He was frequently a visiting lecturer/professor, particularly in the Asian Pacific region, but also in the US and Europe. He was editor of *ANZ Journal of Surgery* for several years and was on the board of a number of international journals. He died on 18 June 2007, aged just 50, following a ten-month battle with bowel cancer. He leaves a wife, Yvonne Pun, a rheumatologist, two sons (Douglas and Bradley) and a daughter (Caitlin).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000476
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Cousins, Adrian Gordon (1928 - 2006)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-03-27 2014-04-08
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372661372661
Occupation General surgeon
Details Adrian Cousins was a consultant surgeon in Sydney, Australia. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 20 July 1928. His father, Gordon James Cousins, was a doctor, and his mother, Yvonne Effie Matild Zani née de Ferranti, a housewife. He was educated in Sydney; at Belmore Primary School, the Erskinville Opportunity Class for Gifted Children (from 1938 to 1939) and then Sydney Boys High School. He then studied medicine at Sydney University. He undertook surgical training in England as there was no surgical training in Australia after the Second World War. He was a surgical resident at Haymeads Hospital, Bishop's Stortford. He studied anaesthetics at St George's on Hyde Park Corner, orthopaedics under Tommy Sergeant at Nuneaton, thoracic and plastic surgery at Hyde Park Corner in 1954. In 1955 he studied accident and emergency surgery under Lionel Jones at Nuneaton and general surgery under Trevor Berrill in Coventry. In 1956 he studied general surgery under Sir Rodney Smith at St George's. The friendships he made during his postgraduate training were enduring. In December 1957 he returned to Australia. In 1959 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Canterbury Hospital, Sydney, a post he held until 1962. He was then a consultant surgeon at the Sutherland Hospital, Sydney, until 1976. From 1976 to 1988 he was director of surgical services at the Sutherland Hospital. He retired in 1988. He was a member of the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Association of Surgeons, and the sections on colon rectal surgery and general surgery at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was a member of the Society for Growing Australian Plants and the Australian Stock Horse Society. He enjoyed skiing, tennis, rugby union, squash, swimming, farming (sheep, cattle and horse breeding) and cultivating Australian native plants. He was a member of the Volunteer Bushfire Brigade in Bungonia, New South Wales. He married Helen Collier Southward in 1953 in London. They had two sons (Peter Gordon Ziani, now deceased, and Timothy James Ziani) and two daughters (Penelope Joy and Hilary Jane). He had six grandchildren. He died on 12 May 2006 in Canberra, in a nursing home, of respiratory failure.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000477
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Chapman, Sir John (1773 - 1849)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Attree, William ( - 1846)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Campbell, George Gunning ( - 1858)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Langstaff,(1) George (1780 - 1846)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-03
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372665372665
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Richmond in Yorkshire, in or about the year 1780, and received his preliminary education in that town. Proceeding to London to study medicine, he was attracted by the reputation of Abernethy and entered St Bartholomew's Hospital. Here he soon distinguished himself by his love of observation. “His interest in the study of morbid action would seem to have been only increased by the death of his patient, for he diligently sought every opportunity of verifying the results of his observation by a careful examination of the diseased organs, and of determining the traces impressed by disease on the human frame.” Before settling in practice he made several voyages to the East and West Indies, and became a zealous naturalist and zoologist, laying the foundations of the collection of specimens which afterwards grew into his museum. During an eastward voyage he made some important observations on the cause of the luminosity of the sea at night. In the years following his Membership examination - that is, between 1804 and 1813 - he settled in St Giles's Cripplegate, and in the latter year received the appointment of Surgeon to the workhouse, where he had abundant opportunities of studying both pathology and practical anatomy. During many years he acquired a large local practice. He was a good surgeon and operator, and was the first to call attention to that bulbous condition of the extremities of the nerves in an amputated limb, which he termed ‘ganglionated’. He possessed several specimens in his collection illustrative of this condition (*see Lancet*, 1846, 439). Besides drawing largely for his collection on the specimens afforded him in the Workhouse Infirmary, he wrote important papers on pathology in the *Transactions of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society*, of which body he became a Fellow in 1814. In 1842 he published the catalogue of his museum, in the compilation of which he had been assisted by one of his pupils, Erasmus Wilson (q.v.). The full title of the work is *Catalogue of the Preparations illustrative of normal, abnormal, and morbid structure, human and comparative, constituting the Anatomical Museum of George Langstaff,* 8vo, pp. 518, London (Churchill), 1842. In his *catalogue raisonnée* he records the great work of his life: 2380 preparations are described, and Langstaff refers to it as a brief abstract of ten bulky MS volumes, in which he had preserved careful descriptions, case-histories, collateral circumstances, etc. “The consequences of Mr Langstaff's excessive devotion to his museum, and the resulting neglect of the calls made upon his attention by practice, began to be apparent towards the latter years of his life.” But he still supported himself with the belief that present loss of income could be compensated for by the sale of his museum, in which he had sunk thousands of pounds in the purchase of alcohol (methylated spirit was as yet unknown) and glass. Pleasant and sociable, a typical collector ever ready to impart his experience to others, he impressed his friends and admirers as a great man with a magnificent hobby that might prove his ruin. His *Lancet* biographer, who was probably George Macilwain, his contemporary among the Fellows of 1843, writes as follows: “The catalogue being finished, the preparations were transferred to the auction-rooms of Mr Stevens, in Covent Garden. The sale commenced; and, to Mr Langstaff's chagrin and disappointment, many of the preparations sold at prices less than the original cost of the glass and spirit. With the hope of averting the sacrifice, the sale was suspended. But now another evil presented itself - the collection was too bulky and fragile to be moved without difficulty; while, on the other hand, the rent of the rooms would each day be diminishing its proceeds. In this dilemma, application was made to the Council of the College of Surgeons, who consented to receive the collection and purchase such of the preparations as were suitable for the Hunterian Museum. The sum given by the College was very small, and another and a smaller sum was offered for the remainder of the collection.” The Museum Committee actually paid £165 15s 6d, for 1500 preparations. This was in October, 1842. Langstaff had previously sold to the College some 257 specimens, and he was proud that he had always put up the preparations with his own hands. The poor prices were probably accounted for by the state of the specimens. The College at that time gave large prices and was buying freely. Thus in January, 1842, they gave £800 13s Od for a specimen of Mylodon. In March, Liston offered 307 specimens, which were bought for £450 (his own price). Langstaff's biographer concludes:- “Such was the honour and reward of the devotion of a life and fortune to science. The disappointment naturally preyed upon Mr. Langstaff's mind, and weakened his constitution; and his death, which took place at his house at New Basinghall Street, on the 13th of August [1846], was undoubtedly hastened by this sad blight of his expectations and hopes. It is remarkable that his Commonplace Book, a bulky folio, preserved in the College Library, says nothing of this sale, though it contains many interesting accounts of cases, notably his own first attack of gout, in describing which he follows Sydenham's precedent. Among the College Archives are two MS lists by Clift, entitled severally, “Mr Langstaff's Collection. List of Specimens proposed to be taken by the Royal College of Surgeons, July, 1835”, and “List of Preparations selected…July, 1835”. In Sir James Paget's handwriting we find a note on the title-page of the last-mentioned MS to the effect that “Mr Langstaff sent the College detailed descriptions and histories of nearly all the pathological specimens named in this list, and these descriptions and histories were used in describing for the catalogue all those of this portion of his Museum which are still preserved in the Pathological Series.” Publications:- “A Case of Fungus Thematodes.” - *Trans. Roy. Med.-Chir. Soc.*, 1812, 277. “A Case of Fungus Hæmatodes, with Observations; to which is added an Appendix by William Lawrence, Esq.” - *lbid.*, 1817, viii, 272. “Practical Observations on the Healthy and Morbid Conditions of Stumps.” - *Ibid.*, 1830, xvi, 128. “A Case of Polypus of the Uterus.” - *Ibid.*, 1882, xvii, 63. “History of a Case of Medullary Sarcoma which affected several important Viscera; with a Description of the Morbid Appearances which were observed on Dissection.” - *Ibid.*, 1833, xviii, 250. Besides these he contributed several papers to the *Lancet*. (1) The name is so spelt by himself: Clift spells it LONGSTAFF.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000481
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Ludlow, Samuel ( - 1853)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching West, Sir Augustus (1788 - 1868)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Thomas, Morgan ( - 1865)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Davis, Thomas (1778 - 1863)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-03 2013-08-07
Unknown
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372670372670
Occupation General surgeon
Details Was Surgeon to the 1st Life Guards, having been appointed Assistant Surgeon to the regiment on Dec 26th, 1804. He resigned before Sept 22nd, 1812. He died at his residence, Boxmoor House, Herts, on May 2nd, 1863.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000486
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Andrews, William ( - 1862)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Rees, Richard Lestrem (1916 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372304372304
Occupation Urologist
Details Brian Richards was a nationally recognised researcher into bladder cancer. He was born on 20 August 1934 in Cambridge, the son of Francis Alan Richards, a consultant physician, and Mary Loveday née Murray, the daughter of a professor of divinity. He was educated at Kingshot Preparatory School, Epsom College and St John’s College, Cambridge, and then went to St Bartholomew’s Hospital for his clinical studies. After junior posts at Bart’s and the Whittington he specialised in surgery. He was much influenced by Alec Badenoch. He was appointed to York District Hospital in 1970, at first as a general surgeon, but he soon devoted himself to urology, concentrating on cancer of the bladder. Brian helped set up the Yorkshire Urological Cancer Research Group in 1973, which collaborated with the European Organisation for Research in the Treatment of Cancer (EOTRC) and became one of the most active instruments for clinical trials in the UK. His talent for organisation and diplomacy led the EOTRC to ask him to lead the evaluation of all its clinical research groups, as Chairman of the Breuer committee. Later, he served on the Medical Research Council’s working party on the management of testicular tumours. In York, his practical skills and formidable intellect made him a valued colleague. He had a total lack of pretension, and seemed to have an uncanny ability to follow his many talents and maintain his many interests. He dabbled in self-sufficiency, making his own methane from slurry and his own electricity from a windmill in his garden. Sadly, Parkinson’s disease forced him to give up medicine and later the clarinet, but instead he became the ‘fixer’ for the York concerts of the British Music Society and the Guildhall Orchestra. He married a Miss Gardiner in 1964 and they had three daughters, one of whom is qualified in medicine. He died on 6 June 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000117
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bradford, Edward (1802 - 1888)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bradley, Charles (1841 - 1892)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bradley, Charles Lawrence (1819 - 1892)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bradley, Richard Holland (1820 - 1897)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bradley, Samuel Messenger (1841 - 1880)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373133373133
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Manchester and the Manchester Infirmary; soon after he was qualified he served as Resident House Physician. He then had a varied experience as locum tenens for six months of a general practice in Bowness, Windermere, and next for twelve months he made several voyages between Liverpool and New York in the Cunard Company’s service. He began general practice at Longsight, which involved him in a warm controversy with the Manchester Board of Guardians over the treatment of the sick. At an inquiry by the Poor Law Board he produced such strong evidence as to justify his statements, and his legal expenses were paid by a public subscription. For a time he acted as Surgeon to the Ancoats and Ardwick Dispensary and lectured on physiology at Stonyhurst College, for he was a successful and popular lecturer on natural history subjects, and a brilliant conversationalist. He published the first of numerous books, a *Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology*, in 1869, of which a third edition appeared in 1875. Having qualified as FRCS in 1869, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Manchester Infirmary and Lecturer on Anatomy at Owens College; later he lectured on practical surgery, and in 1879 became Surgeon to the infirmary. In 1870 he joined Walter Whitehead and edited the *Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports*, later amalgamated with the *Liverpool Reports*. He wrote much in a popular style on the “Shape of English Skulls”, “On Controversial Aspects of Syphilis”, “On the Relationship of Anatomy to the Fine Arts”. Besides he was so skilful a painter as to be elected an honorary member of the Manchester Limners’ Club and exhibited pictures. He was also a member of the Literary Club and a composer of casual verses. He had striking clear-cut features, a slightly aquiline nose, high forehead, and massive jaw; he was a good linguist and possessed of musical talents. His contributions to surgery appear to have been limited to the “Treatment of Hydrocele” (*Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1872), and *Injuries and Diseases of the Lymphatic System*, 1879. His health not being good he went to Ramsgate for rest, where after getting wet he was seized with acute pleurisy and pericarditis, from which he died on May 27th, 1880, and was buried at Ramsgate. Publications: *Retrospect of Advance of Modern Medicine: an Introductory Address, Manchester Royal School of Medicine*, 8vo, Manchester, 1869. “The Unity of the Syphilitic Virus.” – *Med. Press and Circ.*, 1871, ii, 269. *Notes on Syphilis, with an Appendix on the Unity of the Syphilitic Poison*, 8vo, London, 1872. “A New Method of Treating Hydrocele.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1872, i, 508. *Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology*, 8vo, 1st ed., 1869; 3rd. ed., 1875. “Moral Responsibility,” 8vo, Lewes, n.d.; reprinted from *Jour. Ment. Sci.*, 1875-6, xxi, 251. *A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Art of Surgery: a Lecture*, 8vo, Manchester, 1876. *Injuries and Diseases of the Lymphatic System*, 8vo, London, 1879. “The Evolution of Disease.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1871 ii, 19. *The Collateral Statistics of English Surgery in Public Medical Charities for* 1870 (with Walter Whitehead), 8vo, 1871. “Description of the Brain of an Idiot.” – *Jour. Anal. and Physiol.*, 1872, vi, 65. *The Relationship of Anatomy to the Fine Arts*. A Lecture delivered in the Royal Institution, Manchester, 8vo, Manchester and London, 1880, etc. *A List of S. M. Bradley’s Published Writings* (1863-1876), was issued from the press without date. Bradley was Editor, in conjunction with Walter Whitehead, of the *Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports* in 1870-1871, and remained as an Editor for some time after the amalgamation of the publication with a similar one at Liverpool, when it became the *Liverpool and Manchester Medical and Surgical Reports*. He contributed several papers to these *Reports*, including one on the “Shape of English Skulls”, his object being to show that the existing classification of crania was no longer accurate. With the same object in view he also wrote on Australian crania (1871-1872). His paper on the shape of English skulls was based upon his measurements of the heads of male prisoners in the Manchester Borough Gaol, and he concluded that the skull is greatly modified by civilization.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000950
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bradley, William Henry (1807 - 1881)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bradshaw, William Wood (1801 - 1866)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Brady, George Fraser (1820 - 1877)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Braine, Francis Woodhouse (1837 - 1907)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-05-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000900-E000999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373137373137
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of James William Braine (qv), a medical man in large practice; born at St James’s Square, London, on December 28th, 1837, the eldest of eleven children. He entered St George’s Hospital in 1854, and was successively House Surgeon, Surgical Registrar, and Demonstrator of Anatomy. He acted as private assistant to George Pollock (qv), Surgeon to the hospital, and thus gained experience in the administration of chloroform. Henry Potter, Chloroformist to St George’s Hospital, gave up his position unexpectedly owing to the death of a patient to whom he was giving the anaesthetic. The post was offered to Braine, who until then was educating himself for a post on the surgical staff of the hospital, and was Resident Medical Officer at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street. The offer was accepted with some reluctance. Braine took Potter’s house in Maddox Street, and became one of the early specialists in the administration of anaesthetics. He soon attained a European reputation. For twenty-six years, from 1868-1894, he was anaesthetist to the Dental Hospital in London, where he was appointed a Vice-President on his resignation of office. During this period Braine was the first to adopt in England the use of nitrous oxide gas for the production of anaesthesia. From 1873-1890 he was Chloroformist and Lecturer on Anaesthetics at Charing Cross Hospital, where his lectures were the first systematic course on the subject in this country. He was also Anaesthetist to St Peter’s Hospital for Stone, acting for sixteen years and retiring with the rank of Consulting Anaesthetist. He was one of the founders and the first President (1893-1895) of the Society of Anaesthetists, and was Hon Secretary of the Medical Society of London when it moved from George Street, Hanover Square, to Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, in 1871. For his services the Society awarded him a silver medal in 1875 and made him a Vice-President. He was twice married. He died on October 28th, 1907, and was buried at Harrow. Braine was an adept boxer, whip, and rider to hounds, his love of sport being an inheritance from his grandfather, who is described as a wealthy gentleman farmer living in Oxfordshire. In his younger days he took part in swimming matches under the assumed name of ‘Frank Stanley’. He was also devoted to games of skill. For many years he acted as Hon Secretary of the Fellows of the College of Surgeons’ dinner, which was held on the date of the Election to the Council, and by his social qualities and administrative ability did much to make the gathering successful. He held high rank as a freemason, and was appointed in 1901 to the acting rank of Senior Grand Deacon in the Craft, and Assistant Grand Sojourner in the Royal Arch. His life synchronized with the rise and development of the art of anaesthesia from experimental beginnings. He was one of the great practical pioneers, and lived to see it established on a firm scientific basis. Nitrous oxide could not be brought in cylinders when Braine began to practise. It had to be made at home and conveyed to the patient in a large bag from which the gas leaked, as often as not, until it frequently happened that hardly enough would be left to produce anaesthesia. It was so often impure that to the last day of his practice Braine always satisfied himself by inhaling a few whiffs before he gave it to the patient. He was greatly in favour of chloroform at the beginning of his career, but soon became an advocate for the use of ether, in the administration of which he was very expert. He always used the Ormsby inhaler, and was a firm believer in rapid induction, giving nitrous oxide first to full narcosis and then changing to ether, using separate inhalers. He very rarely used mixtures containing chloroform in later life. Publications:— Braine’s contributions on anaesthetics are to be found in *Brit. Dent. Jour.* and *Brit. Med. Jour.* for 1869-1871 and in *Lancet* for 1872, ii, 782.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000954
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lawrence, Sir William (1783 - 1867)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-07-28 2012-07-19
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372201372201
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon Medical Lecturer Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Born on July 16th, 1783, at Cirencester, where his father, William Lawrence (1753-1837), was the chief surgeon of the town. His mother was Judith, second daughter of William Wood, of Tetbury, Gloucestershire. The younger son, Charles Lawrence (1794-1881), was a scientific agriculturist who took a leading part in founding and organizing the Royal Agricultural College at Circencester. William Lawrence went to a school at Elmore, near Gloucester, until he was apprenticed in February, 1799, to John Abernethy, who was then Assistant Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Abernethy became Lecturer on Anatomy in 1801 and appointed Lawrence his Demonstrator. This post he held for twelve years, and was esteemed by the students as an excellent teacher in the dissecting-room. He was elected as Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital on March 13th, 1813, and in the same year was elected F.R.S. In 1814 he was appointed Surgeon to the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, in 1815 to the Royal Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlehem, and in 1824 he became full Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's, a post he did not resign until 1865. In 1829 he succeeded Abernethy as Lecturer on Surgery and he continued to lecture for the next thirty-three years. He had also lectured on anatomy for some years before 1829 at the Aldersgate Street School of Medicine. He became a Member of the College in 1805, a Fellow in 1843, was a Member of Council from 1825-1867, a Member of the Court of Examiners from 1840-1867, Chairman of the Midwifery Board in 1854, Vice-President four times, and President in 1846 and 1855. He obtained the Jacksonian Prize in 1806 with an essay on "Hernia, and the Best Mode of Treatment", which went through five editions in its published form, and he delivered the Hunterian Oration in 1834 and 1846. From 1816-1819 he was Professor of Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons. At his first lecture in 1816 he criticized Abernethy's exposition of Hunter's theory of life. His views on the "Natural History of Man" (1819) scandalized all those who regarded life as an entity entirely separate from, and above, the material organism with which it is associated. The lectures caused a serious breach between Abernethy and Lawrence, who was accused of "perverting the honourable office entrusted to him by the College of Surgeons to the unworthy design of propagating opinions detrimental to society, and of loosening those restraints on which the welfare of mankind depend." Lawrence regarded life as the assemblage of all the functions and the general result of their exercise, that life proceeds from life and is transmitted from one living body to another in uninterrupted succession. In his lectures on comparative anatomy he endorsed the views of Blumenbach, and showed that a belief in the literal accuracy of the early chapters of Genesis is inconsistent with biological fact. The lectures on the "Physiology, Zoology, and Natural History of Man" - the beginning of modern anthropology in this country - were republished by Lawrence, but Lord Eldon characteristically refused to protect his rights in them on the ground that they contradicted Scripture. Lawrence valued the work so little that he announced its suppression, and having, in the satire of the day, been ranked with Tom Payne and Lord Byron, he was thereupon vilified as a traitor to the cause of free thought. This form of abuse pursued him still more fiercely when, like Burke, who changed his views after an introduction to the King's Cabinet, he became a Conservative in the College Council Room, after having headed an agitation against the rule of the Council of the College. In 1826 there appeared a "Report of the Speeches delivered by Mr. Lawrence as Chairman at two meetings of Members, held at the Freemasons' Tavern". On the occasion of his second Hunterian Oration in 1846 a new charter which had lately been obtained failed to satisfy the aspirations of the Members of the College. An audience mostly hostile had assembled, and Lawrence defended the action of the Council and spoke contemptuously of ordinary medical practitioners, thereby raising a storm of dissent. "All parts of the theatre", says Stone, "rose against him. So great was the storm that Lawrence leant back against the wall, folded his arms, and said, 'Mr. President, when the geese have ceased their hissing I will resume.' He remained imperturbable, displayed his extraordinary talent as an orator, and concluded his address in a masterly peroration which elicited the plaudits of the whole assembly." Lawrence was at one time much in the councils of Thomas Wakley, the founder of the *Lancet*, with whom he conducted a weekly crusade against privilege in the medical world. This, of course, had not been forgotten when he appeared as the advocate of the College in 1846. As a lecturer on purely medical subjects Lawrence had a long career, during which he was without superior in manner, substance, or expression. He republished his lectures on surgery in 1863, and the work was praised by Sir William Savory and Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, who said of them that, "though superseded by other works, they are still a mine of carefully collected facts to which the student refers with pleasure and profit". Sir G. M. Humphry (q.v.) and Luther Holden (q.v.) have also borne witness to his powers as a lecturer and to his genius as a clinical exponent. Sir James Paget (q.v.), who attended his lectures, did not at the time, he says, esteem them enough, but when he came to lecture himself he followed their method and thought it the best method of scientific speaking he had ever heard: "every word had been learned by heart and yet there was not the least sign that one word was being remembered. They were admirable in their well-collected knowledge, and even more admirable in their order, their perfect clearness of language, and the quietly attractive manner in which they were delivered." Brodie described William Lawrence as remarkable for his great industry, powers of acquirement, and inexhaustible stores of information. He had a considerable command of correct language, a pure style of writing free from affectation, was gifted with the higher qualities of mind, and possessed a talent seldom surpassed. He was a vigorous, clear, and convincing writer. In addition to many contributions to the *Lancet*, the *Medical Gazette*, and the *Transactions of the Medical and Chirurgical Society*, of which he was President in 1831, he published in 1833 *A Treatise on Diseases of the Eye*, which embodied the results and observations obtained in his large ophthalmic practice. Lawrence lived to a great age and enjoyed a high degree of physical strength combined with an intense mental activity. On one occasion a friend ventured to congratulate him on looking so well. "I do not know, sir," replied Lawrence, "why I should not look as well as you do." At the age of eighty he was photographed by Frank Hollyer, and the picture, now in the College Collection, well displays his magnificent physical qualities. He became Serjeant-Surgeon to H.M. the Queen in 1858, was created a Baronet on April 30th, 1867, and died in harness in July, 1867. As he was mounting the College stairs in his capacity of Examiner, he had a stroke of paralysis, which deprived him of the power of speech. He was helped down to the Secretary's office from the second landing on the main staircase, where the seizure took place, by Mr. Pearson (the College Prosector) and others. "When taken home, he was given some loose letters out of a child's spelling-box," says his biographer, Sir Norman Moore, "and laid down the following four: B, D, C, K. He shook his head and took up a pen, when a drop of ink fell on the paper. He nodded and pointed to it. 'You want some black drop, a preparation of opium,' said his physician, and this proved to what he had tried to express." He married Louisa, daughter of James Trevor Senior, of Aylesbury, and left one son and two daughters. His son, Sir Trevor Lawrence, became Treasurer of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, the daughters died unmarried at a very advanced age. His grandson, Sir William Lawrence, was for many years an almoner at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Lawrence died on July 5th, 1867, at 18 Whitehall Place, S.W., where he had lived for many years. His children founded a scholarship and medal in his memory in 1873. The former was increased by his daughter to the annual value of £115 and is tenable at St. Bartholomew's Hospital as the chief surgical prize. The medal was designed in 1897 by Alfred Gilbert, R.A., and is a fine example of numismatic portraiture. A three-quarter-length portrait in oils by Pickersgill hangs in the Great Hall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital; it was painted by subscription and has been engraved. A bust by H. Weekes, R.A., is in the College; it was ordered in 1867 and is placed near the head of the staircase. It is a fine likeness. A crayon portrait by Samuel Lawrence is in the possession of the family. Lawrence was a masterful man who, by virtue of his energy and long life, impressed himself upon the growing Medical School at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where, almost in spite of himself, he carried on the tradition of Abernethy; Paget, Savory, Humphry, and to a lesser extent Sir Thomas Smith and W. Harrison Cripps, fell under his sway and were influenced by him. He was a great surgeon, though not an operator equal to Astley Cooper, Robert Liston, or Sir William Fergusson; but his powers of speech and persuasion far exceeded the abilities of the rest of the profession. It was truly said of him that had he gone to the bar he would have shone as brilliantly as he did in surgery.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000014
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Urquhart, David Ronald Petersgarth (1920 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Michael Edgar
Publication Date 2009-02-10 2009-08-14
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/372774372774
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Known affectionately as ‘Dru’, David Ronald Petersgarth Urquhart was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, from 1957 until 1981. Although in many ways a private person, he was undoubtedly one of the established St Thomas’ personalities in the post-war era. His skills were in student teaching and administration, having been heavily involved in the hospital re-building programme. He is remembered at St Thomas’ for his modesty, bubbly sense of humour and approachability. Dru was born in London on 15 January 1920 to Anne Urquhart (née Addis). His father, Alexander Lewis Urquhart, was a pathologist at St Thomas’. He attended Grenham House School, Birchington, Kent, and then Epsom College, from which he entered St Thomas’ Hospital medical school in 1937, qualifying in 1942. As a clinical student in the hospital at the time of the Blitz, he narrowly escaped the direct hit on the northern three blocks of the hospital. After house jobs, he was commissioned into the RAMC in 1943 and posted to HQ 5th Parachute Brigade, 6th Airborne Division. On 8 June 1944 the brigade was parachuted into Normandy to reinforce those who were holding the famous Pegasus (Bénonville) bridge against the Germans. The brigade experienced fierce fighting, during which Dru strayed into no-man’s land against orders to attend the wounded and sustained serious wounds from small arms fire, becoming one of the 4,500 casualties from the 6th Airborne Division in that period. Following repatriation and recovery, he returned to action in December 1944 to take part in the crossing of the Rhine in early 1945 with 225 (parachute) Field Ambulance, having attained the rank of major at the age of only 25. He was subsequently posted to 7th Battalion, the unit preparing to displace the Japanese from occupied Singapore with the expectancy that no one would be likely to survive this daunting task. He was in fact saved by the Japanese surrender following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Years later in the St Thomas’ theatre coffee room he was challenged by some registrars discussing the ethics of nuclear warfare. In his modest way he commented that he had a biased opinion over the question of whether the Hiroshima bombing should have occurred. His firm view was that it should have happened. We now know why he felt that way. In 1947 Dru returned to surgical postgraduate training and at this time met his future wife Verity Hehir at the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge. Verity was the adopted daughter of Sir Patrick Hehir, a physician in the Indian Medical Service and an authority on tropical medicine who had distinguished himself in the First World War. In 1948 Dru achieved his FRCS and also married Verity. In that same year he renewed his association with the Parachute Regiment by joining 4 Parachute Brigade, Field Ambulance TA, later to become their commanding officer in 1955. His surgical training led to specialisation in orthopaedics. In 1955 he was made senior registrar to St Thomas’ orthopaedics department. In 1957 he was appointed consultant in that department, aged 37. Of the many influences that had encouraged him in his training he cited George Perkins, the then professor of general surgery at St Thomas’, whose practice was almost entirely in trauma and orthopaedics, and also B H Burns and R H ‘Bob’ Young, who had published pivotal papers on lumbar disc herniation in The Lancet. They were both on the orthopaedic staff of St George’s and St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey. As a young consultant Dru made, as his priority from the start, a commitment to serve his patients, for which he set a good example, leaving others to grapple with the politics of the new NHS. He enjoyed his links with medical students, using his unhurried Friday afternoon ward rounds for bedside teaching in his personal, jovial manner. He preferred this quieter form of teaching to the large outpatient teaching clinics – often quite a jamboree – led by his senior colleagues Ronnie Furlong and Alan Apley (from the Rowley Bristow Orthopaedic Hospital, Pyrford). Dru did not pursue academic orthopaedics for its own sake and his contributions to the medical literature were sparse. However, he acquired expertise in the management of the orthopaedic sequelae of haemophilia and he became an acknowledged leader in this field. Dru was head of the orthopaedic department at St Thomas’ from 1979 until his retirement in 1981. Dru Urquhart had considerable administrative ability and he was appointed governor to the hospital in the early 1960s. He found his métier when he took up the leadership of the St Thomas’ rebuilding project at a time when Government funding for London hospitals was under threat due to policies favouring peripheral hospital development. Despite this, the new east wing was completed in 1965 and the north wing in 1973, a considerable achievement. Dru subsequently became chairman of the medical and surgical officers committee. Dru was very much a family man, living in the Surrey hills near Godalming. He and Verity had two daughters – Ann and Catriona. In 1972, with the growing pressure of his hospital commitments, he and Verity took an apartment in Lollards Tower of Lambeth Palace, only a short distance from St Thomas’ and also useful for Verity, who had developed a skilful interest in jewellery design and making. However, they escaped to the country at weekends. After retirement, the Lollards flat became their main residence, where they indulged in their love of art and music. The sale of two painting enabled them to make an extensive grand opera tour. However, for part of the year, Dru and Verity regularly stayed with their daughter Ann, by then an established architect, who owns a property in the Cevennes area of southern France. Here they enjoyed walking, gardening, reading, baking bread and brewing beer. In the late 1990s Dru sadly developed cerebral decline, leading to dementia. He died on 6 April 2008, having donated his body to the Alzheimer’s Society for research. He was survived by Verity, who continued to live independently in London, and by his two daughters. Ann, the architect, continues to live in France, and Catriona, now married, was in her younger days a distinguished horsewoman at a national standard in eventing. There are no grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000591
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dempster, William James (1918 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by John Hopewell
Publication Date 2009-02-20 2009-02-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372775372775
Occupation Transplant surgeon
Details William James Dempster, known as ‘Jim’, was a transplant researcher and surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London. He was born on the island of Ibo, north of Madagascar, on 15 March 1918, although his birth was not registered until 28 April and his birth certificate was not issued until 9 August of that year. He had malaria in infancy, but made a complete recovery. Such an exotic entry into the world is in keeping with his colourful personality and career, and it demands a word of explanation. His father, James, had been raising cattle in Portuguese East Africa, but the enterprise was defeated by the tsetse fly. Sadly, Jim’s father died and his mother, Jessie, brought her young family back to Edinburgh some time after August 1919. Jim went to George Heriot’s School, shining at both work and play. At rugby he was in the school first XV for three seasons as a fly-half, and played for the first XI at cricket. He won a place to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where a contemporary was Sheila Sherlock (later a professor and a dame). The pair of them were prominent tennis players at the university. On qualification he spent a short time as a locum GP, before joining the RAF, serving in India and Burma. On demobilisation in 1946, like many contemporaries, he had difficulty finding a job which would lead on to further training. Meeting Sheila Sherlock again, she suggested he try the Postgraduate Hospital, Hammersmith. He followed her advice and was accepted into Ian Aird’s surgical unit. With his own wry humour, he described the task allotted to him as “the worst job in the hospital”. He was to undertake research into the problem of organ transplantation, working at the Buckston Browne Farm of the Royal College of Surgeons with Sir Arthur Keith, the famous anatomist and anthropologist of Piltdown man fame. His contribution to the nature of the rejection reaction in canine renal allografts can rightly be called unique. He published more than a 100 reviews and papers on the subject between 1951 and 1957, gaining him worldwide recognition as a pioneer. His macro- and microscopic observations confirmed that rejection was an example of immune response, mediated by serum antibodies. He travelled widely and enjoyed the company of fellow pioneers of transplantation, particularly that of Georges Mathé of Paris, with whom he shared esteem for Milan Hasek of Prague, as the first to demonstrate induced tolerance, so leading to the understanding that graft rejection was an immunological reaction. Jim and his colleagues were also the first to show that not only delayed type hypersensitivity reactions but also the response to skin allografts could be suppressed in animals by whole-body x-irradiation. He also anticipated the concept of graft-versus-host responses. Asked if his department was keen to develop the clinical application of transplantation, he replied that Ian Aird’s enthusiasm was for research. Jim’s participation in clinical work was at St Mary’s Hospital, where he joined Charles Rob in a renal transplant in 1956, generally regarded as the first in the UK. Jim’s typically outspoken comments on the procedure were that it was a disaster, performed inappropriately on a patient with acute renal failure. However, it had the virtue of starting an interest in transplantation at St Mary’s Hospital, which remains a leader in the field. Later in the early 1960s, he cooperated with Shackman in the earliest transplants conducted in his department. It has been commented that Jim’s early retirement from his professional field was regrettable. At that time he was a reader at the University of London. It would appear that, like many another in the academic field, he was discouraged by what he felt to be his prospects of advancement. He retired to his home in Twickenham. His marriage had been a romantic affair. Cherry Clark was a ballet dancer with several distinguished companies, and Jim had seen her dance in London. Cherry suffered an injury and, whilst recovering took a job as a radiotherapy nurse at the Hammersmith. They met there and subsequently enjoyed a very happy marriage. In retirement Jim lost none of his enthusiasm, which he now devoted to painting and gardening, specialising in the propagation of fuchsias. A continuing interest was the defence of John Hunter and the promotion of a little-known Scot, Patrick Matthew, as one of the rightful pioneers of evolutionary theory. In 1988 the family moved to Lockerley near Romsey in Hampshire. Cherry sadly died in 2005. Afterwards Jim was cared for by his daughter Soula, who lived nearby. He leaves two sons and a daughter, all them well-versed, from meal-time conversation, in the achievements of Hunter and Matthew. He died on 27 July 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000592
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Abbey, Paul (1920 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-02-20
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/372776372776
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Paul Abbey was a consultant ENT surgeon in the Windsor area. He was born on 6 January 1920 in Stoke Newington, London, the son of M Abbey, who had arrived in the UK in 1911 from Lodz in Poland. He was the youngest of four children – there were two older brothers and one older sister. The family lived in a two-bedroom flat until Paul was about 4½ years old, when they moved to Bethnal Green into rooms above a small factory in a converted pub. He attended primary school in Teesdale Street, where he was bullied, and in the evenings he went to Hebrew classes at the same school. At the age of 11, Paul started at the Central School, where his form teacher, Mr Jones, decided that he should try for a scholarship to Parmiter’s, the local grammar school, which was a successful move. Paul’s barmitzvah took place at Teesdale Street Synagogue when he was 13. He was an active member of the Jewish Boys Club and the Cambridge and Bethnal Green Club, taking part in swimming and gymnastics, as well as summer camps near Herne Bay. In the senior years at school Paul became a prefect, and became the school’s most successful sportsman, excelling at gymnastics, swimming and football. When Paul was 15, he bought himself a racing bicycle from James Goose in Holborn, which he paid off at 2/6 per week. He and his brother Manny would take off on camping holidays by bike, once as far as the Isle of Wight. In 1939, he passed his Senior County exams and was accepted as a student at Westminster Hospital. When war was declared, the Westminster was evacuated to Glasgow, but a friend told him about a vacancy at the London Hospital which was evacuating its medical college to Cambridge. He applied and started in October 1939. Paul qualified in 1944 and then became receiving room officer, house surgeon to A M A Moore and the gynaecological firm, and then house physician to A E Clarke-Kennedy. He joined the RAF medical service in February 1945 and was posted to India, where he spent two enjoyable years, rising to squadron leader. He made friends with the RAF transport pilots. He would wander out to the airfield and see whether a DC-3 was due to take off. “Hi doc”, the pilots would yell from the cockpit. “Just off to Jaipur. Want to come along for the ride? Hop on, old chap, we’ll list you as additional freight.” He eventually learnt to fly himself in Tiger Moth planes and kept his linen flying helmet and goggles as souvenirs. On demobilisation, he returned to the London Hospital for three years, at first as a supernumerary registrar to Clive Butler in the septic ward, where penicillin was effecting a radical change in the management of osteomyelitis. He then moved to the King George Hospital in Ilford, initially as a house surgeon for six months, followed by three years as a surgical registrar, during which time he passed the FRCS. In December 1954, Paul decided to specialise in ENT. He started work at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, where he became a senior registrar and then moved to a similar post at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. In May 1961, Paul obtained his first ENT consultant appointment at Southampton General Hospital. Two years later he applied successfully for a more advantageous ENT consultant post with the Windsor group of hospitals, where he spent the rest of his career. When he arrived in the area, Wexham Park Hospital was being built, and Paul had a large hand in the design of the ENT department. A firm believer in the original values and mission of the NHS, he disapproved of the many bureaucratic reorganisations that began in the 1970s. He published numerous articles, delivered lectures and belonged to many committees and councils, including the ENT section of the Royal Society of Medicine and the British Association of Otolaryngologists. He was particularly proud of designing a new surgical instrument which bears his name. In 1985 he retired from the NHS, but continued in private practice for several more years and became a surgical member of the Medical Appeals Tribunal for Industrial Injuries. Outside medicine, Paul’s great love was sailing. In the days before mobile phones, it was the ultimate escape from the stress of hospital life – out on the water he was completely unreachable. For many years he had an Enterprise dinghy and would tow this boat down to Cornwall every year for family holidays. Later, he teamed up with two friends to purchase the *St Brigid*, a 32-foot sailing cruiser which they moored down at Lymington on the south coast. Paul spent a lot of his spare time on *St Brigid*, including two weeks sailing in the English Channel every summer. He studied for his yachtmaster’s qualification, joined the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and even bought a house in Lymington. The whole family was involved in Paul’s sailing. Paul married Joan née Singer in March 1952. Jocelyn was born in April 1956 and Bryony came along four years later, in May 1960. Joan took navigation courses and their two children were co-opted as deck hands during school holidays. Paul was a great wine enthusiast, and he and Joan travelled extensively around Europe, and visited Australia, the USA and South Africa. Above all, Paul loved being with other people – he liked having an audience, he was great company and always entertaining. This world will be a duller place without him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000593
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Warrington, Alexander Joseph (1935 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Common, John Dermot Ainslie (1948 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2009-02-20
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/372778372778
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details John Dermot Ainslie Common was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary. He studied medicine at Westminster Hospital, where he qualified in 1971. Following his house appointment at the King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor, he went to Sierra Leone, where he worked on and wrote about onchocerciasis or ‘river blindness’. His formal ophthalmological training began in 1976 as a registrar at the Western Ophthalmic Hospital, followed by a senior registrar post at Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital. He was then appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in 1984, where he had an active interest in anterior segment surgery and ocular trauma. He retired in 2003 due to ill health. In retirement he maintained his sporting interests despite an above the elbow amputation of the left arm due to sarcoma – driving around the Nürburgring race track in Germany in less than nine minutes and big game hunting in Zambia using a rifle single armed. He married Terri, but was widowed. He died suddenly of a stroke on 8 April 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000595
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Humby, Martin Douglas (1939 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-02-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372779372779
Occupation General surgeon
Details Martin Humby was a surgeon at Lymington Hospital in the New Forest, Hampshire. An outstanding surgeon, dedicated family man, accomplished musician, sailor and furniture maker, he served his community well. He was born in Ashurst, in the New Forest, on 26 December 1939, the son of Lester Humby, an insurance agent, and Kathleen Anne Humby, a housewife. He was educated locally at Colbury and in Southampton, leaving at the age of 16 without any qualifications. He applied to join the Royal Navy, but failed to gain entry, so undertook casual labouring jobs, cutting hedges in the New Forest. His first hospital job was as a porter at Southampton General hospital, which was followed by becoming first a laboratory assistant and then a theatre technician at the age of 18. There he was so efficient and outstanding that Shackleton, the senior consultant anaesthetist at the hospital, urged Martin to attend evening classes at Southampton Technical College, to gain the necessary qualifications to try for medical school. He began his medical training at University College Hospital in 1966 at the age of 26. In 1970 he met Rosalind (‘Ros’), who was nursing at the Royal South Hampshire Hospital. They married just before he qualified at the age of 31 in 1971. He began his house jobs at Southampton General Hospital. He was then appointed as an anatomy demonstrator, rotating with a senior house officer post in the accident and emergency department, from which he passed the primary FRCS. He went on be a senior house officer at Salisbury District Hospital under Bonar Mackie. He was then appointed to the surgical registrar rotation post between Bournemouth and Southampton, during which he passed the final FRCS. He was then appointed to locum senior registrar positions in Basingstoke, Chichester and London, but had difficulty in obtaining a substantive senior registrar post, so in 1978 he began a GP training post in Lyndhurst, combining this with a temporary lecturer post at Southampton University in general surgery and urology, during which he carried out a review of the results of treatment of renal cell carcinoma. By now he had family responsibilities, and was advised to give up the quest for senior registrar posts. He began work as a part-time hospital practitioner at Lymington Hospital under Frank McGinn and Chris Smart, and combined this with a part-time general practice appointment at Lyndhurst. He was very successful in both posts: his patients loved him. He was so conscientious that he began extra fracture clinics and theatre lists in the hospital. He also became a local police surgeon and in 1993 became the hospital manager at Lymington. In 1994 new regulations obliged him to choose between general practice and surgery: he chose the latter, despite a reduction in salary, and he was appointed associate specialist surgeon at Lymington in general surgery and urology. He continued regular fracture clinics for the orthopaedic surgeons and performed cystoscopy and endoscopy lists. His general surgery included colectomies, cholecystectomies and thyroidectomies. He was chairman of the Lymington Hospital medical staff committee from 1991 to 1993. He took up the trombone in 1988 and this gave way to the drums in 1990. He had a natural musical talent and played regularly for the Foresters Jazz Band. He was a keen and skilful sailor, competing at Lymington and Cowes in his beloved, all-wooden sailing boat. Martin’s carpentry and furniture making was of a high standard and his chairs, drawers and dressers are fine testimonies to his skill and manual dexterity. Martin developed pain in the back in 1993 while antifouling his boat. X-rays revealed multiple myeloma with collapse of the atlas vertebra. Despite radiotherapy and two marrow transplants, during subsequent years he relapsed. Martin became part-time in 2005. His last operating list was performed three weeks before he died from pneumonia on 18 May 2007. He left his widow Ros, who is still working as a nurse at Lymington Hospital, three daughters, Ellinor (a GP in Bristol), Rebecca and Isabel, and two grandchildren. He is sorely missed at Lymington Hospital, where one of the two new theatres is named after him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000596
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Smith, George Malcolm Ross (1936 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Orr, Wilbert McNeill (1930 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-02-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372781372781
Occupation General surgeon Transplant surgeon
Details Wilbert McNeill Orr, known as ‘Willie’, was a renal transplant researcher and surgeon, and later a general surgeon in Manchester. He was born on 3 April 1930 in Trim, County Meath, Ireland, the son of David Orr, a bank manager, and Wilamena McNeill, a teacher. He attended Sligo Grammar School and entered Trinity College, Dublin, for his medical studies. In addition to his scholastic work, he became an enthusiastic oarsman and was captain of the senior eight rowing team that came third in the head of the river race at Putney and made the final of the Ladies’ Plate at Henley. In the last year of his studies he was a demonstrator in physiology at Trinity College Dublin Medical School and took a house physician’s post at Steeven’s Hospital, Dublin, under the watchful eye of P B B Gatenby. Wilbert Orr then went to the England for a house surgeon post, working at the Birmingham Accident Centre, before undertaking his first senior house officer post at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford in 1956. Deciding on a surgical career, he studied for the primary FRCS at the College on the basic sciences course. He passed this examination, before becoming senior house officer to Sir Stanford Cade at the Westminster Hospital, London. Going further north to gain more experience, he undertook a senior house officer post at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) and showed his teaching skills shortly afterwards as tutor in surgery at the MRI. During two years’ of National Service in the RAMC, he was a junior specialist in surgery with the rank of captain, serving with the Cameroon Force in West Africa. Returning as tutor in clinical surgery at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Willie spent a year in this post in 1962, before becoming assistant lecturer. An early joint publication with Kenneth Bloor was a case report on ‘haemorrhage from ileal varices due to portal hypertension’: this was the forerunner of many joint papers and lectures over the years. In 1964 he was research fellow at the Paterson Laboratories of the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, the first of many academic posts with a research interest in surgery. Senior registrar training was undertaken at a combined post at the Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, with Ralph Shackman, before he returned to Manchester as a lecturer in surgery. Some research work on renal function with Geoffrey Chisholm, then in London, led to other publications, as did his later stay in Manchester with Athol G Riddell on such diverse subjects as ‘the management of arterial emboli’ and ‘chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer’. Riddell was later translated to the chair in Bristol. During this lectureship he worked in the research laboratories of the Harvard Medical School under Francis D Moore, Moseley professor of surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. Willie became involved in the dog liver transplantation work, or the ‘Sputnik’ programme, as did so many other research fellows. Some of this work was later submitted for the degree of master of surgery at the University of Manchester. He also worked with Joseph E Murray, who in 1990 received a Nobel prize for his pioneering renal transplantation work. Some joint publications and lectures followed on the survival of both liver and kidney transplants from this one year stay in the USA. Returning to Manchester as lecturer in surgery with honorary consultant status in 1967, he was promoted to senior lecturer and became director of the renal transplantation unit. He was a founder member of the British Transplantation Society and, from 1969 to 1985, an elected non-professorial member of Senate, sub-dean of clinical studies at the University of Manchester and for 10 years Royal College of Surgeons of England tutor at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. His last 16 years, from 1974 until retirement in 1990, were spent as a consultant in general surgery, where he was happy to display the diverse range of ‘specialties’ in which he had been trained. He remained a member of the Vascular Society, the Surgical Research Society and the British Society for Immunology. As a fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland he served on its council. Wilbert McNeill Orr married Ann Fullerton, a physiotherapist, in 1955. They had five children: Jane became a nurse, Michael an orthopaedic surgeon and a fellow of the College, Anthony a general practitioner, Robert an actor and Susan a speech therapist. Willie Orr maintained a balanced lifestyle with outside interests in fly fishing, clock making and gardening. He died on 30 June 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000598
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cooke, Timothy Gordon (1947 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2009-03-13
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/372782372782
Occupation General surgeon
Details Tim Cooke, St Mungo professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow, was tragically killed at the age of 60 in a car accident when returning from a continental holiday with his wife and two of his six children. He was one of the UK’s leading academic surgeons, contributing extensively to research in surgical oncology with a special interest in breast disease. He was born in Birkenhead, on the Wirral. His father, Gordon George Cooke, was a sales consultant and his mother, Jeane Catherine Bremner née Mathieson, a ward clerk. He received his schooling at the Birkenhead Institute, before spending a year in Ghana working with Voluntary Services Overseas. He then proceeded to Liverpool University Medical School, qualifying in 1973. After house jobs, he entered surgical training at Royal Liverpool Hospital, including a two-year research appointment in the professorial surgical unit under the direction of Robert (later Sir Robert) Shields. His research centred on aspects of the biology of breast cancer and led to a successful MD thesis, a Hunterian professorship in 1980 and a lifelong interest in malignant breast disease. In 1980 Tim Cooke moved to Southampton as a lecturer in surgery, where he undertook research into colorectal cancer and in 1983 was appointed senior lecturer at the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, where he remained for three years. In 1986 he moved back to the academic department of surgery in Liverpool with honorary consultant status at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. In 1989 he was appointed to the St Mungo chair of surgery at the University of Glasgow. Over the next 20 years he contributed enormously to the research literature on breast cancer. He published almost 200 peer-reviewed papers, supervised some 25 postgraduates to obtain higher degrees, was a member of several editorial boards, edited two books, contributed chapters to several more and examined for 13 universities in the UK and abroad. He gave many invited lectures and brought substantial funding to his department. In 1996 he was elected to the prestigious James IV Association of Surgeons, a body whose active membership comprises only 100 practising surgeons worldwide. In addition to his academic endeavours he played a major part in improving NHS breast services in the Glasgow region and was also heavily involved in the wider NHS reorganisation which became necessary in greater Glasgow. He was a keen and enthusiastic teacher and universally popular with students. Outside of work, Tim led a full and varied life. He was widely read and, having attended the same school as the First World War poet Wilfred Owen, was especially knowledgeable about war poetry. He was a keen sportsman, enjoying sailing, skiing and riding. He played tennis and squash, ran marathons and rode mountain bikes. He was a longstanding supporter of Liverpool Football Club, a saxophonist, a bon vivant and a superb storyteller. Married to Lynn (née Russell), a consultant ENT surgeon, he had six children – Emma, Sophie, Ben, James, Esme and Cameron. He died returning from a sailing holiday on 20 July 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000599
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Henriques, Cecil Quixano (1924 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2009-03-13 2009-06-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372783372783
Occupation General surgeon
Details Cecil Quixano Henriques was a consultant surgeon at Ipswich and East Suffolk hospitals. He was born on 22 February 1924 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the son of Wilfrid Quixano Henriques OBE, a civil engineer, and Beatrice Ledward (née Forde), Cecil Henriques was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read natural sciences. In 1945 he entered St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, London, from where he qualified in 1948. He was a house officer and casualty officer at St Thomas’ Hospital, before spending two years National Service in the Royal Navy as a surgeon lieutenant on HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. On demobilization he became a registrar at the Royal Northern Hospital, where he was greatly influenced by Sir Reginald Murley and R J McNeil Love. He then moved to King’s College Hospital, London, where he completed his training, becoming a research fellow and senior registrar. Here he was influenced by Sir Cecil Wakeley, Sir Edward Muir and Harold C Edwards. During his time at King’s he was successful in winning the John Everidge research prize in both 1957 and 1960. He was appointed consultant surgeon at Ipswich and East Suffolk hospitals in 1960, where he practised for the rest of his career, retiring in 1988. In 1961 he gave a Hunterian Lecture based on his research at King’s on the veins of the vertebral column and their role in the spread of cancer, some of the experimental work also being carried out at the Buckston Browne Research Farm. This lecture was published in the Annals in 1962, the same year in which he gave an Arnott Demonstration. For several years he was an examiner in surgery for the University of Cambridge and at the College he was a surgical tutor between 1964 and 1971. He had the reputation of being a highly skilled technical surgeon, but was noted for being conservative in his choice of management; if an operation could be avoided, so much the better. Immaculate in dress, in the operating theatre he always wore a pair of Royal Naval officers’ half brogue white leather deck shoes and in private life was never seen without a jacket and tie. He was also noted for owning a succession of Daimler cars. He was a skilled politician in hospital committees, usually winning the day in matters of debate. In retirement he enjoyed gardening and living a quiet country life with his wife Faith (née Sanderson), by whom he had three children. He died on 21 July 2008 in Saxmundham, Suffolk.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000600
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Heyse-Moore, George Henry (1946 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-03-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372784372784
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details George Heyse-Moore was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who practised at the James Paget Hospital, Great Yarmouth. He was born and brought up in Exeter, where his father, Henry Dendy Moore, practised as a general surgeon. The ‘Heyse’ component of his name came from his mother, who was a sculptor practising under her maiden name, Jacqueline Heyse. George was one of two sons who entered the medical profession - his brother is a consultant in palliative care. After training at the Middlesex Hospital, George Heyse-Moore decided to specialise in orthopaedics, undertaking most of his training in the Exeter area. In 1983 he was appointed to his consultant post in Great Yarmouth. Two areas interested him in particular: revision hip surgery and the management of back problems and associated sciatica. He tackled the latter with his anaesthetist colleague, William Notcutt, who ran the pain relief clinic at the James Paget. In the 1990s they recruited a specialist spinal physiotherapist to an interdisciplinary team for the secondary care of back problems. George Heyse-Moore did not enjoy the non-clinical aspects of medicine, which sometimes brought him into conflict with management. He was an avid writer of rather stroppy letters to the national and local press that always seemed to hit the target with devastating precision. He admired P G Wodehouse, and had a special way with words, writing short stories and three novels. Shortly after taking up his consultant post in Great Yarmouth, his first wife, Monica, was killed in a car accident, leaving George to care for two young children, Tom and Hannah. Inevitably it took a long time for him to recover from this tragedy, but later he found happiness again as he married Elaine, who helped care for his children. George Heyse-Moore developed prostatic cancer which was unresponsive to treatment, and retired early because of this. He died on 1 May 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000601
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bohn, Gordon Leonard (1913 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Marshall Barr
Publication Date 2009-03-13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372785372785
Occupation General surgeon
Details Gordon Bohn was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospitals, Reading. He was born in Forest Gate, London, on 17 February 1913, the son of Leonard Gayton Bohn, a ship-owner, and Sophia Bohn (née Cattermole). From the County High School, Ilford, he went to the medical school of St Bartholomew’s Hospital. After two and a half years in junior posts at Bart’s he had already passed the final fellowship examination. Sir James Paterson Ross told him “now is the time to learn some real surgery”. Leonard Joyce, the brilliant honorary surgeon at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, was a Bart’s man who had close links with the surgical professorial unit, so in 1937 Bohn went to the Royal Berkshire in Reading. He dropped a rank to become house surgeon to Joyce. In 1938 he became a registrar and married Freda Stace. When Joyce died in 1939, Aitken Walker became honorary surgeon and Bohn an honoary assistant surgeon. He joined Aitken Walker in private surgical practice and as co-owner of Dunedin Nursing Home, which would later become a large private hospital in a national chain. At the Royal Berkshire Hospital he was promoted to honorary surgeon in 1942, but was soon called to military service. He went with the RAMC to West Africa and Burma, reaching the rank of major. With the coming of the NHS, he was appointed consultant surgeon, becoming active on many local and regional committees. From 1969 he served for a year as head of the British paediatric team in South Vietnam. On his return he plunged into the planning for a new acute services unit being built at Battle Hospital. When it opened as the Abbey Block in 1972, Bohn, who had served at the Royal Berkshire on every surgically related committee from records to sterilising services, totally changed his allegiance: he brought his own surgical unit to the Abbey Block and worked tirelessly to improve the clinical services at Battle until his retirement on his 65th birthday in 1978. Even then, he stayed on to do two years of research. Bohn was a skilled general surgeon, with particular interests in peptic ulcer surgery and paediatrics, equally at home in dealing with a massive haematemesis or pyloric stenosis in a neonate. His mastery of clinical diagnosis was a source of wonder to a succession of surgical registrars. If a junior called with a problem, he would come in at once. In theatre he was calm, quiet and unflappable, much-loved by the nursing staff. Outside work, he was a skilled church organist and choirmaster. He continued as organist in the Royal Berkshire Hospital chapel for many years after retirement. He was completely unostentatious, although his great joy after music was an immaculate vintage Rolls Royce. A short time before both their deaths, Gordon Bohn married Maisie Cook, the ex-superintendent of theatres at the Royal Berks and Battle, who had been his companion for many years. He died on 10 December 2007 in Reading, leaving three daughters (Frances, Elizabeth and Griselda), six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The second daughter, Elizabeth Calder, became an associate specialist in the Derriford Hospital dialysis and transplant unit. Her son, Alistair Calder, is a consultant radiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000602
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Mortensen, Peter James (1926 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2009-03-13 2012-03-13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372786372786
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Jim Mortensen was a urological surgeon in Melbourne, Australia. He was born in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia, on 15 May 1926, the only child of Henry Newman Mortensen and Lorna née Bray, who were both general practitioners. His father went to England in the early 1930s to specialise in surgery and passed the FRCS Edinburgh, returning in 1937 to Melbourne to found the urological unit at St Vincent's Hospital. He was also president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand on three occasions and, in 1964, was the first Australian to be made an honorary member of British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). His mother Lorna specialised in anaesthetics, was a Nuffield scholar at Oxford and subsequently returned to the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a consultant anaesthetist. Jim was educated by the Jesuits as a boarder at Xavier College, where he rowed in the first VIII and became a school prefect. He studied medicine at Melbourne University, residing at Newman College. After qualifying, he was a resident at St Vincent's Hospital, where he received permission to marry at the end of 1950. After three years as a resident he went to England, to work at St Peter's Chertsey, where he passed the FRCS. He returned to Melbourne as assistant urologist on his father's unit. In 1959 he won the Babcock travelling fellowship to Ann Arbor, Michigan, then led by Reed Nesbit, the doyen of transurethral resection. There he learned the new Bricker technique of ileal conduit urinary diversion. He returned to St Vincent's in 1966 to become head of the department, remaining in charge until he retired in 1988. Under his leadership St Vincent's became one of the leading urological units in the world, developing transplant surgery in the 1960s and installing the first extracorporeal lithotriptor in Australia. He was also consultant urologist to Williamstown and Box Hill hospitals from 1957 to 1973, worked at Swan Hill District Hospital from 1970 until he retired in 1994, and also worked in Indonesia and India, encouraging young surgeons from those countries to visit St Vincent's. In 1969 Jim followed his father by becoming president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand. An excellent golfer and tennis player, Jim enjoyed reading, music and his garden. For a time he bred Murray Grey cattle, and he and Margot (née Collins) made several trips by Land Rover to central and Western Australia to see wild flowers in the outback. He and Margot had a long and happy marriage, with eight children and 18 grandchildren. By a sad irony he succumbed to cancer of the prostate which led to spinal cord compression from a metastasis. He died on 28 September 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000603
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wilson, Peter ( - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-03-27 2013-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372787372787
Occupation General surgeon
Details Peter Wilson was a consultant surgeon at Whitybush Hospital, Haverford West. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, qualifying in 1956. After junior posts he moved to Cardiff, where he became senior registrar in general surgery at the United Cardiff hospitals. He was then appointed to his consultant position at Haverford West. He was elected FRCS ad eundem in 1979. The college was informed of his death in May 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000604
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shanmugalingam, Thamotharampillai Nadarajah (1928 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2009-03-27 2014-06-19
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372788372788
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Thamotharampillai Nadarajah Shanmugalingam was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Sri Lanka. He was born on 26 September 1928, in Point Pedro, Ceylon, the son of Thamotharampillai Nadarajah, a land owner and merchant, and Vettrivetpillai Muthuratnam, a housewife. He was educated at Hartley College, Point Pedro, and then Pembroke Academy, Colombo. He went on to study medicine at the University of Ceylon, qualifying in 1951 with a distinction in surgery. After junior posts he studied for the primary FRCS, winning the Hallett prize in the examination held in Ceylon in 1956. He then went to England to study surgery, passed the fellowship of the Edinburgh and English colleges in 1960, and then specialised in orthopaedics, passing the Liverpool masters degree in 1962. He then returned to Ceylon, becoming, in 1962, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon attached to the department of health services of the government of Ceylon. He also taught undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, and was an examiner for undergraduate examinations. He was initially based in the General Hospital, Galle, where he organised a new orthopaedic unit. From 1963 to 1965 he was an orthopaedic surgeon at the General Hospital, Badulla, where he again started an orthopaedic unit. From 1966 until his retirement in 1988 he was one of three orthopaedic surgeons at the General Hospital, Colombo. During his tenure there he dealt with many difficult, often neglected, orthopaedic problems, including TB of the spine, missed congenital dislocation of the hips, diseases of the shoulder and other major joints. He also treated all types of trauma, including closed and open fractures. He was an overseas fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association, and a member of the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Medical Association. He married Padmajothy (Pala) in 1952 and they had two sons, Shrikharan, a consultant surgeon practising in Sri Lanka, and Easwaran, and a daughter, Sumathi. Thamotharampillai Nadarajah Shanmugalingam died on 7 December 2007, aged 79.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000605
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hardcastle, Brian (1925 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Smith, Carey Curloss Kenred (1917 - )

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372790372790
Occupation General surgeon
Details Carey Smith was surgeon superintendent of Stratford Hospital, Taranaki, New Zealand. He was born in Slad, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, on 5 June 1917. His father Kenred Smith was a missionary in the Baptist Missionary Society and his mother was Ethel May Walker. He was educated at the Birches, a private school in Stroud, Belmont School and Mill Hill School in London, from which he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1935, going on to St Thomas’ Hospital in 1938 for his clinical studies. Qualifying in 1941, he completed junior posts at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and Newbury and District Hospital, before joining the RAMC in 1942. He served in Sierra Leone, India and the Arakan region during the campaign in Burma. On demobilisation, he returned to London, first to St Thomas’ and then St James’s Hospital, Balham. From July 1950 to February 1951 he was a house surgeon to N R Barrett at St Thomas’ and then returned to St James, where, from April 1951 to May 1956, he was a senior registrar with Norman Tanner. He then emigrated to New Zealand, as surgeon superintendent of Stratford Hospital Taranaki. This was at that time a small rural hospital with no specialist or ancillary services. His training under Tanner enabled him to provide a comprehensive surgical service, as well as the only gastroscopy service within a radius of 150 miles. He built up the services in every department, installing new operating theatres and wards. There he remained until his retirement in 1982. In 1942 he married Helen Frances Dugon. They had four children. His sons Keith Alexander Carey and Timothy Kenred Carey are both doctors, while his other son, Christopher Mark Carey is an Anglican priest. His daughter, Jill Frances Carey, is a missionary. His death was notified to the College by his family in March 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000607
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watkins, Sir Tasker (1918 - 2007)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372791372791
Occupation Lawyer
Details Sir Tasker Watkins was a war hero, holder of the Victoria Cross, Deputy Chief Justice for England and Wales from 1988 to 1993, and an honorary fellow of the College. He was born in Nelson, Glamorgan, on 18 November 1918, the son of a mining engineer. He won a scholarship to Pontypridd County School, where he played rugby football, and was studying to become a commercial attaché when the war broke out. He enlisted into the Welch Regiment and rose to become a lieutenant in command of a company, which was ordered to attack the railway at Bafour, near Falaise, under intense fire. He charged two German posts, killing and wounding the occupants with his Sten gun, and went on to attack an anti-tank gun emplacement when his Sten jammed, so he threw it into a German’s face, and finished him off with his revolver. His company, now reduced to about 30, was now counterattacked by some 50 Germans. Watkins led a bayonet charge which wiped out many of the enemy and then attempted to withdraw round the enemy flank, but was challenged by a German position. Ordering his men to scatter, he charged the post with a Bren gun, silenced it, and led the remnants of his company back to headquarters, having saved the lives of half of his men. For his valour he was decorated with the Victoria Cross and promoted to major. After the war he took up the law. He was called to the Bar in 1948, took silk in 1965 and in 1971 joined the Bench as a judge. He enjoyed a distinguished legal career as Judge of the High Court, Lord Justice of Appeal, and Deputy Chief Justice for England and Wales from 1988 until he retired in 1993. Among his duties was to act as counsel during the enquiry into the Aberfan disaster. He was president of the Welsh Rugby Union from 1993 until 2004. He married Eirwen Evans in 1941 and they had two children, a son, who died in 1982, and a daughter, Mair. He died in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, on 9 September 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000608
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Langley, Douglas Arthur (1917 - 2002)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2009-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372792372792
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Douglas Arthur Langley was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Royal Northern and Whittington hospitals in London. He was born on 18 April 1917 at Woolwich, London, to Arthur Langley, an Army officer, and Laura Elizabeth née Webber. He was educated at Cottingham College, Plumstead, and Woolwich County Secondary School and received his medical education at King’s College and St George’s Hospital. There he won the Johnson prize in anatomy, the Pollock prize in physiology and the Anne Selim scholarship. During the Second World War he served in the RNVR as a surgeon lieutenant. After leaving the Navy, he began his training in ophthalmic surgery and worked as resident surgical officer at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital, before his appointment as consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal Northern Hospital, the Whittington Hospital and the West End Hospital for Neurology. He was particularly interested in glaucoma and held annual meetings for north London opticians at the Royal Northern Hospital. His interests were varied: he had a private pilot’s licence, was a keen yachtsman and navigator, a skilled pianist and cabinet maker, and loved watching football. He married twice. In 1942 he married Myrtle Chinnery, an old school friend. They had two sons and a daughter. His second wife was Yvonne Patricia Peterson, a nurse, by whom he had a son. His health in latter years was poor and he underwent repair of an aortic aneurysm. He died on 16 June 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000609
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Greaves, Desmond Peel (1920 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Dixon, James William Theodore (1921 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-03-15 2009-05-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372523372523
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details James Dixon was an ENT surgeon in Glasgow and later Devon. He was born on 28 September 1921 in Trong, Perak, Malaya, where his father, William John Dixon, was working as a doctor. His mother was Grace Gertrude née Holmes. He was educated at St Peter’s, Exmouth, and Epsom College, from which he went to University College Hospital with an entrance scholarship. There he was much influenced by Gwynne Williams, Myles Formby, Gavin Livingstone and Ronald Macbeth. On qualifying he did his house jobs at University College Hospital, Hampstead General Hospital, the Postgraduate Medical School Hammersmith and the Royal Ear Hospital. He served in the RAMC from 1946 to 1948, reaching the rank of major. He returned to University College Hospital as a registrar and senior registrar, specialising in ENT. He was a senior registrar at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, before being appointed surgeon in charge of the ENT department, at the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, in 1959, with the honorary position of lecturer in otolaryngology. In 1970 he moved to Devon, as a consultant for the Devon and Exeter clinical area, based at Torbay Hospital. He published articles on acute otitis media in children, carcinoma of the larynx and solitary neurilemmomata. Dixon was honorary secretary of the section of laryngology of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1966 to 1968 and a member of the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists from 1970. Whilst in Glasgow he examined for the final FRCS in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ireland. He married a Miss McCay in 1955, and had three sons and a daughter. He died suddenly on 6 April 2003. Neil Weir
Resource Identifier RCS: E000337
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kapur, Satya Bhushan (1920 - 2008)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2009-05-15
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372796372796
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Satya Bhushan Kapur was an ophthalmic surgeon. He was born on 4 March 1920 in Rangoon, Burma, the second child but first son of Lal Chand Kapur, a civil engineer with Burma Railways, and Bhagwanti Devi, whose father was an Ayurvedic physician. He was educated in Rangoon at the primary DAV School and then at BET High School. He began his medical education in 1938 at the Medical College, Rangoon, but this was interrupted in 1942 when Burma was invaded by Japan. The family were held in Burma during the Japanese occupation, but then fled to India, where he resumed his studies at King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Punjab, qualifying in 1946. He was one of the first Indian graduates to migrate to Britain and train successfully in ophthalmology. He was an ophthalmic house surgeon then a registrar at Guy’s Hospital, London, before becoming a registrar, then a senior registrar at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon in 1962 to West Middlesex Hospital and later to St Albans City Hospital and Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City. He was a member of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the BMA, and he served on the council of the Medical Eye Centre Association, UK. A physically fit man, he enjoyed swimming, golf, hill walking, and reluctantly gave up skiing at the age of 85. He married Toini Kylliainen in 1955 and they had two daughters, Suri and Mira, both of whom are medically qualified and live in Australia. He died on 4 April 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000613
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Chesterfield-Evans, Hugh Harvey (1922 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Arthur Chesterfield-Evans
Publication Date 2009-05-15 2021-05-20
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372797372797
Occupation General surgeon
Details As a consultant surgeon working in rural Australia, Harvey Chesterfield-Evans was a founder member and past president of the Provincial Surgeons Association. He was born in North Korea on 19 January 1922, the son of an Australian who worked for an American mining company and a New Zealander. He was educated at a missionary school, which left him with a marked distrust of organised religion. Before returning to Australia as a 16 year old, he had already assisted in operations and helped administer anaesthetics for the only doctor in the district. He had also witnessed the destructive Japanese occupation of North Korea, travelled widely, and absorbed Eastern cultures and philosophies, which encouraged a broader diagnostic approach in his later career. Harvey attended Sydney Grammar School and Sydney University faculty of medicine, graduating with second class honours. He married his wife Enid and became a general practitioner in Brisbane. With his wife and first child, Arthur, Harvey went to the UK to study for the fellowship, which he passed in 1955. They then returned to Australia, now with Deirdre and Nigel, to be followed two years later by Jan. Harvey established himself in a surgical practice in Wollongong. In 1968 he returned to the UK study neurosurgery in Edinburgh under John Gillingham, which greatly benefitted his patients in Wollongong, the nearest neurosurgeon then being in Sydney. Harvey dealt with a wide variety of surgical problems. The Port Kembla steelworks and the local mines were a constant source of accident and injury, in addition to the usual car accidents and elective surgery. As one of four ‘honoraries’ he was on call for 48 hours non-stop, every fourth weekend. The honorary system allowed specialists to admit private patients to hospital provided that pensioners or those who could not afford it were treated free of charge. This paternalistic system before Medicare ensured that no one who needed emergency surgery would go untreated. He believed in this system and treated everyone equally. Perhaps because of his upbringing in Korea, Harvey was always practical and inventive in his approach to surgical problems. As the senior surgeon in Wollongong for some years, his patients left hospital within four days, while other surgeons’ patients stayed in for ten. Together with a physiotherapist friend, Peter Swan, he developed a post-operative system for hand injuries which is now in widespread use. A strong believer that ‘prevention is better than cure’, he refused to operate on overweight patients because of the inherent risks and would tell them to “stop smoking and come back when you’ve lost three stone”. It did not help his popularity with some, but many complied, and it did help his success rate. He was an active member of the South East Medical Association, a local affiliate of the Australian Medical Association, but it was into the Provincial Surgeons Association (PSA) that he put his heart and soul, as one of its founders. In the 1950s, with the influx of post-war immigration and later the ‘ten pound’ immigrants, the need increased for experienced surgeons in the country regions of Australia. As with today, city-trained Australian doctors were reluctant to ‘go bush’, whilst surgeons who had trained in the UK and were emigrating to Australia found it impossible to obtain a position in a city. These surgeons were not products of the Royal Australasian College and had no affiliations or associations in Australia. Working in country towns, often far away from the capital, they were isolated. They faced everything from elective surgery to acute trauma, head injuries requiring decompression, caesarian section and multiple fractures. It was to meet this need that the PSA was formed. It quickly became not merely a fraternity, but a forum for brainstorming. At its meetings surgeons discussed their successes, their failures and their ideas. They invented new instruments and brought them to meetings to be discussed and fine-tuned. They telephoned each other when faced with a perplexing problem or shared a textbook over the phone. Lateral thinking was encouraged and indeed vital to their work. At the time of its inception the PSA was the only forum, medical or political, for rural surgeons. Today, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is specifically training surgeons for work in rural areas. As its founder and past president Harvey was involved in every aspect of the PSA, worked tirelessly to extend its membership, organised and hosted meetings, maintained its records and wrote its history – *A mantle of care: a history of the first twenty five years of the provincial surgeons of Australia* (Mangerton, NSW: Provincial Surgeons’ Association of Australia, c.1991). He was very proud of his work on the road trauma committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, which worked for some years to get seatbelts made mandatory. This was successful and the State of Victoria, home of RACS, was the first jurisdiction in the world to make wearing seatbelts mandatory. He spoke about the complete change in the pattern of road trauma injuries: instead of cases coming in with terrible head injuries, facial injuries from going through the windscreen and major chest injuries from the steering wheel hitting the chest, they were more likely to have abdominal organ ruptures, which were at least repairable with the hope of a normal life in the medium term. He was then part of RACS’ campaign for random breath testing to discourage drink driving. This campaign was also successful and caused another significant drop in Australia's road toll, which had been the highest in the world. Harvey was a generous contributor to his local area: he taught doctors and nurses, taught first aid to St John’s ambulance officers for 25 years (recognised by being made a serving brother of St John of Jerusalem). He was a charter member of West Wollongong Rotary, and was awarded its highest honour, a Paul Harris fellowship in 1989. He was a practical handyman, and as a founder member of the Illawarra Alpine Club, helped to build their lodge and organised the team that built the Rutherford scout hut at Tudor House. Meanwhile he raised four children and read voraciously – always fact rather than fiction, constantly educating himself. He resigned from his practice in 1984 with the re-introduction of Medicare. Having experienced the British NHS when training for the FRCS, he was disgusted that Australia could envisage an inferior system. He feared bureaucratic interference and, whilst espousing capitalism, practised socialism in terms of his attitude to people. In the two years before his death Harvey would have liked voluntary euthanasia, but did not have the strength: his demise was protracted by a system that, as he said, “has no mercy”. His mind was active until close to the end. After Sunday dinner with his family, he announced that he would not leave his bed again, had a last beer with a few friends, before losing consciousness under the care of the palliative care team and died on 15 September 2005 in Wollongong.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000614
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Harding-Jones, David (1936 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-03-15 2014-04-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372526372526
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details David Harding-Jones was an orthopaedic surgeon in Carmarthen, Wales. He was born in Stratford, East London, on 3 August 1936, one of a pair of identical twins. His father, William, was a Presbyterian minister. His mother was Gertrude Alice née Roberts. He was educated at Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, and Charing Cross Hospital. After junior posts, he specialised in orthopaedics, becoming a registrar at the Westminster Hospital, rotating registrar at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, and Hereford General Hospital, and senior registrar at the United Cardiff Hospitals. He was appointed consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at the West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen. At the College he was regional adviser in orthopaedics for south Wales. He died on 27 March 2005 after a short and sudden illness and is survived by his wife June née Hitchens, whom he married in 1960, and by his three sons (Andrew, Ian and Neil), two daughters (Alison and Fiona) and five grandchildren (Bethan, Thomas, Iestyn, Ella and Angus).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000340
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Amdrup, Erik (1923 - 1998)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-05-10 2014-08-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372527372527
Occupation Gastroenterological surgeon
Details Erik Amdrup was director of surgical gastro-enterology and professor of surgery at Aarus Kommune Hospital, Denmark. He was born on 21 February 1923. His PhD thesis in 1960 was on the dumping syndrome. Later he developed a method of 'precise antrectomy' to avoid that complication and carried out research into the effect of vagotomy on parietal cell function, work which led to the Arhus county vagotomy trial. This won him international fame, the Novo Nordisk prize in 1977 and the *Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology* Prize for 1987. As a supervisor of research he was an unpretentious and highly regarded teacher, and published (together with J F Rehfeld) *Gastrins and the vagus* (London, Academic Press, 1979). In addition he had another career as an author of detective novels, several of which were made into films. Some of his short stories made their way into anthologies alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. Erik Amdrup died on 22 February 1998, the day after his 75th birthday.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000341
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Challis, Margaret Thornton (1934 - 2005)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-05-10
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372528372528
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Details Margaret Challis was a consultant ophthalmologist at Whipps Cross Hospital. Her parents were both doctors – her father, John Humphrey Thornton Challis, was a consultant anaesthetist at the London Hospital and her mother, Margaret Llewelyn Jones, a general practitioner in Woodford, Essex. Margaret was born in Woodford on 18 October 1934 and educated at Roedean School, Brighton, and Queen Mary College, London University. Her medical training was at the London Hospital, the third generation of her family to be trained there. After house jobs at the London she began her ophthalmology training at Moorfields Eye Hospital and then went on to St John’s Hospital, Jerusalem. She was then appointed as consultant surgeon at Whipps Cross Hospital, where she remained for the rest of her working life. She married an accountant, Mr Walters, in 1971 but had no children. Her interests were wide – as a student she played tennis for London University, but her main activity and love was horse riding and she eventually became chairman of her local club. She gardened all her life. Margaret died on 27 April 2005 of carcinomatosis after a long illness.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000342
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Braine, James William (1796 - 1870)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Braithwaite, Francis (1804 - 1863)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Bramley, Lawrence (1807 - 1882)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Branfoot, Sir Arthur Mudge (1848 - 1914)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Arnold, James (1819 - 1866)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Arrowsmith, James Yerrow ( - 1866)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Arthur, John (1806 - 1876)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Ashby, Alfred ( - 1922)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-07
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372887372887
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Guy’s Hospital, and then became Surgeon to the Western General Dispensary. Appointed Medical Officer of Health to the united districts of Grantham, Newark, Sleaford, and Ruskington, and afterwards to Caversham, and to the Rural Districts of the Grantham, Newark, and Sleaford Unions. He came to Reading about the year 1882, and served the Borough for over forty years, being at the time of his death Consulting Medical Officer of Health to the Reading and Wokingham Union and Wokingham Rural Districts, Public Analyst, and Gas Examiner to the County Borough of Reading. He died suddenly at the entrance to the Reading Town Hall on Jan 7th, 1922. His official address had been at the Municipal buildings in Valpy Street, and his home address was at Ashdene, Argyll Road. Publications: *Grantham, Newark, and Sleaford combined Sanitary District*: Sec. 1. Precautions against the Spread of Infectious Diseases. Sec. 2. Directions for Disinfection. Sec. 3. Penalties for the Neglect of Precautions....Sec. 4. Directions for Rendering House Drainage free from Danger. Sec. 5. General Directions for the Preservation of Health. 8vo, Grantham, *n.d*. “Illustrations of Arrest of Infectious Diseases by Isolation of the Sick.” *Practitioner*, 1878, xxi, 300, and 1879, xxiii, 148. “Log-wood as a Re-agent.” *Analyst*, 1884. “The Fallacies of Empirical Standards in Water Analysis.” *Proc. Soc. M.O.H.*, 1884. “Powers of Local Authorities in respect of Dairies, Cowsheds, Milk Shops, etc.” * Ibid.*, 1886. “The Medical Officer of Health” in Stevenson and Murphy’s *Treatise on Hygiene*, 1893, ii. “The Detection of Methylated Spirits in Tinctures, Spirits or Ether.” *Analyst*, 1894, xix, 265. “Milk Epidemic of Diphtheria associated with an Udder Disease of Cows.” *Public Health*, 1906.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000704
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ashe, Evelyn Oliver (1864 - 1925)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-07 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372888372888
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at Owens College, Manchester, and at the London Hospital, where he was Scholar in Anatomy and Physiology (1883-1884), and in Anatomy, Physiology, and Chemistry (1884-1885). He was also Surgical Scholar, and obtained an Honours Certificate in Obstetrics in 1886-1887. After qualification he was House Physician, House Surgeon, Dental Assistant, and Resident Accoucheur at the London Hospital. In 1892 he went out to Kimberley, Cape Colony, as Senior House Surgeon to the Kimberley Hospital. Started practice in Kimberley in 1894, and became Surgeon to the De Beer's Consolidated Mines and Surgeon to the Kimberley Hospital, where he was Senior Surgeon at the time of his death on April 27th, 1925. His qualities were such that he was accorded a public funeral. Publications: *Besieged by the Boers: a Diary of Life and Events in Kimberley during the Siege*. 8vo, New York, 1900. "Galyl in Malta Fever." - *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1918, i, 454. "Cæsarean Section for Eclampsia - Survival of Mother and Child." - *S. Afric. Med. Record*, 1919.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000705
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ashley, William Henry (1819 - 1874)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Somerville, Philip Graham (1920 - 2010)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2010-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001000-E001099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373230373230
Occupation General surgeon
Details Philip Graham Somerville was a consultant general surgeon with a vascular interest at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. He was a man of great professional integrity with superb surgical skills. At Brighton he achieved a great deal and raised the surgical standards to the level they currently enjoy. Born on 16 August 1920 into a medical family, Philip was one of five children, and the third son, of Edgar Watson Somerville, a general practitioner in Leek, Staffordshire, and his wife Muriel Helen, née Watson, whose family had a silk business in Staffordshire. His paternal grandfather had the Scottish diploma and an older brother, Edgar William Somerville, was a well-known Oxford orthopaedic surgeon who made major contributions to surgery for congenital dislocation of the hip and helped set up the first orthopaedic service in the Sudan. Philip’s primary education was at Brockenhurst preparatory school, Church Stretton, where he was very unhappy but made to persevere in order to follow his brother Edgar, seven years his senior, to Shrewsbury School. Both brothers went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences. Philip followed his brother to St George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, for his clinical training. He played tennis for Emmanuel College. After qualifying, he worked as a house surgeon at Hyde Park Corner and then as a resident surgical officer at St George’s, before going into the RAMC for National Service from 1946 to 1948, serving mainly in Gibraltar. On demobilisation, he became a registrar at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, working under Hugh Blauvelt, a delightful Canadian-born surgeon who first described subcutaneous fat necrosis in acute pancreatitis (Blauvelt’s sign). Senior registrar training was at King’s College Hospital, where he was greatly influenced by Sir Cecil Wakeley and Sir Edwin Muir. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Royal Sussex County Hospital and Cuckfield Hospital in 1952, at the age of just 31. He passed the MChir in Cambridge one year after his appointment. His interest in vascular surgery increased and he established the Sussex Stroke and Circulation Fund with Helen Liwicki in the late 1970s, which supported the development of a major vascular unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He served the Royal College of Surgeons on the Court of Examiners for the final FRCS and in retirement continued to be a valued examiner in anatomy for the primary FRCS. He was president of the Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1980. He was a very thoughtful man of great integrity, but perhaps not a good communicator. Tragedy struck twice in his family life. He married Nancy Gardner in 1947, who bore him a daughter, Anne, in 1952. Nancy died in 1970 and, after two lonely years, he married Stella Hardwick, who died of bile duct cancer in 1976, some six years after radical surgery. Philip dealt with these sad blows with great courage and dignity. His daughter, Anne, was executive secretary to the Laird Group and often accompanied him on surgical and College overseas meetings. Philip retired in 1985, but did not remain idle. He was chairman of the League of Friends for the Brighton Hospitals and travelled widely, becoming an encyclopaedia of knowledge about the geography and peoples of many different countries, including Outer Mongolia. In his last years he suffered from Parkinson’s. His symptoms were largely controlled until the latter part of 2009, when his mobility became severely restricted. He died at his home at Haywards Heath on 23 January 2010 at the age of 89 years. He was survived by his daughter, Anne.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001047
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kemball, Vero Clarke (1780 - 1853)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Roy, Arthur Douglas (1925 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372308372308
Occupation General surgeon
Details In the course of his career, Douglas Roy held appointments as a professor of surgery on three continents. He was born on 10 April 1925, the son of Arthur Roy and Edith Mary (née Brown). Educated at Paisley Grammar School, he went to Glasgow University to study medicine. After house appointments, he was joined the RAMC in 1948 for his National Service. From 1950 to 1954 he distinguished himself in registrar posts in Glasgow and Inverness. He then went south of the border, to become senior surgical registrar in Oxford and Aylesbury. Returning to Scotland in 1957, he became consultant surgeon, honorary lecturer and first assistant to Sir Charles Illingworth and subsequently to Sir Andrew Watt Kay in the department of surgery at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. In 1968, he was appointed foundation professor at the newly opened faculty of medicine at the University of Nairobi. As well as running a busy department, promoting both undergraduate and postgraduate education, he flew with the flying doctor service, visiting remote areas of the country. In 1973, he became head of Queen’s University department of surgery in Belfast, where he remained for 12 years. Here he stimulated, encouraged and wisely delegated responsibilities in administrative, clinical and research fields. A fine technical surgeon and a dedicated trainer, he was widely respected for his work in gastro-intestinal, breast and endocrine surgery, as well as the management of trauma. He was Chairman of the surgical training committee of the Northern Ireland Council for Postgraduate Medical Education for 11 years. He was on the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1979 to 1985, as well as serving on many other committees and advisory bodies. In 1985, he moved to the Sultanate of Oman, where he was chief of surgical services to the Ministry of Health and professor of surgery at the Sultan Qaboos University for three years. In Oman Roy was instrumental in planning a surgical training programme in the newly opened university medical school. Roy published papers on gastro-enterology, endocrine surgery and also wrote a supplement on tropical medicine in *Lecture notes in surgery*. He retired to Honiton, Devon, where he was a non-executive director of a community health trust and President of the Devon and Exeter Medical Society from 1994 to 1995. He was able to enjoy sailing and gardening. He also took up gliding, sharing a glider with a local general practitioner. He went solo on his 65th birthday. He was married twice, first in 1954 to Monica Cecilia Mary Bowley, by whom he had three daughters, and secondly, in 1973, to Patricia Irene McColl. There are three grandchildren. He died from Parkinson’s disease on 21 July 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000121
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ruddick, Donald William Hugh (1916 - 1997)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Holden, Luther (1815 - 1905)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-03-08 2012-03-22
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372392372392
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in his grandfather's house at Birmingham on Dec. 11th, 1815. He was the second son of the Rev. Henry Augustus Holden, who married his cousin Hyla Holden of Wednesbury in Staffordshire. His elder brother, Henry Holden, D.D. (b. 1814) , was Canon of Durham, a fine scholar and the editor with Richard Dacre Archer Hind of the *Sabrinœ Corolla*; the fourth brother, Philip Melancthon (1823-1904) was Rector of Upminster, Essex. Luther was educated with his father's pupils, at a private school in Birmingham, and at Havre, where in 1827 he learned to speak French fluently. He entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1831 as an apprentice of Edward Stanley (q.v.), and in 1838 went for a year to study in Berlin and for a second year in Paris. An Italian student in Paris taught him to read and speak Italian. He was appointed Surgeon to the Metropolitan Dispensary, Fore Street, E.C., in 1843, and was then living in the Old Jewry, teaching anatomy to private pupils, one of whom was William Palmer, the poisoner. Holden presented himself at the first examination for the newly established diploma for the Fellowship, and was one of the twenty-four candidates who passed successfully on Christmas Eve, 1843. Appointed in 1846, with A. M. McWhinnie (q.v.), Superintendent (or Demonstrator) of Dissections at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he was elected in 1859, jointly with Frederick Skey (q.v.), to lecture upon descriptive and surgical anatomy. He resigned the office in June, 1871. Elected Assistant Surgeon to the hospital in July, 1860, with Frederick Skey as his Surgeon, he became full Surgeon in August, 1865, with Alfred Willett as his Assistant Surgeon. He resigned his hospital appointments in 1880 on attaining the age of 65, and was made Consulting Surgeon. He then retired from his house, 54 Gower Street, which had a garden, moved to Pinetoft, Ispwich, and spent much of his life in travel. He visited at different times Egypt, Australia, India, Japan, and was entertained by the medical profession at Johannesburg in 1898. He was Surgeon to the Foundling Hospital from 1864 until his death. At the Royal College of Surgeons Holden was a Member of the Council from 1868-1884; an Examiner in Anatomy and Physiology, 1875-1876; a Member of the Court of Examiners, 1873-1883; and a Member of the Dental Board of Examiners, 1879-1882. He served as Vice-President for the years 1877 and 1878, was President in 1879 and Hunterian Orator in 1881. He married: (1) Frances, daughter of Benjamin Wasey Sterry, of Upminster, Essex, in July, 1851, and (2) Frances, daughter of Wasey Sterry, in 1868, who survived him. Both wives bore the same name and were of the same family. Both had independent fortunes. There were no children of either marriage. Holden died at Putney on Feb. 5th, 1905, and was buried in the cemetery of the Parish Church, Upminster. By his will he bequeathed £3000 to endow a scholarship in surgery in the Medical School at St. Bartholomew's Hospital; he also made handsome bequests to St. Bartholomew's and to the Foundling Hospitals. A three-quarter-length portrait in oils - an admirable likeness - by Sir J. E. Millais, R.A., hangs in the Great Hall at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It was painted on the occasion of Holden's retirement from the active staff of the hospital and has been engraved. A crayon sketch by Gordon Stowers hangs on the walls of the College of Surgeons. It is dated 1881, and was exhibited at the Royal Academy. There is also a fine portrait by Maguire, dated 1851, in the College Collection. Holden was one of the last members of the school of surgeons who based their practice on anatomy, and for that reason he is remembered by his *Osteology* and *Surgical Landmarks* rather than by his surgical attainments. The imperfect treatment of syphilis in the mid-Victorian period allowed of the production of many aneurysms. Holden was a great advocate for the treatment of popliteal aneurysm by continuous digital pressure in preference to the Hunterian operation, which was often followed by secondary haemorrhage. He invented 'Holden's sausage', a cylinder of Gooch's splint containing a bag of shot. The cylinder was slung from a pulley above the bed, and was so adjusted as to press upon the fingers of the assistant who was compressing the femoral artery with one hand whilst the other was placed upon the aneurysm to make sure that the pulsation had ceased. The pressure was kept up for many hours by relays of students. The method was irksome to the students and painful to the patient, who had often to be kept under morphia. It was occasionally successful, but there was frequently so much chafing and bruising of the skin, that it fell into disuse. For many years he 'coached' students privately for their examinations, and no one possessed a stronger hold on the affections of his pupils, nor did anyone take greater pleasure in teaching, than did Luther Holdern. One thing he abhorred with all his might, and that was the modern specialist. He believed in the good general surgeon who knew his anatomy and physiology and their applications to surgery. He was an excellent operator, and devoted the greatest care to the work in the wards and to his clinical teaching. Years advanced, but they made little impression on Holden's marvellous physical vigour and lightness of heart. He was a very accomplished and courteous gentleman, with a charm of manner that gained the confidence of the most shy student. He cared little for private practice, but had a passion for teaching, and a patience that was inexhaustible, even when dealing with those whose mental capacities were least developed. He was the personal friend and confidant, as well as teacher, of all who experienced difficulty in acquiring what they had to learn, and he succeeded in teaching those whom no one else could teach. He was beloved alike by the students amongst whom it was his delight to work, and the colleagues with whom he was ever in harmony and affectionate relations. A fluent linguist and a good classic as well as a keen sportsman, he was a conspicuously handsome member of a handsome family, and it was interesting to notice that the older he grew the more handsome he became. He was seen at his best when he was riding to hounds. It is noteworthy, perhaps, that he was one of the few Presidents of the College who received no outside recognition in the form of honorary degrees or other decorative titles. A pencil sketch of his head is in the Royal College of Surgeons. PUBLICATIONS: - *A Manual of the Dissection of the Human Body*, in four parts without illustrations, London, 1850; 2nd ed., 1 vol., copiously illustrated, 8vo, 1851; 2nd ed., 1859; 5th ed., Philadelphia, 1885; 7th ed., 1901, 2 vols. *Human Osteology*, 2 vols., London, 1855; the later editions were in one volume; 8th ed., 1929. This work marked a distinct advance in the study of the human skeleton. It is written in an easy style by a master anatomist. The author drew the illustrations himself and they were etched on stone by Thomas Godart, Librarian of the Medical School at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, who afterwards died in Australia. These illustrations formed at the time a new feature in the teaching of anatomy, for the origin and insertions of the muscles are shown upon the figures of the bones by red and blue lines. *Landmarks Medical and Surgical*, first published as a series of papers in the *St. Bart.'s Hosp. Rep.*, 1866, ii, and 1870, vi. They were issued separately in a large and revised form in 1876; 4th ed., 1888; and were translated into Spanish by Dr. Servendo Talón y Calva, Madrid, 1894. The book is an application of anatomy to surgery and shows how much anatomy can be learnt by studying the surface of the body whilst yet the skin is unbroken. There were at first no illustrations to distract from personal observations, but woodcuts were added in the later editions.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000205
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Rue, Dame Elsie Rosemary (1928 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2012-03-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372310372310
Occupation Civil servant Physician
Details As regional medical officer for Oxford Regional Health Authority Rosemary Rue pioneered part-time specialist medical training for women doctors. She was born in Essex on 14 June 1928, the daughter of Harry and Daisy Laurence. The family moved to London when she was five, and during the Blitz she was sent for safety to stay with relatives in Devon, where she contracted tuberculosis and peritonitis, an experience which determined her to be a doctor. She was educated at Sydenham High School and entered the all-women Royal Free Hospital. In 1950 she married Roger Rue, an instructor in the RAF and was told by the dean that she could not stay on at the medical school if she were married. She was however accepted at Oxford, but took the examinations of London University. Her first job was at a long-stay hospital on the outskirts of Oxford, but was sacked when it was revealed that she was married and had a newborn son. She moved into general practice in 1952, and there contracted poliomyelitis from a patient in 1954, the last person in Oxford to catch the illness. This left her with one useless leg, which made it impossible to carry a medical bag. For a time she taught in a girls' school. By 1955 she and her husband had separated and she went to live in Hertfordshire with her parents, whose GP needed a partner. This was a success, and she combined the practice with being medical officer to the RAF, Bovingdon. In 1960 she became assistant county medical officer for Hertfordshire and five years later assistant senior medical officer for the Oxford region, proceeding to become regional medical officer in 1973 and regional general manager in 1984. She oversaw the building of new hospitals in Swindon, Reading and Milton Keynes, designing basic modules that could be incorporated into every hospital, so obviating architects' fees. Her most important contribution however was to set up a part-time training scheme for women doctors who wanted to become specialists. She discovered 150 women doctors in the Oxford region who were insufficiently employed. She sought them out, interviewed them and found jobs for 50 within a few months, and went on to set up a scheme for training part-time married women. This was a great success and spread from Oxford all over the country, and it was with Rosemary's active help that our College set up the Women in Surgical Training scheme. In 1972 she became one of the founders of the Faculty of Community Health (now the Faculty of Public Health). She was a founding fellow of Green College, Oxford, a President of the BMA and was awarded the Jenner medal of the Royal Society of Health. Small, birdlike, with an intense interest in everything and everybody, she had great charm as well as a formidable intellect. She died of bowel cancer on 24 December 2004, leaving two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000123
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ryan, Peter John (1925 - 2002)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2016-05-12
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372311372311
Occupation Colorectal surgeon
Details Peter John Ryan was a pioneer in colorectal surgery. He was born, the eldest of four boys, on 25 November 1925 in Dookie, Victoria, Australia, to farming parents. He was dux of Assumption College, Kilmore, and then went on to study medicine at Melbourne University. He graduated in 1948 and was a resident medical officer at St Vincent's Hospital. From 1953 to 1954 he served as a Major in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps in Japan and Korea, and then worked for a number of years in England. After obtaining his Fellowship of the College, he spent three years at Leicester General Hospital. Following his return to Australia in 1960, he joined the surgical staff at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. In 1972, the Ryan unit was established, with Ryan as the inpatient surgeon. It later became the department of colon and rectal surgery, with Ryan as its first director. He retired from St Vincent's in 1990. His laboratory work included studies of the effects of a proximal colostomy on bowel anastomoses. In 1986, his Hunterian address to the College was on diverticular disease. He was the first to advocate immediate resection (with anastomosis) in selected cases of diverticular perforation. He was keen to share Australian surgical expertise with medical colleagues in Asia. From 1965 to 1966 he led a St Vincent's surgical team to Long Xuyen, in Vietnam. He also established a programme of visiting fellows from Japan and Indonesia, and lectured in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. He was the first honorary fellow of the Indonesian Surgical Association. Ryan was President of the International Society of University Colon and Rectal Surgeons from 1986 to 1988, and an original member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons' road trauma committee, which was responsible for the introduction of compulsory car seatbelts. His knowledge of anatomy and ability to sketch clearly made him a popular teacher. He was proud of his small red book entitled *A very short textbook of surgery* (third edition, London, Chapman & Hall Medical, 1994), which ran to several editions and was translated and widely used in China. He was an author of over 50 journal articles. In 1950 he married Margery Manly. They had 10 children, three of whom - Rowena, Jeremy and Roderick - followed him into medicine. He was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in 2002, shortly before his death on 3 June 2002. The following is an amended version of this obituary, based on updated information. Peter Ryan was a consultant surgeon in Melbourne. He was born on 25 November 1925, in Shepparton, Victoria, the eldest of a farming family: his father was also Peter Ryan, his mother was Mona née McGuinness, a secretary and aspiring actress. From the Dookie State School, Peter went on to Assumption College in Kilmore, where he was *dux* in 1941. He studied medicine at Melbourne University, where he met Margery Manly, an arts student, whom he married in 1950. He was involved in theatre, writing, and the Newman and Campion societies, at one stage considering joining the Catholic commune, Whitlands. During his studies he contracted tuberculosis from a patient and took a year to recover. After qualifying, he did resident posts at St Vincent's Hospital. He passed the MS in 1953 and, partly to fund his future studies, joined the RAAMC and served in a field ambulance unit in Korea, where he averaged six operations a day, seven days a week. At the end of the Korean war he moved to London in 1954, passed the FRCS, and became registrar at Leicester General Hospital. On returning to Melbourne in 1957, he was appointed to St Vincent's, where he was a general surgeon, but gradually became more interested in colorectal surgery, receiving the Sir Alan Newton essay prize for a paper on diverticular disease. In 1965 St Vincent's asked Peter to organise civilian surgical teams to work in Vietnam. He led the first of these to Long Xuyen. He later learned that the cook and several of the other staff were Viet Cong. From then on he pioneered a programme for trainee surgeons from Indonesia and Japan, many of whom became firm friends. For this work he was honoured by being made the first honorary Fellow of the Indonesian Surgeons Association. In 1978 he set up a colorectal unit at St Vincent's and a few years later his own successful private service. He was one of the first to learn laparoscopic techniques, and to advocate resection and anastomosis in selected cases of perforation, for which he was awarded an Hunterian Professorship in 1986. He was President of the International Society of University Colon and Rectal Surgeons from 1987 to 1988. A prolific author of more than 50 research papers, Peter was a gifted teacher and produced a popular work *A very small textbook of surgery* (London, Chapman & Hall Medical, 1988) which was translated into Mandarin and Indonesian. In 1996, the Peter Ryan prize in surgery for final year students was established in his honour. He and his wife had 10 children, 3 of whom - Rowena, Jeremy and Roderick - followed him into medicine. He was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in 2002, shortly before his death on 3 June 2002.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000124
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Scales, John Tracey (1920 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372312372312
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details John Tracey Scales was a distinguished professor of biomechanical engineering at the Institute of Orthopaedics, University of London, who pioneered the use of biologically inert plastic materials in orthopaedic surgery. He was born an only child, in Colchester, on 2 July 1920. His family later moved to Stanmore, and he was educated a Haberdasher’s Aske’s School. He then went on to King’s College, London, before proceeding to Charing Cross Hospital for his clinical studies. He held junior appointments at Charing Cross Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, before spending two years in the National Service as a captain in the RAMC. He then held further junior posts in London. He managed to convince H J Seddon, director of the Institute of Orthopaedics, of the need to develop biologically inert plastic for use in orthopaedic surgery, and a department of plastics was established under his direction. In November 1954 a knee prothesis made of stainless steel and acrylic polymer was successfully used to replace the diseased joint of a 20-year-old woman, the first operation of its kind in the world. Scales went on to develop the first Stanmore total hip replacement, made in collaboration with J N Wilson. With Alan Lettin he developed replacements for the knee, elbow and shoulder. In 1974 the department became the first university department of biomedical engineering in Britain, with Scales as its first professor. He also developed porous wound dressings, and created a low air loss mattress for use in the treatment of severe burns and severe pressure sores. This work led to his appointment as honorary director of research at the RAFT Institute for Plastic Surgery at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood. He continued his research work at the RAFT Institute after his retirement. From 1997 to 1998 he was a visiting professor at Cranfield University. Scales contributed 175 articles to professional journals and books. He was a member of various committees and professional bodies, including the European Society of Biomechanics and the Society for Tissue Viability. In 1986 he was awarded the OBE for his work, and was made a freeman of the City of London in 1995. He died in a nursing home on 30 January 2004. His wife died in 1992. They had two daughters. He is survived by his daughters and his partner, Phyllis Hampson.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000125
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Shaw, Hugh Michael (1919 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19 2007-08-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372313372313
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Hugh Michael Shaw was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Prince Henry Hospital, Melbourne. He was born on 18 January 1919, in London, the son of Charles Gordon Shaw, a consultant surgeon who had commanded the First Australian Field Ambulance in the First World War, was mentioned in despatches and had won the DSO. His mother was Rachel née Champion. Michael was educated at Geelong Grammar School, and then at Melbourne University, where he graduated with first class honours in surgery in 1943. He was a junior resident and then a registrar at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, from 1943 to 1945. He then enlisted, becoming a Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps 23rd Training Battalion, based in Greta, New South Wales, and then in the 111th Australian General Hospital, Tasmania, and the 115th Australian General Hospital, based at Heidelberg, Victoria. He left the Army in January 1947. From 1947 to 1950 he was a surgical resident at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. He was then appointed as an associate surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a post he held for two years. In 1953 he travelled to the UK, where he was a surgical registrar at Essex County Hospital, Colchester. On his return to Australia in 1954 he was appointed to the staff of Prince Henry Hospital, Melbourne, as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. He retired in 1978. From 1954 to 1957 he was also a consultant for the Australian Department of Veteran’s Affairs. He enjoyed golf, carpentry, photography and music. He married Joan Fraser née Craigie. They had two children, Jennifer Joan and David Michael (who predeceased him). Hugh Michael Shaw died on 6 January 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000126
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Silva, Joseph Francis (1915 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Smiddy, Francis Geoffrey (1922 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372315372315
Occupation General surgeon
Details Geoff Smiddy was a senior surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary and a prolific author. He was born in Kendal on 4 January 1922. His father was a hotelier and his mother looked after a haberdashery shop. His was not an easy childhood – his father left the family home shortly after he was born and his mother had difficulties making ends meet. He entered Leeds Medical School in 1939, where he won the Brotherton senior award, was President of the union, and served on the medical school council. He was a house surgeon to George Armitage, whom he regarded as his surgical mentor. He spent three years in the RAMC, mostly in India. During this time he developed rheumatic endocarditis, which damaged his aortic valve. On his return from India, he became a surgical registrar, then a senior registrar and later a tutor at Leeds Infirmary. In 1957, he won a research fellowship to Harvard Medical School, where he worked under Jacob Fine, a pioneer in the care of the critically ill, carrying out research into the significance of enteric bacteria as a cause of mortality in haemorrhagic shock, which led to his ChM. On his return from America, he was senior lecturer to J C Goligher, and in 1961 was appointed consultant surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary, as well as to Seacroft and Clayton Hospitals. He was deeply committed to teaching and training. He was a true general surgeon and an excellent and enthusiastic clinical teacher, preferring the bedside to the lecture theatre. He was elected to the Court of Examiners in 1967 and became a fine ambassador for the College. He was the first regional adviser for surgery in Yorkshire and in 1978 became an examiner in pathology for the primary. He was the author of several surgical textbooks, including *The medical management of the surgical patient*t (London, Edward Arnold, 1976) and a series of books entitled Tutorials in surgery. He retired in 1987, but remained active in local surgical circles, regularly attended weekly surgical meetings and was a staunch supporter of the Leeds Regional Surgical Club. He was a keen golfer, bridge player, and a student of needlework, silver-smithing and computing. He married Thelma (‘Penny’) Penfold, a radiographer at Leeds Infirmary, in 1951. They had a son (Paul) and a daughter (Clare), and four grandchildren. He underwent an aortic valve replacement in 1975. He died on 8 March 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000128
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Smillie, Gavin Douglas (1926 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-26 2022-09-14
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372316372316
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Gavin Smillie (formerly Smellie) was a consultant general and vascular surgeon and honorary clinical lecturer at the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow. He was born in Glasgow in 1926, the son of William Smellie, a geologist, and Janet Smellie née Douglas, a school teacher. He spent his early years in Argentina, where his father was helping to develop an oilfield, but returned to Scotland at the age of seven to live in Cove on the Clyde coast. He was educated at Greenock Academy and Glasgow University, qualifying in 1949. After junior posts, he did his National Service in the Royal Air Force and then returned to specialise in surgery. He was a surgical registrar at the Victoria Infirmary in 1961 and a senior registrar in 1963. Interested in vascular surgery, he was awarded a travelling fellowship to the United States, where he trained in the vascular units of Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley. In 1966 he was the first to describe adding a gold weight to the eyelid of someone who could not blink naturally to reduce corneal exposure secondary to facial nerve paralysis (‘Restoration of the blinking reflex in facial palsy by a simple lid-loading operation’ *Br J Plast Surg*. 1966;19:279-83). In 1968, he was appointed to the Victoria Infirmary as their first vascular surgeon. He set up their intensive care unit, at a time when such units were in their infancy. His inventive streak led him to introduce, among other things, the use of a Fogarty catheter to clear biliary and salivary duct obstruction, and a rubber ring tourniquet for use in operations on the digits. He also worked with the regional neurosurgical unit on refining techniques of carotid endarterectomy. He was a respected clinical teacher and examiner, and a regional tutor for the Edinburgh College. He had a calm presence and enormous patience, which he combined with a pawky sense of humour. He had the unique ability of being able to create vivid pictures using concise but humorous prose, but few knew that he wrote short stories for the Glasgow Herald and the *Scots Magazine* under the nom-de-plume of Gavin Douglas. For years he was the editor of the hospital quarterly magazine *Viewsbeat*. He was also an accomplished painter and often used his artistic talents to illustrate his operative notes. He was interested in music and – in his younger days – a keen skier. He retired in 1987 and died on 6 November 2003, from Alzheimer’s disease. He married twice, firstly to Muriel (née Dawson), by whom he had two daughters, Valerie and Claire and, secondly, to Elizabeth (née Smith). He had one granddaughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000129
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Radley Smith, Eric John (1910 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372317372317
Occupation General surgeon
Details Eric John Smith was a consultant surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He was born on 31 March 1910 in Norwood, Surrey, the second son of Robert Percy and Edith Smith. His early life was overshadowed by the death from Hodgkin’s disease of his elder brother who had been a child prodigy, and Eric spent his schooldays trying to fulfill the promise of his brother. In this he was far from unsuccessful, winning prizes and commendations at all his schools – Paston’s in Norfolk, Haverford West Grammar and Sutton County Grammar (the moves being occasioned by his father’s work as a construction engineer). He went up to King’s College Hospital at the age of 17 and again distinguished himself, being rewarded with the Jelf medal and Huxley prize, as well as gaining four distinctions in his finals. A keen sportsman, he represented the college at cricket and rugby. He was proud of being the last house surgeon of Lord Lister’s last house surgeon (Arthur Edmunds) and was appointed as a surgical registrar at King’s, and later house surgeon at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. At the age of 29 he was appointed to consultant sessions at Brentford Hospital, thereby beginning an association with Brentford Football Club, one that lasted for the rest of his life, as he became in turn medical adviser, director and President. At the outbreak of the second world war he was appointed consultant general surgeon in the Emergency Medical Service at Horton Hospital, Epsom, in which over 60,000 patients were treated during the war. His special contribution was to act as triage officer at Epsom station when trainloads of casualties arrived, and with his quick assessment and remarkable memory he directed each one to the appropriate ward in the hospital. At the same time he was working at Hurstwood Park Neurological Hospital. When in 1946 he joined the Royal Air Force as a surgical specialist, he undertook further neurosurgical specialist duties. In 1948 he spent a year with Olivecrona in his neurosurgical unit in Sweden, one of the world’s pre-eminent centres. He was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, continuing his interest in neurosurgery by undertaking some of the earliest prefrontal leucotomies in the UK. He also pioneered hypophysectomy in the treatment of breast cancer. It is curious that this most conservative of men should have made his special contribution in two of its most radical fields. He was also surgeon to the Royal Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, and much valued the work he was called upon to undertake in close association with his colleagues there, especially in the area of intracranial sepsis. During his active years, and indeed long into retirement, his expert opinion was much sought in legal cases, due to his clarity of thought and expression. In 1937 he married a King’s sister, Eileen Radley, not only incorporating her name with his as ‘Radley Smith’, but being called ‘Radley’ thereafter by all his colleagues and acquaintances. They had a son, Nigel, and three daughters, of whom the eldest, Rosemary, qualified in medicine and had a distinguished career as a paediatric cardiologist. Sadly his son predeceased him as a result of lung cancer. Despite the time he gave to football, almost never missing a Brentford match, Radley took a great interest in farming, specialising in raising dairy cattle. He died on 19 January 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000130
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Starr, Philip Alan John (1933 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Stell, Philip Michael (1934 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-26
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372319372319
Occupation Otolaryngologist ENT surgeon
Details Philip Stell had an outstanding career as a reconstructive surgeon, dealing with head and neck cancers, and went on to a successful second career in mediaeval history. He was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, on 14 August 1934, the son of Frank Law Stell, a tailor’s manager, and Ada née Davies. He was educated at Archbishop Holgate Grammar School, York, and Edinburgh University. After junior posts in Edinburgh and Liverpool, he won a fellowship to Washington University, St Louis, in 1956. He returned to Liverpool as a senior lecturer. In 1976 he wrote his masters thesis on skin grafting techniques, and in 1979 he became a professor. He dealt with all aspects of head and neck malignancies, and developed exceptional expertise in reconstruction, keeping detailed outcomes of his operations using a computerised database. He published some 346 articles in scientific journals, edited 12 books and contributed to a further 39. In 1975 he founded the journal *Clinical Otolaryngology* and set up the Otorhinolaryngological Research Society in 1978 (he was President from 1983 to 1986). He was President of the laryngological section of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Association of Head and Neck Oncologists of Great Britain and the Liverpool Medical Institution. He was Hunterian Professor of our College in 1976 and a regional adviser in ENT for the Mersey region. He was the recipient of numerous awards and medals, including the Yearsley gold medal, the Semon prize of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Harrison and the George Davey Howells prizes of the University of London, the Sir William Wilde gold medal of the Irish Otorhinolaryngolical Society in 1988, the Walter Jobson Horne prize of the British Medical Society in 1989, the gold medal of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and the Institute of Oncology, 1989, and the gold medal of the German ENT Society in 1991. An associate member of the Institute of Linguists, he was fluent in Dutch, German, French and Spanish, and made it his practise to deliver overseas lectures in the local language, though his size (he was 6 feet 7 inches) made air travel uncomfortable. He translated 11 foreign language textbooks into English. In 1992, when he was only 57, he took early retirement due to ill health. He moved to York, the city he had grown up in, and began a second career in mediaeval history. He enrolled for an MA at York University, writing a thesis on medical care in late mediaeval York. He taught a speech recognition computer programme to recognise Latin, and set up unique databases for mediaeval Yorkshire wills and other documents, some going back to the 13th century, more than 300 years before parish registers began. For his contribution to history he was made a fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society. He married Shirley Kathleen Mills in 1959, by whom he had four sons and a daughter. Shirley predeceased him in April 2004. He died on 29 May 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000132
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Stoner, Harry Berrington (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-26
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372321372321
Occupation Trauma researcher
Details Harry Berrington ‘Berry’ Stoner was a world authority in the much-neglected field of trauma research. He was born in Sheffield on 1 February 1919, the son of Harry John Stoner, a dental surgeon, and Elizabeth née Spriggs. He graduated with many medals and honours from Sheffield University Medical School in 1942, and soon afterwards was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He joined the biological research staff pool of the War Office and was seconded to the department of pathology at Sheffield University to work under the direction of Harry Green who headed a Medical Research Council group investigating aspects of the response to injury. As the war progressed this group was incorporated into the Army and Stoner was promoted to the rank of Captain with the No. 2 traumatic shock team, which carried out field research on injured soldiers in north west Europe during campaigns such as the Rhine crossing. The work he undertook was of such quality that he was able to proceed to an MD in 1946, the year he was demobilised. He immediately returned to the department of pathology at Sheffield University as a member of the MRC external scientific staff. He continued his interest in injury, which had been stimulated by his war experiences, and from 1948 to 1949 held a Rockefeller travelling fellowship in medicine at Harvard University. In 1953 he was appointed as head of the MRC experimental pathology of trauma unit, which was part of the toxicology research unit at Carshalton. Here he further developed Cutherbertson’s theory of the ebb and flow responses to injury. During this time he was UK representative on the scientific sub-committee of the Council of Europe. The work on shock at Carshalton was of the highest quality and the focus of worldwide attention, but after 20 years was reaching its limits because it was confined to animal experimentation. For it to progress it was obviously necessary to transfer it to a clinical environment. The mid 1970s were years when a major expansion of UK medical schools was taking place. In 1977 the opportunity afforded by the establishment by the University of Manchester of a new university hospital at Hope Hospital, Salford, was taken to link Stoner’s unit with an academic department of surgery with an interest in surgical metabolism and trauma. As a consequence Manchester University gained its first MRC unit with the creation of the trauma unit, with laboratories in both the medical school and at Hope Hospital. The work of the unit thrived and it attracted medically qualified research fellows who studied the early responses to injury in the accident and emergency department, the intermediate metabolic and physiological consequences in the intensive care unit, and the late sequalae such as sepsis in a purpose-built surgical high dependency unit. This latter subsequently developed into the UK’s first clinical intestinal failure unit. The collaboration between a team of MRC-employed basic scientists and academic clinicians was an exemplar of how clinical research should be conducted, and many clinically relevant findings were produced. Amongst these were the demonstration of the case against the prevailing concept of injury and sepsis induced hyper-metabolism, which had resulted in injured and septic patients being given enormous calorie loads. The development of an acclaimed sepsis scoring system and the consequent demonstration of glucose intolerance in injury and sepsis with its associated hyperventilation and the necessity for the use of lipids as a source of energy provision in such cases were major clinical outcomes of Stoner’s work. It was no surprise that Stoner was awarded an honorary professorship in surgical science, a Fellowship of the College (which also made him a Hunterian professor) and numerous eponymous lectureships, including the Royal College of Pathologists’ Roy Cameron lecture in 1985. Berry Stroner inspired affection and fierce loyalty from everyone who worked for and with him. His trainees have continued his work on the physiological and metabolic responses to injury and, through his principal protégé and successor Roderick Little, have ensured that the developing specialty of emergency medicine has a sound scientific basis. He retired in 1984, but continued research work for many years, working in collaboration with vascular surgeons. He was a devout Catholic, a Francophile and a talented artist, a skill he pursued in retirement. This culminated in a one-man show in Manchester to celebrate 100 years of the Entente Cordiale, at which he delivered his speech in French. He leaves a daughter (Susan), two grandchildren (Amanda and Emma) and three great grandchildren (Hannah, Matthew and Daniel). He died on 9 July 2004 in Hope Hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000134
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Taylor, Robert Murray Ross (1932 - 2003)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

First Title value, for Searching Boutflower, Charles (1782 - 1844)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-04-24
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372682372682
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Feb 2nd, 1782. Received his later professional training at St George’s Hospital, where he was entered as a six months’ surgical pupil on Oct 7th, 1814. He had previously seen much active naval and military service. He joined the Royal Navy as Assistant Surgeon on April 4th, 1800, and became Surgeon’s Mate on the Hospital Staff not attached to a regiment on May 24th, 1801. He joined the 40th Foot as Assistant Surgeon on April 27th, 1802, being promoted to Surgeon of the 96th Foot on March 25th, 1808, and transferring to the 40th Foot on June 8th, 1809. He was placed on the Staff on Sept 3rd, 1812, and was on half pay from Sept 25th, 1814, to June 25th, 1815. He retired on half pay on Jan 25th, 1816. He saw active service as a surgeon in America in 1807, when he was taken prisoner, and in the Peninsula from 1809-1814. He practised in Liverpool after leaving the Army, and died on March 26th, 1844. PUBLICATION: *The Journal of an Army Surgeon during the Peninsula War*. [Colonel Johnston notes in his *RAMC Roll*, No. 2418, that in the *London Gazette* the name is wrongly given as ‘Boat Flower’ and in some *Army Lists* as ‘Boatflower’. His signature was ‘Boutflower’, but the name is certainly pronounced ‘Bo-flower’, which may have led to the mistake in spelling.]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000498
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Watson, Kenrick ( - 1848)

2025-06-27T11:43:09Z