Search Results for

First Title value, for Searching Fordyce, Gordon Lindsay (1925 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Andrew Sadler
Publication Date 2023-07-05
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
Occupation Oral surgeon, Dental surgeon
Details Gordon Fordyce trained in dentistry at the University of St Andrews in Dundee from 1942 to 1946. After a few months of practice he was called up for national service where he treated army recruits and, after a year, was posted to Austria where he worked at the 31st British General Hospital as No 2 dentist and subsequently Senior Dental Officer. There he became responsible for trauma. After demobilisation he wanted to practise hospital oral surgery and back in Dundee he was advised by the Professor of Anatomy that a medical qualification would not be necessary if he passed the new Fellowship in Dental Surgery examination. Thus he worked as an anatomy demonstrator while studying for part one of the exam and was then appointed as Registrar at Hill End Hospital near St Albans, and a year later promoted to senior registrar. After his four years as a senior registrar Gordon was too young for a consultant post so he was appointed as a senior hospital dental officer. After the age of 32 he was appointed as a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital for two sessions a week and the North West Thames Health Authority agreed to upgrade him to consultant at Mount Vernon Hospital (to where the Hill End department had moved in March 1953). Gordon Fordyce published papers relating to oral pathology, facial trauma and orthognathic surgery. He became involved in local and national dental politics; he was a section chairman and a member of the representative board of the BDA, President of the Institute of Maxillofacial Technology and President of the British Association of Oral Surgeons. However, his major legacy to the dental profession was the introduction of vocational training for dentists. He became an elected member of the GDC and Dental Dean of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation. He found the GDC hostile and resistant to change. It took 15 years to persuade them, many of whom were deans of dental schools, that their undergraduate training was inadequate preparation for independent practice and to persuade the government to provide funding. The first vocational training pilot started in Guildford in 1977 and it became mandatory in 1988. Gordon Fordyce retired from clinical work at Mount Vernon in 1988 but remained Chairman of the Department of Health Vocational Training Committee until 1992. He was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, OBE in 1988 and the John Tomes Medal by the BDA in 1990.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010289
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1999 1988

First Title value, for Searching Rice, Noel Stephen Cracroft (1931 - 2017)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2017-12-13
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009400-E009499
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381806381806
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Noel Rice was a consultant ophthalmologist and medical director at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London and a pioneer in the development of microscope-assisted eye surgery. He was born on 26 December 1931 in Norwich, the son of Raymond Arthur Cracroft Rice, an anaesthetist, and Doris Ivy Rice née Slater, a nurse. His brother, John Cracroft Rice, also became a surgeon. Rice was educated at Haileybury and then went up to Clare College, Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital for his clinical studies. At Barts he was a house physician to Sir Ronald Bodley Scott and a house surgeon to Alec Badenoch. In 1957 he began his career in ophthalmology under Hyla (Henry) Stallard and continued his training as a junior specialist in the RAF as a flight lieutenant. On his return to civilian life, he joined the staff of Moorfields, where he remained for the rest of his career, becoming a consultant in 1967. At the Institute of Ophthalmology he was a senior lecturer, clinical teacher and, from 1991, dean. He was made a fellow of the Institute of Ophthalmology in 1996. As ophthalmology became more specialised, he was one of the first corneal specialists in Europe and helped open the era of microsurgery for eye conditions. He also specialised in the care of children with congenital glaucoma. He helped establish the corneal service at Moorfields and also the congenital glaucoma service, which became one of the largest in the world. He pioneered the use of anti-scarring therapy in the form of a focal dose of beta radiation, a precursor of modern anti-scarring regimens. He retired in 1996, but continued in ophthalmology as a consultant at the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem until 2002. He was made a Knight of the Order of St John in recognition of his service to the hospital. In 1989 he became a member of the international organisation Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis. For his contribution to ophthalmology in Iceland, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon by the Icelandic government. He was also a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He enjoyed fly fishing and music and sung in various choirs. He was married twice. In 1957 he married Karin Elsa Brita Linell (Brita). They had three children, Andrew, Karin and David, two of whom followed their father into medicine. After Brita’s death in 1992, he married Countess Ulla Mörner, in 1997. Rice died on 5 November 2017 from motor neurone disease. He was 85.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009402
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1996

First Title value, for Searching Gilmour, Andrew Graham (1955 - 2016)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by M Cassidy
Publication Date 2023-07-06
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010300-E010399
Occupation Specialist in restorative dentistry
Details Dr Andrew Graham Gilmour died peacefully on 8 January 2016 after a short illness, at the untimely age of 60. Graham was born on Good Friday, 1955. He qualified at Glasgow Dental School in 1978, then joined the SHO/Registrar rotation in Glasgow and passed the FDSRCPS in 1982. He became a lecturer in prosthodontics shortly afterwards and in 1988 was appointed consultant in restorative dentistry at Mayday Hospital, Croydon. A member of the appointments committee later told me that Graham was the most outstanding applicant for the post among the candidates. Graham quickly developed the service in Croydon and established outreach clinics around the southeast of England, including Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, which soon attracted the attention of the dental teaching hospitals in London who wanted to get their higher trainees in restorative dentistry and orthodontics into attachments at Graham’s unit in Croydon. Most of these trainees were later appointed consultants and professors up and down the UK. Graham was particularly skilled as a diagnostic clinician, a first class teacher, an educator, who was invited to lecture locally, nationally and internationally, where his clinical skills and natural humour endeared him to every audience. He had a very sharp political touch. He understood how NHS committees worked and developed the philosophy that one should be either a committee member or chairman, but never the treasurer or secretary! He was appointed Associate Postgraduate Dental Dean for the KSS Region in 2003, and was asked to organise the training of clinical dental technicians which attracted applicants from all around the UK, every one of whom successfully completed the course and held Graham in the highest esteem. One of his most endearing attributes was his unique sense of humour and fun, for which his trainees will testify. He organised educational programmes with the Cunard shipping line, crossing the Atlantic to New York on the QE2 twice, and cruising with Cunard in the Caribbean in 1994 which proved to be very popular. He had a particularly mischievous sense of humour; in 1982 Pope John Paul II came to Glasgow to say mass. On the same day, in Glasgow Dental Hospital, the oral surgery registrar received a phone call from a Cardinal, who was the Pope’s personal secretary, reporting that the Holy Father had toothache and wanted to see the Professor of Oral Surgery, at 4 pm that day! It was of course, a joke, played by ‘Cardinal’ Graham Gilmour! Graham was hugely loved by his colleagues at Mayday Hospital in Croydon, and will be sadly missed by all of those who worked with him, his brother Rowland, but most of all by his wife Virginia, and his daughters Ginny and Ally.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010313
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1982

First Title value, for Searching Arthur, Ian Hugh (1957 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2019-02-05
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation General surgeon
Details Ian Hugh Arthur was a registrar in general surgery and orthopaedics at St. Albans City Hospital. He was born on 29 December 1957 and trained in medicine at London University and the Royal Free Hospital, graduating MB, BS in 1981. Initially a house physician and surgeon at the Royal Free, he joined the staff of the surgical rotation at the Basingstoke District Hospital. After passing the fellowship of the college in 1990, he began work at St. Albans City Hospital. He lived in Uxbridge and died on 18 December 2018 aged 60.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009567
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1981

First Title value, for Searching Webb, Anthony John (1929 - 2024)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Jason Webb
Publication Date 2024-11-08
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010600-E010699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/388455388455
Occupation General surgeon Endocrine surgeon Breast surgeon Cytologist
Details John Webb, a consultant general and endocrine surgeon for the Bristol United Hospitals, was a masterly technical surgeon and pioneer cytologist. In an era when a lump in the breast presaged uncertain frozen section biopsy and mastectomy, Webb mastered fine needle aspiration and accurate diagnosis, saving countless patients from avoidable surgery, achieved through single-handed endeavour and a microscope in his own home. His work forms the basis of the routine investigation of suspected breast cancer in modern practice. He was born in Clifton, Bristol on 29 December 1929, the son of Charles Reginald Webb, who worked in the corn trade, and Gwendoline (‘Queenie’) Webb née Moon. He was educated at Sefton Park Junior School and Cotham Grammar School, where he was head of the school from 1947 to 1948. He then entered the University of Bristol Medical School, graduating MB ChB in 1953, when he won the silver medal. He was a house officer at the Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1953 and 1955, and then carried out his National Service as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1955 until 1957. He was a surgical registrar at Frenchay Hospital, from 1957 to 1960 and then spent seven years in Birmingham and Coventry as a registrar and senior registrar. He returned to Bristol in 1967, when he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to Bristol Royal Infirmary, a post he held until he retired in December 1994. Following his retirement, he became a senior research fellow in the department of surgery at the University of Bristol. As a general surgeon, he retained broad general skills in all disciplines owing to his exhaustive training experience, but his research and clinical specialty interests focused on breast, endocrine and salivary gland disease. Central to this was his conviction that cytology, which formed the focus of his life’s research, could hold a key to investigating and thereby treating these diseases better. He undertook a higher degree, a ChM, awarded in 1974, with his thesis entitled ‘A cytological study of mammary disease’. This entailed studying with a leading cytologist, Paul Lopes Cardozo, in Leiden. He was a Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1975. His fascination with cytology did not stop with gaining his ChM; he became expert in all aspects of it, and this led to him being awarded the fellowship of the International Association of Cytologists – extremely rare for a surgeon. In 1993, he was also awarded the Erica Wachtel medal of the British Association of Cytopathology for his long service to the subject. His research changed the modern surgical practice of the treatment of breast cancer, heralding the concept of the one-stop clinic where a breast lump was examined and its nature ascertained through fine needle aspiration cytology at the initial consultation. Owing to his own cytological expertise, he was able to diagnose varied conditions and was called upon by colleagues around the city when a diagnosis was elusive. One memorable case involved a request from the physicians to identify the primary in a patient with metastatic disease. Noticing a bony metastasis in the vertebral body of C3, he performed fine-needle aspiration via an open mouth technique through the oropharynx. This was performed on the ward with minimal fuss or disruption, the diagnosis of a colonic primary being provided the following morning. He was the surgeon of choice to fellow consultants in need of help and a studious trainer of junior surgeons, from whom he demanded as near to his own meticulous surgical technique as they could achieve. He was president of the British Association of Endocrine Surgeons from 1992 to 1994. In his youth, John Webb was a fine rugby player, appearing at fly half for Bristol. He sang in the choir at Clifton College and was an ardent student of history. A keen observer of human traits, he had a wry sense of humour, put to use in nicknames for colleagues whose aspirations may have exceeded their abilities. Predeceased by his wife Audrie (née Bowen), whom he married in 1955, he died from old age and frailty on 21 September 2024 at the age of 94. He was survived by their four children, Mark, Dominque, Charlotte and Jason, most of whom have followed their father into either surgery or professions allied to medicine, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010681
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1980 1974

First Title value, for Searching Iyer, Sennaporatti Sivashankar Viswa ( - 2020)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2020-11-02
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009800-E009899
Occupation Trauma surgeon Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Sennaporatti Sivashankar Viswanath Iyer was born in India. He studied medicine at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and qualified MB,BS in 1963. Initially he worked as a general surgeon and passed his MS in 1970. He was a lecturer in surgery at Mysore Medical College from 1971 to the end of 1972. In February 1973 he travelled to the UK and began his training in orthopaedics. He passed the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1975 and the college fellowship the following year. Following what he described as a *tortuous route*, he worked at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, the Hammersmith Hospital, the Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital and the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh doing various locum posts. In 1994 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at King George Hospital in Ilford and finally he became consultant at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. Throughout his career he very much enjoyed teaching, especially his work on the inaugural *Training the trainers* course in Edinburgh. When young he was a keen sportsman and excelled in cricket, badminton and table tennis. He described himself as a very aggressive batsman and, when he came to the UK, played cricket for a local first division team from 1973 to 1981. In table tennis he also reached a reasonably high standard. He died on 23 July 2020.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009862
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1975 1970

First Title value, for Searching Lynch, James Brendan (1921 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2019-03-04
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Pathologist
Details James Brendan Lynch was a consultant pathologist at St James’ Hospital, Leeds and formerly professor of pathology at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He was born on 9 May 1921 in Wallasey, Cheshire, the third child and second son of Thomas Patrick Lynch, a teacher and headmaster, and Margaret Lynch née Pierce. He attended local schools in Wallasey and St Francis Xavier Grammar School in Liverpool and then went to the University of Liverpool to study medicine, qualifying in 1944. He was a house surgeon and senior casualty officer at Liverpool Royal Infirmary, lectured in anatomy at the University of Leeds, and then served in the Army. He was a registrar in general surgery at the Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool and gained his FRCS in 1950. During his training he was influenced by Henry Clarence Wardleworth Nuttall and Richard Webster Doyle, both surgeons in Liverpool. He was subsequently a lecturer in pathology at the University of Leeds. Lynch then went to the University of Khartoum, where he founded the department of pathology. By the mid 1960s, he had returned to the UK: in March 1964 he gave a Hunterian Lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons of England on ‘Mycetoma in the Sudan’ (*Ann R Coll Surg Engl*. 1964 Dec;35[6]:319-40). He was appointed as a consultant pathologist in Leeds, where he was also dean for postgraduate medical education. He was the co-author of *Pathology of toxaemia in pregnancy* Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1973. Outside medicine he enjoyed golf, reading, DIY and silver craftmanship. In 1957 he married Jacqueline Fitzgerald. They had two sons. James Lynch died on 24 August 2018 at the age of 97.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009583
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1969

First Title value, for Searching Kolb, Thomas Axel Thor (1935 - 2022)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2023-06-27
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010200-E010299
Occupation Dental surgeon Community Dentist
Details Tom Kolb was a dentist in Cirencester with a particular interest in children’s dentistry. This is a draft obituary. If you have any information about this surgeon or are interested in writing this obituary, please email lives@rcseng.ac.uk
Resource Identifier RCS: E010246
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1959

First Title value, for Searching Alexander, Albert Geoffrey (1932 - 2010)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by SIM
Publication Date 2023-07-19
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010300-E010399
Occupation Specialist in conservation dentistry
Details Albert Geoffrey Alexander (1932-2010), known to all as Geoff or AGA, was a caring clinician, a compassionate teacher and a meticulous research worker. Geoff was born in Hull and obtained a scholarship at Bridlington School, where he became Head Boy. He was the first member of his family to attend university when he entered University College Hospital Dental School, University of London, where he collected the Sinclair Medal for the best student in his cohort. He obtained LDS in 1955, BDS in 1956, FDSRCS in 1961 and MDS in 1968. After graduating he held House Surgeon posts at The National Dental Hospital, did National Service in The Royal Army Dental Corp, ran the Student Dental Service at University College and had a year in private practice in Kent. In 1960 he became a full-time Lecturer in Conservative Dentistry, a Senior Lecturer in 1962, and an Honorary Consultant in 1967. He became Vice Dean of Dental Studies in 1974 and Dean, UCL Dental School and Vice Dean (Dental) of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences in 1977, a position he continued to hold until 1992. Geoff, with his wife Connie, then went to Hong Kong for two years as Head of Conservative Dentistry and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry. As well as working, they enjoyed showing visiting friends and colleagues the highlights of Hong Kong, especially the sky-scape of Hong Kong Island as seen, over a cup of tea, from the Terrace of the Peninsular Hotel on Kowloon. Geoff and Connie found time to go walking in Switzerland and Austria and later visited 'long haul' destinations such as Canada and Japan. When he retired, despite his long standing ill health, bravely borne, he developed an interest in computing and photography and continued his long standing enjoyment of music. Geoff had a significant impact on a whole generation of dental students who went through UCH Dental School. He was a kindly man who raised students' standards by professionalism, persuasion and example. He is survived by his wife Connie, his daughter Susan and two granddaughters, Christine and Elizabeth.
Resource Identifier E010358
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1956

First Title value, for Searching Bharucha, Pesi Beramsha (1920 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2019-03-04
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation General surgeon
Details Pesi Bharucha was chief of surgery at the Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur, Bihar, India. He studied medicine at Grant Medical College, Bombay and qualified in 1944. He initially trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, but then went to the UK shortly after Indian Independence to train in general surgery. He worked at Walton General Hospital in Liverpool for eight years and gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1954. In 1955 he returned to India, where he became a consultant surgeon at the Tata Main Hospital. He was chief of surgery and superintendent before retiring in 1980. He initially carried out all the general surgery, orthopaedics and trauma, but gradually developed the hospital into a multispecialty facility. He also worked with the World Health Organization, particularly arranging trips into remote areas of Bihar to vaccinate people against smallpox. After retiring from the Tata Main Hospital, he became the medical director of Breach Candy Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai (from 1982 to 1996). He died on 28 November 2018 and was survived by his wife Gool, two children and three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009578
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1954 1952

First Title value, for Searching Adams, Rosemary Helen MacNaughton (1926 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2019-05-02
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Accident and emergency specialist
Details Rosemary Helen MacNaughton Adams was a consultant in the accident and emergency department at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. She was born in Edinburgh on 26 April 1926, the second child and eldest daughter of Thomas MacNaughton Davie and Lilias Tweedie Davie née Henderson. She was brought up in Beverley, Yorkshire, where her father was medical superintendent at the East Riding County Asylum. She attended the High School in Beverley and then studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where she was an outstanding student, achieving four medals, including the most distinguished graduate of the year award; she qualified in 1948. She held house posts in Edinburgh and then initially specialised in ear, nose and throat medicine, as a registrar at Hull Royal Infirmary. In 1954 she married another doctor, John Campbell Strathie Adams. His specialist posts took them from Yorkshire to Birmingham and finally to Norwich, where he was appointed as a consultant geriatrician. She was an associate specialist in the casualty department at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and became a consultant in 1975. She helped found the Norfolk branch of what became the British Association of Immediate Care Schemes (BASICS). She taught, spoke at conferences on immediate care and wrote papers on the emergency treatment of poisoning. She retired in 1990. She was appointed as a magistrate in 1965 and served on the north Norfolk bench until 1994. She enjoyed music, and played the piano and viola. With her husband, she organised a concert series at the local church at Salle in north Norfolk, where she was a churchwarden. In 1994 she and John moved back to Beverley. Sadly, her husband died the following year. She had age-related macular degeneration for many years and died from Alzheimer’s disease on 16 October 2018 at the age of 92. She was survived by her two daughters, son and three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009566
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset
Publication Date 1948

First Title value, for Searching Absolon, Michael John (1933 - 2010)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2011-11-04 2015-02-16
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373691373691
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Michael John Absolon was an ophthalmic surgeon in Southampton and Winchester. He was born in Cheltenham in 1933 and studied natural sciences at St John's College, Cambridge, and then went on to complete his clinical studies at the London Hospital Medical School. While at Cambridge he represented the university at swimming. After qualifying he carried out his National Service. He then trained as an ophthalmic surgeon, with registrar posts in Sheffield and Bristol. He was subsequently appointed to his consultant post in Southampton and Winchester. He also took regular trips to Africa with the charity Sight by Wings. Once he had retired, he attended Wycliffe College, Oxford, and was ordained as a priest. He became a curate in Chipping Campden and his home village of Ebrington. Michael John Absolon died on 28 December 2010. Predeceased by his wife Mary, he was survived by his three children and six grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001508
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Crabtree, Norman Lloyd (1916 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Brearley, Roger (1922 - 2010)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-04 2015-03-27
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373695373695
Occupation General surgeon
Details Roger Brearley was a consultant general surgeon at Whiston and St Helens hospitals, Merseyside. He was born in Liverpool on 24 April 1922, the son of Thomas Brearley, an oboist in the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras. His mother's maiden name was Duncalfe. His great grandfather, George Duncalfe, studied medicine at Guy's from 1822; his son, Henry, followed in 1848. They both became general practitioners in the Midlands. Roger Brearley attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he was awarded the Lord Derby prize for chemistry and the Margaret Bryce Smith scholarship to Liverpool University. He studied medicine at Liverpool University, qualifying MB ChB in 1945, with a distinction in public health in the MB exam. He trained as a surgeon in Liverpool, at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, the Royal Infirmary and the Royal Southern Hospital, as a house officer, registrar and senior registrar, and passed his FRCS at the first attempt in 1949. He was a lecturer in the department of surgery at Liverpool and an assistant in the university surgical clinic at Padua, and was subsequently appointed as a consultant surgeon to Whiston and St Helens hospitals in 1960. At Whiston he became the first postgraduate tutor and was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Whiston Postgraduate Medical Centre. He was chairman of the Mersey regional postgraduate training committee and also served on the area health authority. In 1979 he was elected as a member of the General Medical Council. At the British Medical Association (BMA), he served on the consultants committee and represented UK consultants on the Standing Committee of Doctors of the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Union of Medical Specialists and the EEC's Advisory Committee on Medical Training, which he chaired. Here he was involved in drafting medical directives and recommendations designed to harmonise, to some degree, the various systems of training and healthcare found in the member states. His work was recognised by the award of a fellowship from the BMA. Outside work, he had a passion for music, particularly the music of J S Bach, and played the harpsichord. He owned a house in Langdale, in the Lake District, for many years and enjoyed walking. He was president of the Dante Alighieri Society in Liverpool, reflecting his love of the Italian language and Italian culture. Roger Brearley died on 31 May 2010 in Kendal, in a nursing home. He was 88. He was survived by Joyce (née Hewitt), his wife of 60 years, their sons, Stephen (also a surgeon) and John, and their daughter, Catherine. Sarah Gillam
Resource Identifier RCS: E001512
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Wright, Peter (1932 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Young, Terence Willifer (1931 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372332372332
Occupation General surgeon
Details Terence Young was a consultant surgeon in the Peterborough area. He was born in India in 1931, where his father was a missionary surgeon, but grew up in north Wales. As a boy he started hill walking, encouraged first by his father and later by the headmaster’s secretary at his school, Rydal in Colwyn Bay, who started a hill walking club. From Rydal, Terence went to Clare College, Cambridge, and the London Hospital. After qualifying, he did his National Service in the RAMC for three years, volunteering for parachute training and spending much of his time in 23 Parafield Ambulance. He continued his link with the Army while he was based near to London, as medical officer to the 10th Territorial Battalion. He held house officer posts at the London Hospital and was then a surgical registrar at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, and subsequently at the Royal Free. In 1969, he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Peterborough district, and Stamford and Rutland Hospitals. He specialised in peripheral vascular surgery, but wrote papers on a variety of topics, including gangrene, ulcerative disorders and bladder distention. He retired in 1993. He was a keen climber and long distance runner, completing the London Marathon six times. He was instrumental in building a climbing wall in the sports complex in Peterborough, where he became president of the mountaineering club. He married Eizabeth Knight, a general practitioner. They had two daughters and a granddaughter. He died on 22 May 2003 from a very aggressive mesothelioma.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000145
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Connell, Anthea Mary Stewart (1925 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2008-12-12
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/372333372333
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Anthea Mary Stewart Connell was a senior ophthalmic consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados, from 1969 to 1996. She was born on 21 October 1925, the daughter of two medical doctors. Her father, John S M Connell, was a surgeon and gynaecologist and had served as a colonel in the RAMC on wartime hospital ships. Her mother, Constance B Challis, had trained at Cambridge and the University of Birmingham Medical School, and became a public health doctor. Anthea was educated at Edgbaston High School, before moving to City Park Collegiate Institute, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and then to the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She completed her medical education at the University of Birmingham Medical School, qualifying in 1952. Her ophthalmic training was at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, firstly as a resident, then as a registrar and subsequently as a senior registrar/first assistant in joint appointments at Moorfields, Guy’s Hospital and the London Hospital. In 1969 she moved to Barbados as a senior consultant and head of the department of ophthalmology and assistant lecturer at the University of West Indies until 1991. She initiated the Barbados Eye Study and was its director from 1987 to 1996. This group investigated glaucoma in the Barbadian population and founded the Inter-Island Eye Service. Although living in Barbados, she held courses and organised diploma of ophthalmology examinations in the Caribbean, which were recognised by the Royal College of Surgeons. She was also a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, giving presentations at their annual meetings. She wrote extensively, covering her work and research in Barbados and the islands. In 1963 she married George E P Dowglass, a master of wine, who was a wine merchant. They had one child, Charlotte, born in 1965, who became financial director to Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London. Anthea supported the local community, was chairman of the local Conservative Policy Forum, and enjoyed painting in oil and acrylic, showing her work both locally and in London. She died on 23 September 2003 after a long series of strokes.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000146
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/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 Riden, Donald Keith (1959 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372336372336
Occupation Oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Details Surgeon Commander Donald Keith Riden RN was born in Liverpool on 5 May 1959, the son of Alfred Donald and Mavis Irene Riden. He attended West Derby Comprehensive School in Liverpool from 1970 to 1977, and then went on to study dentistry at King’s College Dental School, winning the Wellcome award in pharmacology and therapeutics in 1980 and the annual oral surgery prize in 1981. With an increasing interest in oral and maxillofacial surgery, which had developed from his early days at dental school, he entered Southampton University Medical School in 1984, qualifying in 1988. Serving in the Royal Navy, he undertook his house surgeon appointments in urology, orthopaedics, general surgery and accident and emergency at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar. He had short appointments in endocrinology at Southampton General Hospital and in general surgery at the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth. After an ENT job at RNH Haslar, he returned to RNH Plymouth to start his oral and maxillofacial training, becoming a registrar in October 1993 and gaining his FDS in 1994. Subsequently he entered the south west specialist registrar rotation in Plymouth, Frenchay, Southmead and Bristol Royal Infirmary from 1994 to 1999. As is customary with RN medical officers, he saw service overseas and at sea, serving in Gibraltar, on HMS *Tamar* (Hong Kong), HMS *Ariadne*, HMS *Minerva*, HMS *Nelson* and HMS *Illustrious*. He was on active service in Kosovo from 2000 to 2001. He loved to travel, particularly in the Far East and was able to serve in Hong Kong, China and India as a visiting registrar. He was awarded consultant status by the Defence Medical Service Consultant Approval Board of the College in 2000. His first posting as consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon and postgraduate clinical tutor was to RNH *Haslar*. In 2003 he was appointed to the Joint Services Hospital, the Princess Mary Hospital, RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, where he remained until illness intervened. He published papers on dental pain and, during his training rotation, wrote *Key topics in oral and maxillofacial surgery* (Oxford, Bios Scientific, 1998) and contributed to the UK national third molar audit in 1998. In his later years he honed his skills as both a facial trauma and head and neck cancer specialist, developing techniques for facial reconstruction and neck dissections. He was a particularly good teacher of house officers and SHOs, and enormously enjoyed this role. He thoroughly enjoyed his time in the Royal Navy, especially on overseas deployments. He had a lifelong interest in music and was a lover of classical music and opera. He was an accomplished classical guitar player. He regularly sang with a variety of groups, choral unions and barbershop, and was a member of Portsmouth Choral Union, Solent City Barbershop Club and Island Blend, a Cyprus barbershop group. He married Leslie Carol, a teacher and college librarian, in August 1981. They had three sons, Daniel James, Andrew Mark and Nicholas John. He died on 19 February 2005 from carcinoma of the oesophagus.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000149
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Saunders, Dame Cicely Mary Strode (1918 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2012-03-09
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/372337372337
Occupation Nurse Physician
Details Dame Cicely Saunders established St Christopher's Hospice in London, which became the model for hundreds of other hospices. She was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 22 June 1918, the daughter of Gordon Saunders, a domineering estate agent, and Mary Christian Wright. She was educated at Roedean and St Anne's College, Oxford, and on the outbreak of war deferred completing her degree to become a nurse. She entered St Thomas's, but a back injury put an end to a career in nursing. She returned to complete her degree at Oxford and qualified as a lady almoner (a hospital social worker). By now she had fallen in love with David Tasma, a refugee from the Warsaw ghetto, who was dying of cancer. Through him she learned how the pain of cancer could be tamed by modern drugs, and that the inevitable distress of the dying could be made tolerable by care in which physical and spiritual needs were combined. At this time she also gave up her agnostic stance and became a committed and evangelical Christian. Her experience as a volunteer at St Luke's Home for the Dying Poor caused her to realise that the received medical views on dying and bereavement needed to be changed, and to do this she needed to become a doctor. She returned to St Thomas's and qualified in 1957, at the age of 38. She set up a research group to study the control of pain, while also working at St Joseph's, Hackney, which was run for the dying by the formidably down-to-earth Sisters of Charity. Before long Cicely had reached the unorthodox conclusion that the usual intermittent giving of morphine for surges of pain was far less effective than giving enough morphine to achieve a steady state in which the dying patient could still maintain consciousness, self-respect and a measure of dignity. It was at St Joseph's that she met Antoni Michniewicz, who for the second time taught her that loving and being in love were powerful medicaments in terminal illness. His death determined her to set up St Christopher's Hospice, named after the patron saint of travellers, as a place in which to shelter on the most difficult stage of life's journey. Her unorthodox views were published as *The care of the dying* (London, Macmillan & Co) in 1960. This opened many eyes, and soon another edition was needed. There followed years of hard work, lecturing, persuading and fund-raising. St Christopher's was set up as a charity in 1961 and the hospice was opened in 1967. That her methods worked was soon apparent and before long Cicely was invited to join the consultant staff of St Thomas's and the London Hospital. In 1980 she married Marian Bohusz-Szyszko who shared her love of music and with whom she was blissfully happy. Sadly he predeceased her in 1995. A tall, impressive lady, she had a tremendous though quiet personality that shone with honesty and wisdom. Innumerable distinctions and honours came her way - honorary degrees and fellowships galore, the gold medals of the Society of Apothecaries and the British Medical Association, the DBE and the Order of Merit - but it was the establishment of hundreds of hospices according to her principles and the revolution in the care of the dying that will be the real measure of her greatness. She died from breast cancer on 14 July 2005 at St Christopher's.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000150
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Burton, Richard Michael (1926 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2012-03-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373707373707
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Michael Burton was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Hillingdon and Ealing hospitals. He was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on 28 July 1926, the second son of Rennie Cooksey, a general practitioner, and Elsie Jane née Laycock, the daughter of an adviser in music. He began his education at King Edward VII School in Sheffield, but was subsequently evacuated to the United States during the Second World War. He attended Newton High School in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and later Phillips Academy in Andover. He was very well cared for by his foster parents in the United States, with whom he formed a strong relationship. He returned to England at the age of 17, with the aim of volunteering for the Royal Air Force. Instead, being too young, he was called up as a 'Bevin boy' and worked in the coalmines. He did eventually join the Royal Air Force, and was selected for pilot training and also as a potential officer. As a part of his training, he was sent to Durham University for six months, where he studied engineering before being commissioned. He completed his training as a pilot, but did not see active service as the war in Europe finished and he was not posted to the Far East. After demobilisation, he enrolled as a medical student in Sheffield and qualified in 1954. He was then awarded a travelling scholarship to complete his pre-registration year in America, and at the same time gained his American MD. He served as a rotating intern at the Albany Medical Center, in Albany, New York. As a postgraduate, he went to Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied anatomy and physiology. He became a casualty registrar in Sheffield and his specialist training was at the Jessop Hospital, Sheffield, later in Chelmsford and the North Middlesex Hospital. During this time he became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, becoming a fellow in 1977. He was a fellow of both the Edinburgh and English Royal Colleges of Surgeons, and he also became a master of midwifery of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. In 1968, he was appointed as a consultant at Hillingdon and Ealing hospitals. He contributed papers on a case of chorion epithelioma with pulmonary complications (*Tubercle*. 1963 Dec;44:487-90), catastrophes in labour and 'pulseless' disease (*J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw*. 1966 Feb;73[1]:113-8). He had keen service interests. After leaving the Royal Air Force, he served in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and achieved the rank of squadron leader. Later, he became a territorial, eventually becoming a colonel, commanding the 257 (SI) at General Hospital. He was awarded the territorial decoration. He was also a distinguished member of the St John's ambulance and was awarded the decoration of the Commander of St John. Another lifelong interest was scouting. He was a keen swimmer and reached international standard whilst a postgraduate at Cambridge, where he was awarded a blue for swimming and water polo. He also continued to fly until poor health stopped him. He had the misfortune of developing a dissecting aortic aneurysm and was operated on very successfully by Sir Magdi Yacoub. He was able to return to work, but was left with limited dexterity in the left arm. He had to stop operating and retired from active practice. However, he continued to examine for the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board and also to do medical examinations for pilots for the Civil Aviation Authority. He had two daughters and a son by his first marriage. His son was also medically qualified, served in the Royal Air Force and eventually became a consultant in accident and emergency medicine. Michael was later married to Toni, who survived him. He died on 31 March 2003. Michael Pugh
Resource Identifier RCS: E001524
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Gourevitch, Arnold (1914 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372250372250
Occupation General surgeon
Details Arnold Gourevitch was a consultant surgeon in Birmingham. He was born in Paris on 24 February 1914, the son of Russian Jewish émigrés. At the outbreak of the first world war his parents fled to England, eventually settling in Birmingham. His father, Mendel, later qualified as a doctor and became a general practitioner in Aston. Gourevitch was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, and then went on to Birmingham University, where he qualified in medicine. Gourevitch joined the Territorial Army in 1938 and was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served with the TA Field Ambulance, part of the 145 Brigade, 48th South Midland Division, and accompanied them to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He was evacuated from La Baule, Brittany, where he had been manning a hospital with the help of a single orderly. He was posted to Leeds as RMO of the 10th West Yorkshire Regiment, before joining the surgical division of No 7 General Hospital. In April 1941 he disembarked at Suda bay in Crete, and established a hospital, near Galatas, west of Canea. The Germans advanced through the island, and Gourevitch was captured and held at a prisoner of war camp at Galatas. Here he organised a hospital for the many wounded. As the prisoners were being transferred to more secure accommodation, Gourevitch and an Australian surgeon decided to escape. They lived in caves and huts as fugitives, and were later picked up by Special Operations Executive and taken to Libya. Gourevitch was awarded the Military Cross for his actions. He was subsequently posted to the 8th Field Surgical Unit, part of the 2nd New Zealand division, and served with the unit at El Alamein. He later took part in the invasion of Sicily and the Italian campaign. He was mentioned in despatches at Monte Cassino and was in Trieste at the end of the war. Following his demobilisation in 1946, he was appointed as a consultant in general surgery at the Queen Elizabeth and Birmingham Children's Hospital. In 1969 he was elected to the Court of Examiners of the College. He presented two Hunterian lectures. In the early 1960s he spent time in Ethiopia, teaching and operating, and helping to support the development of a medical school. In 1973 he took time off to help Israeli surgeons during the Yom Kippur war. Gourevitch was an enthusiastic after-dinner speaker. He enjoyed squash, playing golf and hill walking. A natural linguist, he knew French, Russian, Hebrew and Greek. He also enjoyed painting. He married Corrine Natkiel in 1951. They had three sons (David, Daniel and Samuel) and two daughters (Gillian and Naomi). There are nine grandchildren. He died from pneumonia on 5 February 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000063
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hall, Hedley Walter (1907 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372254372254
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Hedley Walter Hall was born in Farsley, near Leeds, on 3 October 1907. His father, Walter, was a Methodist minister. His mother was Julia Florence née Copestake. He was educated at Goole Primary and Secondary Schools, then Shebbear College, north Devon, where he was captain of the school. He studied medicine at King’s College, London, and went on to University College Hospital for his clinical studies. He was a house surgeon at UCH, a radium registrar and a night anaesthetist. He went on to the Central Middlesex Hospital, where he was a registrar, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. During his training he was particularly influenced by Gwynne Williams, Philip Wiles, Norman Matheson and Illtyd James. He was a Major in the RAMC from 1947 to 1949. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the North Middlesex Hospital and then to the Bath clinical area. He was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Shaftsbury Home at Malmsbury. He married a Miss Waterman in 1938, a ward sister at UCH. They had one son and one daughter, Margaret. He enjoyed cricket, played for Hinton Charterhouse until he was over 50, and was president of the club. He was also interested in archaeology, gardening, bee keeping, literature, theatre and travel. He was a governor of his old school, Shebbear College. He died on 22 September 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000067
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cunningham, John Andrew Derek Joseph (1924 - 2009)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2013-11-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373708373708
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Andrew Cunningham, usually known as Derek, was a wing commander in the RAF. Born in Belfast on 21 January 1924, his father was Joseph Cunningham, a draper and his mother, Elsie née O'Connell, was a housewife. He attended Farranferris School in Cork and Belvedere College in Dublin. At the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland he won the Biological Society medal for debate in 1945 and the Richmond gold medal for surgery in 1946 and passed the FRCSI in 1950. His early clinical training was at Richmond Hospital, Dublin. On moving to Cornwall, he was house surgeon at the West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance before becoming registrar in general surgery to Burslem Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. He served in the RAF as a surgical specialist from 1951 to 1966 and then joined the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board (1967-70) before being appointed consultant surgeon in Grimsby where he worked until he retired in 1987. While in Cornwall he met Elizabeth Marion Madron who was a ward sister at the West Cornwall Hospital and he married her on 1 February 1951. They had two sons, Angus and Bruce. He enjoyed playing golf and listed philately and scale model aircraft among his many interests. He died on 9 April 2009 aged 85, survived by his wife, children and five grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001525
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Crossling, Frank Turner (1927 - 2011)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2011-11-09 2014-04-09
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E001000-E001999/E001500-E001599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373709373709
Occupation General surgeon
Details Frank Crossling was a consultant general surgeon at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow. He was born on 16 August 1927 in Aberdeen, the son of Wilfred Ormston Crossling, a printer and commercial traveller, and his wife, Jean née Turner. Educated at Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen and at Aberdeen University, he graduated MB ChB in 1949. In 1965 he was appointed consultant at Stobhill Hospital and was said to be strikingly innovative in his early years, among other procedures he was credited with being one of the first to use stapling techniques. During 1967-8 he took a sabbatical year working in a hospital in Nairobi and regaled students and colleagues for a long time afterwards with tales of his time in Kenya. He retired in 1991. Frank married Margaret Elizabeth Abdy, a radiographer, on 7 October 1950, and they had a son who became a vet. He was a man of many interests outside medicine, particularly climbing, skiing, photography, classical music and travel. Sadly Margaret died suddenly and unexpectedly soon after his retirement and he moved to the north of Aberdeenshire, to Kildrummy to be near his son. He died on 28 April 2011, aged 83 years survived by his son and three grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E001526
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Galloway, James Brown Wallace (1930 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372444372444
Occupation General surgeon
Details James Galloway was a consultant general surgeon in Stranraer, Scotland. He was born on 26 March 1930 in Lanark, the son of William Galloway, a farmer, and Anne née Wallace, a secretary. He received his early education at Lanark Grammar, followed by McLaren High in Callendar when the family moved there after his father’s death. At an early stage he showed the academic bent that was to remain with him throughout his life. School was followed by Glasgow University, where he graduated MA before embarking on a medical degree. After gaining his MB Ch in 1956 he undertook his National Service as a captain in the RAMC, spending a large part of his time in Hong Kong. Returning to civilian life, he opted for surgery as a career, and received his training in Glasgow. In 1966 he moved to Ballochmyle Hospital in Ayrshire. Here he made an indelible impression. He was an outstanding doctor whose interest in his subject seemed insatiable, his knowledge of it being encyclopaedic. His practical skills were also of a very high order, and he gave of himself unstintingly. He could truly be said to be dedicated to his work, and he was held in the highest regard by his medical colleagues and nursing staff alike. Though a quiet man, even self-deprecating, he had a remarkable ability to get what he wanted; where his patient’s interests were concerned he could be tenacious, to say the least, and he provided a service second to none. His interest in new developments, and his enthusiasm for new devices, were infectious. He was a most likeable colleague and he was held in considerable affection by all. His time in Hong Kong had given him a taste for travel and during the 1970s, while working in Ayrshire, he answered an advertisement placed by the Kuwait Oil Company and spent three months there as a general surgeon. His work so impressed that he was invited back for two further tours of duty. In 1981 he was appointed consultant general surgeon at the Garrick Hospital in Stranraer. Ayrshire’s loss was Stranraer’s gain, and he quickly established himself there as he had at Ballochmyle, becoming a most valued member of the community. He believed firmly that medical services should be provided locally whenever possible, and fought hard to prevent the surgical service being transferred to Dumfries. James’s other great love was sailing, and he had a succession of boats, starting with a 14-foot dinghy and culminating in *Eliane*, a very capable traditional yacht which was his pride and joy. He happily related that all his boats had one thing in common – they were so full of his beloved gadgets and equipment that they all had to have their waterlines redrawn. He was a very relaxed skipper who, though a lifelong teetotaller himself, was not in the least put out by the occasional excesses of his crew members. There can be no part of the Clyde, and few parts of the Western Isles, that he had not sailed to, and he never ceased to be glad of his origins. After retirement in 1991 he remained as active as ever, embracing the computer age with typical enthusiasm. He was a very kindly, widely read and thoughtful man who made a most interesting companion. He took up scuba diving and continued to be a very active sailor, crossing the Minch to Eriskay in his last summer. Sadly this was to be his last cruise, and thereafter he became increasingly weak. Typically he preferred to discuss the differential diagnosis rather than to complain. He died in the Ayr Hospital on 11 December 2005. He was predeceased by Janet and Anne, his two older sisters. He is greatly missed by his many friends.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000257
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Grimshaw, Clement (1915 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Hounsfield, Sir Godfrey Newbold (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22 2008-09-11
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/372446372446
Occupation Research engineer
Details Godfrey Hounsfield, the inventor of the CT scanner, was the epitome of the brilliant boffin – modest, retiring and shunning the limelight. He was born on 28 August 1919, the youngest of the five children of Thomas Hounsfield, a steel engineer who took up farming in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. There Godfrey grew up surrounded by farm machinery, with which he became fascinated. ‘In a village there are few distractions and no pressures to join in at a ball game or go to the cinema and I was free to follow the trail of any interesting idea that came my way. I constructed electrical recording machines; I made hazardous investigations of the principles of flight, launching myself from the tops of haystacks with a home-made glider; I almost blew myself up during exciting experiments using water-filled tar barrels and acetylene to see how high they could be waterjet propelled.’ At Magnus Grammar School he was interested only in physics and mathematics. At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the RAF as a volunteer reservist and was taken on as a radar mechanic instructor, occupying himself in building a large-screen oscilloscope. His work was noticed by Air Vice Marshall Cassidy, who got him a grant after the war to attend Faraday House Electrical Engineering College, where he received a diploma. He then joined the staff of EMI working on radar and guided weapons, working with primitive computers. In 1958 he led a team building the first all-transistor computer, speeding up the transistors by providing them with a magnetic core. In 1967 he began to study aspects of pattern recognition and worked in the Central Research Laboratories of EMI. Contrary to the public relations story, which has been repeated so often that it has come to be accepted as true, his idea did not occur to him when out walking, and it was not supported by the full resources of EMI. His colleague, W E Ingham, pointed out that EMI were not interested: they were not in the medical business, and it was only covertly that a deal was done with the Department of Health and Society Security to fund the development of what became the first CT scanner. The first brain to be scanned was that of a bullock. The prototype was soon shown to be successful in 1971, when it was used to diagnose a brain cyst at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital and before long Hounsfield’s work had been plagiarised and developed all over the world, mostly overseas. Hounsfield was unaware that Cormack, of Tufts, had published theoretical studies on the mathematics for such a device. A whole-body scanner was introduced in 1975. Honours came thick and fast: CBE, FRS, the Nobel prize (shared with Cormack), a knighthood and an honorary FRCS. He remained a modest, retiring bachelor. His advice to the young was: ‘Don’t worry if you can’t pass exams, so long as you feel you have understood the subject.’ In retirement he did voluntary work at the Royal Brompton and Heart Hospitals. He died from a chronic and progressive lung disease on 12 August 2004. He was unmarried.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000259
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Hopper, Ian (1938 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2006-09-22 2009-05-07
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/372447372447
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Ian Hopper was an ENT consultant in Sunderland. He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 19 May 1938, the son of John Frederick Hopper, an insurance manager, and Dora née Lambert. He was educated at Dame Allans School, Newcastle upon Tyne, and High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield, where he played rugby in the first XV. At Sheffield University, although he boxed for a short while, he turned away from contact sports and played table tennis for the university and the United Sheffield Hospitals. He was much influenced by the skills of the professor of surgery, Sir Andrew Kay. He held house physician and house surgeon posts at Sheffield Royal Infirmary and Wharncliffe Hospitals. Having obtained his primary fellowship, he chose to specialise in ENT surgery. He became registrar and later senior registrar in ENT at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary. In 1969 he was appointed ENT consultant at Sunderland Royal Infirmary and General Hospital, where he stayed until his retirement in 1997. Ian Hopper was regional adviser in otolaryngology, a member of the Overseas Doctors Training Committee and the College Hospital Recognition Committee. He was on the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists (from 1983 to 1997), honorary ENT consultant at the Duchess of Kent Military Hospital, president of the North of England Otolaryngological Society, a council member of the Section of Otology at the Royal Society of Medicine and chairman of the Regional Specialist Subcommittee in Otolaryngology. He married Christine Wadsworth, a schoolteacher, in 1961. Their son, Andrew James, was bursar at Collingwood College, Durham University, before entering the private student accommodation market and their daughter, Penelope Anne, teaches art at Poynton High School, Cheshire. In retirement Ian Hopper made bowls his main sport and subsequently became vice-chairman of Sunderland Bowls Club. He was also a keen snooker player. He died peacefully in hospital after a long illness on 4 March 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000260
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Herdman, John Phipps (1921 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22 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/372448372448
Occupation General surgeon
Details John Herdman was born on 15 December 1921. He studied medicine at Oxford, qualifying in 1945. He completed house jobs at the United Oxford Hospitals and at Ancoats, Manchester, from which he passed the FRCS. He then returned to the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research for two years, before undergoing further registrar posts in Oxford. In 1953 he went to Canada and worked as a general surgeon at the St Joseph's Hospitals, Sarnia, Ontario, until 1973. He then studied health services planning under D O Anderson in the University of British Columbia, where he wrote a graduate thesis on patterns in surgical performance in the Province of British Columbia, and revealed a natural aptitude for epidemiological research. In 1976 he joined the staff of Riverview Hospital, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, becoming surgical consultant in June 1976, where his duties were administrative. By 1978 he was the chief physician of North Lawn in charge of the entire medical and surgical service. By 1985 he was involved in a successful application for re-accreditation of Riverview Hospital and its mental health services. He was also involved with the care of patients who developed megacolon as a side effect of their medication. He retired in 1991. He died on 4 April 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000261
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Halvorsen, Jan Frederik (1935 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-09-22 2007-08-09
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/372449372449
Occupation General surgeon
Details Jan Frederik Halvorsen was director of the department of surgery and professor of surgery at the University of Bergen, Norway. He graduated from the University of Bergen Medical School in 1960, becoming a general surgical specialist in 1968 with a special interest in intestinal surgery. He gained a PhD for his work on blood pressure within the liver. His first appointment was at Stavanger Hospital, followed by the Rikshopitalet in Oslo. He also worked at the United Nations Hospital in Gaza. In 1964 he was appointed to Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, where he remained until illness forced his retirement in 2001. He moved through the department of pathology and the gynaecology clinic, but his main focus was surgery. He initially specialised in endocrine surgery, but eventually developed his interest in GI surgery, particularly the diagnosis and treatment of bowel disorders. He published over 100 papers on diseases of the GI tract. He took a sabbatical, spending time at St Mark’s Hospital, London. He became professor of surgery at Bergen University and, as a result of his involvement with the Norwegian Medical Association, he was responsible for the coordination of postgraduate studies. His door was always open to students and colleagues. The organisation of training and the decentralising of courses were a demanding project. He organised the coordination of 1,100 courses involving 25,000 participants. In 1992 he was chosen to coordinate university exchanges between the Hanseatic towns of Lubeck in Germany and Bergen. His enormous experience, knowledge, friendly amiability and dynamism helped him to establish important international contacts and successful exchanges. He was a generous man and established great and permanent friendships with both the students and the specialists in both these cities. He also organised many visits of groups of surgeons from other countries, including the UK. He was a great communicator and spoke impeccable English. He was extremely interested in English literature. He belonged to a British surgical travelling club and was one of its most enthusiastic members. Even when he was suffering from serious cardiac problems he determinedly joined the group on a visit to Spain. In 1988 he was made an honorary Fellow of the College. This particular honour he cherished more than the other many honours he received. Jan Frederik Halvorsen was an extremely skilled surgeon, with vast theoretical knowledge and practical experience. In addition to the qualities he showed as a surgeon, his organisational skills in health management were used to great effect in improving postgraduate education in Norway. Patients and doctors benefited from these attributes. He left a great legacy. He was a strong family man. He leaves his wife Sissel and four children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000262
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Addison, Norman Victor (1925 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Blaiklock, Christopher Thomas (1936 - 2018)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by David Currie
Publication Date 2006-09-22 2018-05-01
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/372451372451
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details Christopher Thomas Blaiklock was a consultant neurosurgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He was born on 27 July 1936 in Newcastle upon Tyne and raised in Northumbria. His parents, Thomas Snowdon Blaiklock and Constance Rebecca Blaiklock, were both doctors. He attended Oundle School, Northampton, and then carried out his National Service (from 1954 to 1956) in the Royal Navy. He went on to study medicine at Durham, qualifying in 1961. Chris was influenced by his medical house officer post with the Newcastle neurologist, Sir John Walton. His original intention was to pursue a career as a physician, but, having passed the MRCP in 1966, he came to the view that, with the resources available at the time, he could achieve more for patients as a surgeon and he did his basic surgical training in Cardiff. He decided on a career in neurosurgery which, at the time, could not be said to be the most successful of surgical specialties, but he was fortunate to be regularly in the right place at the right time. He was a neurosurgical registrar at Atkinson Morley Hospital in London, which was famous (or notorious) for giving a rigorous training. While he was there the first CT (computed tomography) scanner in the world was installed and Chris was among the first neurosurgeons to experience the revolutionary transformation of neurological imaging and the huge improvement that brought to patients' experience of neurological diagnosis. In 1972, he was appointed as a senior registrar in neurosurgery in Glasgow with Bryan Jennett at a time when Glasgow was being recognised as a centre of excellence in neurosurgical research. The first CT scanner in Scotland was installed in Glasgow during his training there. In 1974, he was appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He was only the third neurosurgeon in Aberdeen after Martin Nichols and Bob Fraser. The department covered the whole of the North of Scotland, including the Northern and Western isles. In addition to providing a comprehensive neurosurgery service, the department housed, prior to the advent of intensive care units, the only ventilation unit in the region and the two neurosurgeons were responsible for its management along with a single trainee. Chris brought his experience of CT imaging and saw the installation of the first CT scanner in Aberdeen. He introduced the operating microscope and effectively brought neurosurgery in Aberdeen into the modern era. When the world's first MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner was built and became available for clinical use, Chris was the first neurosurgeon in the world to employ it and gain experience in its use in neurosurgery. Chris was unusual in being a neurosurgeon who was also a member (and subsequently a fellow) of the Royal College of Physicians, and his diagnostic skills were evidence of his broad general knowledge. For many years, the neurosurgeons in Aberdeen also offered the out-of-hours neurology service, handing patients over to the well-rested neurologists in the morning. Chris often remarked that he could just as easily have enjoyed being an engineer. He had a fascination with how things worked. He carried a skill with tools and his manual dexterity into his operative surgery. He was a true craftsman. His operative surgery was calm, precise and quick, and an inspiration to his trainees. He was an NHS partisan. Despite a heavy workload, his waiting times were negligible and he was offended on occasions when it was suggested to him that he might see a patient 'privately'. He was intensely proud of the local service and of the beautiful territory he served. He enjoyed demonstrating the extent of the territory he covered by placing a pair of compasses on Aberdeen and passing it through his most distant centre of habitation - one of the North Sea oil platforms. The circle also passed through Watford. He contributed extensively to NHS administration, both locally and nationally. With the introduction of clinical management, he became director of surgery for Grampian - a post that he accepted without dropping any clinical sessions. He lacked self-importance or pomposity, and was genuinely interested in people and their occupations and he was always available. For a year, while the other consultant post was unfilled, he provided the service single-handedly. Chris Blaiklock died at home on 8 February 2018 at the age of 81 and was survived by his wife Judith, an anaesthetist, and by his son, Ian, and daughter, Fiona. He will be remembered with great affection by former patients, colleagues in all health professions and by his trainees who have occupied consultant posts in Scotland and in other countries.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000264
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Bond, Kenneth Edgar (1908 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Bonham, Dennis Geoffrey (1924 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Keane, Brendan (1926 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372454372454
Occupation General surgeon
Details Brendan Keane was a surgeon at the Whakatane Hospital, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. He was born in Dublin on 9 May 1926, one of six children. His father rose to become private secretary to Eamon de Valera and head of the Irish Civil Service. His mother was a teacher from the Aran Islands, where the family spent their summers in thatched stone cottages. His early schooling was at Roscrea, a Cistercian monastic boarding school where the examinations were all in Gaelic. From there he went to University College, Dublin, to study veterinary surgery, but changed to medicine after a year. After a period as house surgeon at Coombe Hospital, Dublin, he went to England, to work at Sefton General Hospital, Liverpool, as a casualty officer. He then joined the RAMC, spending two years in Malaya, rising to the rank of major, treating British and Gurkha soldiers and their families. He returned to Halifax General Hospital, Yorkshire, to complete a series of training posts in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. In 1965 he moved to Gibraltar, where he remained for six years. During this time he became a passionate lover of the Spanish language. He then sailed for New Zealand, working as a consultant surgeon at Whakatane Hospital in the Bay of Plenty. On retirement he continued his study of Spanish, enrolling on a short course at the University of Zaragoza, and began to learn French from scratch. His other hobbies included golf, snooker, Irish history and jazz. He married Christine in 1957 and they had four children. He died on 22 October 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000267
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Vaughan, Sir Gerard Folliott (1923 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-02 2006-10-11
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/372345372345
Occupation Politician Psychiatrist
Details Sir Gerard Vaughan was a former Minister of State for Health in the Thatcher government. He was born on 11 June 1923 in Mozambique, Portugese East Africa, the son of a Welsh sugar planter who was more interested in big game hunting than sugar and was later killed in the RAF. Gerry was educated by a series of governesses, notably one Mafeta, who coached him through the matriculation at the age of 14. At first he wanted to become an artist and enrolled at the Slade and St Martin’s School of Art, but as war broke out he entered Guy’s Hospital to study medicine, helping in the casualty department during the Blitz. After qualifying, he became a house surgeon to Russell Brock, who encouraged him to become a surgeon, but suggested he learn some medicine first and take the MRCP. While doing a medical registrar job at the York clinic he became fascinated by psychiatry and went on to the Maudsley Hospital, returning to Guy’s as a consultant psychiatrist. There he became interested in the treatment of children and adolescents, particularly those with anorexia, and was responsible for the establishment of the Bloomfield clinic at Guy’s. Always interested in politics, Gerry sat on the London County Council as alderman for Streatham, becoming chairman of the strategy and planning group, and in 1970 he was elected MP for Reading. He was one of Ted Heath’s whips, and was Minister of State for Health for five years, first under Patrick Jenkin and later under Norman Fowler. He was knighted in 1984 on being dropped from the government. His views were on the extreme right, and among other things he championed homoeopathy. He died after a long illness on 29 July 2003, leaving a wife, Joyce Thurle, whom he married in 1955, and a son and daughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000158
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Vaughan-Jackson, Oliver James (1907 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372346372346
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Oliver Vaughan-Jackson was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the London Hospital and a specialist in hand surgery. He was born in Berkhamstead on 6 July 1907, the eldest son of Surgeon-Captain P Vaughan-Jackson RN. He was educated at Berkhamstead and Balliol College, Oxford, where he played for the winning rugby XV, before going on to the London Hospital for his clinical studies. After completing his house jobs he specialised in surgery and passed the FRCS in 1936. Realising war was on the horizon, he joined the RNVR in 1938 and by 1939 found himself a surgeon in the Royal Naval Hospital at Chatham, where he remained for the next four years, until in 1944 he was posted to the RN Hospital, Sydney. At the end of the war, he returned to the London Hospital as consultant orthopaedic surgeon, joining the energetic new team led by Sir Reginald Watson-Jones and Sir Henry Osmond-Clarke. He was also on the consultant staff of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Rochester. At the London his particular interest was in the surgery of the hand, and especially the treatment of the complications of rheumatoid arthritis. In 1948 he published an account of a hitherto undescribed syndrome whereby extensor tendons, frayed by underlying arthritic osteophytes, rupture – a syndrome to which his name is eponymously attached. A gentle and genial man, Oliver was a popular teacher and much admired by his juniors for his patient and painstaking surgical technique. Towards the end of his career he spent a good deal of his spare time in Newfoundland, Canada, at the Memorial Hospital, where a new multidisciplinary department for rheumatology had been set up. He was appointed professor of orthopaedic surgery there. After retirement he went to live in Newfoundland, but returned towards the evening of his life to live in Cerne Abbas, Dorset, where he died on 7 November 2003. He married Joan Madeline née Bowring in 1939. They had two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000159
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Hardy, James Daniel (1918 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-15 2007-08-09
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/372351372351
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details James Daniel Hardy was an organ transplant pioneer and the first chairman of the department of surgery and surgeon in chief at the University Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi. Board certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Thoracic Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Hardy worked to improve medical and surgical care in Mississippi throughout his career of teaching, caring for patients and clinical research. Over 200 surgeons trained with him during his tenure as chairman of the department of surgery from 1955 to 1987. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on 14 May 1918, the elder of twin boys, he was the son of Fred Henry Hardy, owner of a lime plant, and Julia Poyner Hardy, a schoolteacher. His early childhood was tough and frugal, thanks to the Depression. He was educated at Montevallo High School, where he played football for the school, and learned to play the trombone. He completed his premedical studies at the University of Alabama, where he excelled in German, and went on to the University of Pennsylvania to study medicine, and during his physiology course carried out a research project (on himself) to show that olive oil introduced into the duodenum would inhibit the production of gastric acid - an exercise which gave him a lifelong interest in research. At the same time he joined the Officers Training Corps. In his last year he published research into the effect of sulphonamide on wound healing. After receiving his MD he entered postgraduate training for a year as an intern and a resident in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and also conducted research on circulatory physiology. Research became a vital part of his professional life. His military service in the second world war was with the 81st Field Hospital. In the New Year of 1945 he found himself in London, before crossing to France and the last months of the invasion of Germany. After VE Day his unit was sent out to the Far East, but when news arrived of the Japanese surrender his ship made a U-turn and they landed back in the United States. He returned to Philadelphia to complete his surgical residency under Isidor Ravdin. He was a senior Damon Runyon fellow in clinical research and was awarded a masters of medical science in physiological chemistry by the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 for his research on heavy water and the measurement of body fluids. That same year Hardy became an assistant professor of surgery and director of surgical research at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Memphis, later he was to become an associate professor, and continued in this position until 1955, when he became the first professor of surgery and chairman of the department of surgery at the newly established University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Jackson. As a surgeon charged with establishing an academic training programme, Hardy became known as a charismatic teacher and indefatigable physician. He also actively pursued and encouraged clinical research in the newly established department of surgery. His group’s years of research in the laboratory led to the first kidney autotransplant in man for high ureteral injury, and to advances in the then emerging field of human organ transplantation. The first lung transplant in man was performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1963 and in 1964 Hardy and his team carried out the first heart transplantation using a chimpanzee as a donor. Hardy authored, co-authored or edited more than 23 medical books, including two which became standard surgery texts, and published more than 500 articles and chapters in medical publications. He served on numerous editorial boards and as editor-in-chief of *The World Journal of Surgery*. He also produced a volume of autobiographical memoirs, *The Academic surgeon* (Mobile, Alabama, Magnolia Mansions Press, c.2002), which is a most readable and vivid account of the American residency system and its emphasis on research, which has been such a model for the rest of the world. Over the course of his career he served as president of the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the International Surgical Society and the Society of University Surgeons and was a founding member of the International Surgical Group and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary tract. He was an honorary fellow of the College, of the l’Académie Nationale de Médicine and l’Association Français de Chirurgie. The proceedings of the 1983 surgical forum of the American College of Surgeons was dedicated to Hardy, citing him as “…an outstanding educator, investigator, clinical surgeon and international leader.” In 1987 Hardy retired from the department of surgery and served in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital system as a distinguished VA physician from 1987 to 1990. He married Louise (Weezie) Scott Sams in 1949. They had four daughters: Louise, Julia Ann, Bettie and Katherine. He died on 19 February 2003. An annual James D Hardy lectureship has been established in his honour at the department of surgery, University Medical Center, Jackson.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000164
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ferguson, William Glasgow (1919 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-15 2014-08-11
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/372352372352
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details William Glasgow Ferguson, or 'Fergie' as he was known, was a thoracic surgeon in Victoria, Australia. He was born in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, on 4 March 1919, the son of William and Sara Ferguson. He studied medicine at Durham, where he qualified in 1942. After four months as a house surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, he joined the RAMC and was posted to 144 Field Ambulance, Hull, and in the following March went to Accra, where he served in 2 (WA) Field Ambulance until April 1944, when he went with his field ambulance to Burma. There he was promoted to major and, in the following year, commanded 4 (WA) Field Ambulance with the rank of lieutenant colonel, being mentioned in despatches. At the end of the war he brought his field ambulance back to West Africa and was demobilised in 1946. On his return to the UK, he became a demonstrator of anatomy at the University of Durham, did general surgical training at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, completed the Guy's course and passed the final FRCS. He then decided to specialise in thoracic surgery, undergoing specialist registrar and senior registrar posts at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Shotley Bridge Regional Thoracic Surgical Centre. He was awarded the American Association for Thoracic Surgery travelling fellowship in 1953 as a post-doctoral first assistant. In 1958 he moved to Australia, as staff superintendent of Sydney Hospital. Two years later, he became a consultant at Goulburn Valley Base Hospital, Victoria, where he remained until he retired in 1985. He then continued in general practice in Omeo, Victoria, until 1992. He was previously married to Helen née Cowan. He had three children - two sons (Tim and Richard) and a daughter (Lisa). He died in Omeo, Victoria, on 20 July 2005, aged 86. He was also survived by a partner, Anne.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000165
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Goodwin, Harold (1910 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-15
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/372353372353
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Harold Goodwin was born on 5 June 1910, the son of Barnet and Rebecca Goodwin. He studied medicine at University College and St Bartholomew’s. He served in the RAMC throughout the war and on demobilisation specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology, being registrar, RMO and subsequently senior registrar at Queen Charlotte’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith Hospitals. He was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Prince of Wales Hospital, London, and later to the Wessex Regional Hospital Board in Bournemouth, where he continued in general practice after retirement. He died on 26 February 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000166
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Jagose, Rustom Jamshedji (1918 - 1991)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2014-07-23
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/372354372354
Occupation General practitioner
Details Rustom Jamshedji Jagose, known as 'Rusty', passed the fellowship in 1957 and emigrated to New Zealand, where he was a general practitioner in Cambridge, in the Waikato region of the North Island. Although he did not continue to practise surgery, he regularly attended grand rounds at Waikato Hospital. He died on 16 September 1991 and was survived by his wife Anne and their five children - Pheroze, Maki, Annamarie, Una and Fiona.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000167
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kathel, Babu Lal (1932 - 2002)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23
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/372355372355
Occupation General surgeon
Details Babu Lal Kathel, known as ‘Brij’, was a consultant surgeon at Grantham General Hospital. Born on 11 November 1932 in Jhansi, India, he was the son of Har Prasad Kathel and Durga Devi Kathel. He was educated at a Christian school and studied medicine at Lucknow University, where he qualified in 1955. He went to England in 1959 to specialise in surgery, doing junior jobs in Ipswich and elsewhere, and becoming a registrar at Whiston Hospital, Liverpool, where he completed a masters degree in surgery from Liverpool University and met his future wife, Cynthia Wigham, a hospital administrator. He was appointed consultant general surgeon at Grantham Hospital in 1973, with administrative responsibility for the accident and emergency department. At that time there were only two general surgeons in Grantham and Brij was on call on alternate nights, and every night when his colleague was ill or absent. It was not long before he was chairman of the hospital management committee. Despite a heart attack in 1975, he continued to work with enthusiasm, building up the surgical service in Grantham. He married Cynthia in 1975 and they had two daughters (Kiran and Camilla) and a son (Neal). An enthusiastic gardener, he enjoyed visits to the Lake District, walks by the sea, freemasonry and Rotary. He died on 25 November 2002 in Grantham Hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000168
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Kelly, John Peter (1943 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23
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/372356372356
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details John Kelly was born in Ayr, Queensland, on 12 September 1943, the son of John Kelly, a general practitioner and superintendent of the Ayr District Hospital. He was educated at the Marist Brothers College in Ashgrove, Brisbane, and studied medicine at the University of Queensland. After junior posts at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, where he met his future wife Shelly Parer, he went to England to specialise in ENT surgery, and was a registrar at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, being on duty when the victims of the 1974 Guildford IRA bombing attack were admitted. Later, he was at the Royal Free Hospital under John Ballantyne and John Groves. On his return to Australia he set up in practice at Southport and Palm Beach, where, in addition to surgery, he developed a passion for windsurfing, gardening and classical music. Early in 2004 he was found to have metastatic colorectal cancer, and died on 23 May 2004, leaving his widow and three daughters (Caroline, Krissi and Georgie).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000169
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Hilary Keighley
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2015-09-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000100-E000199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372357372357
Occupation General surgeon Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Patrick Desmond O'Donoghue was a surgeon in Kenya. He was born in Kaiapoi, New Zealand, on 12 May 1922, the second son of Michael and Eva O'Donoghue. His father was a teacher and later schools inspector. Pat attended Christchurch Boys' High School, where he excelled in classics, sciences, literature, languages and sport, particularly cricket and rugby. He had a formidable intellect and he loved to write poetry and prose. He went on to study medicine at the University of Otago. He spent two years in house jobs in Christchurch, where he developed his particular interest in urology, and then, in 1949, sailed to England as a ship's doctor to specialise in surgery. He did a number of junior posts, including one at the Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich, and then became a registrar to Sir Cecil Wakeley at King's College Hospital. There he met Brenda Davies, an anaesthetics registrar at King's, and they were married in 1952. He went on to be a surgical registrar to Neville Stidolph at the Whittington Hospital for two years, gaining extensive experience in genito-urinary surgery, before going on to be RSO at St Paul's under Winsbury-White, Howard Hanley and David Innes Williams. This was followed by six months at the Brompton Hospital under Sir Clement Price Thomas and Charles Drew, who, in 1955, supported him with enthusiasm when he considered applying for a vacancy at St Mary's. However, at the same time a vacancy came up in Nairobi, for which he opted after much deliberation. His first appointment there was as a locum for Sir Michael Wood with the East African Flying Doctor Association, which cemented his love for the country and its people, and his desire to make a life for himself and his family in Kenya. From this he went on to become a partner in the Nairobi Clinic, where he rapidly developed an outstanding reputation as a very professional, capable and compassionate surgeon. He developed free outreach clinics for the Flying Doctor Service, covering remote areas of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where surgery was often difficult and performed under the most basic conditions. He described operating in Tanzania where the humidity was so great that the door of the room had to be kept open, despite the many onlookers. There were times when the throng of patients delayed the departure of the flying doctor and when the runway lights were switched off at the small airport in Nairobi they had to land unannounced at the international airport, pursued by a meteor of which they were unaware, which landed close behind them. Pat was also chief surgeon at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, doing pro bono surgery for missionaries and many others. The bulk of his work was at the Nairobi Hospital, where he was well respected and liked by colleagues and nursing staff. Although he specialised in urology, he remained a very general surgeon, dealing with a wide variety of injuries, including severe mauling by leopards, buffaloes, rhinos and elephants. People were also flown in with spear injuries from inter-tribal battles and he also treated casualties from the ANC (African National Congress) bombing of the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi. Occasionally he was asked to escort patients back to their homes in other countries, including a cardinal who needed to be taken back to Rome, where Pat had an audience with Pope John XXIII. In 1968 he became president of the East African Association of Surgeons, and was instrumental in setting up the equivalent of a coroner's court, essential to protect both surgeons and patients in the ever-increasing world of litigation, a move which was approved by the attorney general in 1969. Pat led a very full and productive working life. He loved his surgery. Even after retirement he continued to read his medical and surgical journals with great interest, and wanted to be up to date with the evidence emerging from recent research. Golf was among his many interests: he continued to play until he could no longer walk round the course (he scorned the use of buggies). He loved to learn, particularly poetry and literature. He would often quote, among others, Keats, Yeats, Manley Hopkins and Dylan Thomas. He remembered passages from Virgil - he loved Latin. Pat and Brenda raised their four daughters (Gillian, Jenny, Geraldine and Hilary) in Nairobi. In 2002 Brenda unexpectedly died whilst on holiday in England. This was a terrible blow for Pat. He had described Brenda as his 'life's navigator'. He returned to Kenya for one more year and then moved to be with his daughter Hilary in Cooma, Australia. Pat made Cooma his home for a further year, before he passed away on 22 December 2004, aged 82. He had a strong Christian faith throughout his life and he had a wonderful, quiet sense of humour that remained with him until the day he died. He was an inspirational person.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000170
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Organ, Claude H (1927 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-11-23 2006-12-21
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/372358372358
Occupation General surgeon
Details Claude Organ was a distinguished American surgeon and the second African-American President of the American College of Surgeons. He was born in 1927 in Marshall, Texas, and educated at Terrell High School, Denison, and then Xavier University, Louisiana. Denied acceptance to the University of Texas on account of his colour, he studied medicine at the Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha. After qualifying in 1952 he served in the US Navy, before returning to Creighton to complete his surgical training, rising to become chairman of his department in 1971. There he became famous for encouraging his trainees to pursue bio-molecular research. He then went on to be professor and chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Oklahoma, leaving in 1988 to establish the University of California Davis-East Bay department of surgery in Oakland, now UCSF East Bay department of surgery. He remained there as chairman until 2003. He was chairman of the American Board of Surgery and President of the American College of Surgeons, being honoured by the distinguished service award of that Association, in addition to gaining numerous honorary degrees from all over the world, including the honorary Fellowship of our College. The author of more than 250 papers and five books, he was for 15 years the editor of *Archives of Surgery*. He was a frequent visitor to the UK, and in 1999 was invited to tour the British Isles as the *British Journal of Surgery* travelling fellow to review our methods of surgical training and the role of women in surgery, as a result of which he presented a detailed and perceptive report to the Association of Surgeons in 2000. He died on 18 June 2005 in Berkeley, California, and is survived by his wife Elizabeth Lucille Mays, five sons (Brian, Paul, Gregory, David and Claude) and two daughters (Sandra and Rita). The Claude and Elizabeth Organ professorship at Xavier University has been endowed in his memory.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000171
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Burkitt, Robert Townsend (1912 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Robin Burkitt
Publication Date 2005-09-14 2014-07-18
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/372218372218
Occupation General surgeon
Details Robert Townsend Burkitt, known as 'Robin', was a highly respected consultant general surgeon at Ashford Hospital. He was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, on 28 September 1912. His father, James Parsons Burkitt, was an engineer and County Surveyor, and also a distinguished ornithologist, an interest which Robin inherited from his father. His mother was Gwendolyn Burkitt née Hill. Robin and his elder brother Denis, were educated at Dean Close School in Cheltenham and he followed his brother to Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), in 1930. At TCD he studied modern languages, anticipating a career as a diplomat, then decided to change to medicine. Denis also decided on a career in medicine and he carried out pioneering research into the cause of a particular form of cancer ('Burkitt's lymphoma'), work for which he achieved world-wide recognition. After qualifying as a doctor, Robin took up a post as a senior house officer at the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, where he met his future wife, Violet, a nurse. They were married shortly after the Second World War broke out. He joined the Army at the end of 1939 and was sent to France, where he was stationed on the Normandy coast until the German advance forced them to retreat in haste. Robin managed to reach Boulogne and take passage back to England. He was then posted as a battalion medical officer to the 9th Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders. After a period of training in Scotland, he was sent to West Africa, where he worked in hospitals and outlying stations in the Gambia and Nigeria. He returned to England in October 1944 to qualify as a surgical specialist. Early in the following year he was sent to India to join a beach medical unit that was preparing for a planned invasion of Malaya. Returning to England at the end of the war, he joined Ashford Hospital as a surgical registrar and during his time there gained his FRCS. Due to the post-war backlog, there were few opportunities to obtain a consultant post in the UK, and he was persuaded by an old colleague to join his medical practice in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1951, he and his wife sold the family home and most of their possessions and took passage to Africa with their three young children. However, their time in Kenya was not a great success: the medical practice did not grow as anticipated and various other aspects of life, particularly the Mau Mau rebellion, meant it proved an insecure environment for his wife and young children. In 1954 they returned to the UK and Robin took up a post as a senior registrar at Upton Hospital, Slough, which he always considered the most rewarding part of his professional career. During this time he was proud to have played a major role in transforming the reputation of the hospital. When he joined no GP would think of referring a patient to the hospital: when he left they would not consider any other. In 1963 Robin took up a consultant post at Ashford Hospital, which became vacant on the retirement of Norman Matheson. He worked at various hospitals in the area and also treated patients in London. He was highly regarded, not only because of professional skills as a surgeon, but also for his great gifts of communication, which he used to reassure and comfort patients and their families. He worked tirelessly for the Slough branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, acting as treasurer for nearly 20 years and then as welfare officer. He did much to help and improve the quality of those suffering from the disease. Robin's own wife died in 1997, having suffered poor health since the early 1970s. Right to the end he continued to visit local people, offering sympathies, advice and comfort, drawing from his great knowledge and experience. Robin was a devout Christian with a very strong faith. He worshipped at the United Reform Church in Beaconsfield for many years and his death was a great loss to the members of the congregation. He died on 19 April 2005, aged 92, and was survived by his three children, Robin, Andrew and Beth, their families, as well as the many people who had enjoyed his friendship.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000031
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Salz, Michael Heinz (1916 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Scott, James Steel (1924 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372538372538
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details James Scott was professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Leeds University. He was born in Glasgow on 18 April 1924, the elder son of Angus McAlpine Scott and Margaret Scott. He was educated at Glasgow Academy and then studied medicine at Glasgow University, gaining his obstetric experience at the Rotunda, Dublin. After qualifying he completed his National Service in West Africa. Following his demobilisation he trained in obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, London, and then in Birmingham, before moving to Liverpool in 1954 as an obstetric tutor. He became a lecturer and then senior lecturer, at a time when Sir Thomas Jeffcoate was head of the department. Here Scott carried out research into placental abnormalities. He was appointed to the chair of obstetrics at Leeds in 1961, becoming dean of medicine in 1986. His main interest was fetoplacental function, and he was the first to recognise that transplacental passage of harmful maternal antibodies could lead to hyperthyroidism and shortage of platelets in the newborn. He had a particular interest in pre-eclampsia, which he discovered was more common and more serious in pregnancies where the mother had a new male partner, and carried out research into repeated miscarriage. He was much in demand as a visiting professor. Always hyperactive, he detested golf, though he wrote a biography of Alister McKenzie, a designer of golf courses. He was a keen skier, was passionate about opera, the arts in general and his house in Scotland. He died from prostate cancer on 17 September 2006, and is survived by his wife Olive (née Sharpe), a consultant paediatric cardiologist, and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000352
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Till, Anthony Stedman (1909 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372539372539
Occupation General surgeon
Details Anthony Stedman Till, known as ‘Tim’, was a consultant surgeon in Oxford. He was born in London, on 5 September 1909, the eldest son of Thomas Marson Till OBE, an accountant, and Gladys Stedman, the daughter of a metal broker in the City. Tim was educated at Ovingdean Hall, Brighton, and Marlborough, before winning a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from which he went to the Middlesex Hospital to do his clinical training as a university scholar. After he qualified he was house physician, house surgeon, casualty officer and registrar, and then became an assistant to Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, who was a large influence on him. Tim also studied in Heidelberg and became fluent in German. In 1940 he joined the RAMC, and in the same year married Joan Burnyeat, the daughter of Colonel Ponsonby Burnyeat, who had been killed in 1918. Tim was posted to the Middle East, via Cape Town and Suez. He was taken prisoner during the battle for Lemros and was shipped, via Athens, to Stalag 7A. While a prisoner-of-war he operated not only on his fellow prisoners but also on the local civilians, and later, possibly as a result of his services to the local population, he was repatriated to the UK. He was soon back on the continent with the 181st Field Ambulance, and was with the first medical group to enter Belsen. He was always reluctant to talk about the sights he saw, which made a huge impression on him, but did remember how he picked a flower there, finding this a symbol of hope. Shortly after demobilisation in 1945 he was appointed as a registrar in Oxford and, soon afterwards, consultant surgeon. His special interests were thyroid and abdominal surgery, where he made notable contributions in both fields. He was President of the section of surgery of the Royal Society of Medicine, President of the Association of Surgeons, and a member of the Court of Examiners of our College. Outside the profession, he served as a magistrate. He hunted with the Heythrop, and when he gave up riding he bought himself a mountain bike so that he could ‘ride out’ every morning. In retirement he was the District Commissioner – an onerous task. He was also a skilled fisherman and an accomplished artist in oils and watercolour. He had a long and happy retirement in the Cotswolds with his wife Joan, who gave him stalwart support. He died on 31 August 2006, leaving his widow, three daughters (the eldest predeceased him), ten grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000353
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Johnson, Alan Godfrey (1938 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sir Barry Jackson
Publication Date 2008-02-07 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/372629372629
Occupation Gastrointestinal surgeon General surgeon
Details Alan Johnson was a leading gastro-intestinal surgeon and medical ethicist. He was born on 19 January 1938, at Epsom Downs, Surrey, the son of Douglas Johnson, a doctor. He was educated at Epsom College and Trinity College, Cambridge, with his clinical studies being carried out at University College Hospital Medical School, London. He graduated in 1963 and, after house appointments, trained in surgery at UCH with Anthony Harding Rains and at Charing Cross Hospital with Norman Tanner. In 1971 he was appointed senior lecturer and later reader in surgery at Charing Cross, before taking up the chair of surgery at Sheffield in 1979, an appointment which he held until his retirement in 2003. He specialised in surgery of the upper gastro-intestinal tract, in which he became a world authority. Over the years he published some 200 peer-reviewed articles and 35 book chapters on topics such as gastric motility, portal hypertension, highly selective vagotomy for peptic ulcer, Barrett's oesophagus, surgical treatment of morbid obesity and various aspects of biliary disease. His randomised clinical trial published in 1996 comparing cholecystectomy by either laparoscopy or mini open incision was heralded by The Lancet as setting a new gold standard for surgical research. This was later acclaimed as one of the five most important articles in gastro-enterology published worldwide in that year. He authored or edited ten textbooks and was in wide demand as an authoritative and lucid lecturer. He gave invited lectures in more than 20 countries ranging over five continents. He took an active part in surgical professional organisations and was elected president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, the British Society of Obesity Surgery and the National Association of Theatre Nurses. For several years he was chairman of the Standing Medical Advisory Committee to the Secretary of State for Health and he also served as chairman of the Specialty Advisory Committee in General Surgery. He chaired several Medical Research Council committees and, owing to his incisive critical faculty, was a much-valued member of the editorial board of a number of surgical journals. He was elected an honorary fellow of the American Surgical Association and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Sheffield University. Alan Johnson was an outstandingly popular colleague with his peers and a much-loved mentor to his junior staff and students. Gentle and compassionate, he had no enemies. Throughout his career he was keenly interested in medical ethics and wrote and lectured widely on this subject, in addition to his many surgical contributions. This interest stemmed from his deep Christian faith. His father had been founder of the Inter Varsity Fellowship and later became the first general secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship. Following in his father's footsteps, at the time of his death Alan was president of the Christian Medical Fellowship, having previously been chairman. His lectures on medical ethics were legendary; they were always well-reasoned with a touch of humour and never table-thumping. One of them began: "Hitler and Mother Teresa each had 24 hours in every day - they just used them differently!" His last book, titled *Making sense of medical ethics: a hands-on guide* (London, Hodder Arnold, 2006) and written jointly with his son Paul, was completed a month before his death. In his youth he was a keen sportsman, playing hockey and cricket for his school, university and hospital. As he grew older he turned to wood carving and painting in watercolours and pastels. He was also enjoyed ornithology and country walking. He played the piano and the organ and was a patron of the Sheffield Chorale, in which his wife was a singer. Married to Esther, he had two sons, Paul, who became a paediatric surgeon, and Andrew, and a daughter, Fyona. During a routine medical check up two weeks before he died, his doctor jokingly said that Alan was so fit "he would live forever". His reply was typical: "I am going to live forever, but not in this life!" A fortnight later, he was due to preach on 'the place of compassion in modern medicine' at St John's Church, Wotton, near Dorking. There on 15 October 2006, in the churchyard, just before the service began, he had a massive myocardial infarction and died.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000445
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Raje, Dilip Raghunath (1936 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-02-07
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/372630372630
Occupation General surgeon
Details Dilip Raje was a former consultant surgeon in Jamaica and senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies. He was born in Gwalior, India, on 26 October 1936, the son of Raghunath Raje, a professor of English literature, and Vaidehi née Kotwal, a headmistress. He was educated at the Aryan Education Society’s School and Anand College, Bombay, where he matriculated with a distinction in mathematics in 1951. He then went to Victoria College, Gwalior, where he graduated in science in 1953, before entering Vikram (now Jiwaji) Medical College, Gwalior, qualifying in 1958. After a year as a house surgeon, he spent two years as a research assistant at his medical college, where the principal, Balkrishna Rao, was a great influence. He then went to England to specialise in surgery, working first at the General Hospital in Sunderland as a senior house officer and then as a registrar in Dryburn Hospital, Durham. He then held posts at the Royal Infirmary and Ronkswood hospitals, Worcester. In 1972 he went to Jamaica, working as a registrar at Kingston Public Hospital for two years. There he was singled out by Sir Harry Annamunthodo and appointed consultant to the University Hospital of the West Indies, being promoted to senior consultant surgeon and lecturer in surgery, and then senior lecturer. His surgical work, which was characterised by uncompromising thoroughness, included highly selective vagotomy, but was mainly centred on cancer. From 1985 to 1987 he was professor of surgery at the National University of Malaysia and there he set up the Malaysian Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Group. He returned to his post in Jamaica, where he became dean of the faculty of medicine in 1991. He attended courses in the UK on hospice care, at St Christopher’s Hospice and Birmingham, and on retirement from the University of the West Indies in 1997 returned to the UK to work as a consultant in palliative medicine and as clinical director of the Myton Hamlet Hospice, Warwick. He was appointed as a clinical tutor at Birmingham University in 1998 and to the Leicester Medical School in 2002. Raje was an honorary consultant to the Jamaica Cancer Society and the Missionaries of Charity, one of Mother Teresa’s foundations. Also in Jamaica, he founded the Hospice Homecare Centre, the Stoma Association and Reach to Recovery – a group for breast rehabilitation. On his return to England, he became a lay member of the Patient Liaison Group of the Royal College of Physicians, in which capacity he was a member of working parties which formulated the RCP response to the European Commission. On its foundation he became a keen member of the Senior Fellows Association of our College. His keen interest in cancer care helped him with his own battle with leukaemia, which was diagnosed three months before his retirement in 2001. He outlined his experience in the seventeenth Sir Harry Annamunthodo memorial lecture, describing the isolation he felt (“no trees, no pets, no birds”), the weight loss and some of the insensitive remarks made by the members of the medical team. Finally, he achieved remission and life became “less complicated”. Living with cancer, he found, meant no procrastination, no long term plans. When he suffered a relapse in 2005 he once again adopted a philosophical approach which helped him through more chemotherapy treatment. In May 2007, he was diagnosed with colon and prostate cancer and, after palliative surgery, was cared for by colleagues in Myton Hamlet Hospice. He spent his final weeks at home in the Lake District, where he had moved after his retirement, being cared for by his wife and daughter. He married Maureen Clasper, a nurse whom he met in Sunderland, in 1966. They had one daughter, Fiona, who became a senior lecturer in transport. A keen cricketer in his youth, he continued to follow cricket, and attended the world cup final in Barbados in April 2007 shortly before the onset of his last illness. He died on 7 September 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000446
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Belsey, Ronald Herbert Robert (1910 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-02-07 2009-01-16
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/372631372631
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Ronnie Belsey was a consultant thoracic surgeon, known worldwide for his innovative techniques in oesophageal surgery. He was born on 2 April 1910 in London, the son of Herbert Robert Belsey, a dental surgeon, and Marie Martha Annie née Moller. He was educated at Woodbridge School, Suffolk. There he excelled, not only in his studies but also in a variety of sports, and was made head prefect in 1926. From Woodbridge he won an entrance scholarship to St Thomas’ Hospital where, in addition to medical studies, he played rugby and ice hockey. Among his memories of this period he recounted the two London hospitals cup finals against St Mary’s, both of which Tommy’s won. After qualifying with the conjoint diploma in 1934, he went on to sit the London MB BS examination, winning the coveted Beaney prize for surgery (with honours). During his training he was house surgeon on the surgical unit to Max Page, Hugo Romanis and Norman (Pasty) Barrett. In later years he could concede that Barrett had a major influence in moulding his interests in oesophageal surgery. In 1936 he moved to the Brompton Hospital as a resident surgical officer, working with the doyens of thoracic surgery - Tudor Edwards, J E H Roberts and Clement Price Thomas, not to mention the up and coming Russell Claude Brock. With Roberts he was closely involved in developing extrapleural pneumonolysis and artificial pneumothorax in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. At the same time Brock was breaking new ground in our College in defining the anatomy of the bronchial tree. These influences by the giants of thoracic surgery kindled in Belsey a lasting interest in that field. In 1937 he was awarded the Dorothy Temple Cross scholarship, which enabled him to go to the USA as a research fellow at the Harvard Medical School, acting as clinical assistant to Edward (Pete) Churchill. The outcome of this collaboration was the outstanding contribution which they jointly made to pulmonary surgery: ‘Segmental pneumonectomy in bronchiectasis’ (*Annals of Surgery*, Vol.109, 1939, No.4, pp.481-499). He rounded this year off with a paper presented in Atlanta to the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons on extrapleural pneumothorax. On returning to England, he was appointed as a resident assistant surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital, in time to witness the outbreak of the Second World War. With the evacuation of the medical school to locations outside London, Belsey was left with a skeleton surgical staff to cope with war casualties, an experience he cherished. In 1941 he was sent down to the West Country to establish a thoracic surgical service for the south west region. Having initially worked at a tuberculosis sanatorium in Kew Stoke, outside Weston-super-Mare, in 1944 he moved to Frenchay Hospital, which until then had been a Nissen-hutted evacuation hospital run by the US Army Medical Corps for war casualties. Here he established the south west regional thoracic centre, training surgeons to man units in Tehidi (for Cornwall and south Devon) and Bovey Tracey (for north Devon). From the outset he worked on the principle (to put it in his own words): “you cannot make friends and at the same time get things done”. True to his word, he went ahead and made several enemies. The result was an excellent thoracic surgical centre manned by two consultants, well known all over the world, training surgeons who went on to lead some of the best centres in Europe and North America. He received a constant stream of trainees from the USA and Canada, initially from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and later from the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. In reciprocation he made a visit each year to the USA to attend the annual meeting of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons. It was on one such visit in 1966 that he delivered the honoured guest lecture to that association on the surgical treatment of functional diseases of the oesophagus, which to this day remains the authoritative paper on the subject. He will however be remembered for the Mark IV operation for control of gastro-oesophageal reflux. His interest in hiatal herniation was initiated during the year he spent in Boston, when Harrington presented his paper on the anatomical repair of hiatus hernia. Whilst working in Frenchay, Belsey made several attempts at a physiological repair constructing an anti-reflux valve mechanism. Having designated these attempts as Marks I to III, he came to the conclusion that a 270 degree partial inversion wrap produced the best result. This he called the Mark IV repair, the description and results of which were only communicated to the surgical world, not by himself but by his senior registrar, after a ten year follow-up of his patients. In the early fifties, with declining tuberculosis and bronchiectasis, and an increasing potential for cardiac surgery, the regional thoracic centre became the regional cardio-thoracic centre. Closed heart surgery flourished and with the advent of open heart surgery ‘the B’ (as Belsey came to be known) was invited to move the open-heart unit to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Like the true researcher that he was, he set off to study cardiopulmonary bypass on animals at the Bristol University Veterinary School in Langford. He then took himself off to join his friend Charles Drew at the Westminster Hospital to learn the technique of profound hypothermia using quadruple cannulation. He returned to set up the cardiac unit at the Infirmary, devoting his time to the Children’s Hospital, Bristol Royal Infirmary and Frenchay. Despite his commitment to paediatric cardiac surgery, his main interest was in congenital tracheo-oesophageal fistula, atresia and other non-cardiac conditions in the newborn. He was a pioneer in the use of the left hemicolon in oesophageal replacement surgery and a firm believer in the place of stainless steel wire sutures in thoracic surgery, a conclusion arrived at in the tuberculosis era. Belsey was a meticulous technical surgeon, handling tissues with the utmost gentleness, and working with dexterity and complete economy of hand movement. “Doctor, remember you are dealing with human flesh, handle it with care, not macerate it,” he would tell his assistant if the latter was caught manhandling the organs. Even when confronted with a complex situation in the operating room ‘the B’ was in total command, and his assistants knew that he was. In 1973 he was awarded the Colles medal by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and a year later the Sir Clement Price Thomas medal of our College. In 1983 he delivered the Tudor Edwards memorial lecture under the auspices of our College. He also collected medals from the universities of Leiden and Padua for services to thoracic surgery. Belsey retired from the National Health Service in 1975 and in the following year was invited to join the department of surgery at the University of Chicago, where he spent six months of each year participating in teaching postgraduates until 1988. He published extensively and co-edited a book on *Gastroesophageal reflux and hiatal hernia* (Little Brown, 1972) and in 1988 (with David Skinner) the monumental textbook *Management of esophageal disease* (Philadelphia, Saunders). He travelled worldwide, and held visiting professorships in several universities in Europe and America. He took great delight in spending short sojurns in Cairo, operating on children with corrosive strictures of the gullet. He was awarded honorary memberships and fellowships of several surgical societies both in Europe and America. He was an early member of Brown’s Club and a founder-member of the Esophageal Club in the United States. He was a past president of the Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1996 during the presidency of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery of his last registrar in Bristol, he was made an honorary member, the citation being presented by his last senior registrar and successor at Frenchay. Early in his surgical career, Belsey started planning for his retirement. He was an excellent shot, an aptitude he attributed to the genes he acquired from his father who had won several prizes at Bisley. He was a member of the Bristol Gun Club and was a collector both of long and short firearms. He was a keen fly fisherman and belonged to the Frenchay Fly Fishing Club, which met regularly on the Usk in Monmouthshire. When time permitted he would disappear into the depths of the Devon countryside with a local group of fly fishermen, delicately designing his own flies, and fishing on the Dart. In 1969 he acquired Combestone, an old farmhouse with a stretch of the river below Dartmeet. This was the family weekend retreat. Belsey married Pauline May Tilbury in October 1941, a graduate of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing at St Thomas’. Pauline, who loved the farm and nursed many a delicate and feeble lamb into healthy adulthood, died in 2000. They had three daughters, one of whom, Gay, died in infancy. Annabelle trained as a nurse at St Thomas’, where she became a theatre sister and is married to an anaesthetist, Stuart Ingram: they have two sons. Gillian followed her father into medicine, became a senior partner in a general practice in north Devon and predeceased Ronald in 2002. With increasing inability to walk down to his beloved Dart, Belsey took to carving handles for walking sticks out of wood and bone, which he would give away to friends and visitors. Despite his reluctance to move out of his farmhouse, and the dedicated support of his nursing carer, Dorothy Steele, it became clear that a remote dwelling on Dartmoor was not the best place for a 94 year old. In March 2004 he agreed to move to a nursing home in Denbury, near Newton Abbot, where he remained with excellent mental facilities, able to converse intelligently until his last days. Ronald Belsey died on 22 May 2007. His funeral service at the church of St Mary the Virgin, Holne, was attended by members of his family, fishing and local friends, and several of his medical and surgical colleagues and former trainees, who later retired next door to the Church House Inn, a popular old haunt of his.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000447
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Maguire, William Brian (1925 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-02-07
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/372632372632
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Bill Maguire was an orthopaedic surgeon in Brisbane, Australia. He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 6 March 1925, the second son of John Francis Maguire, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Margaret née Jones. His father had lost his leg in France during the First World War and Bill later based his design for a simple prosthesis on that used by his father. Bill was educated at Coorparoo State Primary and the Church of England Grammar School in Brisbane, where he became a good swimmer and middle distance runner, and played rugby. He also developed an uncommon skill with languages, particularly French, and on leaving school he at first planned to teach French, but later decided to study medicine, for which he won a Commonwealth scholarship to the University of Queensland. There he paid his way by working at the Carlton and United Breweries, the Coca Cola factory, and as a labourer in the Mount Isa mines, working deep underground, freeing rocks that had become jammed after blasting. After a year at university he volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), where he won his wings and gained his licence. He returned to complete his medical degree, and then held junior posts at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and did his Primary from a post as demonstrator in anatomy. In 1952, by now married to Dorothy Friend, a nurse, he took a ship to England, to work as a registrar at the Queen Alexandra and the Royal hospitals in Portsmouth. He attended the FRCS course at St Thomas’s, passed the FRCS, and then worked at Walsall Hospital. In 1956 he returned to Australia, as medical superintendent at Toowoomba Base Hospital. There he did all types of surgery, but increasingly specialised in orthopaedics. He moved to Brisbane in 1958 as an orthopaedic supervisor. In 1964 he moved into private practice as visiting consultant at the Princess Alexandra and Greenslopes Repatriation hospitals. In the Australasian College Maguire helped develop the training programme in orthopaedics, examined in that specialty, and helped to set up a programme for training Indonesian surgeons in orthopaedics. In 1968 he joined an Australian medical team in Vietnam, where he found his facility in French helpful in dealing with the French-speaking nuns who nursed his patients. There he carried out a number of operations on lepers. When hostilities were over he continued to help Vietnamese doctors who had come to Australia. Bill Maguire was president of the Queensland branch of the Australasian Orthopaedic Association in 1983, served on the Australian Medical Association council in 1961, and continued in the RAAF reserve as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon with the rank of wing commander. He published *All you need to know about joint replacement* (Brisbane, Boolarong, 1990) and various papers on orthopaedic topics, published in the *Medical Journal of Australia* and the *Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery*. In 1996, whilst on holiday in Tasmania, Bill was involved in the notorious Port Arthur massacre, when a mentally disturbed young man murdered 35 people. Bill was one of the first doctors on the scene and helped tend the victims. He was decorated for his bravery. Outside medicine, Bill Maguire had many interests. He continued to fly and was a keen sailor. He was a voluntary doctor at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982. Above all, he was devoted to all things French, being a member of the French Orthopaedic Association, where he gave his papers in French, enjoyed Proust, and acted as the interpreter for the Australian Rugby Tour of France in 1984. Taking up golf later in life, he achieved two holes in one. He and his wife, Dorothy, had five sons, John William, Alan Henry, Bruce Douglas, Stephen Francis and Robert Evan. Bill Maguire died on 12 March 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000448
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12
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/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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Soden, John Smith (1780 - 1863)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Walt, Alexander Jeffrey (1923 - 1996)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-05-10 2022-02-03
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/372540372540
Occupation General surgeon Trauma surgeon
Details Alexander Walt was a former president of the American College of Surgeons. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1923 and went to school and university there. After qualifying in 1948 he completed his house jobs at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, before winning a Dominion studentship to Guy’s Hospital in 1951. He then completed a surgical residency in the USA, at the Mayo Clinic, from 1952 to 1956. He returned to the UK, as a surgical registrar at St Martin’s Hospital, Bath, where he remained until 1957. He then went back to Cape Town, to the Groote Schuur Hospital, as an assistant surgeon for the next four years. He was subsequently appointed to Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where in 1966 he became professor and chairman of the department of surgery. He was recognised by his peers by his election to the presidency of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in 1997, the presidency of the Western Surgical Association in 1987, and the presidency of the American College of Surgeons in 1995. **See below for an additional obituary uploaded 8 October 2015:** Alec Walt was born in Cape Town in 1923, the son of Isaac Walt, a wholesale grocer who had emigrated to South Africa from Lithuania to escape the pogrom. When only two and a half years of age, his mother, Lea, née Garb, and two sisters were killed in a train crash, but his father was determined that all three sons be educated – and all three became doctors. At Grey High School in Port Elizabeth he distinguished himself as a sportsman and formed a lifelong friendship with Bill (later Sir Raymond) Hoffenberg. Together they entered the University of Cape Town as medical students in 1940, but an acute sense of patriotism led them to volunteer for service with the army medical corps – which was approved only at the third attempt. They served for three and a half years with the 6th SA Armoured Division and 5th US Army in Egypt and Greece, and throughout the whole of the Italian campaign, during which time they spent many hours planning how to fail trivial army examinations so that they could remain together as privates in the same unit. It was service with a surgical team in the field which instilled a long-abiding interest in trauma and served him well in later years during his time in Detroit. He played rugby for the Mediterranean forces, and was disappointed that circumstances did not allow him to accept a place in the army team in London where he hoped to see his brother after a 25 year absence. With army planning at the time, he also missed the appointment for an interview for a possible Rhodes scholarship. On demobilisation in 1945, Alec Walt returned to medical school, graduating in 1948 and serving his internship in Groote Schuur Hospital. In 1947 he married Irene Lapping, with whom he had been close friends since boyhood, and they went abroad for his surgical training, firstly to attend the basic science course for the primary fellowship of the College, and then to undertake residency training at the Mayo Clinic. While there he qualified FRCS Canada in 1955 and MS Minnesota in 1956. Returning to England as surgical registrar at St Martin’s Hospital, Bath, he took his final FRCS in 1956 before returning to Groote Schuur with his wife and three children – John Richard, born in 1952, Steven David, born in 1954, and Lindsay Jane, born in 1955 – as an assistant surgeon and lecturer. However, he became increasingly concerned that his family should not be brought up in the political climate of South Africa and in 1961 left a flourishing practice to return to the United States and an appointment with the Veterans Hospital in Detroit. His abilities were clearly recognised, for in 1965 he was appointed Chief of Surgery at Detroit General (later Receiving) Hospital, and the following year Chairman of Surgery and Penerthy Professor of Surgery of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, from which he retired in 1988. He was assistant and, from 1968 to 1970, associate dean of the medical school. As Professor of Surgery, Alec Walt gained recognition as a superb teacher and distinguished academic. He was designated ‘clinical teacher of the year’ on no fewer than three occasions and in 1984 received the Lawrence M Weiner award of the Alumni Association for outstanding achievements as a non-alumnus. On his retirement in 1988, he was a visiting fellow in Oxford with his old friend Bill Hoffenberg, then President of Wolfson College and also of the Royal College of Physicians. He was elected to the Academy of Scholars and was designated Distinguished Professor of Surgery of Wayne State University. Alec Walt’s avid thirst for knowledge made him an active and prolific clinical investigator, his 165 published papers and reviews concentrating on the surgery of trauma and of hepatobiliary disease which, along with breast cancer, were his prime interests. His army experience, which endowed him with unusual skills in the organisation of trauma services, stood him in good stead during the Detroit riots in 1967, when his paper on the anatomy of a civil disturbance and its impact on disaster planning was a classic. On four occasions he took surgical trauma teams for training in Colombia, whose government presented him with the Jorge Bejarano medal in 1981 Principal author of the first paper describing the prognostic value of oestrogen receptors in breast cancer, he was an active participant in therapeutic trials in this disease and latterly became a strong proponent of the need for multidisciplinary care. His final contribution to Detroit surgery was his development of the Comprehensive Breast Center in the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, now named the Alexander J Walt Center. Alec Walt had a distinctive clarity of writing and speaking which led to his appointment to the editorial boards of several medical journals, including the <i>Archives of surgery</i> and the <i>Journal of trauma</i>. He was in great demand as a lecturer, honouring numerous prestigious national and international commitments. He was Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1969 and Moynihan Lecturer in 1988, and in 1995 gave a keynote address at the 75th Anniversary Meeting of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He held leadership positions in many North American surgical organisations, including the Presidency of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American Board of Medical Specialties and was Vice-President of the American Surgical Association. He was elected an honorary Fellow of the College of Surgeons of South Africa in 1989, and of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Australasia in 1993 and 1995 respectively. A keen contributor to the affairs of the American College of Surgeons, Alec Walt served as a Regent from 1984 to 1993 and as Chairman of the Board of Regents from 1991 to 1993. He was elected 75th President in 1994, an office to which he immediately brought great panache. Unfortunately, during his presidential year he developed a massive recurrence of a bladder cancer, first treated twelve years previously. With typical courage he elected to have chemotherapy ‘spaced’ so that he could preside over the Annual Clinical Meeting, at which his successor was to be inaugurated. The attributes which contributed to Alec Walt’s great distinction as an academic surgeon were a keen intelligence, capacity for hard work, absolute integrity, a deep concern for all people, particularly the young, and, greatest of all, a deep and sincere humility. He did not suffer fools gladly and had no hesitation in attacking the uncritical, unscientific or badly presented paper with a characteristic irony; but he would always have a kind congratulatory word for those who had given of their best. A top sportsman – champion hurdler at school, captain of cricket and an athletic Blue at university – he led by example, not dictate. Realising a boyhood dream of climbing to 17,000 feet in Nepal with one of his sons and his daughter at the age of 62 while recovering from treatment of his bladder cancer, he took with him Tennyson’s Ulysses, a favourite poem, passages from which he would loudly declaim. He was devoted to his wife Irene, his three children, his son-in-law and his 20 month old granddaughter Eve Lenora, all of whom gave him the love and respect which nourished him throughout his professional life, and supported him during his final illness. Alec described his mother as a ‘homemaker’, and his wife had been no less. From the earliest days of his marriage Irene provided a home with an ever-open door, a kindness which endeared her to impoverished and hungry British fellows at the Mayo Clinic, of which I was one. Vivid personal memories of Alec Walt are firstly early days together in Rochester, Minnesota when, as the deluded captain of the first and only Mayo Clinic cricket team which lost their match in Chicago he chastised us for our dismal performance and undisciplined behaviour on the previous night; later, when as visiting professor to his department in Detroit, joint discussions with his students revealed the depth of his feelings for the inequalities of care for women with breast cancer which, later on at midnight in the emergency room, was extended to all of those others whom society had deprived; then at the Asian Association of Surgeons when, as President of the American College of Surgeons he gave a masterly address on surgical training, during which his deep sense of responsibility for the future of young surgeons was only too evident; and finally, on the beach in Bali, when we shared our feelings of good fortune to have had a job in life which had provided us both with such great fulfilment, pleasure, and even fun. Shortly before his death he advised his son John to ‘work hard, be honest, and the rest will take care of itself’ – advice which is exemplified by the life he led. He died on 29 February 1996 aged 72, survived by his wife Irene and his children – John, a lawyer, Steven, a professor of law, and Lindsay Jane, a sculptress. Sir A Patrick Forrest with assistance from Mrs Irene Walt
Resource Identifier RCS: E000354
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Smith, Rodney, Baron Smith of Marlow in the County of Buckinghamshire (1914 - 1998)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372541372541
Occupation General surgeon
Details Lord Smith was one of our great presidents. Successive holders of that office have faced many and various challenges, but by any measure the confrontation between the Labour government and the BMA from 1974 to 1975 was a major crisis that threatened the future of consultant practice. Rodney Smith, as he was then, was equal to the occasion; by behind the scenes diplomacy he played a vital part in the resolution of the conflict. Yet this was only one of the many tasks he successfully undertook on behalf of the College in a long and ambitious career. In parallel, he developed a formidable surgical skill, combined with a bold and innovative approach, which made him a world leader in the field of pancreatico-biliary surgery. Surgery was not however his only skill – he was endowed with an enviable array of talents which would have enabled him to succeed in any career of his choice. In his youth, he was an accomplished violinist and had contemplated music as a profession. He stayed with surgery because, he was wont to remark, a surgeon could enjoy music, but a musician could hardly undertake surgery as a hobby. As a medical student he still found time to play cricket for Surrey second XI and on a memorable occasion scored a double century at the Oval while working for the primary. Golf came easily to him, chess was a fascinating contest, but bridge was a more serious business, which brought him into contact with both sides of the political divide. In retirement, he took up painting with his customary success, maintaining at the same time his expertise in numismatics and opera. In all these fields he was driven by the urge to excel and, although in public his ambition was decently cloaked, it was never entirely concealed. His father, Edwin Smith, was a south London coroner, his mother, Edith Catherine née Dyer, a professional violinist, and it is hardly surprising therefore that medicine and music engaged his early interests. After schooling at Westminster, which he left early after a row with the headmaster, Dr Costley-White, about an intended performance at the Chelsea Music Festival, he crossed the river to St Thomas’s for his medical training, conceiving there an admiration for Philip Mitchiner, a forthright and plain spoken surgeon whose earthy sense of humour was to provide an endless source of anecdotes for later after dinner speeches. Rodney qualified in 1937, but the sudden death of his father precluded him from taking the unpaid resident posts at St Thomas’s to which his student achievements would have entitled him. After a spell of general practice in Wimbledon, he passed his FRCS examination and in 1939 was appointed surgical registrar at the Middlesex Hospital, then staffed by an outstanding group of general surgeons. Senior amongst these was Sir Alfred, later Lord, Webb Johnson, shortly to become the long-serving President of the College and chief architect of our post-war reconstruction. It was Webb Johnson who first impressed upon Rodney the importance of the College to the profession and the prestige which attached to those who attained high office in it. Thereafter the College was to be the focus of his ambitions and a determination to fit himself for its service was to be the mainspring of his working life. In the meantime, war provided for him, as for so many surgeons, invaluable opportunities. He joined the RAMC in 1941 and with both the MS and FRCS was recognised as a surgical specialist. He served in North Africa, Yugoslavia and Italy, being wounded at Anzio. War surgery gave him the necessary practical experience required for the development of technical excellence in the operating theatre and shortly after demobilisation, in 1946, he was appointed as consultant surgeon to St George’s Hospital. Rodney Smith made it the most famous centre in Britain for the treatment of major biliary and pancreatic disorders, with a reputation which rivalled that of his friend Cattell in Boston. He was a prolific author, writing books and contributing to surgical journals, and was a hard working editor of multi-volume standard texts. His *Operative surgery* (London, Butterworths, 1960), which ran to many editions, written and edited in co-operation with Charles Rob of St Mary’s, was particularly successful. His popularity as a lecturer brought him many invitations to centres abroad. A spell as a visiting professor in Sydney gained him an honorary Fellowship in the Royal Australasian College, the first of many such honours. The busy life of travel and practice left him little time to devote to his own medical school, but it did not divert him from the Royal College of Surgeons, which he was determined to serve, first in the humble, later in the most prestigious capacity. He gained the Jacksonian prize in 1951, he delivered Hunterian Professorial lectures in 1947 and 1952. In 1957, he took the post of Penrose May tutor and successfully organised clinical surgery courses for postgraduates. In 1962, he was appointed to the Court of Examiners and in 1965 was elected to the Council. In the following year, he became Dean of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, an enterprise run jointly by the College and the University of London and in need of revitalising. He proved to be popular with both the staff and students, and the Institute thrived under his administration. There could never be any doubt that he would become President, but due to the death in office in 1973 of Edward Muir, he achieved that position earlier than expected. Rodney Smith came to the presidency fully prepared: he combined management skills with a proper regard for the ceremonial and had an agreeable affability on social occasions. He could of course be a hard task-master and intolerant of weakness or failure, but his zeal in the promotion of the high status of the College, paralleling his own ambitions, was unfaltering. His influence on the profession was far reaching, he had a wide circle of acquaintances, but few friends. His position and his acknowledged technical prowess brought him numerous invitations to be guest professor or eponymous lecturer, he received gold medals and no less than nine honorary fellowships, all of which he received with aplomb. In 1975, he was awarded the KBE and was clearly marked out for a role in national affairs, meanwhile the state of the NHS was causing a crisis of morale in the profession. Barbara Castle, Minister of Health in the incoming Labour government, was determined to create a whole-time salaried hospital service, eliminating private beds in NHS hospitals, which Bevan had allowed in 1948 to secure the co-operation of the consultants. The matter came to a head with a strike by hospital domestic staff unions, aimed at ousting private practice from the NHS, and the BMA reacted by calling for a work to rule by consultants. This was a strategy the College could not condone, even though its objectives were agreed. Overt political action was of course ruled out by the College’s charitable status and direct opposition to the BMA would clearly not unite the profession. Rodney Smith effectively used his diplomatic skills to help resolve the impasse, and emerged with great credit and with his leadership of the profession recognised by both government and opposition. Rodney Smith married Mary Rodwell in 1938 and they had four children – Martin, Andrew, Elinor and Robert. He divorced in 1971 and married Susan Fry in the same year. There are six grandchildren. He died on 1 July 1998 at the age of 84.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000355
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cook, Charles Alfred George (1913 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Calvert, Paul Thornton (1949 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-14 2012-07-19
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/372219372219
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Paul Calvert was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St George's Hospital, London, and at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. He was born on 17 March 1949, the son of John Calvert, a civil engineer, and Barbara, a barrister. He was educated at the Dragon School and Rugby, where he excelled in all court games, especially rackets. He later went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences. After his first year, when he played hockey, rackets and real tennis (for which he was later awarded a blue), he changed courses to read medicine. He later went on to Guy's to do his clinical studies. After qualification and house jobs, he and Deborah, whom he married as a student, went to Vancouver, Canada, where he spent a year on rotation as a surgical resident. On his return to the UK, he worked for a while as a general surgical registrar, before specialising in orthopaedics. He was then a senior house officer at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, subsequently becoming a registrar and then senior registrar. He became interested in the shoulder after working with Lipman Kessel and later with Ian Bayley. After serving as senior surgical officer at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and as lecturer to the professorial unit, he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Hinchingbooke Hospital in 1985. But, finding he missed the excitement of a teaching department, he transferred to a consultant post at St George's Hospital in 1986. The shoulder firm at St George's rapidly expanded under his leadership, with the development of arthroscopic surgery and shoulder replacement. Reluctantly, he dropped his paediatric orthopaedic commitment, but he continued to be involved with trauma and covered general orthopaedic emergencies. He was the lead surgeon at St George's dealing with the aftermath of the Clapham rail crash in 1988. In 1993, he took on sessions at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to work with Ian Bayley. He published a number of important papers, particularly on shoulder topics, including papers on habitual instability and on the consequences of the Clapham rail crash. He maintained his interest in teaching and was Chairman of the regional specialist training committee. He was appointed trainer of the year by the British Orthopaedic Trainees' Association. He negotiated with the Department of Health on behalf of the British Orthopaedic Association to increase the number of orthopaedic surgeons in training. In 1999, he was found to have an ocular melanoma. Despite the effect it had on his eyesight, he continued to work to enlarge the orthopaedic department at St George's. He also built up a successful private practice, both in Wimbledon and at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, to whose hospice ward he asked to be admitted shortly before he died. He took early retirement at Christmas 2003, and died on 7 May 2004 of secondary melanoma. He left his wife, Deborah, and two children. His sister, Sandra Calvert, is also a consultant at St George's. The new orthopaedic operating theatres at St George's have been named after him.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000032
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Richardson, John Samuel, Lord Richardson of Lee in the County of Devon (1910 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Coghlan, Brian (1962 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372464372464
Occupation Plastic surgeon Plastic and reconstructive surgeon
Details Brian Coghlan was a consultant cleft lip surgeon at Guy’s Hospital. He was a schoolboy international cyclist and he toyed with the idea of becoming a professional. Medicine won, and he studied at Bristol. His intercalated physiology degree involved working on a project with Ron Piggott at the Frenchay Hospital on the measurement of facial symmetry and the analysis of cleft lip and palate deformity, and his fascination with plastic surgery was kindled. He completed his medical training and house jobs at Bristol, then started his surgical training with a job as an anatomy demonstrator with Ellis in Cambridge. This was followed by general surgical training, with senior house officer and registrar jobs at St Bartholomew’s, Bristol, Weston General Hospital and Bournemouth. He then started his specialist plastic surgery training with senior house officer jobs at Leeds and Frenchay. He then moved to Canniesburn as a registrar. His next move was to Leeds and then Pinderfields as a senior registrar. He spent six months with David David, performing craniofacial surgery in Adelaide, Australia. This was followed by a six-month stint at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He was appointed as a consultant plastic surgeon to Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, with responsibilities at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester. The Roehampton sessions were transferred to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital when Roehampton closed. He also worked for the charity Operation Smile, regularly performing cleft lip operations in developing countries. Brian's interest in cycling continued, but he was also passionate about cars and he was tragically killed in a car crash, his Porsche skidding off a road near his home in Chichester. He is survived by his wife Beverly, his daughter, Abby, and his two young sons, Oliver and William.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000277
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Shenolikar, Balwant Kashinath (1923 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Cheng, Koon-Sung (1966 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372223372223
Occupation Vascular surgeon
Details Koon-Sung (‘KS’) Cheng was a vascular surgical registrar at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He was born in Hong Kong, but came to England with his family in 1977. When he arrived he spoke very little English, but made rapid progress at Uckfield Comprehensive School. He went on to study medicine at Queens’ College, Cambridge, specialising in pharmacology. He captained the College badminton team and played football, squash and chess. He went on to Addenbrooke's Hospital for his clinical training. After junior posts there, he was a senior house officer in the East Birmingham Hospital accident unit and later a registrar in general surgery at London Whittington Hospital and Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow. He decided on a career as a specialist vascular surgeon, and from 1998 to 1999 worked as a specialist registrar in the vascular unit at the Royal Free Hospital. He was then a research fellow there and published a number of papers and contributing chapters to several medical textbooks. He was due to move to Singapore as an assistant professor of vascular surgery, but was tragically killed in a road accident. He leaves a wife, Carol Susan.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000036
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Clarke, Samuel Henry Creighton (1912 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

First Title value, for Searching Cobb, Richard Alan (1953 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372225372225
Occupation General surgeon
Details Richard Alan Cobb was a consultant surgeon in Birmingham. He was born in Plymouth on 27 August 1953, the son of Alan Percival Cobb, a Royal Navy officer, and Sheila née Daly. He was educated at Monkton Combe School, where he was senior prefect, and then had a short service commission with the 3rd Battalion Light Infantry. He studied medicine at St Thomas’s Medical School, qualifying in 1978. He was house surgeon to Sir H E Lockhart-Mummery and Barry Jackson, the start of his career in coloproctology. He trained in Derby, Southampton, Salisbury, Reading, Hammersmith and Oxford. In 1993 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Birmingham Heartlands and Solihull NHS Trust, as an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham and honorary consultant surgeon Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He was a past President of the Association of Surgeons in Training, and sat on the Councils of the College and the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland. He enjoyed making bread, gardening, playing bridge and fishing. He married Carol, a consultant gastroenterologist. They had three children – Alex, Jenny and Sam. He died at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice from metastatic melanoma on 13 June 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000038
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Coffin, Frank Robert (1915 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372226372226
Occupation Oral surgeon
Details Frank Robert Coffin was an oral surgeon in London. He was born in Wandsworth, London, on 21 September 1915, the son of a printer. After qualifying at the Royal Dental Hospital in 1938, he completed house jobs at Leicester Square and at the Middlesex (then the only resident dental post in the country). During the war he organised the emergency oral surgery service in London. In 1941, he joined the RAF, where he gained experience of maxillofacial injury in the UK and abroad. After the war, he became a medical student at the Middlesex Hospital and completed an ENT house job there in 1949. He was appointed as a consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital, where he became interested in head and neck oncology, and was subsequently appointed to the staff of the Royal Dental Hospital and St George’s, Tooting. He was a recognised teacher for the University of London, the Royal Dental Hospital, St Bartholomew’s and the Institute of Cancer Research, London. He was particularly interested in pharmacology and lectured on the subject at the Royal Dental Hospital during the fifties and sixties. He gave many lectures abroad, in Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Asia and North and South America. He served on many consultants’ committees, and was also President of the hospitals group of the British Dental Association in 1977, and was, for a time, honorary treasurer and Chairman of the Dentists’ Provident Society. A true workaholic, he gave a full commitment to his many NHS hospitals, but still found time to enjoy skiing, sailing, travelling, and furniture and clock restoration. He was also an enthusiastic gardener. He remained unmarried. He died from cardiac failure on 13 January 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000039
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Cohen, Louis Bloom (1915 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372227372227
Occupation General surgeon
Details Louis Bloom Cohen spent much of his career as a surgeon in various politically unstable countries in Africa and in Iran. He was born in Glasgow on 16 November 1915, the son of Arthur Israel Cohen, a company director with the Rank Organisation, and Louise née Bloom. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, where he won first prize in science in the seventh form. He studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital, qualifying in 1940. In June 1941 he joined the Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant, seeing service on *HMS Newark*, *Whitehaven*, *Aldenham* and *Eggesford* in the North Atlantic, eastern Mediterranean and in the Far East. He was demobilised in January 1946. He was a member of the RNVR for a further six years. He was a surgical registrar at St Mary's from 1946 to 1949. He was then a resident surgical officer at Salisbury Infirmary, Wiltshire. From 1951 to 1952 he was a surgical registrar at North Middlesex Hospital. In 1952 he went to Ethiopia, as a surgeon at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital, Addis Ababa, where he stayed for three years. From 1955 to 1963 he was in private practice in Nairobi, Kenya, with beds in the Princess Elizabeth Hospital. The war of independence led to the break up of his medical firm. In 1963 he moved to Nigeria, as surgeon to the Shell-BP Delta Clinic, Port Harcourt, but had to leave quickly, along with other expatriates, because of the civil war. From 1968 to 1972 he was chief surgeon at the National Iranian Oil Company Hospital, Abadan, Iran. He was appointed by London University to chair a proposed university, but the scheme was abandoned because of political pressure. In 1972, he was appointed professor of the faculty of postgraduate studies at JundiShapur University Hospital, where he stayed for a year, but was forced to leave after the radical student element burned down the administrative building and he narrowly escaped a lynching. He returned to Africa in 1973, as a surgeon at the Zambia Medical Aid Society Hospital, Lusaka. The hospital was closed for political reasons, with the government attempting to force the medical staff and patients to transfer to the Lusaka Teaching Hospital. He went on to South Africa in 1975, where he was full-time senior surgeon at the Provincial Hospital, Port Elizabeth. He retired for the first time in 1983, and then worked at the Nkensani, Letaba and Kgapani Hospitals. He finally retired in April 1995. He had attempted to retire to Famagusta in Cyprus, but the Turks invaded the Greek part of Cyprus and his property was seized. He married three times - to Valerie Holmes, Sjoukje Veenstra and Norma Hammond. He had two children, Patricia Louise and David Jared. He enjoyed boxing (representing the United Hospitals at welter and middle weight as a student), golf, swimming, painting and model making. He died suddenly of a heart attack on 9 September 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000040
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Coleman, John Wycliffe (1924 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-28
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/372228372228
Occupation Chaplain General surgeon Missionary
Details John Wycliffe Coleman, one of three hostages detained for eight months following the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1980 and released after the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was a missionary doctor who worked tirelessly in the Middle East and in the East End of London. He was born on 10 May 1924 in Cairo, where his father, Robert Baxendell Coleman, worked as a missionary doctor. His mother was Enid Louise née Evans, the daughter of a Dublin doctor. He was educated at Westminster School and then Christ's College, Cambridge, and went on to St Thomas's for his clinical studies. He was a house surgeon at St Thomas's and then a medical officer with the Church Missionary Society in Jerusalem, but soon moved to Iran after the outbreak of war between the Arabs and Israelis. For the next 16 years Coleman worked as a surgeon in the Episcopal Church of Iran's hospital in Shiraz. He was awarded the freedom of the city of Shiraz in recognition of his work. In 1964 he returned to London, for his sons' education, and worked in the East End, as medical superintendent of the Bethnal Green Medical Mission. In 1978 he returned to Iran to run a medical clinic in Yazd, where he was made pastor of the small Christian community. Just two years later, in 1980, Coleman and his wife were detained, along with the Bishop of Iran, the Right Reverend Iraj Muttahedeh, the bishop's secretary, Jean Waddell, and three other Christian Iranians. During the first month of captivity, he was kept in isolation and denied reading material, even his Bible. The hostages were eventually released in February 1981 after the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, and his envoy, Terry Waite. He never expressed any bitterness towards his captors. Once back in Britain, Coleman travelled widely, speaking about his experiences. In 1984 he returned to the Middle East at the invitation of the Bishop in Egypt, as chaplain of a small church in Port Said and at the disocesan hospital in Menouf. In 1990 the Colemans returned to the UK, once again at the Bethnal Green Medical Mission. He became chairman of the Egypt Dioscean Association and commissary to the Bishop of Egypt. He was a firmer supporter of the Friends of the Diocese of Iran and regarded both Iran and Egypt as home. He was in demand as a speaker and Bible teacher, travelling in Britain and overseas, particularly Nepal and Afghanistan. He frequently visited Egypt and in 2000 returned to visit Iran. He married Audrey Ponsford in 1946 and they had four sons. He died on 16 August 2003 in St Joseph's Hospice, London, from prostate cancer.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000041
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Dyer, Samuel (1781 - 1846)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Bacot, John (1781 - 1879)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Wood, Richard (1779 - 1860)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-10-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/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
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First Title value, for Searching Longmire, William Polk (1913 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Walker-Brash, Robert Munro Thorburn (1920 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Magri, Joseph (1926 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372475372475
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Joe Magri was a consultant urologist at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford. He was born in Valletta, Malta, on 2 March 1926, the son of Francesca and Tancred Magri. He was educated at the Jesuit College and Malta University, where he qualified in 1949. He then moved to England to specialise in surgery. He was a house surgeon in orthopaedics and accident surgery at the City Hospital, Sheffield, and then a surgical registrar in Barnsley, where, with the help of only an anaesthetist and a house physician, he dealt with all the emergencies that arose in that busy mining town. He went on to become an anatomy demonstrator in Sheffield, passed the primary and final FRCS, and became a surgical registrar in Leicester. He was RSO (senior registrar) at St Peter’s Hospital in 1959 and was appointed consultant urologist, Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, in 1963. There he published a review of partial cystectomy for bladder cancer and a few years later a ‘no-catheter’ technique for prostatectomy. A genial, friendly man, Joe Magri’s many interests included bridge, sailing, skiing and the opera. He attended Covent Garden regularly. He also built his own Gilbern car from a kit. He met his Swedish wife Margareta Johansson while on holiday in Malta, where she was working as a private secretary in an architect’s office. Together they refurbished a house in Mill Hill. They had no children. He died of metastatic carcinoma on 6 April 2005. He is survived by his widow.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000288
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sengupta, Dipankar (1936 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372476372476
Occupation General Practitioner
Details Dipankar ‘Dip’ Sengupta was a general practitioner in Scarborough. He was born in Bengal and studied medicine in Calcutta. He went to England to specialise in surgery and completed a number of junior posts in London, Glasgow and Scarborough, including a registrar post in neurosurgery, in which he carried out research into cerebral blood-flow. He entered general practice in Eastfield, Scarborough, in 1974, where he at once became a great favourite with his patients, and stimulated many changes in his practice. In 1996 he suffered a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta, from which he survived. Predeceased by his wife, he died on 28 July 2005, leaving a son and daughter.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000289
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Lewis, Cecil Wilfred Dickens (1916 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372478372478
Occupation General surgeon
Details Cecil Wilfred Dickens Lewis was a former foundation director of postgraduate medical education at Hong Kong University. He was born on 5 January 1916 in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, the son of Wilfred Ernest Llewellyn Lewis, an Anglican clergyman, and Dorothy Gertrude Lewis. Most of his relatives were clergy, but one brother was a medical practitioner. He was educated at St John’s School, Leatherhead, and the Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff, where he qualified in 1939. At the outbreak of the Second Wold War he joined the RNVR, where he served in Q-ships in the English Channel, on *HMS Ripley* (a destroyer in North Atlantic convoys) and finally as a medical officer to the Royal Marines at Eastney, Hampshire. After the war, he returned to Cardiff as assistant lecturer in anatomy and then as registrar and lecturer in the surgical unit. Here he published extensively, together with Lambert Rogers, and did research into fluid balance following head injuries, which became the subject of his MS thesis, the second to be awarded by the University of Wales. He was appointed consultant surgeon at Cardiff in 1954. In 1956 he was appointed foundation professor of surgery in Perth, Western Australia, a post he held until 1965. He then went on to be dean and professor of medical education at Auckland. In 1973 he was appointed foundation director of postgraduate medical education in Hong Kong University, where he remained until 1978. At the College he won the Jacksonian prize in 1955, and a Hunterian professorship on moles and melanomata in 1956. He married Betsy Jean Pillar in 1940, and Helen Mary Hughan in 1988. He had two sons (Peter Wyndham Dickens and David Robin Dickens) and a daughter (Celia Rosemary). A son, Robin, predeceased him. Among his many hobbies he included water-colour painting and sculpture, playing the clarinet and wood-turning. A committed Christian, he was a member of the Third Order of St Francis for the last 20 years of his life. He died on 19 March 2006 in Abergavenny.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000291
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching O'Keeffe, Declan (1922 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372479372479
Occupation General surgeon
Details Declan O’Keeffe was a surgeon in Kenya. He was born in London on 18 February 1922, the son of Edmond, a furniture salesman, and Jessica Edith née Riches. From St Dominic’s Preparatory School, West Hampstead, he won a ‘free place’ to the Regent Street Polytechnic Secondary School. He later went to Guy’s Hospital on a senior county exhibition and scholarship. At Guy’s he won prizes in haematology and bacteriology and completed house jobs. He then joined the RAF medical service. On demobilisation he was a junior and then senior surgical registrar at Guy’s, before joining the Colonial Medical Service in Kenya as a provincial surgical specialist. After he retired he remained in Mombasa in private surgical practice. He married Isabella McNeill in 1947, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. His eldest son studied medicine at Guy’s. O’Keeffe died on 1 December 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000292
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Marsden, Austin Joseph (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372480372480
Occupation General surgeon
Details Austin Marsden was a consultant surgeon in Ormskirk and St Helens. He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, on Christmas Day 1919, the third son of George Marsden, a shoe merchant, and Agnes née Liptrot. He was educated at St Helens Catholic Grammar School, from which he went on to read medicine at Liverpool University, where he won gold medals in anatomy and medicine. After junior posts he was on the surgical unit under Charles Wells. He was appointed consultant to Ormskirk and St Helen’s. Deafness precluded him from military service. He married Mary Catherine Robers in 1945. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom became a doctor. Among his many interests were European languages and medical history. He wrote an account of Pierre Franco, the 16th Century French surgeon. Marsden died in June 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000293
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Laird, Martin (1917 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372481372481
Occupation General Practitioner
Details Martin Laird was a general practitioner in Richmond, South Australia. He qualified from Sheffield University in 1941 and then demonstrated anatomy for two years. In 1943 he became a resident medical officer at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield. He then served in the RAMC in Burma, returning after the war to Sheffield, to specialise in surgery and take the FRCS. He was resident surgical officer to the Sheffield Royal Infirmary and then went on to the Westminster Hospital as registrar. In 1952 he went to Nottingham General Hospital as a senior registrar and remained there for the next three years. He then retrained in general practice in Cleethorpes. In 1956 he emigrated to South Australia, where he was in general practice in Richmond. He died in Adelaide on 13 November 2004. He was predeceased by his wife Joan. He leaves three daughters, Fiona, Alison and Isobel.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000294
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Scannell, Timothy Walter (1940 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30 2007-12-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372483372483
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details ‘Kwashie’ Quartey had an international reputation for his work on the surgery of urethral stricture, and was one of the father figures of surgery in his home country, Ghana. He was the sixth of the seven children of Peter David Quartey snr, headmaster of the Government Junior School in James Town, and Elizabeth Abigail Quartey (née Marmon). He was educated at the Achimota Secondary School, where he was senior prefect, and won colours for cricket and hockey. In 1942 he was awarded a Gold Coast Government medical scholarship to Edinburgh, travelling there in convoy at the height of the U-boat war. At Edinburgh he captained the hockey team, became involved with the Student Christian Movement and graduated in 1948. After junior posts, which included a spell at Wilkington Hospital, Manchester, and passing the Edinburgh and English fellowships in 1953, he returned to the Gold Coast. On the ship home to the Gold Coast he met his future wife, Edith Sangmorkie Saki, who was a nurse. Quartey then worked in Ministry of Health hospitals in Kumasi, Tamale and Accra, returning to do a course in tropical medicine in London in 1954 while Edith returned to England to study theatre work. They married in 1955. He was appointed a surgical specialist in 1958 and in 1961 he was awarded a Canadian Government fellowship in urology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, where he is remembered with respect and affection, and where strenuous attempts were made to arrange a full residency for him. On his return Kwashie set up the urology unit at the Korle Bu Hospital in Accra. The following year, 1963, he set up the anatomy department of the new Ghana Medical School, in the absence of any basic medical scientists. He was extremely active in the work of the surgical department, fostering its department of plastic surgery. In April 1978 there was an order for his arrest on charges of treason and he went into exile in Lome, Togo, for six months, during which time it was arranged that he should become a WHO consultant in surgery to the Government of the Gambia. He returned home after the palace coup in which General Acheampong was ousted. In 1981 he described his method of urethroplasty based on his own careful anatomical studies that used a pedicled flap of penile skin, which had the advantage of being non hair-bearing. The method was widely publicised and earned him an ChM from Edinburgh University. He travelled widely and was a visiting professor in Iran, Johannesburg and Mainz. He was a founding member of the Ghana Medical Association and of the West Africa College of Surgeons, of which he became president, and was the recipient of numerous honorary distinctions, including the unique posthumous award of the St Paul’s medal by BAUS. He was still busy with the Operation Ghana Medical Mission at the age of 82, and it was when returning from one of these outreach visits that he was involved in a fatal head-on road collision on 27 August 2005. Only two of the 10 occupants of the two vehicles survived. A state funeral was held in the State House in Accra in the presence of the President. Kwashie had an ebullient, irrepressible personality, which won him friends throughout the world of surgery and urology. He left a son (Ian Malcolm Kpakpa), daughter (Susan Miranda Kwale) and six grandchildren (Alexis Naa Kwarma, Smyly Nii Otu, Arthur Nii Armah, Nana Akua, Obaa Akosua and John Nii Kwatei).
Resource Identifier RCS: E000296
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Sneath, Rodney Saville (1925 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372484372484
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Rodney Sneath was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham and a pioneer in limb salvage surgery for patients with bone tumours. He was born in Sheffield, the son of Ernest Saville Sneath, a master printer, who owned the ‘Saville Press’. His mother was Dorothy Unwin. He was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School and Sheffield University, where he qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1948, acquiring the MB ChB in 1957. He had a wide range of interests at university, including rugby, rock climbing, gliding and motor sport. In 1952 he took part in the Monte Carlo rally with his father and was the first of the private competitors to finish. During his National Service in the RAMC he was stationed in Austria, and became an accomplished skier, an interest he pursued well into his seventies. After demobilisation and the acquisition of the FRCS in 1958 he began orthopaedic training at St George’s Hospital and later at the Royal National Orthopaedic and its associated hospitals. He was appointed a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, in 1965, where he developed an interest in the treatment of malignant musculo-skeletal tumours. In collaboration with John Scales at the RNOH he established what became an internationally recognised unit for the treatment of bone tumours, and together they made many innovations, including a ‘growing prosthesis’ for use in children. He was a founder member of the European Musculo-Skeletal Oncology Society and a Fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. Among many invited lectures he gave a Hunterian lecture on ‘the treatment of malignant bone tumours in children’ in 1993. He died on 1 April 2005, leaving a wife, Ann, and five children.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000297
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Staunton, Michael Douglas Mary (1925 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30 2017-06-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372485372485
Occupation General surgeon
Details Michael Douglas Mary Staunton, known as 'Dudley', was a general surgeon in London with an interest in oncology. He was born on 8 September 1925 in Swinford, County Mayo, Ireland, where his father Michael Douglas Staunton was a dispensary doctor. His mother was Ursula Mellett. Of the six children, all became doctors. From Blackrock College, Dublin - 'the best rugger school in Ireland' - he went on to Trinity College Dublin to study medicine, and did house jobs at Dr Steevens Hospital, before going to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where he worked for Ashton Miller. In 1952 he did his National Service in the RAMC, mostly in 37th BMH Accra, Ghana, as a junior surgical specialist. In 1955 he returned to marry Rena Stokes, a radiographer from Tipperary, and to become surgical registrar at the Morriston Hospital, Swansea. Having passed the FRCS, he became a senior registrar at the Royal Marsden Hospital, training in cancer surgery under Ronald Raven. In 1964 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Metropolitan, St Leonard's and the Royal London Homoeopathic hospitals, and in due course to the Hackney Hospital and St Bartholomew's (1980) and finally Homerton Hospital (1986). He was an enthusiastic tutor and examiner for the College, ending as chairman of the Court in 1982. He published extensively, mainly on cancer of the breast and thyroid. A keen member of the Territorial Army, he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Among his many other interests were rugby, genealogy, his old college (he was chairman of the Trinity College Dublin Dining Club from 1985 to 1994) and the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. A colourful, amusing and delightful colleague, he died on 31 August 2005 from carcinoma of the prostate. He had two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000298
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Young, Ian William (1929 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Carter, James Francis (1933 - 2008)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Adams, Josiah Oake (1842 - 1925)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Barton, Rex Penry Edward (1944 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Champney, George ( - 1861)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-05-01 2013-08-07
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/372685372685
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at St George's Hospital, where he was entered as a six-months pupil to Everard Home in October, 1805. He practised at York, and died in or before 1861.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000501
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ainsworth, James (1783 - 1853)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-05-01
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/372686372686
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Manchester, March 5th, 1783, the son of Jeremiah Ainsworth, an accomplished scholar and well-known mathematician, who may be regarded as founder of a Lancashire school of mathematicians, and to whom many references will be found in *Notes and Queries*, 1853, viii, 541. The family of Ainsworth, an ancient one in Lancashire, was originally seated in the township of that name. Their arms are still visible over an archway in Plessington Hall, and by their alliances they acquired feudal estates in the county. Several interesting Ainsworths are mentioned in the *Dictionary of National Biography*. Henry Ainsworth, traveller and hebraist, was born at Plessington in 1560. Another learned ancestor was Robert Ainsworth, FAS, author of the standard Latin Dictionary, first published in 1736. Young James Ainsworth, who is one of the earliest born of the Fellows, carried his weight of hereditary linguistic faculty to the Free Grammar School, Manchester, and studied under Mr Lawson, head master, whose colleagues were Messrs Durbey, Pedley, and Holt. On leaving school he became a private pupil of the eccentric but able Rev Joshua Brookes, who was the son of a crippled shoemaker and of whom many delightful stories were told. In 1798, when only 15 years old, Ainsworth became an apprenticed pupil at the Manchester Infirmary, it being stipulated in his indentures that he should be allowed part of each day to go and take his lessons. Thus he studied the Latin classics and acquired a life-long taste for reading. After serving his apprenticeship he was for a short time Clerk at the Infirmary and acted as House Apothecary for nearly a year, during which an epidemic of fever raged and he almost died of the complaint. Some eminent surgeons were then at the Infirmary, such as Charles White and Benjamin Gibson, the oculist, to whose only child Ainsworth was afterwards guardian. From Manchester he went to Edinburgh, and at the University was the intimate friend of Henry Peter Brougham, afterwards Lord Brougham. When he had finished his training he was already a man of recognized ability, and was invited to enter into partnership with Thomas Henry, maker of calcined magnesia and other valuable chemical preparations. In 1806, at the early age of 23, he was elected Surgeon to the Manchester Infirmary, and held office until 1847, when he became Consulting Surgeon. He was also at one time Consulting Surgeon to the Workhouse. There appears to be some doubt as to who first started the medical schools of Manchester. Ainsworth is stated to have been the first to commence anatomical lectures in Manchester, which he began in conjunction with John Atkinson Ransome (q.v.), and he may therefore be regarded as the originator of what has since become the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, Pine Street. It is worthy of notice, as one of the ‘small beginnings’, that Ainsworth converted the hay-loft over his stable into a lecture theatre. He was most indefatigable and enthusiastic in the pursuit of professional knowledge, and an exceedingly skilful manipulator. Some of his preparations, we are assured, are not to be surpassed, even at the present time. As an instance, we may mention an injected preparation of a large mastiff dog in which all the principal arteries of the body (with the sole exception of the aorta) had been successfully secured by ligature, without destroying the animal’s life. Ainsworth was, indeed, regarded as one of the ablest operators of his day in Manchester. He was among the founders of the Manchester Natural History Society, and of the Botanical and Horticultural Society, and always took a great interest in their progress and in the museum and gardens. In January, 1805, he became a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and at the time of his death nearly half a century later was one of its two oldest surviving members. “In conjunction with the late Mr Thomas Fleming and others, he was one of the revivers of an old Manchester club, which in its days was famous, under the appellation of ‘John Shaw’s’, from the name of the landlord, who is said to have enforced early hours upon his guests by the cracking of a large horsewhip at a fixed time. This club, which still exists, may be regarded as the only link between the social and convivial institutions of ‘Old Manchester’ and those of the present day.” Ainsworth was most hospitable and his large charity was scrupulously unostentatious, and “indeed carefully kept from the knowledge of the world”. He died at his residence, Cliff Point, Lower Broughton, Manchester, on Friday, Oct 28th, 1853, leaving a widow and one son, Dr Ralph Ainsworth. There is a portrait at the Royal Infirmary painted by George Withington. PUBLICATION:- *Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Anatomy and Physiology*. Conjointly with J A RANSOME. Manchester, 1812.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000502
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Blaker, Harry ( - 1846)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Gross, Charles ( - 1899)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-05-01 2012-03-14
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/372690372690
Occupation General surgeon
Details Studied at Guy's Hospital, and was for many years Medical Superintendent of St Saviour's Infirmary, Westmorland Road, Walworth, South London. Becoming a barrister-at-law, Middle Temple, he retired from his post and practised at 3 Elm Court, Temple, and in 1890 was living at East Dulwich Grove, and after 1894 at 112 Westbourne Grove. He died at Tonbridge, Kent, on Aug 28th, 1899.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000506
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Godwin, Richard Bennett ( - 1871)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Hankinson, John (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Brown, John Andrew Carron (1925 - 2008)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2008-08-28
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372734372734
Occupation Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details John Carron Brown, known to his colleagues as ‘JCB’, was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Norwich. He was born in Sutton, Surrey, on 29 June 1925, the older son of Cecil Carron Brown, a general practitioner, and Jessamy Harper, a solicitor. Educated first at Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton, in 1939 he went to Oundle School for four years, before entering the Middlesex Hospital Medical School for his medical training, where he captained the cricket team. He felt fortunate to have as basic science teachers John Kirk in anatomy, Sampson Wright in physiology and Robert Scarff in pathology. He was greatly influenced in his clinical training by Richard Handley and Charles Lakin. Qualifying in 1949, he became house surgeon to Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor and then to the obstetric and gynaecology unit, before becoming house physician at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in 1952. General surgical training continued at St John and Elizabeth’s Hospital and at Redhill and Reigate Hospital, and at the Middlesex Hospital under David Patey and L P LeQuesne, colo-rectal experience being obtained with O Lloyd Davies. His training in gynaecology and obstetrics was at the Chelsea Hospital for Women under Sir Charles Read, John Blakeley and R M Feroze, at the Middlesex Hospital under W R Winterton and as a senior registrar at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Following his appointment as consultant in Norwich in 1963 he led a busy life in clinical practice. He led the development of maternity services and specialised in gynaecological malignancy. He was a great supporter of Cromer and District Cottage Hospital, where he held weekly clinics and operating sessions until he retired in 1990. Described as “a superb clinician and teacher of medical students, midwives and doctors”, his enthusiastic approach led many into careers in obstetrics and gynaecology. He also worked with physiotherapists in the prevention and treatment of stress incontinence. He examined for the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham in obstetrics and gynaecology, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Central Midwives Board. In East Anglia he was a member of the regional advisory committee for eight years, being chairman for two years, and a member of the subcommittee making a confidential enquiry into maternal deaths. For RCOG he was elected member’s representative on council for six years, and served on the finance and executive and the hospital recognition committees. He was made an honorary fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists in 1995. He served on the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM) and the Physiotherapy Board, and was vice chairman of CPSM. In Norwich he became chairman of the consultant staff committee and was very involved with the planning of the new hospital. Throughout his schooldays and in medical school he played cricket, tennis and soccer. Carron Brown started playing golf at the early age of six and resumed this once he became established in his chosen career. He enjoyed shooting and in retirement took up fly fishing. He was interested in history, especially of Napoleon and the Indian Empire. Gardening was an abiding passion, particularly the cultivation of roses. He married Marie Mansfield Pinkham, a Middlesex nurse, in 1952. They had three daughters (Susan Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane) and one son (Charles). Following his wife’s death in 1970, he married Susan Mary Mellor, sister of the special care nursery in Norwich, and they had two daughters (Helen Mary and Sarah Louise). He died on 27 May 2008 in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after a ruptured aortic aneurysm. A thanksgiving service was held at Norwich Cathedral, where he worshipped. Sue survives him, as do the children and 16 grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000550
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Shaw, Henry Jagoe (1922 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2008-08-28
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/372735372735
Occupation Head and neck surgeon Otolaryngologist ENT surgeon
Details Henry Shaw was a pre-eminent otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon. He was born in Stafford on 16 March 1922, the son of Benjamin Henry Shaw, a physician, psychiatrist, artist and fisherman, and Adelaide née Hardy, who became a JP and Staffordshire County councillor. His father came from a distinguished Anglo-Irish family with one relative an army surgeon at Waterloo, another in the 32nd Foot in the same campaign; George Bernard Shaw was an ancestor. Educated at Summer Fields School, Oxford, and Eton College, Henry Shaw read medicine at Oxford University and the Radcliffe Infirmary, where he held junior appointments. Perhaps influenced by R G Macbeth and G Livingstone, otolaryngologists at Oxford, he became registrar and senior registrar at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear (RNTNE) Hospital and Guy’s Hospital, London. He was appointed to a Hunterian professorship at the College (1951). After a fellowship and residency at the Sloan Memorial Hospital, New York (1953 to 1954), Henry Shaw was appointed assistant director of the professorial unit and senior lecturer at the RNTNE Hospital and the Institute of Laryngology and Otology. During this time he spent a further year in New York as senior resident at the Bellvue Hospital. In 1962 he was appointed consultant ENT surgeon to the RNTNE Hospital. This appointment was combined with a consultancy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, an honorary consultancy to St Mary’s Hospital and the post of ENT surgeon to the Civil Government and St Bernard’s Hospital, Gibraltar. In addition he was civilian consultant ENT surgeon to the Royal Navy. He retired in 1988. Henry Shaw’s professional life was devoted to the care of those suffering from cancer of the head and neck. His appointments at the Royal Marsden and RNTNE Hospital enabled him to lead the field in this aspect of otolaryngology. He wrote many publications, lectured nationally and internationally, and became a founder member and treasurer of the Association of Head and Neck Oncologists of Great Britain, president of the section of laryngology, Royal Society of Medicine, member of council, executive committee and professional care committee of the Marie Curie Cancer Care Foundation and a member of the Armed Services Consultant Appointment board. During the Second World War Henry Shaw served as a surgeon lieutenant in the RNVR. He continued in the Royal Naval Reserve, advancing to surgeon lieutenant commander. He was awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration in 1970. Henry Shaw was a gentlemanly person who achieved a great deal in a quiet way. He was never happier than when sailing boats of any kind. His long family association with St Mawes in Cornwall (where he eventually retired) enabled him to indulge fully in this hobby. He married Susan Patricia Head (née Ramsey) in 1967. They had no children of their own, but he gained a stepson and stepdaughter. The marriage was dissolved in 1984 and he married Daphne Joan Hayes (née Charney) in 1988, from whom he gained a further two stepdaughters. He died on 1 August 2007.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000552
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Anikwe, Raymond Maduchem (1935 - 2008)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2008-09-11
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372736372736
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Raymond Anikwe was a leading urological surgeon in Nigeria. He was born on 5 June 1935, the son of Chief Lawrence Akunwanne and Helen Oyeigwe Anikwenze in Nnobi, Anambra State, Nigeria. He was educated at St Mary Primary School, Umulu, and St Joseph Primary School, Onitsha. In 1951 he entered the Government College, Umuahia, where he excelled at sports, as well as his studies, winning a Nigerian Central Government scholarship to the Nigerian College of Technology, Ibadan. After two years there he won a scholarship from the Government of Italy to study medicine at the University of Rome. He learnt Italian, and obtained the degree of MD in July 1964. After qualifying he served as a pre-registration house officer and senior house officer in general surgery in Turin, and then went to the UK as a senior house officer at Dudley Guest Hospital. He was later a registrar in surgery (urology) at the Central Middlesex Hospital. From there he went to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a research fellow, studying urodynamics with a special interest in urethral resistance. In 1973 he returned to Nigeria as a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and consultant surgeon at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. He rose through the academic ranks to become professor of surgery (urology) in 1978. He served on numerous committees: he was chairman of the medical advisory committee, director of clinical services and training at Enugu (from 1978 to 1980), chief executive and medical director (from 1982 to 1985), provost of the college of medicine and medical sciences and deputy vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria Enugu campus in 1986. In 1987 he went to Saudi Arabia as professor of urology and consultant urologist at the King Faisal University and King Fahd Hospital. In 1999 he returned to Nigeria to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, until he established his own private hospital, the Galaxy Urology Specialist Hospital, Enugu, which was equipped with the latest endoscopic facilities. He published extensively and was a member of numerous learned societies. In 2007 he received the prestigious D’Linga gold award by Corporate and Media Africa Communications Ltd for his contribution to nation building through the medical profession. In 1974 he married Gladys Ngozi (née Ojukwu) and they had six children, of whom two became doctors. He died on 17 May 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000553
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Davis, Neville Coleman (1924 - 2008)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2008-09-11
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/372737372737
Occupation General surgeon
Details Neville Coleman Davis was a leading surgeon in Queensland. He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 30 January 1924, the son of Clyde Davis, a medical practitioner, and Vera née Phillips. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, qualifying in 1945. He completed house posts at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania, before going to England in 1949 as a senior house officer at the City General Hospital in Sheffield. After passing the FRCS, he went on to Sheffield Royal Infirmary for two years and then served in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps as a lieutenant colonel in Korea, where he commanded the British Commonwealth General Hospital in Japan from 1951 to 1952. He returned to Australia as surgical supervisor and part-time lecturer in clinical surgery at Brisbane General Hospital. In 1957 he was appointed visiting surgeon at Princess Alexandra Hospital. He was co-ordinator of postgraduate surgical education from 1980 to 1986 and was visiting surgeon at the Wesley Breast Clinic from 1982. A truly general surgeon, his main interest was in colorectal surgery, but he was one of the founders and later chairman of the Queensland Melanoma Project. He served in Vietnam as surgical specialist to No 1 Australian Field Hospital in 1969 and was honorary colonel of the RAAMC 1st Military District from 1987 to 1991. At the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, he was a member of council from 1975 to 1979, honorary librarian and a member of the board of general surgery until 1982, and chairman of the section of colorectal surgery. Many public offices came to him including membership of the council of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and of the medical and scientific committee of Queensland Cancer Fund. He was a member of the council of the Australian Medical Association and was made a fellow in 1979. He served on the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Menzies Foundation of Queensland, and was president of the Queensland Gastroenterological Society. Among his many awards was a Churchill fellowship in 1968, the Henry Simpson Newland medal in 1958, the Justin Fleming medal in 1977 and the John Loewenthal clinical medal in 1978. He was a member of the James IV Association of Surgeons, was the Bancroft orator of the American Medical Association in 1979, gained the Hugh Devine medal of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1988, and was an honorary member of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and of the Colorectal Society of Australasia. Neville married Lois Tindale, a medical practitioner, in 1954. They had two daughters (Prudence and Catherine) and a son (Roger). He died on 6 March 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000554
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Brun, Claude (1917 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-09-11 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/372738372738
Occupation General surgeon
Details Claude Brun was a consultant surgeon in Blackburn. He was born on 23 August 1917 in Mauritius. His father, René Brun, was a bank clerk in Port Louis who was descended from a captain in the Napoleonic navy. His mother, Jeanne Brun, was also of French descent. Claude was the eldest of six children. His early schooldays were with the Loreto nuns in a boarding school in St Pierre (which he hated). He was then educated at the Royal College in Curepipe. At the age of 17 he won a British Government scholarship which took him to England in 1934, where he was sponsored by Sir Percy Ezekiel. Having had a classical education, he had to study the necessary basic sciences before going to the London Hospital in October 1936 to study medicine. At the outbreak of the Second World War as a student he was sent to Poplar, Mile End and Highwood hospitals during the Blitz. After qualifying, he did house appointments at the Northern Fever Hospital and King George V Hospital, Ilford, before joining the RAMC in 1942. He was posted to Drymen on Loch Lomond, where he met a nurse named Barbara Limpitlaw, who later became his wife. He spent most of the war on a hospital ship in the Mediterranean. On demobilisation he returned to the London Hospital as a supernumerary registrar in the accident and emergency department and completed registrar posts at King George’s Hospital, Ilford, and then specialised in orthopaedics. For ten years he worked under John Charnley at the Salford Royal Hospital, during which time he passed the MS. He returned to Mauritius in 1957 as a surgeon in the Colonial Medical Health Service, where he developed an interest in anthropology and wrote Les Ancêtres de l’homme (Port Louis, 1964). He returned to England as a consultant surgeon in Blackburn in 1965, where he worked until his retirement in 1982. There he set up a mobile breast screening service, before the advent of mammography. He had many hobbies. In retirement he continued to paint and held several exhibitions, and read widely in the classics. At the age of 88 he taught himself Spanish. He was a keen bookbinder, botanist, woodworker and numismatist. He died peacefully in his sleep on 25 May 2007 leaving his widow, two daughters (Anne and Pauline), a son, Robert, who also became a doctor, and nine grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000555
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Briggs, James ( - 1848)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-10-18
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372578372578
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of Henry Swan, Surgeon to the County Hospital at Lincoln, where his ancestors had been doctors for several generations. He was apprenticed to his father, and was sent to the United Borough Hospitals in 1810. He became a pupil of Henry Cline the younger, and gained the warm friendship of Astley Cooper, who sent him annually a Christmas present of a subject in a hamper labelled 'Glass with care', to enable him to continue his anatomical dissections of the nerves. Sir Astley's example was imitated by John Abernethy. He studied abroad for a short time after qualifying, and then settled at Lincoln, where he was elected Surgeon to the County Hospital on Jan 8th, 1814. He won the Jacksonian Prize at the College of Surgeons in 1817 with his essay, "On Deafness and Diseases and Injuries of the Organ of Hearing", and in 1819 he gained the prize a second time with a dissertation, "On the Treatment of Morbid Local Affections of Nerves". He was awarded in 1822-1824 the first College Triennial Prize for "A Minute Dissection of the Nerves of the Medulla Spinalis from their Origin to their Terminations and to their Conjunctions with the Cerebral and Visceral Nerves; authenticated by Preparations of the Dissected Parts”. The Triennial Prize was again awarded to him in 1825-1827 for "A Minute Dissection of the Cerebral Nerves from their Origin to their Termination and to the Conjunction with the Nerves of the Medulla Spinalis and Viscera, authenticated by Preparations of the Dissected Parts". Swan's success is the more remarkable when it is borne in mind that the Triennial Prize has only been given twelve times since it was first offered for competition in 1822. The College had so high an opinion of his merits that he was voted its honorary Gold Medal in 1825. Swan resigned his office of Surgeon to the Lincoln County Hospital on Feb 26th, 1827, moved to London and took a house at 6 Tavistock Square, where he converted the billiard-room into a dissecting-room. Here he continued his labours at leisure until the end of his life, never attaining any practice as a surgeon, but doing much for naked-eye anatomy. He was elected a life member of the Council of the College of Surgeons in 1831, but resigned after a severe attack of illness in 1870. He then retired to Filey, in Yorkshire, where he died on Oct 4th, 1874, and was buried in Filey Churchyard. He never married. Swan was a born anthropotomist, for there is but little to show that he was greatly interested in the anatomy of birds, beasts, or fish. He had a native genius for dissection, and the kindness of his friends kept him supplied with the necessary material. Of a retiring and modest disposition, he remained personally almost unknown, and the value of his work long remained unappreciated. Publications:- *A Demonstration of the Nerves of the Human Body* in twenty-five plates with explanations. Imperial fol., London, 1830; republished 1865. It is a clear exposition of the course and distribution of the cerebral, spinal, and sympathetic nerves of the human body. The plates are admirably drawn by E West and engraved by the Stewarts. The original copperplates and engravings on steel are in the possession of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, presented in 1865 by Mrs Machin, of Gateford Hill, Worksop, widow of the nephew and residuary legatee of Joseph Swan. A cheaper edition of this work was issued in 1884, with plates engraved by Finden. It was translated into French, Paris, 4to, 1838. *An Account of a New Method of Making Dried Anatomical Preparations*, 8vo, London, N.D.; 2nd ed., 1820; 3rd ed., 1833. *A Dissertation on the Treatment of Morbid Local Affections of the Nerves* (Jacksonian Prize Essay for 1819), 8vo, London, 1820; translated into German, 8vo, Leipzig, 1824. *Observations on Some Points relating to the Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Nervous System*, 8vo, London, 1822. *A Treatise on Diseases and Injuries of the Nerves* (a new edition), 8vo, London, 1834; This seems to be a re-issue of the two previous works. *An Enquiry into the Action of Mercury on the Living Body*, 8vo, London, 1822; 3rd ed., 1847. *An Essay on Tetanus*, 8vo, London, 1825. *An Essay on the Connection between . . . the Heart . . . and . . . the Nervous System . . . particularly its Influence . . . on Respiration*, 8vo, London, 1822; reprinted, 1829. *Illustrations of the Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System*, 4to, plates, London, 1835. *The Principal Offices of the Brain and other Centres*, 8vo, London, 1844. *The Physiology of the Nerves of the Uterus and its Appendages*, 8vo, London, 1844. *The Nature and Faculties of the Sympathetic Nerve*, 8vo, London, 1847. *Plates of the Brain in Explanation of its Physical Faculties*, etc., 4to, London, 1853. *The Brain in its Relation to Mind*, 8vo, London, 1854. *On the Origin of the Visual Powers of the Optic Nerve*, 4to, London, 1856. *Papers on the Brain*, 8vo, London, 1862. *Delineation of the Brain in Relation to Voluntary Motion*, 4to, London, 1864.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000394
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Callaway, Thomas (1791 - 1848)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Alderson, John Septimus ( - 1858)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Alderson, Richard Robinson ( - 1888)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372842372842
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at the London Hospital; practised at York, where he was Surgeon to the York Union, Assistant Surgeon to the 2nd West York Militia (Light Infantry), and Honorary Surgeon to the 11th Derbyshire Volunteer Rifles. During the Crimean War he was a First-class Staff Surgeon to the Osmanli Horse Artillery - Turkish Contingent - and on his return to England he practised in Aberdeen Walk, Scarborough, where he seems to have remained until 1863. He moved about this time to Filey, and appears to have died there at some time before 1888. He passed the examination for the Fellowship, but is not registered in the College books as Fellow, nor did he receive the diploma, probably because he never paid the additional fees.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000659
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-11-30
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372491372491
Occupation Urologist
Details Christopher Rennie was a consultant urologist at Bromsgrove. He was born in Port Dixon, Malaysia, on 10 April 1948, the first son of Douglas David and Kathleen Mary (Dinah) Rennie. Douglas was an insurance underwriter for Manufacturers Life for the majority of his working life and Dinah was a GP in the same practice as her father, James Alexander Brown. She later worked in family planning in the Birmingham area. Chris was educated at Edgbaston Preparatory School and at King’s School in Canterbury. Influenced by his grandfather, whom he frequently accompanied on rounds from the age of five, he decided on a medical career. He went to medical school in Birmingham, obtained a BSc in anatomy in 1969 and graduated in 1972. He gained his FRCS in 1977, and initially trained as a general surgeon in the West Midlands, switching to urology as his chosen specialty in the early eighties. Chris became the sole urologist in Bromsgrove in 1985 and, before his early death, was instrumental in the transition to an amalgamated unit of five consultants. He was programme director for the West Midlands training programme in urology and was keen on expanding all aspects of training. Chris married twice, to Bridget (née Main) and Yvette (née Downing). He leaves a partner, Helen Kingdon, and a son, Alexander Harry James. Chris died suddenly from a heart attack on 14 September 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000304
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Ogilvy, Alexander (1769 - 1846)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Steel, Richard H H (1767 - 1856)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Borland, James (1774 - 1863)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372587372587
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Ayr on April 1st, 1774, and entered the Army Medical Department as Surgeon's Mate in the 42nd Highlanders in 1792. He was promoted to the Staff in 1793, and made two campaigns in Flanders under the Duke of York. He then proceeded to the West Indies with the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers and did duty at St Domingo from 1796-1798. In 1799 he accompanied the expedition to the Helder, and was sent by the Duke of York with a flag of truce to the French General, Bruns, to arrange for the exchange of the wounded. He was promoted for this service to the newly-made rank of Deputy-Inspector of Army Hospitals. He was also attached to the Russian troops which had co-operated with the British in North Holland, and had been ordered to winter in the Channel Islands until they could return home when the ice broke up in the Baltic. He was thanked for his service, but declined the offer of imperial employment in Russia. He was Chief Medical Officer of the Army in the Southern Counties of England at the time of the threatened French invasion, and in 1807 he became Inspector-General of Army Hospitals. He volunteered with Dr Lemprière and Sir Gilbert Blane to inquire into the causes of the deaths and sicknesses in the unfortunate Walcheren expedition, and the report of these Commissioners was ordered to be printed in 1810. From 1810-1816 Borland was Principal Medical Officer in the Mediterranean; he retired on half pay in 1816. He was appointed Hon Physician to HRH the Duke of Kent and received the order of St Maurice and St Lazare of Savoy. He retired to Teddington, Middlesex, and died there on Feb 22nd, 1863. Borland was an excellent administrator and a man of sterling character. Many improvements in army hospital organization were tried whilst he was at headquarters in London in 1807. During his service in the Mediterranean he reconstituted the hospitals of the Anglo-Sicilian contingent with such efficiency and economy as earned him a special official minute. He received the highest praise from Admiral Lord Exmouth for his services during an outbreak of plague at Malta. He accompanied the force sent to assist the Austrians in expelling Murat from Naples, and he was with the troops which held Marseilles and blockaded Toulon during the Waterloo campaign.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000403
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Heward, Sir Simon (1769 - 1846)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Carpue, Joseph Constantine (1764 - 1846)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2007-11-08 2014-07-18
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/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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ainslie, Derek (1919 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Crawford, Bernard Searle (1919 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Smith, Charles William (1923 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2008-05-08 2009-05-07
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/372695372695
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Charles William Smith was a consultant ENT surgeon in York. He was born in Kenton, London, on 24 October 1923, the first son of Cecil Smith and Mabel née Gibb. His father, who had served in the First World War with the Royal West Kent Regiment (known as ‘the Dirty Half Hundred’), was badly wounded in the face at the Battle of the Somme, and remained disfigured and partially incapacitated for the rest of his life. Charles Smith and his brother were both educated at the Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood and were brought up in a happy Christian household. He always maintained that his acceptance at St Thomas’ Medical School was more due to the fact that the Dean recognised his father from the war than his own academic prowess. At medical school he was a keen athlete and rugby player. His first house job was with the ENT department, which no doubt shaped his future career. He continued his training at the Royal Waterloo, the Charing Cross and the Royal Marsden hospitals, and then fitted in his National Service (spent in the Royal Army Medical Corps serving in Chester and Klagenfurt, Austria), before becoming chief assistant to the ENT department at St Thomas’ in 1956. He was appointed, initially as the sole ENT consultant, to the York hospitals in 1959 and served there until 1988. During this time he not only developed his own department, but was also the lead clinician in the planning of the new York District Hospital. Charles Smith became a member of the Court of Examiners at the RCS in 1962. He served as chairman of the York division of the BMA and was president of the North of England Society of Otolaryngology, the section of otology at the RSM and the Visiting Association of Throat and Ear Surgeons of Great Britain. He was honorary treasurer of the British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology, and served as honorary treasurer and then president (from 1984 to 1987) of the British Association of Otolaryngologists. During the time of his presidency he did much to represent the specialty’s interests in Europe and was founder president of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS). At the end of his term of office he was awarded a gold award by the International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS). His appointment to the Archbishop’s council reflected his longstanding friendship with Donald Coggan who, ahead of him at school, had been a curate to the Rev Marshall Hewitt (Charles’s future father-in-law). He persuaded his superior that Charles was a suitable match for his only daughter, and was given the privilege of marrying them at All Soul’s Langham Place. When Charles Smith eventually arrived in York he found Donald Coggan was Archbishop. Charles Smith married Moyra (née Hewitt) in 1955. They had five children, Penn, Basil, Johanna, Rupert and Jeremy. His wide range of other interests included his local church, motor caravanning, gardening, photography, golf, natural history and fly fishing. He was master of the Merchant Taylors’ Company of York. He died on 2 October 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000511
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ryan, Rowena Marion (1958 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2008-05-08 2022-03-17
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/372696372696
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Rowena Ryan was an ENT consultant at Northwick Park Hospital, London. She was born in East London, South Africa, on 4 February 1958, where her father, Cecil Crawford Lindsay Ryan, was serving as a diplomat. Her mother, Dorothy Hazel née Lampkin, had been a secretary. Her paternal grandfather had qualified at Trinity College, Dublin, and became a general practitioner in Bath. She was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, where she won the Governors Association scholarship, and went on to read medicine at Trinity. After qualifying she held junior posts at the West Middlesex, Stoke Mandeville, Hammersmith and Addenbrooke’s hospitals, before becoming an ENT registrar at the Royal Ear Hospital and senior registrar at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. She was appointed as a consultant ENT surgeon to Northwick Park and the Central Middlesex hospitals in 1996, where her principal interest was in paediatric audiology. She was an examiner for the intercollegiate FRCS (otol) and was chair elect of the ENT comparative audit group of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists - Head and Neck Surgeons. In 1989 she married Audoen Healy, a dentist, with whom she had a daughter, Greta, and a son, Duncan. Outside work and family, her passions were music, literature, foreign languages, squash and tennis. She died of cancer of the pancreas on 9 December 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000512
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Young, Austen (1914 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Goodlad, William ( - 1844)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-06-12 2012-02-15
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/372698372698
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised as a surgeon in Bolsover, then in Bury, and finally in Mosley Street, Manchester, where he was Surgeon to the Union Hospital. He died at his residence at Cheetham Hill on Feb 14th, 1844. He became known as a medical author by winning the Jacksonian Prize in 1812 with his Essay entitled "Diseases of the Vessels and Glands of the Absorbent System", republished as *A Practical Essay on the Diseases of the Vessels and Glands of the Absorbent System. To which are added Surgical Cases with Practical Remarks,* 8vo, London, 1814. On his title-page it appears that this republication is the Jacksonian Essay in substance, and we also infer from the dedication that he received his professional training at the Manchester Infirmary as pupil of its Surgeon, Robert Wagstaffe Killer, to whom he dedicates his book "as a token of respect for his abilities, and of gratitude for his friendship". The book was published by Goodlad in German in conjunction with Carmichael and Henning under the title *Ueber die Skrofelkrankheit*, the translator being J L Choulant (Leipzig, 1818). His Jacksonian Essay in MS (4to) is in the College Library. PUBLICATIONS: In addition to the work mentioned, Goodlad further published:- "Observations on Mr Barlow's Theory on the Origin of Urinary Calculi." - *Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour.*, 1809, v, 438. "Observations on Purulent Ophthalmia." - *Ibid.,* 1810, vi, 15. "Case of Inguinal Aneurysm, Cured by Tying the External Iliac Artery." - *Ibid.*, 1812, viii, 32. "Additional Observations on the Treatment of Scrofula." - *Ibid.*, 1815, xi, 204. "Observations on Diseases which are produced by Irritation in the Urethra." - *Lond. Med. Repos.*, 1814, ii, 449. "History of a Tumour Successfully Removed from the Face and Neck, by previously Tying the Carotid Artery." -* Lond. Med.-Chir. Trans.*, 1816, vii, 112. *A Letter to Sir B. C. Brodie containing a Critical Inquiry into his Lectures illustrative of Certain Local Nervous Affections*, 8vo, London, 1840.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000514
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Jones, Roger Barritt (1944 - 2012)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching McMinn, Robert Matthew Hay (1923 - 2012)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Vishy Mahadevan
Publication Date 2012-09-07 2013-01-23
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375033375033
Occupation Anatomist
Details Robert Matthew Hay McMinn was a leading anatomist, who will always be associated with the medical atlas that bears his name. Known to his friends and colleagues as 'Bob', he was born on 20 September 1923 in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, the only child of Robert Martin McMinn, a local general practitioner, and Elsie Selene McMinn née Kent. A few years later, the family moved to Brighton, where Bob McMinn completed his school education on a scholarship at Brighton College. Following in his father's footsteps, he then studied medicine at Glasgow University, qualifying in 1947. Bob was a keen and accomplished sportsman during his university years, distinguishing himself as a member of the university hockey team and by being crowned in 1944 as the Scottish universities champion in the 440 yards hurdles. Immediately after completing his house officer postings in Glasgow, Bob McMinn joined the RAF for this National Service. During this period he served in Iraq, as well as in East and West Africa. He returned to the UK in 1950 and promptly joined the anatomy department of Glasgow University as a demonstrator. This marked the beginning of his career as an anatomist. In 1953 he was appointed as a lecturer in anatomy at Sheffield University, where, three years later, he was awarded a PhD. In 1958, he was awarded an MD (with commendation) by Glasgow University for his research on wound healing. In 1959, while still at Sheffield, Bob was invited by the Royal College of Surgeons of England to give the Arris and Gale lecture. In 1960 Bob joined the department of anatomy at King's College on the Strand in London as a reader, becoming titular professor in the same department, a few years later. In 1970 he was appointed as the Sir William Collins professor of human and comparative anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the last but one person to occupy this eponymous chair before it was abolished in the 1980s. Alongside the professorship he was also conservator of the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy at the college. It was during his term of office at the Royal College of Surgeons that Bob McMinn conceived of the idea of producing a pictorial atlas of human anatomy based largely on the outstanding collection of exquisite dissections of the human body that were already on display in the College's Museum of Anatomy. Most of these dissections were the work of D H Tompsett, prosector to the College. In collaboration with Ralph Hutchings, a senior laboratory technical officer and accomplished photographer, Bob McMinn authored *A colour atlas of human anatomy* (London, Wolfe) in 1977. The atlas is now into its sixth edition. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and has sold several million copies worldwide. The fourth and subsequent editions of the atlas have borne the name *McMinn's atlas of clinical anatomy*, in recognition of Bob's great and lifelong contribution to the teaching of anatomy. In the late 1980s Bob McMinn accepted from his friend and erstwhile colleague, Raymond Jack Last, the editorship of the very popular textbook, *Anatomy - regional and applied* (Edinburgh, Churchill), a book that Last first wrote in 1954, and then updated periodically up to and including the seventh edition. Bob edited the eighth and ninth editions. The skilful revision and enrichment of the original text without any loss of the style and spirit of Last's prose was a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction to Jack Last, and ensured the continued popularity of the book. Bob McMinn was an active member of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland and served, in an honorary capacity, successively as programme secretary and treasurer of the society. He was also a founding member of the British Association of Clinical Anatomists (BACA), which came into existence in July 1977, and served as the association's very first honorary secretary. In July 2000, during the third joint meeting of the British Association of Clinical Anatomists and the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) held at St John's College, Cambridge, Bob was awarded the BACA medal 'to recognise and honour his global contribution to the study of anatomy through his research and outstanding publications'. Bob was awarded a fellowship (by election) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1978. In 1948, following his graduation from medical school, Bob married Margaret Grieve Kirkwood, a fellow medical student. In 1995, Bob and his wife Margaret returned to their native Scotland to set up home in the picturesque village of Ardfern on the banks of Loch Craignish in Argyll. They enjoyed their retirement in this small and close community, participating with much enthusiasm in various village activities. Bob died on 11 July 2012 at the age of 88, after a femoral fracture sustained in a fall. His wife Margaret predeceased him by a year. They were survived by a son and a daughter, and two grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002850
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Mishrick, Abdullah Shukry (1928 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2012-09-07 2014-10-14
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375034375034
Occupation General surgeon
Details Abdallah Shukry Mishrick was a senior consultant surgeon at Syosset and Plainview hospitals on Long Island, New York. He was born in Lebanon on 28 November 1928, the son of Shukry Abdallah Mishrick, a doctor, and Matilda Mishrick née Fernainy. He was educated at the English Mission College, Cairo, Egypt, where he won several prizes, including the Lord Killearn prize for science. He went on to study medicine at Kasr Al Einy Medical School in Cairo, where he won a gold medal in physiology. He gained a BSc in 1944 and his MB BCh in 1950. He emigrated to the United States, where he trained in surgery. During the late 1950s he carried out part of his training at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island. He remained on the island, and worked for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System for the rest of his career. In 1997 he became senior vice president for medical affairs at North Shore-LIJ Health System's Syosset Hospital, and subsequently at Plainview Hospital. In 2005 he was appointed to the North Shore-LIJ Health System's board of trustees. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the International College of Surgeons and the American Society of Abdominal Surgeons. He gained his FRCS in 1970. Outside medicine, he enjoyed tennis, upland and water fowl shooting and big game hunting. He also collected stamps; he was one of the leading specialists of Egyptian stamps in the world. He was a member of the Royal Philatelic Society of London and the Collectors Club of New York. In 1952 he married Ruth Ernestine Jamal. They had two daughters, Orianna and Shareen, and a son, Shukre. Abdallah Shukry Mishrick died on 26 February 2006, aged 77. He was survived by his second wife, Jacqueline, and his daughters and son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002851
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Myburgh, Johannes Albertus (1928 - 2010)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Peter J Morris
Publication Date 2012-09-07 2013-11-25
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375035375035
Occupation General surgeon Transplant surgeon
Details Bert Myburgh was professor of surgery at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. A charismatic and talented surgeon, he was, in his time, South Africa's most renowned surgeon. He was highly regarded throughout the surgical world, and especially within the transplant community. Bert Myburgh was born in the Free State village of Linley, where his father was a bank manager. He matriculated from Parys High School in 1944 at the age of 16 and then became a medical student at the University of Cape Town. Throughout his medical course he achieved distinctions in every subject he undertook, except pathology, and graduated with a gold medal for best student. Perhaps as a result of his failure to get a distinction in pathology, he spent a year as a registrar in pathology after graduation, which stood him in very good stead in his subsequent clinical and research career. At university he was a hurdler and a member of the first rugby 15. No doubt his sporting prowess and his academic performance led to the award of a Rhodes scholarship and he spent three years at New College in Oxford (from 1952 to 1955). After his time in Oxford, he returned to Witwatersrand University to complete his surgical training. After spending some time on the staff there, he was appointed professor of surgery in 1967 and chief of surgery in 1977. On retirement in 1994, he was appointed an emeritus professor of surgery in his old department. He was an inspiring teacher and intellectually powerful. Cryptic crossword puzzles he disposed of in minutes. He was responsible for establishing a transplant programme in South Africa, performing the first renal transplant at the Johannesburg General Hospital in 1967 and carrying out research, not only in the field of transplantation but also in pancreatic and biliary surgery. His work on induction of tolerance in baboons to an organ transplant using total lymphoid irradiation was in the international forefront of work in this field, and indeed led to a clinical trial of this approach in humans some years later at Stanford University. His one failure was his inability to establish a successful liver transplant programme. Although he carried out the first liver transplant in South Africa in 1973, based on a successful liver transplant programme in baboons, the human programme was never really successful and indeed some years later he closed it down. He was an inspiring teacher and an excellent lecturer. He was president of the College of Medicine of South Africa for three years from 1986 to 1989, and president of the Transplant Society of South Africa and of the Surgical Research Society of South Africa. He received numerous honorary awards and fellowships, including fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons and the American Surgical Association. He also had honorary DSc and MD degrees from several South African universities. One obituary states that: 'He had such a God like status it was difficult to argue with him, let alone tell him he was wrong'. This may explain in some way why he remained a chain smoker until late in his life, despite what must have been an enormous amount of advice to the contrary. Indeed this contributed to his death for, after a fall and fracture, he died of respiratory complications at the age of 82, on 7 April 2010. Without question Bert Myburgh was a towering figure in surgery in South Africa, both in the academic and clinical spheres. He married twice. His first wife, Teddy, a nurse he met at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, died in 1988. He was survived by his second wife Marie Louise, whom he married in 1993, and by his three children, John, Jacqui and Sandy.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002852
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Lowbury, Edward Joseph Lister (1913 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Maiman, Theodore Harold (1927 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Stoner, Harry Berrington (1919 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Temple, Leslie Joseph (1915 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372323372323
Occupation Thoracic surgeon
Details Leslie Temple was a consultant thoracic surgeon at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. He was born in London in 1915 and studied medicine at University College Hospital. After qualifying in 1939, he completed house posts in Aylesbury and Canterbury, and was then a resident surgical officer at Wigan Infirmary, Lancashire, where he gained his FRCS in 1941. Joining the RAMC, he served with a field hospital on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, and was later posted to Belgium and then India. Following demobilisation in 1947, he was appointed as a consultant thoracic surgeon at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. He was also a consultant to Nobles Hospital, in Douglas on the Isle of Man, and to Machynlleth Hospital, mid Wales. He made significant contributions to the treatment of lung cancer and tuberculosis in both adults and children. In 1962 he carried out some of the first open heart operations in England for mitral valve disease, and went on to help establish Liverpool as a major centre for cardiac surgery. Surgeons from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Greece and the Sudan, were trained and encouraged by him. Outside medicine, he was a keen squash player and an avid hill-walker, once completing ascents of Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis within 24 hours. On his 80th birthday he led a party of family and friends round the Snowdon Horseshoe. After he retired he took a three-year BA degree course in humanities at Chester College, University of Liverpool, graduating with honours in 2001. He died from an aortic dissection on 10 July 2004. He was predeceased by his wife, Barbara, and leaves a son, John, and a daughter, Anne. There are six grandchildren, one of whom, Andrew John, is a surgeon and an FRCS. There are three great grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000136
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Williams, Rowland James (1919 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Thompson, Heath Thurlow (1920 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Pratt, David (1930 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by N Alan Green
Publication Date 2008-10-17
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/372747372747
Occupation General surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details David Pratt was a consultant general and vascular surgeon at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds. He studied medicine in Leeds, where he had a distinguished undergraduate career, gaining first class honours and graduating with distinctions in surgery and forensic medicine. After house appointments, he served as a surgeon lieutenant on HMS Eagle during the Suez Crisis. He returned to Leeds, where he completed his surgical training. In 1962 he gained his FRCS, winning the Wilson Hey gold medal. He was appointed as a consultant to St James’s and Chapel Allerton hospitals, Leeds. His consultant career was marked by great diagnostic flair and superb technical skills: but above all he is remembered by patients for his caring personality and by his colleagues for the help he gave them in difficult times. Behind an unassuming demeanour there was a lively mind and a gentle sense of humour. David was a valued member of the Travelling Surgical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1971 onwards. He and his wife, Libby, made many friends when attending overseas and home meetings. He was greatly respected in this forum of surgeons whose members represent most parts of the UK and many specialties. He was also a member of the Vascular Society and many of his publications reflected this interest; his wider knowledge of surgery was apparent in other papers and lectures. During a visit of the Travelling Surgical Society to Gibraltar and southern Spain he gave a paper on ‘Delorme’s procedure’ illustrated by his own pastel drawings: colo-proctologists present were surprised at the depth of his knowledge and his carefully assessed results. His other interests included photography, domestic cooking and watercolour painting in which in retirement he took lessons. He died suddenly at home of acute coronary insufficiency on 23 May 2006. He is survived by Libby and three sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000564
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Hewett, Sir Prescott Gardner (1812 - 1891)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-03-01 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/372389372389
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born on July 3rd, 1812, the son of William N. W. Hewett, of Bilham House, near Doncaster, by his second wife. His father was a country gentleman whose fortune suffered from his love of horse-racing. Prescott Hewett received a good education and passed some years in Paris, where he acquired a perfect mastery of French, and learnt to paint in the studios, having at first intended to become a professional artist - a notion which he relinquished on becoming intimate with the son of an eminent French surgeon. He thus became inspired with a love for the surgical profession, and remained always an admirer of the French school of surgery. He never abandoned the practice of art, and his "delightful and exquisitely elaborate drawings" were exhibited, shortly before his death, in the Board Room at St. George's Hospital, "where one of these charming pictures now hangs near Ouless's portrait of its painter". He learned anatomy in Paris and became thoroughly grounded in the principles of French surgery. On his return to England he entered at St. George's, where he had family influence, his half-brother, Dr. Cornwallis Hewett, having been Physician to the hospital from 1825-1833. The excellence of his dissections recommended him to Sir Benjamin Brodie, and he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of the St. George's Hospital Museum when he was on the point of accepting a commission in the service of the H.E.I.C. He became Curator of the Museum about 1840, the first record in his handwriting being dated Jan. 1st, 1841. Here he began in 1844 the series of post-mortem records which have been continued on the same pattern ever since, and constitute a series of valuable pathological material which for duration and completedness is perhaps unmatched. Many of Brodie's preparations in the Museum of St. George's were put up by Hewett. He was appointed Lecturer on Anatomy in 1845 and Assistant Surgeon on Feb. 4th, 1848, becoming full surgeon on June 21st, 1861, in succession to Caesar H. Hawkins (q.v.), and Consulting Surgeon on Feb. 12th, 1875. He was elected President of the Pathological Society of London in 1863, and ten years later occupied the Presidential Chair of the Clinical Society. He was admitted F.R.S. on June 4th, 1874. He was appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria in 1867, Sergeant-Surgeon Extraordinary in 1877 on the death of Sir William Fergusson (q.v.)., and Sergeant-Surgeon in 1884 in succession to Caesar Hawkins (q.v.). He also held from 1867 the appointment of Surgeon to the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII, and on Aug. 6th, 1883, he was created a baronet. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was Arris and Gale Professor of Human Anatomy and Physiology from 1854-1859, a Member of the Council from 1867-1883, Chairman of the Board of Examiners in Midwifery in 1875, Vice-President in 1874 and 1875, and President in 1876. Prescott Hewett married on Sept. 13th, 1849, Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. Joseph Cowell, of Todmorden, Lancashire, by whom he had one son, who only survived his father a few weeks, and two daughters. He died on June 19th, 1891, at Horsham, to which place he had retired on being created a baronet. As a teacher Hewett was admirable, for he could make his pencil explain his work. Gradually - for he was of a shy and retiring disposition - he became known first in professional circles as a first-rate anatomist and one of the best lecturers in London, then as an organizer of rare energy and power; lastly, as a most accomplished surgeon and an admirable operator. He was equally skilful in diagnosis, and his stores of experience could furnish cases in point in all medical discussions. Hewett, when Professor at the College of Surgeons, delivered a course of lectures on "Surgical Affections of the Head" which attracted the universal admiration of all surgeons; their author could never be persuaded to publish them, though when his friend and pupil Timothy Holmes (q.v.), afterwards edited a *System of Surgery*, Hewett embodied their contents in the exhaustive treatise on "Injuries of the Head" which forms part of that work. His fastidious taste made him shrink form authorship, as indeed he shrank from all forms of personal display, for he had much professional learning which was always ready at command, and an easy lucid style. Lecturing he loved, and few lectured better. "He was," said one who knew him, "one of the fittest men in the world to instruct students, for he had all the clearness of expression which is required to impart knowledge of subjects teeming with difficulties of detail, his ready pencil would illustrate the most complicated anatomical descriptions, and his stores of experience could furnish cases in point in all discussions; the clinical instruction which he was wont to give in the wards was equally admirable. He was one of the most trustworthy of consultants, never failing to point out any error in diagnosis, yet with such perfect courtesy and delicacy that it was a pleasure to be corrected by him." He presided over the Clinical and Pathological Societies, but his increasing engagements prevented him from allowing himself to be nominated for the Presidency of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, though he was deeply interested in its work, and had enriched its *Transactions* with some papers which became standard authorities on their respective subjects. Hewett started life as a poor man, and had every reason to feel the truth of the line, "Slow rises worth by poverty opprest". But he did rise gradually to eminence and distinction among the surgeons of London, and few men were more beloved by those who were connected with him in practice, whether as pupils or patients. "The reason", as one of his old pupils said, "was that he was emphatically a gentleman - a man who would not merely scorn a base action, but with whom anything base would be inconceivable." Hewett's collection of water-colour sketches was presented to the nation after his death, and were exhibited at the South Kensington Museum at the beginning of 1891. A half-length subscription portrait painted by W.W. Ouless, R.A., hangs in the Board Room at St. George's Hospital, and there is a photograph in the Council Album.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000202
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Birkett, John (1815 - 1904)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-03-01 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/372390372390
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon
Details Born April 14th, 1815, at 10 The Terrace, Upper Clapton, Middlesex, the only child of John and Mary Birkett. Educated at various private schools; at one the master was a Frenchman, at another a mathematician and astronomer, and at a third a Greek scholar. Birkett thereby gained a wide general knowledge. In September, 1831, he was bound apprentice to Bransby Cooper, then Surgeon to Guy's Hospital, being, as is thought, the last pupil to pay the customary fee of £500 which gave the apprenticeship some claim to consideration when a vacancy occurred on the hospital staff. Birkett did not begin his medical studies at Guy's Hospital until October, 1832. He was admitted M.R.C.S. on Oct. 6th, 1837, and was immediately appointed a Demonstrator of Anatomy. He held the post until 1847, and had in succession as his colleagues James P. Babington, Thomas Moody, and Alfred Poland. He was elected F.R.C.S. without examination in 1844 and signalized the session 1845-1846 by giving demonstrations on microscopic anatomy on certain evenings in each week, and in this way beginning the teaching of histology in the medical school. In 1847 he was appointed to make the post-mortem examinations in the hospital, and in May, 1849, he was elected Assistant Surgeon in consequence of the death of John Morgan and the promotion of Edward Cock (q.v.). In the same year he gained the Jacksonian Prize for his Essay on "Diseases of the Mammary Gland". In this year, too, making a bid for practice he moved from 2 Broad Street Buildings, where he had lived since 1840, to Wellington Street, Southwark. He lectured on anatomy jointly with John Hilton (q.v.) in 1851, and two years later he was elected Surgeon to Guy's Hospital on the resignation of Bransby Cooper, his former master, and this post he held until 1875, when he retired on reaching the age of 60. As full Surgeon he lectured on surgery conjointly with John Poland, and in 1856 he moved to Green Street, Grosvenor Square, where he spent the rest of his active life until he retired to Sussex Gardens in 1896, where he died after a prolonged illness on July 6th, 1904. At the Royal College of Surgeons he served on the Council from 1867-1883, and was Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology from 1869-1871, lecturing on the nature and treatment of new growths. He was an Examiner in Anatomy and Physiology (1875-1877), a Member of the Court of Examiners (1872-1882), of the Examining Board in Dental Surgery (1875-1882), Vice-President (1875 and 1876), and President (1877). He was one of the Founders of the Pathological Society of London and served as a Vice-President (1860-1862), doing good work by insisting upon the use of the microscope in the investigation of tumours at a time when such a method was unusual. He served for some years as Inspector for the Home Office of the Anatomical schools of Anatomy in the Provinces. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers in 1871 and 1892. In 1842 he married Lucy Matilda, daughter of Halsey Jansen; five sons and a daughter survived him out of a family of seven boys and three girls; two of his sons were distinguished football players. John Birkett was essentially a surgeon of the old school, a reliable operator, a good anatomist, and very careful in the after-treatment of his patients. He obtained good results because he was clean in himself, was not engaged in anatomy, and was accustomed to have the patient washed before he was brought into the operating theatre. The diagnosis and treatment of tumours of the breast, hernia operations, and the surgery of the arteries interested him most; abdominal operations and surgical interference with joints and veins were abhorrent to him. As a teacher he was slow and uninspiring; as an individual he was a cultured gentleman of wide knowledge, an excellent field botanist, and a great walker. In these walks he carried into private life the characteristics which had made him successful as a surgeon. Few men knew better than he how to use a map. To form one that could be serviceable and easily consulted even if the walk were no longer than from Sevenoaks to Maidstone or across the Yorkshire Moors from Danby to Goathland he would make the starting-point the centre by joining two or more of the ordnance survey plans. Then after bevelling the edges that the junction might be almost invisible, colouring the areas of equal height, describing concentric circles increasing by two or more miles, mounting on linen and constructing a case no whit inferior to that sold in the map-sellers' shops, he was secure from losing his way in his peregrinations, come fog, come snow, or blinding rain. Publications: - A. Von Behr's *Handbook of Human Anatomy, General, Special and Topographical.* Translated from the original German and adapted to the use of English students by John Birkett. 8vo, London, 1846. *Description of Some of the Tumours Removed from the Breast and Preserved in the Museum of Guy's Hospital,* 8vo, with 6 plates, London, 1848. *Diseases of the Breast and their Treatment* [Jacksonian Prize Essay], 8vo, plates, 1850. *Adenocele of the Mammary Gland, *8vo, London, 1855. *Contributions to the Practical Surgery of New Growths or Tumours. Series iii. Cysts* 12mo, plates, London, 1859. Articles on "Injuries of the Pelvis", "Hernia", and "Diseases of the Breast" in Holmes's *System of Surgery,* 1870, and again in Holmes and Hulke's *System of Surgery,* 1883.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000203
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Simon, Sir John (1816 - 1904)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-03-01 2012-03-09
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/372391372391
Occupation Chief Medical Officer General surgeon Pathologist
Details Born in London on Oct. 10th, 1816, the sixth of the fourteen children of Louis Michael Simon (1782-1879) by his second wife, Mathilde Nonnet (1787-1882). His father, who had been a shipbroker and served on the Committee of the Stock Exchange from 1837-1868, was the son of an Englishman who had married a French wife, whilst his mother was the daughter of a Frenchman who had married an English wife. John Simon was christened at St. Olave's, Hart Street, E.C. - Pepys' church - and began his education at Pentonville, after which he was for seven and a half years at Greenwich under the Rev. Dr. Charles Parr Burney, son of Dr. Charles Burney and grandson of Johnson's friend, where he had John Birkett (q.v.) as a schoolfellow. He then lived with Leonard Molly, a pastor, for a year at Hohensolms, near Wetzler, in Rhenish Prussia, and acquired a good knowledge of German. He was apprenticed, on his return to England in the autumn of 1833, to Joseph Henry Green (q.v.) for the usual fee of 500 guineas. Green was Surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the newly founded King's College, and his pupil attended both institutions. In 1838, a year before the end of his apprenticeship, Green allowed Simon to obtain the M.R.C.S. that he might be appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at King's College, having Francis Thomas MacDougall (q.v.) as his colleague, and in 1840 he was elected the senior of two Assistant Surgeons appointed on the opening of the Hospital founded in connection with King's College. The junior Assistant Surgeon was William Bowman (q.v.), with whom Simon formed an intimate friendship and from whom he learnt to work on scientific lines. The outcome was a paper read before the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society on June 8th, 1847, on "Subacute Inflammation of the Kidney" (*Trans. Roy. Med-Chir. Soc.*, 1847, xxx, 141) which is illustrated with a plate showing the microscopic appearances described. In 1844 Simon gained the Astley Cooper Prize with a "Physiological Essay on the Thymus Gland" (4to, London, 1845), and contributed to the Royal Society "The Comparative Anatomy of the Thyroid Gland" (*Phil. Trans.*, 1844, cxxxiv, 295). He was elected F.R.S. on Jan. 9th, 1845, and was afterwards a Vice-President. Simon was invited in 1847 to accept the newly created Lectureship on Anatomical Pathology at St. Thomas's Hospital with charge of beds, and he thereupon resigned his demonstratorship of King's College, but retained the Assistant Surgeoncy. Green resigned his office of Surgeon, and on July 20th, 1853, Le Gros Clark (q.v.) and John Simon were elected "to do out-patients". Simon then severed all connection with King's College, and on July 6th, 1863, became full Surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital in succession to G.W. Macmurdo (q.v.). He resigned his lectureship in 1871 and the office of Surgeon in 1876. As a surgeon Simon was not brilliant, for he was neither rapid nor graceful, but every operation he performed was carefully planned and prepared for. He was in the habit of going frequently to the dead-house and there performing every kind of operation, endeavouring to make improvements on old methods and to learn the exact landmarks and lines of section to be made in novel or unusual operations, particularly where bones were concerned. He repeated Syme's amputation in this manner many times before he performed it on the living patient, and he was the first surgeon in this country to undertake Pirogoff's method of removing the foot. He was particularly apt in the diagnosis of abscesses within bones, which he located with great accuracy. He was equally good in the treatment of difficult strictures of the urethra, and in passing a catheter he almost seemed to confer intelligence on the instrument. He was the first to open the membranous part of the urethra by the same route as was afterwards followed by Edward Cock (q.v.). Simon devised and practised the operation before Cock published his results and substantiated his claim to priority in the *St. Thomas's Hospital Reports* (1879, x, 139). A proof of the paper with Simon's corrections is in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons. As a pupil of Joseph Henry Green he was an expert lithotomist, using a pointed and extremely stout knife, and a grooved staff. Simon was a great power in the Medical School at St. Thomas's, and it was in some measure due to his incisive and satirical pen that St. Thomas's Hospital was not converted into a country convalescent hospital at the time it was compelled to move from its old site at the foot of London Bridge. Without respect of persons he was active in removing abuses, in introducing reforms, and in extending the area and efficiency of instruction. In particular he was especially active in securing suitable accommodation for the treatment of diseases of the eye when Richard Liebreich (1829-1916) was appointed Ophthalmic Surgeon. At the Royal College of Surgeons Simon was a Member of the Council from 1868-1880, a Vice-President in 1876 and 1877, and President in 1878. Throughout his life Simon was interested in pathology. He was an original member of the Pathological Society in 1846, contributed several papers to its *Transactions*, and was elected President in 1867. The best exposition of his aims and methods in pathological teaching is to be found in his Inaugural Address delivered at St. Thomas's Hospital in 1847, which was afterwards published in his *General Pathology as Conducive to the Establishment of Rational Principles for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease,* 1850. Simon said of the latter work that as a result of its publication he woke up to find himself famous - not as a surgeon, but as a sanitary reformer. The judgement proved true; few now think of Simon as a surgeon, all know him as the maker of modern sanitary science in England. Simon was one of the illustrious figures in Victorian medicine. When he began his labours in the field of public health it was not thought to be the duty of the State to seek out and prevent the causes of disease and death in its citizens. There was no administrative authority in the country, central or local, that had any medical officer or medical adviser for sanitary purposes: the development of a science and practice of preventive medicine was quite unknown. In 1848 Simon was appointed the first Medical Officer of Health of the City of London. He was the first and for many years the only Medical Officer of Health in London. He was the head of the Medical Department of the Government from the years of its creation in 1855 to his retirement in 1876, and must be considered the founder and in some directions its creator. Simon's record of ability and industry was marvellous, whilst his imaginative faculty was of a very high quality. Cultivated as a linguist, as a student of Oriental literature, and as the friend of artists, poets, and philosophers, he was able to think grandly, to project his mind into the future, to discern the real meaning of social evils as well as their probable developments, and so to devise schemes of prevention and amelioration which could never have occurred to move plodding, if equally industrious, minds. One can scarcely estimate the importance to civilization and humanity of Simon's work. It may be briefly stated that he drained the city and rendered it healthy, abolished the pernicious system of central cesspools under houses, intramural slaughter-houses, and other malodorous trade establishments, and conducted an active crusade against smoke, intramural graveyards, Thames pollution, impure water, and overcrowded dwellings. To enumerate the full details of Sir John Simon's official career would be to write a history of hygienic reform. For many years after the close of his official life in 1876 as Chief Medical Officer to the Privy Council and afterwards to the Local Government Board, Simon occupied himself with public work and was a Crown Representative on the General Medical Council. In the latter part of his life he gradually and completely lost his sight. He married on July 22nd, 1848, Jane O'Meara, daughter of Matthew Delaval O'Meara, who had been Commissary-General in the Peninsular War. They had no children and she died on Aug. 19th, 1901. Lady Simon was a close friend of Ruskin, who used to call her "dear P.R.S." (Pre-Raphaelite sister and Sibyl). Simon died at his house, 40 Kensington Square, where he lived since 1867, on July 23rd, 1904, and was buried at Lewisham Cemetery, Ladywell. A bust by his friend Thomas Woolner, R.A., was presented to the College by the subscribers to the Simon Testimonial Frund on Dec. 14th, 1876. It is a remarkable presentation of a remarkable head. A photograph in late middle life faces pages 187 in MacCormac's *Address of Welcome*. An excellent likeness in extreme old age is appended to the obituary notice in the *Lancet* (1904, ii, 308) and is reproduced in the *St. Thomas's Hospital Reports* (1905, xxxiii, facing page 393). Sir John Simon was remarkable for the extent of his knowledge. The influence of Joseph Henry Green, to whom he had been articled, coupled perhaps with his early education in Germany, gave a philosophical basis to his thoughts and actions through life. In 1865 he edited the *Spiritual Philosophy* of his old master. He was widely read in the classics and in English literature and became an excellent writer of English prose. In youth he pursued a course of reading in metaphysics and in Oriental languages, and his general culture allowed him to value and to appreciate the friendship of such literary and artistic friends as Thackeray, Tennyson, Rossetti, Alfred Elmore, R.A., Sir George Bowyer, George Henry Lewis, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Tom Taylor, Ruskin, Sir Arthur Helps, Thomas Woolner, R.A., and Robert Lowe, afterwards Lord Sherbrooke. He was mainly responsible with J. A. Kingdon (q.v.) for the establishment by the Grocer's Company of scholarships for the promotion of sanitary science. Considering his eminence Sir John Simon received little public recognition during his lifetime. He was decorated C.B., the ordinary reward of a faithful public servant, on his retirement in 1876, but it was not till Queen Victoria's Jubilee that he was promoted K.C.B. The Harben Medal of the Royal Institute of Public Health was awarded him in 1896, and the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society in November, 1897. Publications: Simon's chief reports and writings on sanitary objects were issued collectively by subscription by the Sanitary Institution of Great Britain in two volumes in 1875. *English Sanitary Institutions Reviewed in their Course of Development and in Some of their Political and Social Relations,* 8vo, London, 1890. A charmingly written and fair-minded account of the development of public health in England from the earliest times. It appears now to be somewhat difficult to obtain. *Personal Recollections of Sir John Simon, K.C.B.* This was privately printed in 1898. It consists of 34 pages printed by Wiltons Ltd., 21 & 22 Garlick Hill, E.C., and is dated Oct. 4th, 1894. It was revised on Dec. 2nd, 1903, "in blindness and infirmity". The Library of the Royal College of Surgeons possesses a copy enriched by the author's corrections. Bibliography in the *Catalogues of the Surgeon General's Library,* series i and ii.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000204
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Banner, John Maurice ( - 1863)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barclay, Wilfred Martin (1863 - 1903)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barendt, Frank Hugh (1861 - 1926)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barker, Arthur Edward James (1850 - 1916)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372935372935
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in Dublin, the son of Dr William Barker. Studied medicine at the Medical School of the College of Surgeons, Dublin, and later at the University of Bonn, where he acquired a written and spoken knowledge of German as well as of French, which was of primary importance to him. Indeed, his first distinction came through his translation of the *Histologie und Histochemie des Menschen* by Professor Heinrich Frey, of Zurich. The work, first published in 1859, was illustrated by many woodcuts by Kölliker, much in advance of anything published before, and had been recommended to Barker by his teacher, Professor Max Schultze. The translation was published in 1874 and Barker’s preface is in a style characteristic of his subsequent writing. He was then living in Hume Street, Dublin, and was Surgeon to the City of Dublin Hospital, Demonstrator of Anatomy at the College of Surgeons, and Visiting Surgeon to the Convalescent Home at Stillorgan. Barker’s appointment at the age of 25 to the post of Assistant Surgeon at University College Hospital, London, in 1875, was out of the ordinary in that he had not passed the FRCS England, nor, indeed, did he qualify FRCSI, until the following year, 1876. Moreover, he received the FRCS England, in 1880 ad eundem. These occurrences have not repeated themselves. None the less, time, as it passed, showed Barker to be a leader of surgery in his day, fortified by his acquaintance with German surgery during its particularly flourishing period. University College Hospital was then the centre of Listerian surgery in London, from which Barker, following German surgeons (*see under* Bergmann, E von) began to deviate by using salicylic wool, perchloride of mercury, and adopting the so-called aseptic methods. The following is a selection in order of date from among Barker’s great surgical achievements during forty years: In 1880 he removed the kidney for a malignant tumour through an abdominal incision in a woman aged 21; the tumour had been noticed for eight months. The patient died of pulmonary embolism on the second day, after which it was found that the operation had been well performed, but there were secondary growths in the lungs the size of nuts. Barker referred in detail to Simon’s recently published monograph, including the record of twenty-eight cases, half of which had recovered and half had died. In clinical lectures in 1885 and 1889, he described further renal operations. In 1883 he rewrote articles in the third edition of the *System of Surgery* by Holmes and Hulke, on “Diseases of Joints”, “Diseases of the Spine”, and “Diseases of the Tongue”. In this last article there is a full account, with histological drawings, of leukoplakia, already recognized as a precursor of epithelioma. In 1886 he described four cases of removal of deep-seated tumours of the neck, which a few years before would have been held to be incurable. One case was probably an instance of an accessory thyroid, the others enlarged and tuberculous lymphatic glands. Also in 1886 he was the first to perform gastroenterostomy in London, and that successfully, for cancer of the pylorus in a woman aged 57, using the anterior method, the jejunum being turned over towards the right from its commencement. The patient survived for just over a year. In 1898 he noted that he had adopted von Hacker’s posterior gastrojejunostomy. In 1887 he published *A Short Manual of Surgical Operations*, illustrated by his own drawings, a capital résumé of the subject at that date. He was called upon at the hospital to examine and treat cases of ear disease before the institution of a special department, and this gave him opportunities for extending surgical measures beyond the opening of abscesses over the mastoid process after fluctuation had been detected. He had noted and explained anatomically the extension of suppuration from the middle ear to the temporomandibular joint. In four cases he trephined the mastoid antrum and drained the middle ear, so that in one case optic neuritis disappeared. In a case under Sir William R Gowers he first cleared out the disease from the middle ear and antrum, then trephined and drained a temporosphenoidal abscess. This appears to be the first case in which a cerebral abscess, due to tympanic suppuration, had been correctly diagnosed, localized, and then evacuated by operation, with complete success. Barker published a similar case in 1888, and his experience in this branch of surgery formed the subject of his Hunterian Lectures in 1889 on “Intracranial Inflammations Starting in the Temporal Bone”. To Barker is due the chief credit for establishing in this country the early diagnosis and immediate operation upon cases of intussusception. Previously there had been delay in making a definite diagnosis, and attempts at reduction by distending with water the bowel below the intussusception were generally disastrous failures. Barker saw the patient, a boy aged 4, twelve hours after the onset of the symptoms. He first distended the bowel with water until the tumour became imperceptible; five hours later he operated, reduced the intussusception, and the boy recovered. The table of cases showed how unsuccessful had been laparotomy done late in the case. He also operated successfully on the other variety of intussusception, that caused by a new growth in the rectum. Further reports on intussusception were published in 1894, 1897, and 1903 – the last in German. On the subject of active surgical interference with tuberculous disease of the hip- and knee-joint at an early stage Barker was led into error by following German authorities. In evidence of this, note the list at the end of his third Hunterian Lecture in 1888. He was quite right in substituting the term ‘tuberculous’ in place of the indefinite ‘strumous’ used, e.g., by Howard Marsh (qv) in his *Diseases of Joints*, 1886; but the getting rid of a disease which, however it had got there, had become completely localized in the joint, by removing the interior of the joint at a surgical operation, was an erroneous assumption. Howard Marsh stated the experience gained at the Alexandra Hospital for Hip Disease in favour of prolonged rest under good conditions, together with any surgical measures as restricted as possible. There followed increased support of Marsh’s contention, and great advances have occurred in combination with fresh air and sunlight. In 1887 Barker described thirty-five cases in which he had undertaken the radical cure of hernia, just at the time when that operation was coming into general use. He introduced improvement, including the removal of the neck of the hernial sac at its junction with the peritoneum. By 1898 he had operated upon 200 cases with three deaths. He had modified his earlier procedure to that of Bassini’s “as the best operation of any yet devised”. He used hard twisted Chinese silk, boiled in 5 per cent of carbolic acid; in 21 of the 200 there were reports that silk knots had worked out. In 1892, and again in 1896, he described his method of applying a ‘subcutaneous suture’ to bring together a recent fracture of the patella. His second report confirmed his primary experience, but in other hands and even in the earliest cases it proved difficult to get the fractured surfaces into apposition with none of the aponeurosis intervening. Hence with increasing certainty as to asepsis, the open operation continued the standard method. He published in 1895 two cases illustrating obliteration of psoas abscesses after one washing out, scraping, and closure without drainage. His flushing spoon was adopted as most useful and convenient, the actual scraping of the inside of a psoas abscess being practically omitted. The closure without drainage had the advantage over that of Lister’s success in draining, that there was no chance of secondary infection through the drainage tube. Barker gave great attention to detail in the designing of instruments and apparatus, and in carrying out exact asepsis, as well as in the use of local anaesthesia. In 1898 he published the description of the ‘sewing machine needle’ for the introduction of sutures whether intestinal or cutaneous. A reel of silk, after sterilization by boiling, was fixed on the handle of the instrument, so that the reel could be turned to pay out or wind up the thread by the thumb. The needle was held at right angles to the handle, threaded from the reel. It could thus be used for passing interrupted sutures, by cutting the thread beyond the needle. Strictly speaking it lacked the sewing-machine shuttle carrying the under thread and moving at the same time as the needle armed with the upper thread. Barker passed the needle well through, drew it back a little to form a loop, and then with his left thumb and finger passed the free end of the thread through the loop – to make a continuous looped stitch. Practice with both hands was necessary, and also practise in regulating the tightness of the stitch. In describing his sewing-machine needed he noted silk as the thread, but in 1902 he adopted linen sewing-machine thread for ligatures and sutures. In 1899 Barker gave a “Clinical Lecture and Demonstration on Local Analgesia” “which has of late been practised in many parts of the world”, using 1-1000 eucain ß in normal saline solution. He continued in subsequent years to make reports of improvements in technique. In 1907 he published a full description of spinal analgesia in 100 cases by injecting stovaine. In the following year a further series exhibited improvement by the addition of 5 per cent glucose to increase the density and limit the spread of the fluid. The Obituary Notice in the *British Journal of Surgery* said: “The profession in this country is deeply indebted to him for the share which he took in promoting the subject, and for recording his work with sufficient detail to enable others to practise the method with a great measure of success”. Of all the Clinical Lectures which Barker published none was better, and bears re-reading with greater advantage, than that delivered in 1906, entitled, “The Hands of Surgeons and Assistants in Operations”. The title does not cover all the ground. He commenced: “We have now arrived at an era in which we may claim to know a great deal about septic processes”, and he proceeded to summarize half a dozen possible avenues of infection where operations are undertaken: access from the patient’s own body; access from without, from his skin, from the atmosphere, from the instruments employed in making the wound and in its treatment, ligatures, swabs and dressings, and in addition to the “Hands of Surgeons and Assistants, their Clothes and Breath”. No surgeon spent more of his time and his attention over the technique of the surgeon. In the Address on Surgery at the Belfast Meeting of the British Medical Association in 1909, he reviewed in particular the advances made in intestinal surgery in which he had taken such a great part, including a definition of the protective power of the peritoneum, the faculty possessed by the intestinal coats in health of preventing migration of micro-organisms and the loss of this faculty as a consequence of disease and accident, the wider choice of anaesthetics, the success in removing malignant disease of the colon. In 1914, in apparently his last communication, he returned to the subject of leukoplakia which he had described so ably forty-one years before in the Holmes and Hulke *Surgery*. A charming and witty conversationalist, Barker was not a lively speaker. As a teacher he was at his best when discussing and explaining some subject in which at the time he was particularly interested. When lecturing he was apt to deal in allusions and to get above the level of his hearers. He examined at the Universities of London and Manchester, but he seemed to find it difficult to maintain rigorously his attention upon an exacting task. He had acted as Consulting Surgeon to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Millbank, and to the Obsborn Convalescent Home for Officers. At the outbreak of the War he served as Colonel AMS, at Netley, next at Malta, and then at Salonika. He died there of pneumonia on April 8th, 1916. He practised at 144 Harley Street. A portrait appears in the *British Journal of Surgery*. By his marriage in 1880 to Emilie Blanche, daughter of Mr Julius Delmege, of Rathkeale, Co Limerick, he had issue two sons and four daughters. In the midst of all his work he had great anxiety even during the last days of his life. The younger son died of acute ear disease. The elder, after entering the Army, developed signs of chronic bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis, for which he was invalided. He rejoined six weeks before the outbreak of War, was wounded and taken prisoner. During this time the tuberculosis again became active. On his release after his father’s death the disease was held in check until an attack of bronchopneumonia proved fatal. Publications:- *The Histology and Histo-chemistry of Man*, by Heinrich Frey, translated from the 4th German edition by A E J Baker, 1874. “Nephrectomy by Abdominal Section” – *Med.-Chir. Trans.*, 1880, lxiii, 181; also “Clinical Lectures Illustrating cases of Renal Surgery.” – Lancet, 1885, i, 93, 141; 1889, i, 418, 466. Holmes and Hulke, *System of Surgery*, 3rd ed, 1883, ii. “On the Removal of Deepseated Tumours of the Neck.” – *Lancet*, 1886, i, 194. “A Case of Gastro-enterostomy for Cancer of the Pylorus and Stomach.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1886, i, 292, 618; also *The Surgical Affections of the Stomach and their Treatment*, 1898. *A Short Manual of Surgical Operations*, 1887. Erichsen and Beck, *Science and Art of Surgery*, 8th ed. 1884, ii, 600. Gowers and Barker, *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1886, ii, 1154; 1888, i, 777. “Hunterian Lectures on Intracranial Inflammation Starting in the Temporal Bone, their Complications and Treatment.” – *Illust. Med. News*, London, 1889, iv, 10, 35, 63, 82, 108. “A Case of Intussusception of the Caecum, Treated by Abdominal Section with Success.” –*Lancet*, 1888, ii, 201, 262. “A Case of Intussusception of the Upper End of the Rectum due to Obstruction by a New Growth. Excision with Suture. Recovery.” – *Med.-Chir. Trans.*, 1887, lxx, 335. “Cases of Acute Intussusception in Children.” – *Brit. Med. Jour*., 1894 , i, 345. “Fifteen Consecutive Cases of Acute Intussusception with Appendix of all Cases at University College Hospital.” – *Trans. Clin. Soc. Lond*., 1897-8, xxxi, 58. “Zur Casuistik des Darm-Invagination.” – *Arch. f. klin. Chir*., 1903, lxxi, 147. “Three Lectures on Tubercular Joint Disease and its Treatment by Operation.” – *Lancet*, 1888, i, 1202, 1259, 1322. “Diseases of Joints” in Treves’ *System of Surgery*, 1896. “Operation for the Cure of Non-strangulated Hernia.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1887, ii, 1203; 1890, i, 840; 1898, ii, 712. “Permanent Subcutaneous Suture of the Patella for Recent Fracture.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1892, i, 425; 1896, i, 963. “Two Cases Illustrating Obliteration of Psoas Abscesses after one Washing out and Scraping and Closure without Drainage.” – *Trans. Clin. Soc.*, 1895, xxviii, 301. “Sewing Machine Needle.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1898, ii, 148. “A Short Note on the Use of Linen Sewing Machine Thread for Ligatures and Sutures.” –*Lancet*, 1902, i, 1465. “Clinical Lecture and Demonstration on Local Analgesia.” – *Lancet*, 1899, i, 282; 1900, i, 156; 1903, ii, 203. “A Report on Clinical Experiences with Spinal Analgesia.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1907, i, 665; 1908, i, 244. “Clinical Lecture on the Hands of Surgeons and Assistants at Operations.” – *Lancet*, 1906, i, 345. “Progress in Intestinal Surgery.” – Address on Surgery at the Belfast Meeting of the British Medical Association. – *Brit. Med. Jour*., 1909, ii, 263. “Leukoplakia.” – *Practitioner*, 1914, xciii, 176.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000752
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Higgitt, Alan Carstairs ( - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2008-10-24
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/372750372750
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Alan Higgitt was an honorary consultant ophthalmologist at Charing Cross Hospital, London. He qualified at University College Hospital. After junior posts he joined the RNVR as a surgeon lieutenant, ophthalmic specialist, on a hospital ship which was on active service in the Indian Ocean. After the end of the Second World War, he returned to start his formal ophthalmic training as a registrar at University College Hospital, working for Shapland and Neame. He worked in several hospitals, being first appointed as consultant ophthalmologist to St Mary Abbott’s Hospital, Kensington, and then to Ashford Hospital, Middlesex, and the South Middlesex Hospital. He was then appointed to Fulham Hospital, west London, which evolved into Charing Cross Hospital and he was honorary consultant ophthalmologist to this hospital until he retired in 1986. There he established a contact lens department and was involved in the treatment of diabetic eye disease. He had two great interests – sailing and music. This enjoyment extended to repairing early pianos and he also built two harpsichords and a spinet by hand. In July 2005 he had a fall, fractured some ribs and developed pneumonia, from which he died on 24 July 2005. He is survived by his wife Joan, a daughter who is a consultant psychiatrist, and two sons.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000567
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Allen, Robert Marshall (1818 - 1893)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372855372855
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born Sept 23rd, 1834; educated at University College. Entered the Bengal Army as Assistant Surgeon, Feb 10th, 1859; promoted Surgeon Feb 10th, 1871, and Surgeon Major July 1st, 1873. Retired Nov 5th, 1884, and died at Romford on May 15th, 1885.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000672
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Allfrey, Charles Henry (1839 - 1912)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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 Allingham, William (1829 - 1908)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-25 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/372858372858
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated for the profession of architecture at University College, where he gained prizes. He even practised as an architect, exhibited studies at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, and obtained honourable mention for a design of a building to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. In this year, however, he decided to abandon architecture for medicine. Entering as a student at St Thomas's Hospital, he carried off prize after prize - the Descriptive Anatomy Prize, the Anatomy Prize (1854), the Medicine Prize, the Clinical Medicine President's Prize, and the Clinical Medicine Treasurer's Prize (1855). After qualifying in 1855 he volunteered as Surgeon in the Crimean War. He was in time to be present at the siege of Sebastopol and to see a vast amount of practical surgery in the most arduous circumstances at the hospitals at Scutari. During a large part of his war services he was attached to the French Army, which was extremely badly provided with surgical aid, and there is no doubt that under the strenuous nature of the duties which devolved upon him, Allingham gained the courage and sense of responsibility which marked him out as a successful operating surgeon from the beginning of his career. After his return home he was Surgical Tutor, Demonstrator of Anatomy, and then Surgical Registrar at St Thomas's Hospital. He set up in practice in 1863 as a consultant at 36 Finsbury Square, EC, but removed to Grosvenor Street, where he soon became a well-known authority on diseases of the rectum and enjoyed a large practice. In 1871 he published his classical book on Diseases of the Rectum. It was accepted at once as an authoritative and inclusive work, though some surgeons differed from the author on points of technique. William Allingham was not attached to the staff of any of the great London Hospitals possessing a medical school, but was for many years Surgeon to the Great Northern Central Hospital and to St Mark's Hospital for Fistula and Diseases of the Rectum. He was also Consulting Surgeon to the Farringdon General Dispensary and to the Surgical Aid Society, of which, together with some of his relatives and others, he was one of the founders in 1862. He was a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1884-1886, and retired from practice in 1894. Allingham was one of the first surgeons in England to specialize in the treatment of diseases of the rectum, out of which he made a considerable fortune. He was kindly, generous, and hospitable. After his retirement he lived for some time at St Leonards, and then at Worthing, where he died on Feb 4th, 1908. He married twice: (1) Miss Christiana Cooke, by whom he had six children - four sons and two daughters. The eldest son was Herbert William Allingham, (qv). Of his two daughters both married medical men; the elder, who afterwards became Mrs Chevallier Tayler, having been first the wife of Mr Charles Cotes, of St George's; the younger was married to Claud E Woakes. (2) Miss D H Hayles, [1] who, like Mr Herbert William Allingham, predeceased the subject of this memoir. William Allingham appears in the portrait group of the Council by Jamyn Brooks (1884). Publications: Fistula, Hæmorrhoids, Painful Ulcer, Stricture, Prolapsus, and other Diseases of the Rectum, their Diagnosis and Treatment, 8vo, London, 1871. The Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Rectum. Edited by Herbert William Allingham. 8vo, London, 1871. The final 1901 edition, a collaboration between father and son, was practically rewritten. The work was translated into several foreign languages. "On the Treatment of Fistula and other Sinuses by Means of the Elastic Ligature, being a Paper (with Additional Cases) read before the Medical Society of London, November, 1874." 8vo, London; reprinted again in 1875, etc. [Amendments from the annotated edition of *Plarr's Lives* at the Royal College of Surgeons: [1] who had nursed him through a severe illness]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000675
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Wapnick, Simon (1937 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/372328372328
Occupation Anatomist
Details Simon Wapnick was an anatomist based in New York. He was born on 25 October 1937 in Pretoria, South Africa, the son of Percy Jacob Wapnick and Fanny née Levitt. He was educated at Pretoria Boys’ High School and then went on to the University of Pretoria Medical School. He held house appointments at Pretoria General Hospital and Harari Hospital, in the then Rhodesia. In 1964 he went to London, where he was a locum registrar at St Stephens and King George’s Hospitals, London, and followed the basic science course at the College and the Fellowship course in surgery at St Thomas’s. In 1965 he was a senior house officer at Great Ormond Street. From 1966 to 1969 he worked as a registrar and clinical tutor at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in Hammersmith. In 1969 he returned to Africa, as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the department of surgery at the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine, Rhodesia. From 1972 he was a specialist surgeon at the department of surgery, Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel. He then emigrated to the US, where he was a surgeon at Brooklyn Veterans Administration Hospital in New York. He subsequently taught gross anatomy at Ross University Medical School in the Dominican Republic and at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. At the time of his death, Simon was an assistant professor in the department of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College. He taught gross anatomy to first year medical students and facilitated a postgraduate gross anatomy course for various residency programmes. He wrote papers on a range of topics, including skeletal abnormalities in Crohn’s disease, diverticular disease, hiatus hernia, and carcinoma of the oesophagus and stomach. He was actively interested in various Jewish organisations in Israel and in Africa. He married Isobelle née Gelfand, the daughter of Michael Gelfand, the author of books on tropical medicine and on the Shona people, in 1962. They had two daughters (Janette and Laura) and a son (Jonathan), and three grandchildren (Chloe, Jordan and Michael Joshua). A keen marathon runner, Simon Wapnick died on 26 May 2003 of an apparent heart attack, while out jogging in Central Park.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000141
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Thomas, Kelvin Einstein (1926 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19
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/372495372495
Occupation General surgeon
Details Kelvin Thomas was a consultant surgeon at Nottingham General and King Mill hospitals. He was born in Hong Kong on 11 November 1926, the son of George Harold Thomas, a surgeon, and Nora née Gourdin. His father was formally admitted as a fellow by election by Sir Arthur Porritt in 1961, who went to Hong Kong to confer this honour on his way back from New Zealand. During the Second World War, following the fall of Hong Kong, Kelvin was sent to the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, India, from which he went on to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He trained at Guy’s Hospital and after qualification became house surgeon to Sam Wass, and later senior registrar to Philip Reading. He did junior posts at St Olave’s Hospital, Rotherhithe, was an anatomy prosector at the College under Stansfield, and then specialised in ENT, doing posts at Tunbridge Wells, Addenbrooke’s and Guy’s. He was appointed consultant to the Nottingham General Hospital and King Mill Hospital in 1966, retiring at the age of 65. He was a very talented sculptor, exhibiting regularly at the Medical Art Society and winning prizes at the Royal Society of British Artists. His bust of the Prince of Wales stands in the entrance hall of the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, but he was more generally admired for his graceful and delicate bronze nudes. A short, quiet modest man, he had great charm. His latter years were marred by myocardiac infarctions and he underwent by-pass surgery. In 1956 he married Diana Mary Allen, a schoolteacher. They had two children, a son, Stephen Austin Thomas, who became a urologist, and a daughter, Anna Rachel, a ceramic artist. Kelvin wrote his memoirs, *My father’s coat*, for private distribution. He died on 13 November 2005, some eight months after a fall from a tree from which he never regained consciousness.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000308
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Roberts, Gwyn Richard Ellis (1929 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19
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/372496372496
Occupation General surgeon
Details Gwyn Roberts was a consultant general surgeon at the Hastings group of hospitals. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, on 26 April 1929, where his father, Clifford Ellis, was a surgeon and his mother, Lydia Flay, a nurse. He was educated at the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi, and Millfield, in Somerset, before entering the London Hospital Medical College, where he qualified in 1955. He did his junior house jobs in Plymouth and at Chase Farm Hospital and went on to be casualty officer at the Hammersmith Hospital, which was followed by senior house officer posts at the West London and the Royal National Orthopaedic hospitals. He then did his National Service in the Royal Air Force as a junior specialist. On leaving the RAF he was a registrar at the Birmingham Accident and the Luton and Dunstable hospitals, before becoming a lecturer on the surgical unit at the London Hospital under Victor Dix and David Ritchie, a time when he devised a balloon catheter with an eye downstream of the balloon which he claimed provided better drainage, and did a good deal of research into the precursor of selective vagotomy in the treatment of peptic ulcers and vascular ligation for oesophageal varices. This was followed by two years at the Connaught Hospital under J Thompson Fathi. He then obtained his consultant post in general surgery at the Hastings group of hospitals. There he found himself faced with a heavy surgical load in a district over-supplied with elderly patients, carrying out the full range of general surgery with minimal junior help, but still found time to describe a new physical sign in the diagnosis of disorders of the thyroid, and a new device for decompressing the bowel. In addition to papers on his catheter, he published extensively on the management of stab wounds to the thorax and abdomen. He married Mohini Ranchandani and had two sons, Michael and Peter. He died on 4 August 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000309
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Mangat, Teja Singh (1930 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000300-E000399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372497372497
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Teja Mangat was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Dudley and Stourbridge Hospital and retired from clinical practice in 1995, after which he continued medico-legal work. Born on 7 May 1930 in Nairobi, Kenya, he was the fifth son of Waryam Singh Mangat, a pioneer who went to Kenya in 1908 and practised as an accountant, and Bachimt Kaur. His early education was at the Government Indian Primary School from 1935 to 1941, and the Government Indian High School from 1942 to 1946 in Nairobi. Going to the UK, he spent a further year at Woolwich Polytechnic before entering University College London for his pre-clinical course. His clinical education followed at University College Hospital Medical School. Following house appointments at the City Hospital, Nottingham, his interest in orthopaedics was kindled when working as senior house surgeon to Ross-Smith at Boscombe Hospital, Bournemouth, in 1956. Before taking his primary FRCS he spent time as a demonstrator of anatomy at his alma mater during 1957, passing the final FRCS in 1960. After this he returned to Africa and became surgical registrar at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. On returning to England, he became a senior registrar at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, and Birmingham Accident Centre, where he gained much experience under the supervision of F G Allen and M H M Harrison. He enjoyed the personal injury side of medico-legal work, in addition to wider orthopaedic interests, being an active member of the Birmingham Medico-Legal Society and of the British Orthopaedic Association. Teja Mangat was extremely athletic, gaining colours at medical school in tennis, squash, hockey and athletics. He continued his sporting activities in Stourbridge and became a founder member of the local squash club, playing for the Worcestershire county side. He married Sharon Ahhwalia, daughter of G B Singh of Eldoret, Kenya, in 1961. They had two daughters, Tejina and Sharleen. Teja Mangat died on 29 July 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000310
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Cardell, John Magor (1832 - 1875)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2010-02-11
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000800-E000899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/373033373033
Occupation General surgeon
Details The son of John Carden, Surgeon to the Worcester Infirmary, born at Worcester, was educated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. His elder brother, Thomas, had succeeded his father and was in turn succeeded by Henry Douglas, who held the post from 1888-1861, when he became Consulting Surgeon. He enjoyed a large surgical practice, hunted and shot, collected pictures of value, and was a zealous gardener. Had he lived, said the British Medical Journal, he would probably at no distant date have been elected President of the British Medical Association. The name of Carden is connected in the history of surgery with his recommendation of amputation by a single flap, published in the *British Medical Journal*, 1864. Fashion had changed from the varieties of circular amputation to that by transfixion with the long pointed knife recommended by Lisfranc. The main artery being controlled, the limb was stabbed with great rapidity twice on either side of the bone, and with each stab the edge of the knife was turned to cut obliquely forwards and outwards to make two thick flaps of obliquely severed muscles and nerves. The bone was sawn through with breathless haste; one ligature included the main artery and whatever was adjacent, vein or nerve or both. Sawdust was clapped on the stump and the surgeon departed, as also the onlookers. A few hours later there was reactionary hæmorrhage, and the House Surgeon by candlelight had to try to catch the bleeding points. The obliquely severed nerves caused painful twitchings of the stump, aggravated by the suppuration which set in. The ulceration and sloughing of the muscles was followed by their retraction, obtruding the end of the bone. After having practised amputation by transfixion from 1838, Carden began in 1846 to cut one single skin-flap, then to divide all the muscles down to the bone by a circular cut, and to saw through the bone slightly above the plane of the muscles. His table of 31 cases with 26 recoveries was very favourable at that time for the kind of cases undertaken. He avoided the pointed stump, and does not mention sloughing of the flap, which happened to other surgeons when an unduly long flap was raised. A second list of 33 cases by his colleagues as well as by Carden himself had similar results – 26 recoveries and 7 deaths. Teale modified the principle by making a flap three-quarters of what was needed anteriorly and a posterior flap of one-quarter, which aimed at avoiding the danger of sloughing mentioned above. Carden was disposed to maintain the advantage of the single long flap, for the limb had not to be removed so high up as Teale’s method demanded. He is also mentioned in Lister’s article in Holmes’s *System of Surgery*. Carden continued in active practice, although there were premonitory signs of apoplexy, until he died of it on Dec 22nd, 1872. *The Worcester Chronicle* referred to him in terms of appreciation. “He was gentle and gracious in manner, though, when it was needed, he could be firm and steadfast as a rock.” Publication: “On Amputation by a Single Flap.” – *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1864, i, 416, with two tables and 8 figures of stumps.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000850
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ainley, Roger Gwynne (1932 - 2006)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Enid Taylor
Publication Date 2008-10-24
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372751372751
Occupation Ophthalmic surgeon
Details Roger Gwynne Ainley was an ophthalmic surgeon in the Merseyside area. He was born in Fringford, Oxfordshire, on 8 September 1932. His father, Joe Ainley, was a headmaster and his mother, Dora (née Carter), was a music teacher, both in schools and freelance. The family are related to the Shakespearian actor Henry Ainley. Roger Ainley attended Lord Williams’ Grammar School, Thame, and then the Old Grammar School, Bicester, from 1943 to 1950. His studies were then interrupted by National Service in the Royal Air Force for two years. In 1952 he went to Keble College, Oxford, to read zoology, but a year later changed to medicine. His clinical training was also in Oxford. His medical and surgical house jobs were at the Radcliffe Infirmary and then he began his formal ophthalmological training as senior house officer and registrar at Oxford Eye Hospital from 1961 to 1963. From 1965 to 1969 he was a lecturer and then senior lecturer at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. During this period, in 1968, he was awarded the George Herbert Hunt travelling scholarship and visited ophthalmic departments in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Ohio State University. In 1969 he was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to Merseyside Regional Health Authority and was postgraduate medical tutor to the Wirral Group from 1974 to 1976. He was a member of the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress, a charter member of the International Association of Ocular Surgeons and a member of Wallasey Medical Society, becoming president in 1989. He wrote quite widely on ocular subjects, but was particularly interested in vitamin B12 levels in ocular fluids and tobacco amblyopia. His other interests were diverse – music, playing the clarinet, sailing, squash and particularly a lifelong interest in butterflies and moths. Initially he collected specimens and his collection covered all European countries, USA, Thailand, Morocco, Costa Rica, Kenya, the Gambia and Mediera. Later he became more interested in conservation and was a member of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society, Butterfly Conservation and Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Between 1963 and 1991 he had six papers on butterflies and moths published in *The Entomologist* and *The Entomologist’s Record*. In December 1959 he married Jean Burrows, a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. They had two children, Elizabeth Anne, born in 1965, who is a chartered accountant, and Timothy Charles, born in 1967, a linguist. Roger Ainley died in 2006.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000568
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First Title value, for Searching Forrest, Duncan Mouat (1922 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-01-24
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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
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First Title value, for Searching Bowen, David Ivor (1937 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Harris, Nigel Henry (1924 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-06-26
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/372712372712
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Nigel Harris was respected in the orthopaedic world, particularly for his participation in British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) conferences, where his pertinent questions often brought meetings to life. He had outspoken views on medico-social and medico-political issues and wrote many letters to *The Times* in defence of the interests of patients and the freedom of the NHS from political interference. Nigel Harris was born in Grimsby on 24 November 1924, the eldest son of Archibald Harris, a general practitioner. His mother was Lily Nove. He was educated at the Perse School, where he shone at athletics and cricket, and on one occasion when the school entertained a visiting Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team, he stumped the mighty Jack Hobbs. From Perse he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and then to the Middlesex Hospital for his clinical training. He qualified in 1948 and completed house jobs in the orthopaedic department at the Middlesex and the North Middlesex Hospital, where he was greatly influenced by Philip Wiles and Philip Newman. He then served in the RAF, reaching the rank of squadron leader, and was involved in the Berlin Air Lift of 1949, during which on one occasion he wandered by mistake into the Russian sector and narrowly escaped capture. On completing his training in orthopaedics he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital in 1964. He published on osteomyelitis, congenital dislocation of the hip and osteoarthritis, and was one of the first to replace hips and knees. He contributed chapters to *Clinical surgery* and edited the *Postgraduate textbook of clinical orthopaedics* (Bristol, Wright, 1983, second edition: Oxford, Blackwell Science, 1995). Having had experience as a house surgeon in the athletes’ clinic which had been set up at the Middlesex Hospital for the Wembley Olympic Games of 1948, he set up a sports clinic at St Charles Hospital, where he became interested in the symphysis pubis strain – the ‘groin strain’ of athletes. He became orthopaedic surgeon to Arsenal Football Club and consultant to the Football Association, where he was highly respected as ‘Nigel the knife’. Nigel was a friendly extrovert; quick in thought and action and never slow to speak his mind. He campaigned for the rights of patients and for freeing medicine from political constraints. He campaigned to set up the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Wing at St Mary’s and was secretary to the Fellowship of Freedom in Medicine. Among his many outside interests, he was interested in medico-legal work, joined the Academy of Experts, where he was respected for his impartiality and, together with Michael Powers QC, wrote *Medical negligence* (London, Butterworths, 1990, second edition: 1994). He was concerned at the increased numbers of injuries to policemen and was instrumental in setting up Flint House in Goring for their rehabilitation. In 1949 he married Elizabeth Burr. They had two sons, Andrew and Mark, who became an anaesthetist. He continued to play cricket and golf for many years, and was a keen hill walker. Unknown to many of his colleagues he owned a racehorse ‘My Learned Friend’. Frank, friendly and open, he never bore a grudge and was always the patient’s friend. He died on 8 July 2007. M Edgar
Resource Identifier RCS: E000528
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First Title value, for Searching Clark, Charles Denley (1908 - 2001)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-07-10
Unknown
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URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372713372713
Occupation Accident and emergency surgeon General surgeon
Details Denley Clark was a consultant surgeon at Pinderfields Hospital and Pontefract General Infirmary. He was born in Thailand (then Siam) on 12 August 1908. His father, Percy Leonard Archibald Clark, was a missionary, as was his mother, Mary Lenore née Denley. He was educated in Thailand until the age of ten, when he was sent to boarding school in Devon, and thence to Leeds Central High School. He qualified from Leeds Medical School in 1933, and spent three years in junior posts at Leeds General Infirmary and at St James’s and passed the Edinburgh Fellowship, before going to Labrador, Canada, for two years to serve with the International Grenfell Association. He published an account of these experiences, in which he told of the difficulties of managing ten huskies, the high prevalence of tuberculosis, and the widespread lack of food. On returning to the UK, he became resident surgical officer at the Woolwich Memorial Hospital, and completed his surgical training at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, St Peter’s and St Mark’s. In 1943 he joined the RAMC as surgical specialist, serving in Chester before being posted to the Far East, where he served with 33 Field Surgical Unit, 13 CCS in Burma, and 14 Mobile Surgical Unit and 53 Indian General Hospital. In 1946 he was appointed officer in command of 72 Indian General Hospital, in Malaya, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After demobilisation, he was senior registrar in Woolwich and at the Brook Hospital, and became consultant surgeon to the Royal Herbert Military Hospital in 1949. In 1950 he was appointed consultant surgeon to Pinderfields Hospital and Pontefract General Infirmary. After retiring at 65, he returned full-time for the next five years to set up the first consultant-led accident and emergency department at Pinderfields. He married Margaret Eileen Canneva (née Goulden) in 1954. There were no children of the marriage, which ended in divorce in 1965. He married for the second time, to June Elizabeth Nichols, in 1976. There were no children. He was a keen skier and gardener. He died from Alzheimer’s disease on 27 January 2001.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000529
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First Title value, for Searching Power, Sir D'Arcy (1855 - 1941)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2008-08-07
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372714372714
Occupation General surgeon
Details D’Arcy Power was born on 11 November 1855 at 3 Grosvenor Terrace, afterwards 56 Belgrave road, Pimlico, SW, the eldest of the six sons and five daughters of Henry Power, then assistant surgeon at the Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital and Ann, his wife and first cousin, youngest daughter of Thomas Simpson, banker and shipowner of Whitby. He was educated at St Marylebone and All Souls Grammar School, 1 Cornwall Terrace, Regent’s Park, 1866-70. The school was set up by the Rev Henry North, father-in-law of Sir James Paget, and drew its pupils from the sons of neighbouring doctors. He was at Merchant Taylors School, then in Suffolk Lane under Cannon Street Station, from 1870 to ’74, having been admitted on the presentation of Mr Foster White, Treasurer of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and he won the Pigeon and Pugh prize for “the best boy fitted for a merchant’s office”. He matriculated at Oxford in 1874 as one of the earliest non-Wykehamists at New College, and came under the influence of George Rolleston and E Ray Lankester, and of Huxley in London. As biology was not taught at New College he migrated to Exeter College with an open exhibition in 1877. In this year he was demonstrator to C J Yule of Magdalen, the University lecturer in physiology. He graduated BA 1878 with a first in natural science, MA in 1881, and BM in 1882. He entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School with a perpetual student’s ticket in 1878. His father sent a cheque for 100 guineas, but by return of post the school treasurer, G W Callender, sent back the cheque, saying “Dog does not eat dog”. From Christmas 1878 until 1881 he was assistant demonstrator of physiology to Dr V D Harris. In November 1883, when James Shuter, the assistant surgeon, died from an accidental overdose of morphia, Power became curator of the anatomical and pathological museum, a post he held for six years. He was demonstrator of practical surgery from 1889 and of operative surgery from 1889 to 1901, except in 1896-97 when he was not re-elected as a warning from the Medical Council that he must contest the next vacancy for an assistant surgeon. He was demonstrator of surgical pathology 1901-4, and lecturer on surgery 1906-12 with W Bruce Clarke and from 1912 to ’20 as one of the surgeons to the Hospital. In the Hospital itself he was ophthalmic house surgeon to his father and to Bowater Vernon, 1882, house surgeon to W S Savory, 1882-83, and won the house-surgeons’ prize. On 28 April 1898 he was elected assistant surgeon, after a contest like a Parliamentary election against his friend James Berry, the votes being 71 and 60, in a vacancy caused by the resignation of Sir Thomas Smith and promotion of W J Walsham. He had charge of the throat and nose department 1902-04, as it was still the custom for an assistant surgeon to act as a specialist. Speaking of this period at a lunch given by the President of the College in honour of his eighty-fifth birthday, Power said: “When I wanted advice I went to Sir James Paget; I went to him at breakfast-time, 7.30, that was the only time you could catch him. Or I went to Sir William Savory, my master; when his son Borradaile was away I took the head or at least the vice-chair at his dinner parties, which were very formal and very long. We went to Mr Hulke at tea-time, just as tea was coming in; we were always great friends with Mr and Mrs Hulke. We were friends too with Lord Lister; his testimonial helped me greatly when I stood for assistant surgeon at St Bartholomew’s, it impressed the Governors and I was elected.” In 1904 he was appointed surgeon to succeed John Langton, and resigned in 1920 when he was elected consulting surgeon and a governor of the Hospital. He was chairman of the visiting governors’ sub-committee in 1927-32. From 1906 to 1920 he had been surgical instructor of probationary nurses. In 1934 he was appointed archivist and honorary keeper of the muniments, and began with Gweneth Hutchings, DPh (Mrs Whitteridge) a systematic survey of the Hospital’s archives, one of the longest and most complete collections in Europe. He was amused to find that the muniment room had been so long untouched that the dust on the documents was sterile. He printed some of the earliest documents in a contribution to the issue of the *Bulletin of the History of Medicine* dedicated to Arnold Klebs on his seventieth birthday, 17 March 1940. At the Royal College of Surgeons Power was examiner in physiology for the Fellowship 1889-92 and 1897-1902 and for the Membership 1892-97, Hunterian professor 1896-97, Bradshaw lecturer 1919, Vicary lecturer 1920, and Hunterian orator 1925. He was a member of Council 1912-28, and vice-president in 1921 and 1922. In 1929 he became Honorary Librarian, a post created for him on the death of the librarian, Victor Plarr; and he was elected a trustee of the Hunterian Museum in the room of Lord Rosebery in 1930. In 1878-79 he had been demonstrator of biology to Ray Lankester at University College; and he was professor of histology 1890-1903 and assistant professor of physiology 1893-1903, with Bland Sutton as his colleague in anatomy, at the Royal Veterinary College, where as he wrote: “the cockney wit of Sutton and the sarcasm of Power reduced the disorderly classes to order.” Power held many hospital appointments in and round London, and took an active part in many professional and other societies. He was consulting surgeon to the Metropolitan Dispensary, the Victoria Hospital for Children and the Bolingbroke Hospital, Wandsworth. He was on the court of the Royal Sea-bathing Hospital, Margate, and on the board of management of the Royal Masonic Hospital, in the rebuilding of which he took an active interest. He was president of the Harveian Society in 1908 and of the Medical Society of London in 1916. At the British Medical Association he was president of the section of surgery for the Nottingham meeting in 1926, but an attack of pleurisy prevented his attendance. At the Royal Society of Medicine he was president of the section of the history of medicine in 1918-20 and of the section of comparative medicine in 1926-28. He was président d’honneur of the Société internationale de l’Histoire de Médecine at Geneva in 1925. He was a member of the Physiological Society from 1879, and served various offices in the Pathological Society, the British Orthopaedic Society, the Medical Research Club, and the Society for the Study of Disease in Children, among others. He took an active part in the International Medical Congresses and in the Société internationale de Chirurgie. He was for many years chairman of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, in whose work he took a deep interest, the president being Sir T Barlow. Outside the profession he was eminent as a freemason and achieved high rank in the Grand Lodge of England. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1897, and was president of the Bibliographical Society in 1926-28. He was a founder of the Samuel Pepys Club in 1903 and its president in 1924, and a founder of the Anglo-Batavian Society in 1920, his great-grandmother having been a Dutchwoman. He was a corresponding member or honorary fellow of many learned societies at home and abroad, including the Académie de Médecine de Paris, the American Surgical Association and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He joined the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps in 1888 and was commissioned major *à la suite* on the formation of the RAMC territorial force in 1908. During the war of 1914-18 he was lieutenant-colonel in command of the 1st London General Hospital at Camberwell. He represented the RCS on the Statutory Committee of Reference and was a member of the appeal board. In the peace *Gazette* of June 1919 he was created KBE. He had been ambulance lecturer to the Birkbeck Institute in 1890-98. He served on the Metropolitan Asylums Board and on the Advisory Committee on the administration of the Cruelty to Animals Act. He was in 1912 a member of the Royal College of Physicians committee on the nomenclature of disease, and from 1908 to 1929 a visitor for King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London. He was for many years on the councils of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the British Empire Cancer Campaign. He examined in surgery for several universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, for the RCS, the RAMC and the IMS, and was a member of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of London 1902-20. Power was a good all-round surgeon, who showed at his best in an emergency operation. But while eminent as a surgeon and as a writer on surgery, and taking an active part in the administrative and social life of the profession, he made his real mark as a scholar and historian. On his seventy-fifth birthday his many friends joined with the Osler Club to give him a volume of his *Selected* writings. The book contains sixteen of his articles and a bibliography of 609 items, and during the remaining ten years of his life books and articles continued to come from his pen almost as prolifically as before. Besides making so many contributions to medicine and scholarship Sir D’Arcy was throughout life a journalist, reviewing regularly for the *British Medical Journal* and frequently for *The Lancet*, *The Times Literary Supplement* and other papers. It is an open secret that he contributed the obituary notices of surgeons to *The Times* for many years. His first published writing appeared when he was twenty-two: “On the albuminous substances which occur in the urine in albuminuria”, written with Lauder Brunton for *St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports* in 1877, and his first clinical paper appeared in the same *Reports* in 1882: “A case of hereditary locomotor ataxy.” In the meantime he had joined Dr Vincent Harris in writing a *Manual for the Physiological Laboratory* 1880, which ran to five editions in twelve years. In 1886 he edited the *Memorials of the Craft of Surgery in England* from materials collected by J F South, a book of some 400 pages; this work first turned him to historical writing. He then began his long series of unsigned historical articles in the *BMJ*, under the editorship of Ernest Hart, and later contributed an historical article to almost every number of the *British Journal of Surgery* from its beginning in 1913. From 1893 he contributed some 200 “lives” to the *Dictionary of National Biography*, and thence acquired the method of precision and compactness which he used in revising the material collected by V G Plarr for the *Lives of the Fellows of the College*, published in 1930. Between 1930 and 1940 he wrote, largely from personal knowledge, the lives of the Fellows (nearly 400) who died in those years. He had the pleasure of presenting these lives in typescript to the College Council on his eighty-fifth birthday. This was his last public appearance. These lives of 1930-40 are printed in the present volume. Power’s professional interests were wide and he wrote on many subjects. He made a thorough study of intussusception and his Hunterian lectures were enlarged to form a book on this subject in 1898. He also wrote several papers on “wiring” for aneurysm. But his life-long interests were in the surgical diseases of children on which he published a manual in 1895, in cancer (Bradshaw lecture 1919 on cancer of the tongue), and in syphilis: with J Keogh Murphy he edited the *System of Syphilis* issued by the Oxford Press in 1908-10. He was an editor of *St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports* from 1898 to 1902 and treasurer of the *British Journal of Surgery* for many years. During the war of 1914-18 he wrote on *War wounds* for the Oxford medical war primers, of which he was an editor. He first became known to the general reader by his *William Harvey*, 1897, written to order in a few weeks; it remains after fifty-five years the best short study of its great subject. Sixteen years later he broke new ground with his *Portraits of Dr William Harvey*, compiled at Sir William Osler’s suggestion and published anonymously, and partly at Power’s expense, for the Royal Society of Medicine in 1913, with many illustrations. His most scholarly work was his edition of the *Treatises* of John Arderne, the xiv century surgeon “edited from an early xv century translation with introduction, notes, etc.” for the Early English Text Society in 1910; and followed in 1922 by Arderne’s *De arte phisicali et de cirurgia*, which he translated from the Latin. Power stated the he had seen over sixty manuscripts of Arderne’s and later gave the transcripts, which he had used for his editions, to the College library. In pure bibliography he published a masterly study of *The Birth of Mankind*, in which he cleared up the difficulties of distinguishing the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century issues of Raynalde’s book by means of elaborate “tables of comparison of the initial letters”. In 1924 he was visiting surgeon at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital at Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1930 he paid a second visit to America, when he renewed his old friendships with Fielding Garrison, Harvey Cushing, and other surgeons and scholars. He gave a course of lectures at the W H Welch Institute of the History of Medicine in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, subsequently published as *The Foundations of medical history*, 1931. In this he explains that his method as bibliographer and historian was to seek the man behind the book; he was in full agreement with Garrison in approaching medical history from the biographical aspect, and had no use for philosophical generalizations. In 1935 he gave the inaugural address at the opening of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons at Melbourne. On the voyage to Australia he dictated his autobiography; he later wrote a family history; both remained unpublished at his death. Among his later writings were *A Mirror for surgeons*, a collection of outstanding case-reports by surgeons of many dates and countries ; a complete genealogy of the family of Percivall Pott; and a paper on Thomas Johnson, the xvi century translator of Paré, in which he cleared up the biographical puzzles which had defeated earlier writers. Like his father, of whom he wrote that “he neither affirmed nor denied”, Power was an agnostic. The age of the Reformation made a special appeal to him and he wrote much about the surgeons of Elizabeth’s reign, whose books he collected. His lively interest in human types was shown in his studies of Pepys, including the paper “Why Pepys discontinued his diary”, with its prescription for spectacles for Pepys which attracted much attention. He transcribed the xvii century diary of John Ward, which was long in the possession of the Medical Society of London and was later sold and published. He wrote on Benvenuto Cellini, in whom he was interested as a connoisseur of silversmith’s work. While always open to new ideas and new methods Sir D’Arcy was a man of genuine *pietas*. He loved Oxford, the College of Surgeons, and Bart’s, and was an authority on their great men, particularly Bodley, Hunter, and Harvey. Though simple in his way of life he was fond of good food and an excellent judge of wine, and was for many years chairman of the International Exhibition [of 1851] Co-operative Wine Society. He formed a remarkable collection of editions of the *Regimen of Salerno*, the dietetic classic of the middle ages, and wrote several papers on the history of fashions in food. He believed in dining clubs as the best dissipators of professional jealousies, and particularly valued his membership of the Confrères Club, which met regularly for dinner and debate, being himself a good informal speaker. As a man Sir D’Arcy endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. Modest and unselfseeking, he carried his learning most lightly and always brought forward his assistants. Having been a poor man in early life, “we married on £60” he used to say, he remained always simple and approachable, and made no parade of his achievements. He was a very shrewd judge of men, absolutely straightforward and upright himself, with a puckish amusement at the foibles of others. He attributed to his Yorkshire Quaker ancestry the dogged determination with which he overcame the bitterness of bereavements which clouded a happy married life, ignored his physical disabilities, and set himself to carry through to completion the many tasks which he voluntarily undertook. Power married on 6 December 1883 Eleanor, youngest daughter of George Haynes Fosbroke, MRCS 1835, of Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Lady Power died on 26 June 1923. They had three children: a daughter who died in childhood; one surviving son, Air Vice-Marshal D’Arcy Power, CBE, MC, MRCS, RA Medical Service, and a second son who was missing and presumed killed at the battle of Ypres in 1915. For the second half of his life Power lived in the little old-fashioned house, 10a Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, next door to the Medical Society of London; it became almost a museum, and he knew the associations of every book and piece of furniture in it. His heart failed soon after his eighty-fifth birthday, and when his house was damaged in the air-raids of the autumn of 1940 he moved to his son’s house, 53 Murray Road, Northwood, Middlesex, where he died on 18 May 1941. He was buried at Bidford-on-Avon; a memorial service was held at St Bartholomew-the-Less on 28 May, at which G E Gask gave the funeral oration. His library was sold at Sotheby’s on 9 and 10 June 1941. A portrait in oils, by Sir Matthew Williams Thompson, Bt, Fellow of the Society of Portrait Painters, who presented it to the College, shows Sir D’Arcy, three-quarter length, seated, in his Fellow’s gown and wearing the insignia of his knighthood, aged 79, 1934. There is a photograph, aged 56, in Henry Power’s *Brief sketch of my life*, 1912, page 31; another, aged about 70, in D’Arcy Power’s *Selected writings*, 1931, frontispiece; and a third, aged 75, in *Brit J Surg*. 1930, 18, 184. Power appears in the group-portrait of the College Council of 1927-28; this painting has been engraved. There are other photographs in the College collections. *Bibliography*: Power’s typescripts were presented to the College by his son; they include a number of unpublished lectures and speeches, and are bound in 23 volumes covering the years 1895 to 1933. *Selected writings 1877-1930*. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1931, with a bibliography of 609 items compiled by A H T Robb-Smith and Alfred Franklin. Power’s chief subsequent publications were : Some bygone operations of surgery, 1-11 *Brit. J. Surg.* 1930-33, vols. 18-20. Some early surgical cases, 1-2: The Edwin Smith papyrus. *Ibid.* 1933-34, 21, 1 and 385. Ipsissima verba, 1-13. *Ibid.* 1934-37, vols. 21-24. Hyman Maurice Cohen. *Brit. J. Anaesth.* 1930, 7, 49. John Abernethy. *Brit. med. J.* 1931, 1, 719. *The foundations of medical history*. Baltimore, 1931. Touchpieces and the cure of the King’s evil. *Ann. med. Hist.* 1931, 3, 127. Roubilliac, Cheselden, and Belchier. *Brit. med. J.* 1931, 2, 820. Century of British surgery. *Brit. med. J.* 1932, 2, 134. St Bartholomew’s Hospital 1880-1930. 7th Finlayson memorial lecture. *Glasg. med. J.* 1932, 118, 73-102. Natural science and medicine, in *Johnson’s England*, Oxford, 1933, vol. 2. *A short history of surgery.* London, 1933. Medical history of Mr and Mrs Samuel Pepys. *Brit. med. J.* 1933, 1, 325. Richard Gill. *St Bart’s Hosp. Rep.* 1933, 66, 1. The idea of the new Freemasons’ Hospital in Ravenscourt Park. *Architect. Rev.* August 1933, p. 53. Films in surgery. *Sight and sound,* 1933, 2, 43. Some great English surgeons: what they did and what they looked like; the Bolingbroke lecture, abstract only. *S. W. London med. Soc. Ann. Rept*. 40, 1933-34. Merchant Taylors School, the Charterhouse, and St Bartholomew’s Hospital. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1933, 40, 5. Compulsory consultations. *Lancet,* 1934, 1, 746. The history of the amputation of the breast to 1904. 16th Wm. Mitchell Banks memorial lecture, 13 Nov. 1933. *Lpool med.-chir. J.* 1934, 42, 29. History of venereal diseases, in W. R. Bett *A short history of some common diseases*, Oxford, 1934. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. *Brit. med. J.* 1935, 1, 930. How surgery came to Australia. *Aust. N. Z. J. Surg.* 1935, 4, 368-383. Some early English doctors and their descendants [Harman, Banester, Harvey, Browne, Sloane, Pott, Hunter, Baillie, Abernethy]. *Genealogists Mag*. 1935, 7, 55 and 97. Questions and answers. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1936, 43, 221. Speech at unveiling of tablet to John Hunter at 12 South Parade, Bath, where Hunter lived in 1785, (16 May 1936). *Med. Press*, 1936, 192, 490; for an account of the ceremony, see *Nature*, 1936, 137, 864. Sir Thomas Bodley’s London House. *Bodl. quart. Rec.* 1936, 8, No. 90. New blocks of the past. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1937, 44, 222. Foreword to C. Wall *History of the Surgeons’ Company*, 1937. The Treasurer of the Hospital. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1937, 45, 29. Removal of the upper jaw; an historical operation. *Surgery*, 1937, 2, 780. The cultured surgeon. *Aust. N. Z. J. Surg.* 1937, 6, 243. A urological cause célèbre: Bransby Cooper v. Wakley. *Brit. J. Urol.* 1937, 9, 330. Clap and the pox in English literature. *Brit. J. ven. Dis.* 1938, 14, 105-118. A letter written in 1637 giving advice to a patient suffering from stone in the bladder. *Brit. J. Urol.* 1938, 10, 109-113. The hospital beer. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1938, 45, 298. Foreword to Calvert’s *John Knight, serjeant-surgeon*, 1939. St Bartholomew’s Hospital. *Med. Press*, 1939, 202, 281. *A mirror for surgeons*. Boston, Massachusetts, 1939. The muniment room at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. *Bull. Hist. Med.*, Baltimore, 1940, 8, 392-402. Thomas Johnson (1597?-1644), botanist and barber-surgeon. *Glasg. med. J*. 1940, 133, 201. Pedigree of Percivall Pott. *St Bart’s Hosp. J.* 1940, war edit., 2, 21. Purchase of land by the family of Dr Wm. Harvey. *Ann. med. Hist.* 1940, 2, 308. The journal and the profession: some memories. *Brit. med. J.* 1940, 2, 437. Power edited two volumes of articles reprinted from the *Medical Press and Circular: British masters of medicine*, 1936, including at p. 131 his own article “James Paget”; *British medical societies*, 1939, including at p. 58 his own article “The Abernethian Society.”
Resource Identifier RCS: E000530
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barnes, Alfred Brook (1804 - 1867)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-11 2013-08-07
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/372946372946
Occupation General surgeon
Details Apprenticed to Richard Cremer, of Chelmsford, before he entered Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals in the time of Astley Cooper and of Addison. First practised at Ingatestone, Essex, removed to Chelsea in 1820, practising for many years at 19 Manor Place, King's Road. There he was instrumental in founding the Western Medical and Surgical Society, also the West London Eye Infirmary, to which he was surgeon. He was also Surgeon to the School of Discipline and to the Royal Manor Hall Asylum for Young Females. He died before the year 1867.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000763
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barnes, Christopher Hewetson (1801 - 1875)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barnes, John Wickham (1830 - 1899)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barnes, Robert (1817 - 1907)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-18
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/372949372949
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born at Norwich on September 4th, 1817, second son of Philip Barnes, an architect and one of the founders of the Royal Botanic Society of London. His mother was Harriet Futter, daughter of a Norfolk squire. Sent to school at Bruges from 1826-1830 he became proficient in French; later he had as tutor George Borrow, the well-known author of the *Bible in Spain*. After an apprenticeship in his native town he entered University College and continued medical studies at the Windmill Street School and at St George’s Hospital. After qualifying in 1842 he spent a year studying in Paris. Having failed to be appointed to the post of Resident Physician to Bethlem Hospital he started practice at Notting Hill. He taught at the Hunterian School and lectured on Forensic Medicine at Dermott’s School. He served as Obstetrician to the Western General Dispensary, and in 1859 was elected Assistant Obstetric Physician, and in 1863 Obstetric Physician to the London Hospital. But within a year he changed over to St Thomas’s Hospital, and in 1875 passed on to become Obstetric Physician to St George’s Hospital. Thus he became the foremost representative in London of his special branch, and his name was attached to instruments and apparatus. With the development of ovariotomy, he advocated an active practice of surgery by obstetricians and gynaecologists. In midwifery he prescribed early interference. In 1847 he first published an account of placenta praevia, elaborated in his Lettsomian Lectures to the Medical Society in 1858, “On the Physiology and Treatment of Flooding from Unnatural Position of the Placenta”. His plan was to separate with the finger the placenta as soon as possible, but other measures have replaced his. He advocated a bag to dilate the cervix, long forceps to extract the foetal head, or perforation when extraction failed. He proposed the term ‘ectopic gestation’ instead of ‘extra-uterine foetation’. Barnes was an active controversialist; the differences of opinion between the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Societies, with which he was much concerned, were solved by their union in the Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Mrs Robert Barnes gave a sum of £4,010 to the Royal Society of Medicine, and the gift is commemorated in the name of the large hall of the society. Another gift has caused the Pathological Laboratory at St George’s Hospital to be named after him. He was twice married: by his first marriage he had three children; a son, Dr R S Fancourt Barnes, assisted his father in the publication of *Obstetric Medicine and Surgery*, 1884. By his second marriage he had a son and a daughter. He retired at about the age of 70, and died of apoplexy at Eastbourne on May 12th, 1907.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000766
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Amphlett, Edward (1848 - 1880)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-25
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/372860372860
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Oct 20th, 1848, the second son of Samuel Holmden Amphlett (qv), by Mary Georgiana, his wife. He was nephew of Sir Richard Amphlett, of Wychbold Hall, near Droitwich, at one time Lord Justice of Appeal. Edward Amphlett was the grandson of George Edward Male, an early nineteenth century authority on medical jurisprudence. He was educated for the sea, and served as midshipman in the Royal Navy for several years, seeing many parts of the world and acquiring great interest in nautical matters. At the time of his death he was Surgeon to the Naval Artillery Volunteers, with whom he had recently been a cruise on board HMS *Esk*. He suffered so severely from asthma that he was invalided out of the service. Determining to enter the medical profession, he first graduated at Cambridge from Peterhouse as a Junior Optime in the Mathematical Tripos (his uncle, Sir Richard Amphlett, who died in 1883, had been Sixth Wrangler). He is thus one of the first Cambridge man on our record. Entering at Guy’s Hospital, he was House Surgeon and Resident Obstetrician. After qualifying and passing the Fellowship examination he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital, and began to devote himself to practice and more particularly to diseases of the eye, which he had studied at Vienna. At the time of his death, besides being Assistant Surgeon, he was also Demonstrator of Surgical Pathology in Charing Cross Hospital Medical School and Assistant Surgeon at the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital. He practised at 40 Weymouth Street, Portland Place, W, and died there on Sept 9th, 1880. His elder brother was Richard Holmden Amphlett, QC, Recorder of Worcester.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000677
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Amphlett, Samuel Holmden (1813 - 1857)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Amyot, Thomas Edward (1817 - 1895)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-09-25
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/372862372862
Occupation General surgeon
Details Eldest son of Thomas Amyot, FRS, Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries and sometime Private Secretary to the Right Honourable William Wyndham. His mother was Jane, daughter of Edward Colman, of Norwich, surgeon. Thomas Amyot was born on Jan 28th, 1817, and was admitted to Westminster School on Jan 12th, 1829. Educated professionally at the Hunterian School of Medicine and at St Thomas’s Hospital. Married on Oct 28th, 1847, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev Francis Howes, Minor Canon of Norwich Cathedral, and had issue one son and a daughter. He practised at Diss in Norfolk, and died there on Dec 15th, 1895. Amyot appears to have inherited the versatility of his father, for his leisure hours were spent in microscopy, astronomy, geology, and botany. He is also said to have had musical and literary tastes. He was President of the Norfolk and Norwich Medico-Chirurgical Society and of the East Anglian Branch of the British Medical Association. Publications: “Diabetes: Saccharine Treatment – Death – Autopsy.” – *Med. Times and Gaz.*, 1861, i, 327. “A Case of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus with Bursting of the Head.” – *Ibid.*, 1869, i, 330. “Foot and Mouth Disease in the Human Subject.” – *Ibid*, 1871, ii, 555.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000679
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Carpmael, Norman (1875 - 1912)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, Alexander (1804 - 1880)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, Alexander Dunlop (1794 - 1871)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-02 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/372865372865
Occupation General surgeon
Details Son of Andrew Anderson, merchant, of Greenock, and nephew of Professor John Anderson, founder of the Andersonian University, Glasgow. Born in Greenock, he pursued his preliminary studies in Glasgow, and completed his medical training in Edinburgh and London. He was appointed a Surgeon's Mate (General Service) in 1813, and on March 13th was Hospital Assistant to the Forces. On May 12th, 1814, he joined the 49th Foot as Assistant Surgeon, but was afterwards placed on half pay, was re-employed by exchange on full pay, was again placed on half pay, and finally commuted on Sept 3rd, 1830. He served in Canada for a part of the time. He practised in Glasgow in 1820 and was elected Surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1823, being appointed Physician to the Institution in 1838. Also served as Physician to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and from 1852-1855 was President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. He married in 1829 a daughter of Thomas McCall, of Craighead, Lanarkshire, and had by her four sons and two daughters. Of the sons one, Dr T McCall Anderson, became Professor of Medicine in the Andersonian University. A D Anderson died at 159 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, on May 13th, 1871. He wrote only a few articles for professional papers, and is best remembered by that "On the Treatment of Burns by Cotton," published in the *Glasgow Medical Journal* for 1828. He is said to have enjoyed an extensive share of what is called "the best practice". He had a delicate sense of honour, and always showed himself acutely sensitive in regard to the feelings of others. His portrait by Sir Daniel Macnee, painted in 1870, hangs in the Faculty Hall at Glasgow.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000682
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Anderson, Henry Graeme (1882 - 1925)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-02
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000600-E000699
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372866372866
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born Aug 1st, 1882, the younger son of Nicol Anderson, of Barrhead, Renfrewshire. Educated at Glasgow, King’s College, London, and the London Hospital. Graduated at the University of Glasgow, and was admitted a Member and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on the same day. He filled various minor posts at the London, St Mark’s, the Royal Orthopaedic, the Metropolitan, and the Cancer Hospitals before he was elected Assistant Surgeon at St Mark’s Hospital, where he devoted himself to the surgery of the rectum. He joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of War in 1914 and was posted to the Royal Naval Air Service Expeditionary Force, serving at Antwerp, Ypres, and on the Belgian and Northern French coasts. Appointed Surgeon to the British Flying School at Vendôme in 1917, and from 1918-1919 was Surgeon to the Central RAF Hospital, and was afterwards transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force as Surgical Consultant to the RAF, with the rank of Major. He returned to civil practice at the end of the war, living at 75 Harley Street, and died suddenly whilst playing in a lawn tennis tournament on June 28th, 1925. He was married and left a widow and one daughter. Anderson was one of the small number of Air Medical Officers who obtained a pilot’s certificate when flying was in its infancy. He gave much thought and research to the physical fitness of airmen, the prevention and treatment of aerial injuries, and the selection of aviators from the surgical point of view. He was a keen sportsman and was particularly interested in boxing. Publication: *The Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation*, Oxford Medical Publications, 1919.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000683
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Ollier, Louis Xavier Édouard Léopold (1830 - 1900)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Openshaw, Thomas (1856 - 1929)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-09-12
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375044375044
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Born at Bury in Lancashire on March 27th, 1856, the eldest son of John Lomax Openshaw, gentleman, and Mary Horrocks, his wife. He was educated at the Bristol Grammar School and began to train as an engineer, but soon abandoned the course for medicine. He entered the University of Durham, where he graduated MB BS in 1883, proceeding MS in 1887, when he took 1st class honours at the examination. He then entered the London Hospital and was Demonstrator of Anatomy 1890-1893, having been Curator of the Museum from 1888-1890; in 1890 he was elected Assistant Surgeon, becoming full Surgeon in 1902 and Consulting Surgeon in 1923. He lectured on anatomy from 1893-1903, on surgery 1912-1913, and on orthopaedic surgery 1909-1923, in the Medical School attached to the Hospital. From an early period in his career Openshaw became interested in orthopaedic surgery, and in 1893 was elected Assistant Surgeon to the National Orthopaedic Hospital; he remained upon the staff after the charity had amalgamated with the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and the City Orthopaedic Hospital in 1905, becoming Surgeon and ultimately Consulting Surgeon. His keen interest in the treatment of deformities led him to take a leading part in promoting an orthopaedic department at the London Hospital, and he remained in charge of it as long as he was on the active staff. He was also Surgeon to the Surgical Aid Society, where in later life he was an influential member of the Committee of Management. In 1915 he acted as the trusted adviser of Mrs Gwynn Holford when she formed the Queen Mary's Convalescent Auxiliary Committee, and opened the hospital at Roehampton to provide artificial appliances for men wounded in the War. In all questions which arose as to the best kinds of artificial limbs to be supplied and the choice of makers, Openshaw's advice was sought and taken, and most of the orthopaedic surgeons who joined him as colleagues were appointed on his recommendation. In 1918 he was instrumental, with Sir Robert Jones and Mr E Muirhead Little, in establishing the British Orthopaedic Association, and in 1922-1923 he was President of the Orthopaedic Subsection of the Section of Surgery at the Royal Society of Medicine. He was also a Vice-President of the Section of Diseases of Children, which included Orthopaedics, at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association at Liverpool in 1912, and President of the Section of Orthopaedics at Portsmouth in 1923. Amongst his minor appointments were those of Consulting Surgeon to the Poplar Hospital for Accidents, to the Cottage Hospitals at Tilbury Dock, Sidcup, and Woolwich, and to King Edward VIIs Hospital. At the Royal College of Surgeons he was a Member of Council from 1916-1924, but took no very active part in the proceedings. From his undergraduate days Openshaw was a keen volunteer, and was amongst the first to take a commission as Surgeon Lieutenant when the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps was established. In 1900 he went to the South African War as Surgeon to the Imperial Yeomanry Field Hospital, where he was second in command under Charles Stonham (qv). He was taken prisoner when Pretoria was captured, and after his release was appointed Principal Medical Officer of No 2 Model School Hospital, Pretoria, where he had a freer hand and better opportunities than in a subordinate position in the Yeomanry Hospital. For his services he was mentioned in dispatches and was decorated CMG in 1900. On his return to England he became Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel in the Lincolnshire Yeomanry (T). He was too old to serve abroad during the European War, but was appointed Consulting Surgeon to the Eastern Command with the rank of Colonel AMS, and was made a CB in 1917, being also a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Openshaw had many interests apart from those of his profession. He was Master of the Wheelwrights' Company in 1915-1916; had been Master of several Masonic Lodges, including that of the London Hospital, and held the rank of PGD from 1905 and PAG Soj from 1922. He was an enthusiastic and very skilful fisherman, for he was President of the Red Spinner Angling Society, and had won in 1925 the challenge cup which he had himself presented to the Club. He married in 1890 Gertrude, daughter of William Pratt, of Bruen Hall, Oxfordshire (d1929), and by her had a son, Major L P Openshaw, RAF, who was killed in a flying accident at Bournemouth in the summer of 1927, and a daughter, Mrs Jenner. He died after a short illness on November 17th, 1929, and was buried in Maidenhead Cemetery. Openshaw was a good operator, for his anatomical knowledge was sure and his decision in emergencies was rapid. His service at the London Hospital bridged over the change from the antiseptic to the aseptic ritual in the operating theatre. Having achieved excellent results with antiseptic methods he was loath to change, and it was some time before he yielded to the innovation of operating in gloves, for his skin was unaffected by frequent immersion in 5 per cent carbolic lotion. Somewhat short in stature, he was of so sturdy a build that he looked shorter than he was in reality. He spoke with a marked Lancashire accent. His honesty of purpose, his enthusiasm for all forms of sport, and his absolute loyalty made him a general favourite, and by his many friends he was always spoken of as 'Tommy'. He made no separate contribution to surgical literature, but was joint-editor of the *Catalogue of the Pathological Museum of the London Hospital*.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002861
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Barratt, Joseph Gilman (1819 - 1896)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Bratton, James (1813 - 1889)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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/373142373142
Occupation General surgeon
Details Educated at University College, and practised at Shrewsbury, where he died at his residence, 26 Claremont Street, on April 18th, 1889.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000959
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Archer, Edmond ( - 1869)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Archer, John (1809 - 1886)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Archer, William (1809 - 1891)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Archer, William Gammon (1848 - 1890)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Armstrong, Robert ( - 1855)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-02 2016-10-13
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/372883372883
Occupation General surgeon
Details At one time he was Physician to the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth, and at the time of his death (1), which occurred before 1860, was Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets. He was residing at Hills Court, Exeter, when he died. Publication: *The Influence of Climate and Other Agents on the Human Constitution, with Reference to the Causes and Prevention of Disease among Seamen; with Observations on Fever in general, and an Account of the Epidemic Fever of Jamaica*, 8vo, London, 1843. [(1) Date of death 28 June 1855 - details on gravestone. Notified by Alan Taylor by email 11 October 2016.]
Resource Identifier RCS: E000700
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ashton, Thomas Mather (1812 - 1878)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

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

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-11 2012-03-13
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372406372406
Occupation Urological surgeon Urologist
Details Born at Petworth on January 7th, 1844, the son of William Morris, surgeon of that place, and grandson of a Morris practising in North Wales. The surname Morris has been traced in particular to families of mixed Welsh and Jewish descent who settled on the Welsh border after the explusion of the Jews from England by Richard I. Morris in his prime, black-haired, fresh-complexioned, dignified, and a fluent speaker, seemed to point to a mixed Welsh and Jewish descent. He was educated at Epsom College, being one of the first hundred boys admitted to that Institution under the Rev. Dr. Thornton. He then went to University College, London, where he graduated B.A. in 1863 with philosophy (i.e., the philosophy dominant in the early part of the eighteenth century) as his special subject. He proceeded M.A. in 1870, and was throughout life ruled by opinions acquired during this philosophic studies. He studied at Guy's Hospital, where he was House Surgeon after graduating M.B. Lond. For a short time he was Resident Medical Officer of the Dispensary, Stanhope Street. In January, 1870, he was appointed Surgical Registrar at Middlesex Hospital; in August, 1871, was elected Assistant Surgeon, and Surgeon in the Out-patient Cancer Department; from 1879 until 1889 he was Surgeon to the Hospital and was in charge of the Cancer Department. He retired at the age limit in 1905. He was appointed Lecturer in Practical Surgery in 1871, but it was as Lecturer in Anatomy from 1872-1881 that he distinguished himself the most. It gave origin to his most original and permanent publication, *The Anatomy of the Joints of Man* (8vo, 43 plates, 1879; 8th American edition, Philadelphia, 1925). He followed this up later by acting as the editor of *A Treatise on Human Anatomy*, by various authors, 1893. Morris wrote on "The Articulations", other contemporaries contributing. The work ran through a number of editions. In 1881 he became Lecturer on Surgery. In 1880 a domestic servant, aged 19, was diagnosed by the physician, Sydney Coupland, to have a calculus in an undilated kidney, the diagnosis being made from the signs of pain and hæmaturia only. Morris removed the stone on Oct. 22nd, 1880, and the case was reported, as the first designed operation of its kind in this country, in the Clinical Society's *Transactions* (1881, xiv, 30), the stone being preserved in the Hospital Museum. The patient made a complete recovery. This brought him an extended practice and gave him the opportunity of publishing a number of books on genito-urinary surgery; he was for a time the leading authority, until examination by X-rays and the cystoscope expanded the methods of diagnosis. In the latter part of his life he was known outside Middlesex Hospital as a medical educationalist and politician. He became dogmatic and dictatorial in manner, long-winded in speech, influenced by rather an antiquated philosophy, and unsympathetic with novelties which could not be squared with his ingrained views. He believed that the Middlesex Medical School should continue to teach all the subjects of the curriculum, and he opposed with a donation of £1000 the Medical Schools Amalgamation University of London scheme in 1906. Great efforts were made to endow the Medical School and the fund amounted in 1927 to £130,000. He took a lifelong interest in his old school, Epsom College, was for many years Treasurer, and by visiting constantly was practically Manager. As the Surgeon-in-charge of the cancer wards at Middlesex Hospital, he wrote much on the subject, including the Bradshaw Lecture, 1903, before the experimental and radiological developments of the subject. The Imperial Cancer Research Fund was originated in his house, No. 8, at the north-east corner of Cavendish Square, and he acted as Treasurer and Vice-President. In connection with the British Medical Association he was Secretary of the Section of Surgery at Manchester in 1877, and in 1889 Vice-President at Leeds. In 1895 he was President of the Section of Anatomy and Histology in London. In 1893 he delivered the Cavendish Lecture, and in 1908 the Sir William Mitchell Banks Memorial Lecture. At the College Morris held the following posts: 1884-1889, Examiner in Anatomy for the Fellowship; 1893-1914, Member of Council; 1894-1904, Member of the Court of Examiners; 1898, Hunterian Professor (three lectures on Renal Surgery); 1899, Examiner in Dental Surgery; 1903, Bradshaw Lecturer; 1904-1917, Representative on the General Medical Council, and was for ten years (1907-1917) Treasurer; 1906, Member of the Committee of Management of the Conjoint Board; 1906, 1907, President; 1909, Hunterian Orator. He took for the subject of his oration John Hunter in his relation to eighteenth-century philosophic literature, and delivered it in the presence of T.R.H. the Prince and Princess of Wales, shortly after King George V and Queen Mary; in 1918 he was elected a Trustee of the Hunterian Collection. He also examined in Anatomy at the University of Durham and in Surgery at the University of London. During his last years he led a lonely life; his wife, a Russian dancer, predeceased him and bore him no children. After leaving his house in Cavendish Square he lived at 42 Connaught Square, ailing and afflicted by a slight facial tic. He was definitely ill for some three weeks, and died on June 14th, 1926. He left estate to the value of £44,000. A fine portrait of him in his prime and in the full-dress President's gown by W. W. Ouless, R.A., hangs on the College staircase. There are others at different ages in the College Collection. PUBLICATIONS:- In addition to those already noted Morris wrote: - *Surgical Diseases of the Kidney*, 12mo, 6 plates, 1885. *Injuries and Diseases of the Genital and Urinary Organs,* 8vo, London, 1895. *Hunterian Lectures on Renal Surgery*, 8vo, London, 1898. *Surgical Diseases of the Kidney and Ureter*, 2 vols., 1901. *The Profession of Medicine: Introductory Address at the Middlesex Hospital Medical College, 1st October,* 1873, 8vo, London. "Clinical Lecture on Rupture of the Bladder and its Treatment." - *Med. Times and Gaz.*, 1879, ii, 603. "Remarks on Epithelioma and Ichthyosis of the Tongue." - *Med. Soc. Proc.*, 1881-3, vi, 194. *On the Treatment of Inoperable Cancer*, 8vo, London, 1902. *Essentials of Materia Medica*, 7th ed., Philadelphia, 1905. *The Etiology, Symptoms and Treatment of Gallstones, *1896. "Statement of Further Evidence proposed to be given before the Committee on the London Ambulance Service by the President R.C.S.," fol., London, 1908. "Statement prepared for the Royal Commission on Vivisection by the President R.C.S.," fol., London, 1908. "The Darwin Centenary - an Address from the Royal College of Surgeons to the University of Cambridge, 1909," 8vo, 1909. "On the Need of the Medical Representation in Parliament." - *Outlook*, 1918, Oct.5.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000219
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Butlin, Sir Henry Trentham (1845 - 1912)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-11 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/372407372407
Occupation General surgeon
Details The fourth son and fifth child of the Rev. W. Wright Butlin, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who died in 1902 at the age of 88. His mother was Julia Crowther Trentham, a clever and strong-minded woman coming of an evangelical Northamptonshire family who, in spite of delicate health, lived to be 84. The Butlins were a Rugby family who carried on the business of Butlin's Bank which was established in 1791 and was absorbed by Lloyds Bank in 1868. The Rev. W. W. Butlin was Curate of Camborne, then held the joint living of Cury and Gunwalloe, Cornwall, and was finally Victor of Penponds, near Camborne, where he is said to have been instrumental in building the church. Later in life he came into some property at Rugby which had been left to his father - a medical man - by Mr. Benn, a cousin. It had belonged to Mrs. Anne Butlin, who carried on Butlin's Bank after the death of her husband. Henry Trentham Butlin was born on Oct. 24th, 1845. He was educated at home with his brothers by a resident tutor until he entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital in October, 1864, where he lived in the residential college of which Dr. James Andrew was Warden. The appointment of House Surgeon to Sir James Paget (q.v.) became vacant unexpectedly in 1868 by the resignation of William Square (q.v.), of Plymouth, and Butlin was appointed in his place from April to October. When the House Surgeoncy ended Butlin went to Charing, in Kent, with a view to partnership with Charles Wilks, who had taken his M.R.C.S. in 1825 and was a devoted adherent to this old medical school. An agreement was drawn up but never signed, as Butlin felt himself unsuited for a country practice after the stimulus of acting as House Surgeon to Sir James Paget, and had determined to settle in London as a surgeon. He was appointed Medical Registrar to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street and held the post until July, 1872. It was generally recognized on his resignation that he could have been elected an Assistant Physician had he chosen to apply. Whilst he was Registrar he passed the F.R.C.S. examination, and was appointed Surgical Registrar at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in December, 1872. The duties were arduous, for the Registrar had to examine every patient admitted to the surgical wards and write a note with his own hand in specially kept books. He had to attend in the operating theatre, verify the diagnosis of tumours by microscopical examination, and conduct the surgical post-mortems. All these duties Butlin performed to the entire satisfaction of the staff, and soon made such a reputation for himself that he was co-opted to the Morbid Growths Committee of the Pathological Society, of which he was Secretary from 1884-1886. Being as poor as Job, he married in 1873 Annie Tipping, daughter of Henry Balderson, merchant, of Hemel Hempstead, took a house, No. 47 Queen Anne Street, and kept the wolf from the door with resident pupils who paid £126 a year apiece. The marriage was singularly happy, and Butlin rightly attributed much of his success in life to the sterling qualities of his wife, who relieved him of all domestic anxieties. By her he had two daughters and a son. The elder daughter, Olive, married Percy Furnivall, F.R.C.S., only son of F. J. Furnivall, the well-known Shakespearean scholar; the younger married Norman Morice, of the firm of J. C. & C. W. Moore, stockbrokers. The son, Henry Guy Trentham, survived his father, volunteered whilst still at Cambridge, and was reported missing and wounded from the Cambridgeshire Regiment near Beaumont Hamel, France, on Sept. 16th, 1916. Whilst acting as Surgical Registrar Butlin was elected Assistant Surgeon to the Metropolitan Free Hospital, a post he resigned on becoming Assistant Surgeon to the West London Hospital, where he remained from 1872-1880, having a few beds of his own, learning to do major emergency operations, and having Sir Alfred Cooper (q.v.) as his chief. He was also Surgeon to the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease which then occupied a single house in Queen Square, Bloomsbury. He was appointed Demonstrator of Practical Surgery in the Medical School attached to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1879, and in the following year he was elected Assistant Surgeon in the vacancy caused by the unexpected death of George W. Callender (q.v.). He was immediately put in charge of the Out-patient Department for Diseases of the Throat upon the resignation of Sir T. Lauder Brunton, M.D. He held the post for twelve years, and with the help of Dr. F. de Havilland Hall raised the department to as high a pitch of excellence as could be obtained in the cramped quarters assigned to it. He also made for himself a leading position amongst contemporary laryngologists, though he never pretended to specialize in surgery of the throat, and with Felix Semon and de Havilland Hall he was a principal founder of the Laryngological Society, which is now a section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He became full Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital when Morant Baker (q.v.) resigned in 1892, and was appointed joint Lecturer on Surgery with John Langton (q.v.) in 1896. He resigned the office of Surgeon in November, 1902, before he had reached the age limit, and was elected Consulting Surgeon and a Governor of the Hospital. He was placed on the Visiting Governors Committee in 1909. Butlin's connection with the Royal College of Surgeons began in 1873, when he won the Jacksonian Prize with his essay on "Un-united Fractures". He delivered the Sir Erasmus Wilson Lectures on Pathology in 1880 and 1881. The lectures were published in 1862 under the title *Sarcoma and Carcinoma, their Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment.* In 1892 he lectured, as Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology, "On Chimney Sweeps' Cancer". He delivered the Bradshaw Lecture in 1905, and in 1907 he gave the Hunterian Oration without a note or a falter - a feat which had only been accomplished in recent years by Sir James Paget, Sir William Savory, and Henry Power. He was a Member of the Council, 1895-1912. In 1909 he became President, was re-elected in 1910, and again in 1911. Failing health prevented him from completing his third year; he resigned, and Sir Rickman J. Godlee (q.v.) acted in his stead. Butlin had an equally brilliant career in the British Medical Association. A Vice-President of the Section of Pathology at the Worcester Meeting in 1882, he was President of the Section of Laryngology at the Leeds Meeting in 1889, and at the Portsmouth Meeting ten years later he was President of the Surgical Section. He delivered the General Address in Surgery at the Exeter Meeting in 1907, speaking of the "Contagion of Cancer in Human Beings". In 1910, as President of the Association, he spoke on the "Evolution of the British Medical Association and its Work". He was Treasurer of the Association from 1890-1893, and again from 1893-1896, being the only person who had been re-elected to that important and responsible office. At the University of London he was the first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He was President of the Pathological Society of London 1905-1907, during which he gave the Jubilee Address; and President of the Laryngological Society. During the latter years of his life he had the pleasure of acting as a Governor of Rugby School and thus renewing his ancestral ties with the County. He died after a long period of failing health due to laryngeal tuberculosis on Jan. 24th, 1912, and was cremated at Golder's Green. Butlin was a man of rather frail and slender physique, slightly above medium height, but possessed of such vitality, nervous energy, and endurance that after a long morning of private practice he would never leave the operating theatre at the hospital until the list was finished, so that he often remained standing from 1.30 to 7.30, when he was left in a state of profound exhaustion. He loved horses took his exercise in riding, and would often ride to St. Bartholomew's Hospital on a Sunday morning. His holidays were usually spent in travelling through France, Spain, and Italy. His carriage, always painted an olive green decorated with his coat-of-arms, and drawn by a well-groomed pair of excellent horses, made him recognizable everywhere, for, thanks to Lady Butlin, he always had a very smart turn-out. He was a good and fluent speaker, and it was clear that he had deliberately modelled his style on that of Sir James Paget. As a teacher of students both in the wards and in the lecture theatre he was excellent. He leant to the pathological side of surgery and was always much interested in tumours and their structure. As a surgeon he was bold, and undertook very extensive operations for the complete removal of malignant growths, so that he may be said to be one of the pioneers in England who adopted the radical cure of cancer and was not contented with the local removal practised by his predecessors. His practice was extensive and lucrative - beginning with nothing he left the sum of £90,996. He would have been equally successful had he gone into business, for he was far-seeing, had large ideas, was very careful in detail, and from a business point of view was one of the best occupants of the Presidential Chair at the Royal College of Surgeons. Honours came to him from many sources. He was created a baronet in 1911; he was an honorary D.C.L. of Durham (1893), and a LL.D. of Birmingham (1910). Butlin stood at the parting of the ways when Sir W. Mitchell Banks (q.v.) drew attention in 1877 and again in 1882 to the good results obtained by removing the axillary glands with the breast in cases of cancer. He had followed the example of his seniors, and especially of Sir James Paget, in adopting local removal. For a while he followed the new teaching, but it was breaking away from tradition and for a time he went back to the old methods. In the end he became a whole-hearted adherent, and, like a true convert, he practised larger and larger extirpations in every case of malignant disease, more especially of the tongue, and followed up the results with unusual energy. His lectures on diseases of the tongue were published in 1885 and were illustrated with water-colour drawings made by T. Godart and Dr. Leonard Mark. The original drawings are preserved in the Museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. This excellent manual was reprinted in Philadelphia in 1895, was translated into German in 1887 by Julius Beregszaszy and into French by Douglas Aigre in 1889. Large additions were made when a new edition was published in 1900. The patients seen by Butlin in his private practice came in a much earlier stage of the disease than the ordinary hospital patient. He was therefore able to state that in 197 cases where he had removed the tongue for cancer quite 30 per cent were alive and free from recurrence three years after the operation. He recommended local removal as soon as possible, with subsequent excision of any leucoplakic patches. He foresaw that treatment by radium was likely to be serviceable, but before his death he had attained to a degree of success which remained unsurpassed until the treatment by radium came into general use. Of his portraits the best is the photograph in the obituary notice in the *British Medical Journal.* A three-quarter length in oils by the Hon. John Collier hangs in the Museum Hall at the Royal College of Surgeons. This is a replica of the picture exhibited in the Royal Academy. PUBLICATIONS:- *Sacroma and Carcinoma, their Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment,* 8vo, London, 1882. *On Malignant Diseases (Sarcoma and Carcinoma) of the Larynx*, 8vo, 1883. *Diseases of the Tongue,* 12mo, London, 1885. An excellent manual on the subject. It was reprinted and an American edition was published in Philadelphia, 1885; it was translated into German (Vienna, 1887) and into French (Paris, 1889). The original water-colour drawings by T. Godart and Leonard Mark are in the Museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 2nd ed. (with W. G. SPENCER), 1900. *On the Operative Surgery of Malignant Disease,* 8vo, London, 1887. *On Cancer of the Scrotum in Chimney Sweeps,* 8vo, 1892.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000220
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Connolly, Rainer Campbell (1919 - 2009)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by T T King
Publication Date 2009-10-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372898372898
Occupation Neurosurgeon
Details Campbell Connolly was a consultant neurosurgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He was born on 15 July 1919, the elder son of George Connolly, a solicitor who had served in the First World War, and his wife, Margaret, née Edgell, of Brighton. His grandfather, Colonel Benjamin Bloomfield Connolly was a distinguished military surgeon who had been principal medical officer of the Cavalry Brigade at El Teb (Sudan) and was commander of the Camel Bearer Company on the expedition to relieve General Gordon. Connolly’s education was at Lancing College, Bedford School and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, from which he graduated in 1941. Owing to the shortage of junior medical staff, he was immediately employed as a locum anaesthetic houseman and gave a number of anaesthetics for Sir James Paterson Ross who had, at the start of his career, an interest in neurosurgery. This position led to Connolly’s appointment as a house officer at the wartime hospital, Hill End, St Alban’s, to which the professorial surgical department of St Bartholomew’s had been evacuated. Though Paterson Ross was nominally in charge of neurosurgery, J E A O’Connell was the neurosurgeon within the professorial unit. While working at Hill End, Connolly was seconded to Sir Hugh Cairn’s head injury hospital at St Hugh’s, Oxford, to learn about electroencephalography, which it was thought might be useful in neurosurgical diagnosis. Oxford was one of the few places in the country where this new technique was being explored. This experience put him in contact with Cairns, who was responsible for the organisation of neurosurgery in the Army. Connolly eventually spent almost a year at St Hugh’s. Early in 1943 he found himself posted to an anti-aircraft battery in south London, where he had little to do until his commanding officer told him that he was to accompany the battery to a destination in West Africa. Alarmed, he wrote to Cairns and was almost immediately removed and placed in a holding post at Lancing. Connolly was one of the last survivors of the young neurosurgeons who staffed the mobile neurosurgical units that had been established by Hugh Cairns at the beginning of the Second World War. These saw action in France and Belgium in 1940, and the first one was captured at Dunkirk. Subsequently another six were formed and deployed in the Western Desert, Italy, Northern Europe and Burma. Through the influence of Cairns, Connolly was posted to mobile neurosurgical unit No 4 in Bari, Italy, when the senior neurosurgeon of the unit, Kenneth Eden died suddenly of poliomyelitis in October 1943. With its head, John Gilllingham, and John Potter, he accompanied the unit in the campaign up the east coast of Italy, ending at Ancona with the rank of major and with a mention in despatches. This unit treated over 900 head injuries from the battles at the Gothic Line and the Po Valley, as well as those from partisan activities in Yugoslavia. Many of the Yugoslavian patients had open head wounds for which treatment had been delayed by difficulties in transport, a subject on which Connolly contributed a paper to *War supplement No.1 on wounds of the head* published by the *British Journal of Surgery* in 1947 (*Br J Surg* 1947;55(suppl1):168-172). The results were surprisingly good, the mortality being 20 per cent. The use of penicillin, first clinically tested by Florey and Cairns, and then by Cairns in mobile neurosurgical unit No 4 in North Africa, was considered to be an important factor in these results. After VE day, Connolly returned to England in July. He was posted to the Far East, spending six unproductive months in India following the ending of the war in August. After demobilisation, he returned to Bart’s to a post created to accommodate ex-servicemen such as himself whose training and careers had been affected by war service. He obtained the FRCS in 1947. Cairns had plans for an organised training scheme for neurosurgeons, something not achieved until many years later, and he offered Connolly an appointment at Oxford to a training programme of some years’ duration, beginning as a house surgeon. At the same time Cecil Calvert, in Belfast, who had done much of the surgery at St Hugh’s during the war, invited him to the Royal Victoria Hospital as a consultant. The rigours of being a houseman at Oxford under Cairns were known to Connolly: he took the offer in Belfast and stayed there for four years. In 1952 he moved to the Midland Centre for Neurosurgery in Birmingham. In 1958 he was appointed as the second neurosurgeon to O’Connell at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and remained there until his retirement as senior neurosurgeon in 1984. He was also in private practice and established a reputation especially for judgement and skill in intervertebral disc surgery. He was on the staff of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers and was a civilian consultant to the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1984. In the College he was Hunterian Professor in 1961, speaking on cerebral ischaemia in subarachnoid haemorrhage. He was president of the section of neurology of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1980 to 1981, a Freeman of the City of London and a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. He married Elisabeth Fowler née Cullis, who was an anaesthetist at St Hugh’s. He died of cancer of the prostate on 14 August 2009, survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000715
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Dahrendorf, Ralf (1929 - 2009)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2009-10-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372899372899
Occupation Politician sociologist
Details Ralf Dahrendorf was a German sociologist and politician who became director of the London School of Economics (LSE). He was born in Hamburg on 1 May 1929, the son of Lina and Gustav Dahrendorf, a member of the Social Democrat party in the Reichstag of 1932, where the Nazis had a majority. Just months later, in 1933, when Hitler gained power, Gustav was arrested. On his release he took his family to Berlin, but continued to work against the Nazis and was sentenced to seven years hard labour in 1944 for his part in a plot against Hitler. Meanwhile Ralf was printing pamphlets against the SS and, at the age of 16, was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, until he was released, starving, in 1945. Ralf entered Hamburg University to study classics, philosophy and social science, gaining his PhD in 1952. He was then awarded a Leverhulme scholarship to study at the LSE and gained his second PhD in 1956. In 1958 he returned to Hamburg as professor of sociology, and then went from one distinguished chair to another, at Columbia University, New York, Tübingen, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Harvard and Konstanz. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1969 when Brandt formed his first coalition government, and became a commissioner in the European Union in Brussels in 1970, which did not inhibit him from becoming one of its sharpest critics. In 1973 he was offered the chance to become director of the LSE. A year later he was invited by the BBC to give the Reith lecture, which he gave on the topic of liberty, survival and justice in a changing world. He was insistent that governments should plan for a period longer than the usual length of a parliament. After ten years at the LSE, he returned to his chair at Konstanz and then in 1986 spent a year in New York on a research grant. From 1988 to 1997 he was warden of St Antony’s College in Oxford. After becoming a naturalised British citizen in 1988 he joined the Liberal Democratic party and in 1993 received a life peerage. He was married three times, his first two marriages ending in divorce. By his first wife, Vera, he had three daughters – Nicola, Alexandra and Daphne. His second wife was Ellen and his third wife, Christine. He died on 17 June 2009.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000716
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Glenn, James Francis (1927 - 2009)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by John Blandy
Publication Date 2009-10-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372900372900
Occupation Urologist
Details Jim Glenn was an internationally celebrated urologist, a former chief of urology at Duke University and dean of Emory University school of medicine. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and educated at the University High School there, from which he went to Rochester University and afterwards to Duke University to study medicine, qualifying in 1952. He specialised in urology and completed a surgical residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and trained in urology at Duke University. He served briefly on the academic staff at Yale and at Wake Forest University, before returning to Duke in 1963 as a professor and later a chief of urology. He went on to Emory University in Atlanta as dean of the medical school and was later president of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He then returned to Kentucky, where he was director of the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky from 1989 to 1993 and chief of staff at the University of Kentucky Hospital from 1993 to 1996. He was acting chairman of surgery at the University of Kentucky from 1996 to 1998. He was a born organiser, becoming president of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons in 1993. A past president of the Société Internationale d’Urologie, in 2007 he received that organisation’s highest honour. He was a former governor of the American College of Surgeons and a former president of the American Urological Association. He received the Association’s lifetime achievement award in 1994. He was a frequent visitor to England, and always went out of his way to welcome visitors from the UK. He was made an honorary fellow of our College in 1987. He was awarded the St Paul’s medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons in 1996. He died on 10 June 2009, leaving his widow Gay née Elste Darsie, two sons (Cambridge F Glenn II and James M Glenn), two daughters (Sarah Brooke Glenn and Nancy Carrick Glenn) and seven grandchildren.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000717
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Gray, Thomas Cecil (1913 - 2008)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-10-21
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372901372901
Occupation Anaesthetist
Details Thomas Cecil Gray was the first professor of anaesthesia at Liverpool University and undoubtedly one of the great British pioneers of modern anaesthesia. He was born in Liverpool on 11 March 1913, the son of Thomas Gray, a local publican, and Ethelreda Unwin. A devout Roman Catholic, Cecil was educated at the Convent of the Sacre Coeur in Bath and then Ampleforth. It had been his intention to enter the Monastery, but being caught smoking in the bushes within two months of becoming a novice monk made it clear to all except Cecil that this was not his vocation. To the dismay of his mother, he returned to Liverpool to study medicine. Graduating with distinction in anatomy in 1937, he became a trainee in general practice in the city, before purchasing a practice in Wallasey with the help of his father. He rapidly became fascinated by anaesthesia, which at that time was mostly practiced on a part-time basis by general practitioners. Under the tutelage of Robert Minnitt, he rapidly collected the 1,000 cases required for the diploma in anaesthesia, which he obtained in 1941, and shortly afterwards became a full-time anaesthetist to several hospitals in the city of Liverpool. His academic career began in 1942 with his appointment as demonstrator in anaesthesia in the University of Liverpool. Largely as the result of Minnitt’s mission to ensure proper teaching and training in anaesthesia, Cecil was appointed reader and head when the academic department was established in 1947. In 1959, he was awarded a personal chair in anaesthesia, which he held until his retirement from active practice in 1976. He was the first postgraduate dean of the faculty of medicine in Liverpool University from 1966 to 1970 and then dean of the faculty of medicine until 1976. Very early in his full-time career in anaesthesia Cecil Gray and John Halton set out to investigate the feasibility of inducing neuromuscular blockade by means of a derivative of wourali, the crude South American arrow poison which was eventually purified as d-tubocurarine chloride by Burroughs Wellcome. Within a year they had collected 1,200 surgical cases in which the drug had been used safely. Their first public dissertation ‘A milestone in anaesthesia – d-tubocurarine’ was delivered to the section of anaesthesia of the Royal Society of Medicine on 1 March 1946. Much often sceptical discussion about the safety of this potential poison took place at subsequent meetings of the section. In April 1948, Cecil Gray attempted to allay this scepticism with his detailed report on 8,500 patients anaesthetised by a group of enthusiastic colleagues across the Liverpool region who had willingly adopted the technique of hypnosis, muscle relaxation and controlled ventilation without serious morbidity or mortality, thereby confirming Cecil’s firm belief that one of the most potentially dangerous of drugs was one of the least toxic when used carefully. With modification this technique has survived nationally and internationally to the present day. He must also be remembered for his major contribution to education and standards of training in anaesthesia. Aware of the changes which would follow the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, he saw the need for a high standard of formal training and postgraduate education in anaesthesia and an examination structure similar to the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. On becoming reader and head of the new department of anaesthesia in the University of Liverpool in 1947, he persuaded the dean of the Liverpool Medical School and the board of clinical studies to support the establishment of a postgraduate course. The first enrolments took place in October 1948. Within a year the hospital authorities within the area accepted the proposals for a full-time course and empowered the academic department to recruit junior staff for the hospitals throughout the region. Most of the surgeons tacitly agreed to the presence of trainees in the operating theatres. All trainees would attend lectures until 11am each morning, including Saturday, and all were required to have had some anaesthetic experience prior to enrolment. This course was the first in the United Kingdom, and by 1952 had expanded its horizons, drawing students from the Indian sub-continent, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia. Cecil’s profound interest in medical education and his organisational skills led to his election as a foundation member of the board of the faculty of anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1948. He served as vice-dean from 1952 to 1954 and as dean from 1964 to 1967. He also played an active role in the foundation of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiology and the European Congress of Anaesthesiology. He was invited as either a visiting professor or lecturer to many university departments and anaesthetic societies overseas. In 1948 Cecil and Edward Faulkner Hill were appointed as joint editors of The British Journal of Anaesthesia and oversaw a gradual improvement in coverage, quality and circulation. He retired from this role in 1964. Cecil was invited to deliver numerous eponymous lectures. His many honours included the Clover medal, the James Young Simpson gold medal, the Henry Hill Hickman medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the George James Guthrie medal, the gold medal of the Royal College of Surgeons, the John Snow silver medal and the Magill gold medal of the Association of Anaesthetists. In 1982 he was awarded a gold medal by Pope John Paul II in recognition of the role which he had played in the organisation of the Pope’s visit to Liverpool. In 1961 he became the first anaesthetist to be awarded the Sims Commonwealth travelling professorship of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, Surgeons and Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. This provided the opportunity for Cecil and his wife to travel to Australia, where they spent three months engaged in educational activities and valuable interchange of ideas. He wrote numerous papers and co-edited several editions of *General anaesthesia* (London, Butterworths), which became the ‘Liverpool Bible’ of anaesthesia. His last publication in 2003 was the biography of Richard Formby, the founder of the Liverpool Medical School at the Royal Institution, which subsequently moved to the Infirmary in 1844. Cecil was president of the section of anaesthesia of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Association of Anaesthetists, the Liverpool Society of Anaesthetists and the Liverpool Medical Institution. He was active in the British Medical Association and the Medical Defence Union, of which he was vice-president from 1954 to 1961 and again from 1983 to 1988, and served as honorary treasurer from 1976 to 1981. From 1966 to 1983 he was a much respected member of the Liverpool Bench. Cecil, a man of great charm, talent and boundless energy was a gifted teacher, inspiring students, trainees and colleagues with devotion and enthusiasm. His advice, either deliberately sought or volunteered, was always sound. No problem was insurmountable. Consequently he had a profound influence on the lives of many whose progress he followed assiduously and with considerable pride. A good friend and mentor of many, friendships made endured. Cecil was married twice. In 1937 he married Marjorie (Margot) Kathleen née Hely, a talented amateur actress and artist, by whom he had two children, David (who is a consultant anaesthetist in Liverpool) and Beverley. Marjorie (Margot) died in 1978. In 1979 he married Pamela Mary (Corning). Their son James Frederick was born in 1981. Cecil, a true native of Liverpool, was a generous, entertaining host with a wicked sense of humour. He had a passion for amateur dramatics, as both a player and producer of the Irish Players for over 20 years. An accomplished pianist and opera lover, he was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Liverpool Welsh Choral Society and the Verdi Society. The night before he died he gave a faultless rendition of Debussy’s ‘Clair de lune’. He died on 5 January 2008.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000718
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Juby, Herbert Bernard (1925 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Neil Weir
Publication Date 2009-10-21
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372902372902
Occupation ENT surgeon
Details Bernard Juby was a consultant ENT surgeon at the Ipswich Hospital. He was born in Stowmarket, Suffolk, on 9 April 1925, the only son of L H Juby, a draper, and Ethel née Quinton. He was educated at Culford School. His early wish was to be a farmer, but was encouraged by his mother to read medicine. He attended St Bartholomew's Medical School from 1942 to 1947. As a house surgeon to F C W Capps he had an early experience of ENT surgery. After a surgical officer post at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where he gained from the influence of Donald Barlow, Juby became an ENT registrar at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and was later a senior registrar at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. His training was interrupted by National Service in the RAMC in Berlin. There he rapidly learnt to cope with all surgical emergencies, including salvaging the one remaining upper limb of a brigadier involved in a road traffic accident. Bernard Juby’s interest in ENT must have been maintained during this period as in 1953 he published a paper entitled ‘The incidence of middle ear disease in serving soldiers’ in the *Journal of the RAMC* (*J R Army Med Corps*, 1953 Apr;99(3):115-7). In early 1958 he was appointed as a consultant ENT surgeon at the Dryburn Hospital and the following year to the Durham and Shotley Bridge General Hospital. He longed, though, to return to his native Suffolk and, in 1962, was appointed to the West Suffolk General Hospital in Bury St Edmunds. Three years later, on the retirement of Kenneth Mackenzie, he moved over to Ipswich Hospital, where he continued his ENT practice until his retirement in 1987. Juby’s was a general ENT practice, but he will be remembered for his review paper published in 1969 in the *Journal of Laryngology and Otology* entitled ‘The treatment of pharyngeal pouch’ (*J Laryngol Otol* 1969 Nov;83(11):1067-71)and for his chapters on the same subject in Rob & Smith's *Operative surgery* (London, Butterworth’s, 1986). Bernard Juby represented East Anglia on the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists and served on council of the section of otology of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was medical officer to Ipswich Town football club. Outside medicine, he built a dry stone wall whilst in Yorkshire. He was a keen golfer and a long-standing member of the Ipswich Philatelic Society. A charming man with a dapper demeanour, Bernard Juby married Elizabeth Birdwood (a Bart’s nurse) in 1949. They had two sons (one a solicitor) and two daughters (one a nurse who died of cancer of the spine at the age of 46 and the other an occupational therapist). Bernard Juby died peacefully in St Elizabeth Hospice, Ipswich, of hepatocellular carcinoma on 22 May 2004.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000719
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Atkins, James Ramsey (1802 - 1869)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372903372903
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in HM Dockyard at Devonport, where his father held an important office. Educated at a neighbouring Grammar School he was articled at the age of 17 to Dr James Bell, the surgeon to the dockyard. After four years’ apprenticeship, during which time there were opportunities of seeing casualties and attending operations, he came to London and became a student at Carpue’s School and was a pupil of Sir George Tuthill, working at the Middlesex Hospital under Dr Southey and Sir Charles Bell, and later attending obstetric lectures at Guy’s Hospital. He passed for the Navy Board and was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Naval Hospital at Plymouth, where he came under the notice of Sir Stephen Love Hammick. He retired from the Navy after uncomfortable experiences in HM Sloop Pelorus and became medical superintendent of a private lunatic asylum – Holly House, Hoxton – which he conducted successfully for twelve years before he removed to Stoke House, Newington Green, where, as a licensed proprietor, he received a limited number of mild cases. He died on Dec 24th, 1869, at 29 Lordship Road, Stoke Newington. Publications: Atkins published a work on Mania in 1849 and another on Organic and Animal Life in 1859. He also contributed to the Reports of the Commissioners of Lunacy in 1847 – “Observations on the Medical Treatment of Insanity”, and was the author of several statistical papers relative to insanity.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000720
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Atkins, William (1817 - 1875)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Atkinson, Henry ( - 1882)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-11-04 2013-08-06
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372905372905
Occupation General surgeon
Details Practised at Boulogne. His death occurred before 1882.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000722
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Atkinson, Richard ( - 1901)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Atkinson, Robert James (1812 - 1879)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ord, George (1803 - 1886)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ormerod, William Piers (1818 - 1860)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Orsborn, John ( - 1883)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Orton, George Hunt (1842 - 1920)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Bland-Sutton, Sir John (1855 - 1936)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-18 2012-03-22
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372412372412
Occupation Anatomist General surgeon Obstetric and gynaecological surgeon Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details Born at Enfield Highway on 21 April 1855, eldest son and second of the nine children of Charles William Sutton, who had a farm where he fattened stock, killed it and sold it in Formosa Street, Maida Hill. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Wadsworth, a Northamptonshire farmer. Bland-Sutton says that he learnt from his father to stuff birds, beasts, and fishes, to charm warts and to pull teeth; from his mother an intimate knowledge of the Bible. Educated at the local school, he acted there for two years as pupil teacher with the intention of becoming a schoolmaster, but being a biologist at heart he determined to become a doctor as soon as he had the money necessary to pay the fees. He attached himself therefore to the private school of anatomy kept by Thomas Cooke, F.R.C.S., which then occupied a tin shed in a disused churchyard in Handel Street, just off Mecklenburgh Square. Here he learnt anatomy, and taught it to lazy and backward medical students until he had earned enough to pay the fees at the Middlesex Hospital. He entered there as a student in October 1878 and was immediately appointed prosector of anatomy, (Sir) Henry Morris being lecturer on the subject. In 1879 he was advanced to be junior demonstrator, became senior demonstrator in 1883 and lecturer 1886-96. In 1884 he was Murchison scholar at the Royal College of Physicians. Two years later he was elected assistant surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital, with the proviso that he should remain in London during the months of August and September, when the senior surgeons were accustomed to take their annual holiday. He performed his duties thoroughly, and devoted himself especially to pelvic operations upon women. In 1886 he became assistant surgeon to the hospital for women, then a small institution in the Fulham Road, and was promoted surgeon six months later with charge of fifteen beds. Here he soon acquired fame as an operating surgeon, and disarmed criticism by welcoming professional men and women to the operating theatre and by publishing his results widely in the medical papers. In 1889 he changed his name by deed pool from J. B. Sutton to John Bland-Sutton. In 1905 he became surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital and filled the post until 1920, when he resigned and was made consulting surgeon. During his tenure of office he was a most liberal supporter of the hospital. In 1913 he presented to it the Institute of Pathology, which was built on the site of the museum, of which he had been curator from 1883 to 1886. To the hospital chapel he gave a beautiful ambry, a piscina, and a font, and made considerable contributions towards the cost of the mosaic pavement in the baptistry. He also assisted largely in the purchase of a playing field for the students of the medical school. At the Royal College of Surgeons he won the Jacksonian prize in 1892 with his essay on diseases of the ovaries and the uterine appendages, their pathology, diagnosis and treatment. In 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1889-91 he gave the Erasmus Wilson lectures on the evolution of pathology. He was elected a member of the Pathological Society in 1882, and served on the council of the society from 1887 to 1890 but held no other office. He was an examiner in anatomy for the Fellowship in 1895. He was a Hunterian professor of comparative anatomy and physiology for the years 1888-89 and gave a lecture again as Hunterian professor in 1916; was Bradshaw lecturer in 1917; and Hunterian orator in 1923. Elected to the Council in 1910, he was vice-president in 1918, 1919, and 1920, and was President for the years 1923, 1924, and 1925, being preceded by Sir Anthony Bowlby and succeeded by Lord Moynihan. In 1927 he was elected a trustee of the Hunterian collection. During the war he was gazetted major, R.A.M.C.(T.) on 16 September 1916 and was attached to the 3rd London General Hospital at Denmark Hill. The surroundings and discipline of a military hospital proved uncongenial, and in 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, placed upon an appeal board, and directed to collect he specimens of gunshot wounds which formed a unique display in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, till they were destroyed by the bombing of 1941. Always interested in animals, their habits and diseases, Bland-Sutton became a prosector at the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park in 1881 whilst he was still a student at the Middlesex Hospital. He retained his interest in the gardens throughout his life, and in 1928 was made vice-president of the Zoological Society of London. In 1891-92 he lectured on comparative pathology at the Royal Veterinary College in Camden Town in succession to Prof. John Penberthy, F.R.C.V.S. He was president of the Medical Society of London 1914; president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 1929; president of the Royal Society of Medicine 1929; president of the International Cancer Conference held in London in 1928. He was, too, a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem from 1924. He married: (1) in 1886 Agnes Hobbs of Didcot, who died in 1898; and (2) in 1899 Edith, the younger daughter of Henry Heather Bigg. She survived him but there were no children by either wife. Lady Bland-Sutton died in 1943 and was by her will a most generous benefactress to the College. She founded a research scholarship in memory of her husband, and also bequeathed a suite of Chippendale furniture for the president's room, and the silver table ornaments made for the dining hall at 47 Brook Street, mentioned below, as well as much other furniture. Bland-Sutton died after a short period of failing powers at 29 Hertford Street, Mayfair on Sunday, 20 December 1936. His body was cremated, and memorial services were held in the chapel at the Middlesex Hospital on the 23rd and in Westminster Abbey on 29 December. *Portraits*: Three-quarter length, sitting, in presidential robes, by the Hon. John Collier, R.A., hangs in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It is a good likeness and is well reproduced in black and white in Sir A. E. Webb-Johnson's eulogy in the *Middlesex Hospital Journal*, 1937, 37, 4, and in the *Annals* of the College, 1950, 6, 362. An earlier portrait by Collier is at the Royal Society of Medicine. The Middlesex Hospital has a marble bust by Sir George Frampton, and a drawing by George Belcher. Bland-Sutton's professional life was typical of his generation. Born into a large middle-class family where money was not too abundant, he had to rely entirely upon himself. This he did, as was then usual amongst the younger men who aspired to the staff of a teaching hospital, by coaching. Some did this by taking a house, marrying, and securing as many resident pupils as possible, each of whom paid an inclusive fee of £126 a year. The less fortunate, like Bland-Sutton, had to content themselves with private classes at £8 to £10 a head, for a three months' course of tuition. The direct way to promotion was through the dissecting room, for as yet pathology was little more than morbid anatomy. Sutton was a first-rate teacher and soon made enough money to travel as far as Vienna. He climbed the ladder by the ordinary steps, slowly at first as a junior demonstrator of anatomy, then as curator of the hospital museum, next as assistant surgeon to a small special hospital, finally as assistant surgeon, surgeon, and consulting surgeon to his own hospital, the Middlesex. He had to fight every step of the way, for there was plenty of competition and continuous opposition, but he had good health, a constant fund of humour, was a loyal friend, and was generous in giving both publicly and in private. He had hobbies, too, which sustained him: a love of travel, a curiosity about animal life and a certain artistic sense. Throughout his life he was a general surgeon, more especially skilled in abdominal operations. Of slight physique and with very small and bright eyes, he had a curious bird-like habit of rapidly cocking his head sideways when he wished to emphasize a joke or a witty remark. A fluent writer and an entertaining after-dinner speaker, he retained and perhaps cultivated his native and marked cockney accent. He lived at 22 Gordon Street, Gordon Square, from 1883 to 1890; at 48 Queen Anne Street, 1890 to 1902, and thereafter at 47 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. Here he built in 1905, at the back of the house, a copy, reduced by one-third, of the Apodama or audience chamber at Susa or Shushan (in Persia) where it is recorded in the Book of Esther that Ahasuerus gave the great feast and afterwards invited Vashti to show her beauty to the assembled princes and people. In the reduced copy of this splendid hall Bland-Sutton and his gifted wife delighted to exercise a generous hospitality; Rudyard Kipling, and old and intimate friend, was a frequent guest. The house and the hall were pulled down for an extension of Claridge's Hotel, and Bland-Sutton moved finally to 29 Hertford Street, Mayfair. *Publications*: Comparative dental pathology, in J. Walker *Valedictory address*, Odontological Society, 1884. *A descriptive catalogue of the pathological museum of the Middlesex Hospital*, with J. K. Fowler. London, 1884. *An introduction to general pathology*, founded on lectures at R.C.S. London, 1886. *Ligaments, their nature and morphology*. London, 1887; 4th ed. 1920. *Dermoids*. London, 1889. *Surgical diseases of the ovaries and Fallopian tubes*. London, 1891. *Evolution and disease*. London, 1890. *Tumours innocent and malignant*. London, 1893; 7th ed. 1922. Osteology in H. Morris *Treatise of anatomy*, 1893. Tumours, and Diseases of the jaws in Sir F. Treves *System of surgery*, 1895, 1. *The diseases of women*, with A. E. Giles. London, 1897, 8th ed. 1926. Tumours in Warren and Gould *International textbook of surgery*, 1899, 1. *Essays on Hysterectomy*. London, 1904. *Gall-stones and diseases of the bile-ducts*. London, 1907; 2nd ed. 1910. Tumours in W. W. Keen *Surgery*, 1907, 1 and 1913, 6. *Cancer clinically considered*. London, 1909. *Essays on the position of abdominal hysterectomy in London*. London, 1909; 2nd ed. 1910. *Fibroids of the uterus*. London, 1913. *Misplaced and missing organs* (Bradshaw lecture R.C.S.). London, 1917. *Selected lectures and essays*. London, 1920. *John Hunter, his affairs, habits and opinions (the Hunterian Oration)*. London, 1923. *Orations and addresses*. London, 1924. *The story of a surgeon*. London, 1930. *On faith and science in surgery*. London, 1930. *Man and beast in eastern Ethiopia*. London, 1911. *Men and creatures in Uganda*. London, 1933.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000225
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Moynihan, Sir Berkeley George Andrew, Lord Moynihan of Leeds (1865 - 1936)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-18
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
Details Born at Malta on 2 October 1865 the only son of Captain Andrew Moynihan, *V.C*., and Ellen Anne, his wife, daughter of Thomas Parkin, a cabinet maker at Hurst, near Ashton-under-Lyne. His father was the son of Malachi Moynihan, originally from southern Ireland, who died at Sefton Park, Liverpool in 1837. As a sergeant in the 90th Light Infantry Andrew Moynihan was awarded the Victoria Cross on 24 February 1857 for his bravery during the Crimean War. On 8 September 1855, during an attack on the Redan, he personally encountered and killed five Russians and afterwards under heavy fire rescued Lieutenant Swift and Ensign Maude, who had fallen near the fortress. After serving in India, he died at the age of thirty-seven in Malta on 19 May 1866 of Malta fever, with the rank of captain in the 8th foot (the King’s Regiment). There is a portrait of him in *The History of the Victoria Cross* by Philip A. Wilkins. Mrs Moynihan came to Leeds in December 1867 with a pension of one pound a week on which to support two daughters and a son. She joined forces with her childless sister who was married to Alfred Ball, a police inspector, living at Millgarth Street. Moynihan’s education thus began in Leeds, and was continued at the Blue Coat School, then in its original quarters in Newgate Street, London. He entered the school in September 1875 with a presentation from H.R.H. Field-Marshal the Duke of Cambridge, and was placed in Ward 16. He left in April 1881 being then in no higher form than “Little Erasmus”. During his school career he was undistinguished, except that he did well in swimming and football. From the summer term of 1881 to 25 July 1883 he was at the Royal Naval School, Eltham, and from there proceeded to the Medical School at Leeds, where he lived with his maternal uncle, his mother and two sisters. He remained closely attached to Leeds for the rest of his life. The medical school was a part of the Yorkshire College which afterwards became one of the three constituents of the Victoria University. He graduated M.B. at the University of London in 1887 and became a Member of the College the same year. He passed the examination for the Fellowship in 1890 and for Master of Surgery in 1893, being awarded the gold medal. After serving as house surgeon to A. F. McGill at the Leeds General Infirmary in 1887, he acted as demonstrator of anatomy in the Medical School from 1893 to 1896. He was elected assistant surgeon to the infirmary in 1896, was surgeon from 1906, and consulting surgeon from 1927 until his death. He was lecturer in surgery from 1896 to 1909, and from 1909 to 1927 he was professor of clinical surgery in the University of Leeds. At the Royal College of Surgeons Moynihan was appointed an examiner in anatomy on the board of examiners in anatomy and physiology for the Fellowship in 1899. He gave three lectures as Arris and Gale lecturer in 1899 on *The anatomy and surgery of the peritoneal fossae*, and three lectures in 1900 on *The pathology of some of the rarer forms of hernia*. In 1920 he gave a single lecture as Hunterian professor of surgery and pathology on *The late surgery of gunshot wounds of the chest*, and in the same year delivered the Bradshaw lecture on *The surgery of diseases of the spleen*. He was Hunterian Orator in 1927, speaking on *Hunter’s ideals and Lister’s practice*. He served on the council of the college from 1912 to 1933 and was elected president for six years in succession, 1926-31. In this position he was the second provincial surgeon to fill the office, the first being Joseph Hodgson of Birmingham, who was president in 1864. The war found him with the rank of major *à la suite* attached to the 2nd Northern General Hospital of the Territorial R.A.M.C., with a commission dated 14 October 1908; on 28 November 1914 he was gazetted temporary colonel, A.M.S., and was serving in France. On demobilization in 1919 he was holding the rank of major-general, and had been chairman of the Army Advisory Board form 1916 and chairman of the council of consultants 1916-19. He made a marked impression on a tour in America, when speaking on behalf of the British cause. He was in his energy and frank ambition and his gift of oratory more like an American than the traditional reserved and self-depreciatory Englishman. He married on 17 April 1895 Isabella Wellesley, daughter of Thomas R. Jessop, F.R.C.S., of Leeds. Lady Moynihan died suddenly on 31 August 1936, leaving a son and two daughters. He felt the loss acutely, had a cerebral haemorrhage on 6 September 1936 and died on 7 September, without recovering consciousness, at his home Carr Manor, Meanwood, Leeds, formerly Sir Clifford Allbutt’s house. He was buried at Lawnswood cemetery, and memorial services were held in Leeds parish church and at St Martin’s-in-the-fields, London. An offer was made that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, but it was declined for family reasons. Moynihan was fortunate in the accidents of his place, his period, and his personality. Leeds had long been a centre of good surgery. It had a teeming population, and was too far removed from London and Edinburgh to be greatly influenced by either. Surgery, which had been previously performed by general practitioners, was becoming specialized and Moynihan was private assistant in 1887-88 to Mayo-Robson, a pioneer in abdominal surgery in Leeds. Foreseeing the trend of surgery Moynihan trained himself deliberately to anticipate its arrival. He went to Berlin as a postgraduate student, and for many years spent his holidays in visiting the schools of surgery first in Europe and later in the United States. He was a brilliant and bold operator and early accepted the teachings of Lister. Gentle in his handling of tissues or, as he expressed it, “caressing” them, and a master of technique, his results were unusually satisfactory. He regarded every operation as a religious rite or sacrament, He felt the magnitude of the patient’s surrender of the whole future and even his life to the judgement and manual skill of a perhaps hitherto unknown surgeon. Himself a master of his craft, he taught that there must be the same high standard of achievement in every detail, and that at no stage of an operation should anything be left to chance. Operations on the liver and gall-bladder, upon the stomach, and “short-circuiting” for duodenal ulcer, more especially interested him, and he made his results widely known by means of articles, addresses, and communications to the medical press. He learnt from observation that the appearances in the living tissues differ widely from those in museum specimens. He was thus led to consider the whole subject of surgical pathology, popularized Allbutt’s phrase “the pathology of the living”, and was insistent that an institution should be founded where experimental surgery could be studied, to supplement the morbid surgical anatomy usually taught in the schools. In this he was successful during the latter years of his life when he was president of the College. Largely at his instigation and with the munificent assistance of Sir George Buckston Browne, an experimental surgical farm was founded at Downe in Kent. It was affiliated to the College and was placed under the mastership of Sir Arthur Keith, F.R.S., who had been conservator of the Hunterian Museum. Moynihan realized early in life that English surgeons knew little about the work of their colleagues and less about the progress of surgery abroad. He therefore established in 1909 a small visiting club, the members of which travelled from surgical centre to surgical centre, watched and commented upon the methods of their colleagues and confrères, and cemented many friendships. This visiting surgical club changed its name in 1929 and became the Moynihan Chirurgical Club. He was an excellent expositor and even dramatic in his showmanship for visitors to his own clinic. He knew how to advertise his work, but it was of the very best. He was instrumental in calling into existence the Association of Surgeons to bring together the surgeons of Great Britain and the Dominions; in this he was much helped by H. S. Pendlebury. He took a leading part in founding the *British Journal of Surgery* in 1913, and held the important office of chairman of the editorial committee from its beginning until his death; Ernest Hey Groves and George Cask were his chief supporters in this work. Under this guidance the venture proved successful, and in July 1936 the subscribers presented him with a statuette, wrought by Omar Ramsden, in silver, and a cheque for one thousand guineas. The cheque he handed to the College for the benefit of its library, and presented a replica of the statuette to stand on the table at meetings of the editorial committee. As a man Moynihan was fairly tall, strong and well made, and in youth his hair was of a fiery red colour. He was always on the alert, with a pleasant smile, and a ready repartee for any friendly attack. He spoke well in a soft voice and liked speaking, for he had a fund of humour, an attractive delivery, and a real feeling for language. His pupils were devoted to him, and his lectures were always well attended. He was interested and well informed in painting, literature, and music. He had visited most of the European galleries, where his anatomical and surgical knowledge enabled him to detect many pathological facts unwittingly recorded by the great artists of the renaissance and later periods. He retained his love of swimming and practised it until his life’s end. Many honours came to Moynihan. He was a member or fellow of the chief medical societies throughout the world. The University of Leeds made him an honorary LL.D. on the occasion of its twenty-fifth jubilee in 1924. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1917, and he delivered the first Murphy memorial lecture at Chicago in 1920 and presented a great mace “from the consulting surgeons of the British Armies to the American College of Surgeons in memory of mutual work and good fellowship in the European War 1914-18”. He delivered the Romanes lecture at Oxford in 1932, and the Linacre lecture at Cambridge in 1936. He was created a baronet in 1922, and seven years later was called to the House of Lords with a patent as Baron Moynihan of Leeds. Amongst his other activities was his work in connexion with the Cancer Research Campaign fund at Leeds, when a sum of £150,000 was raised. As president of the Voluntary Euthanasia Legislation Society he had undertaken to introduce a Euthanasia Bill in the autumn session of 1936 in the House of Lords. Shortly before his death he had joined the Board of Directors of Droitwich Spa, and had intended to devote himself to its development as a centre for the cure of rheumatism. Moynihan’s name is inscribed in the Town Hall, Leeds among the Freeman of the City, and a ward has been named after him at the General Infirmary. His instruments are in the museum of the Leeds Medical School. His portrait, three-quarter length seated, was painted by Richard Jack, R.A., in 1927. The likeness is good but the hands do credit neither to sitter nor painter. The painting hands in the Board Room of the General Infirmary at Leeds; his own replica he presented to the Royal College of Surgeons shortly before his death. It hangs in the first hall, and beneath it is an inscribed silver tablet worked by Omar Ramsden. The same craftsman made the chain and badge of office, which Moynihan gave for the presidents of the Association of Surgeons. A bust by Sir William Reid Dick, R.A., in a setting designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, P.R.A., stands half-way up the main staircase facing the main entrance to the General Infirmary at Leeds; it was unveiled in the autumn of 1939. A bronze cast of his hands is in the library of the Leeds Medical School, with a replica in the City Art Gallery. The Medical School also possesses a bronze bust by F. J. Wilcoxson; the Royal College of Surgeons has a marble bust by Wilcoxson, presented by Lord Moynihan’s son. Starting as the son of a poor widow, Moynihan left a very large fortune due entirely to his own exertions; but he was no grasper after money, as was shown by the numbers of patients upon whom he operated in private either gratuitously or for a greatly reduced fee. He left bequests for eponymous lectures at Leeds University and the Royal College of Surgeons. The first Leeds biennial Moynihan lecture was delivered by Gordon Gordon-Taylor in October 1940; the first Moynihan lecture at the College by E. W. Hey Groves on 14 March 1940. Moynihan made time by early rising for much excellent writing during his busiest years of practice. His articles on clinical subjects were masterly, progressive, and clear. His later addresses on medico-political or historical subjects were full of knowledge and wisdom, and inspiring to his hearers. He had a natural gift for the short, memorable phrase, and cultivated his skill in selecting and arranging words. His surgical writings deal mainly with abdominal conditions and the appropriate treatment. Sir Arthur F. Hurst in his Harveian Oration for 1937, dealing with the physiology of the stomach, draws attention to the clinical picture of duodenal ulcer drawn by Moynihan; he says “It is as much a piece of original research as the discovery of a new element or a new star, and equally deserving of recognition”. *Principal publications*: Mesenteric cysts. *Ann. Surg*. 1897, 26, 1-30. On the anatomy and pathology of the rarer forms of hernia. Arris and Gale lectures. *Lancet*, 1900, 1, 513-521; *Brit. med. J*. 1900, 1, 435-441 and 503-508. The surgery of chronic ulcer of the stomach. *Brit. med. J.* 1900, 2,1631. Pancreatic cysts. *Med. Chron.* 1902, 2, 241-284. Tumours of the mesentery. *Ibid.* 1902, 3, 345-371. The operative treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers. *Med.-Chir. Trans.*, 1903, 86, 513-557. *Gallstones and their surgical treatment*. Philadelphia, 1904; 2nd edition, 1905. *Abdominal operations*. London, 1905; 4th edition, 2 vols. 1926. Surgery of the pancreas, in Keen’s *Surgery,* 1908, 3, 1035-1067. Surgery of the spleen. *Ibid.* pp.1068-1093. *Duodenal ulcer.* London, 1910; 2nd edition, 1912. *The pathology of the living and other essays.* London, 1910. On the treatment of gun-shot wounds. *Brit. med. J. *1916, 1, 333-337. *The spleen and some of its diseases,* Bradshaw lecture, R.C.S. 1920. London, 1921. Cancer of the stomach. *Practitioner*, 1928, 121, 137-148. *Addresses on surgical subjects*. London, 1928. A full bibliography by S. Wood is in the College library; it was published in *Univ. Leeds med. Soc. Mag*. 1937, 7, 111-116.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000226
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Thomas, John Llewellyn (1864 - 1957)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-18 2014-07-18
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/372414372414
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born in 1864 he was educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he served as house surgeon. He was resident medical officer at Farringdon General Dispensary, and medical superintendent of the Mildmay Mission Hospital at Bethnal Green. He went to Colombo, Ceylon as a medical missionary about 1901, but returned to Barnet, Herts after the first world war. He was for a time medical superintendent of the Bristol Medical Missionary Society, living at Clifton; then practised for some twelve years at Foulsham, Norfolk; and finally retired to Barnet about 1938. He died there on 22 February 1957 aged 92, survived by his wife Mary McLeod and three daughters. Mrs Thomas died at Cheddar on 17 July 1962 aged 95, and was buried at Barnet.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000227
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Murthy, Subbayan Keshava (1931 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-19 2007-08-02
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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/372508372508
Occupation General Practitioner
Details Subbayan Keshava Murthy was a general practitioner in Swindon. He was born on 9 April 1931 at Channaraya Patna, in Mysore (now called Karnataka). His father, Venkatajubbiah Murthy, was a government state doctor. His mother was Subbalakhamma Murthy. He was educated at various government schools, finishing at Maharaja’s High School, Mysore. In 1946 he went on to Mysore Medical College, graduating in 1953. He then worked in various hospital posts in Karnataka State. In 1956 he went to the UK to specialise in surgery. His first post was at Swansea Hospital, from which he successfully took the Edinburgh and English fellowships. He then went on to a series of registrar jobs in general and thoracic surgery, including St John’s Hospital, London, and Sully Hospital, Glamorgan. He spent a year in Chicago, and was offered a permanent job in a surgical clinic, but declined, having found the mercenary aspects difficult to accept after his experience of the NHS. He returned to India to work in various positions, including a post at the Missionary Hospital in Karnataka, where he carried out reparative surgery on patients with leprosy. Finally, he was appointed as a pool officer in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, where he was joined by his colleague from Swansea, Helen Parker. They married on 4 April 1963 in New Delhi. In 1964 they returned to the UK, when he found it necessary to pass the conjoint to obtain full registration. His next posts were in cardiothoracic surgery at Sully and Broad Green hospitals. In 1971 he decided to enter general practice in Swindon, where he worked until he was obliged to take early retirement after cardiac by-pass surgery in 1987. He continued to work part-time until November 1991. He had many outside interests. He was passionately interested in cricket and loved cooking, at which he excelled. He enjoyed classical music, both Western and Indian, and also travelling, especially motoring in Europe, particularly Spain and France. On his retirement he and his wife joined the University of the Third Age, and, before his health failed, he had completed the first year of an Open University Spanish course. He died on 13 May 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000321
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Fonseka, Merrennage Neil Thomas (1940 - 2005)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-12-21
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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/372509372509
Occupation General surgeon
Details Neil Fonseka was foundation professor of surgery at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. A twin, he was born in Colombo on 19 July 1940, the son of Merrennage Gilbert Thomas Fonseka, a clerical officer, and Eugene Wilta Fonseka a school teacher. He was educated at St Matthew’s College, Dematagoda, and Ananda College, where he was an excellent student and also won prizes for sports. He qualified with second class honours from the University of Colombo and won distinctions in microbiology, pathology and obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as the Loos gold medal for pathology. After junior posts he went to England, where he worked at St Peter’s, St Mark’s and St Bartholomew’s hospitals in London and was senior registrar at Charing Cross and King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor. In 1976 he was appointed surgeon to the prosthetic and vascular centre at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, and, in 1978, surgeon-in-charge at the prosthetic and vascular centre at Brighton Hospital. In 1980 he returned to Sri Lanka to become the foundation professor in surgery at the new University of Ruhuna. There he threw himself into the life of the university, taking a keen interest in student welfare, becoming a member of the senate and council of the university and dean of the faculty of medicine from 1988 to 1989, during horrifying days of terrorism. He founded the Ruhuna University Medical Students Alumni Association, the Galle branches of the Jaipur Foot Project and the Cancer Society, and was president of the Galle Medical Association in 1985. He was interested in cricket, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, singing, watching films, reading classics and fiction, and jokes. He owned an estate where he cultivated coconuts. He married Pushpa, a professor of community medicine at the University of Ruhuna, who cared for him devotedly during his long and disabling last illness. He died on 15 May 2005.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000322
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Joseph, Laji (1930 - 2004)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2006-12-21 2013-02-14
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/372510372510
Occupation General surgeon
Details Laji Joseph became a professor in Bangalore. He passed the fellowship of the College in 1961 and returned to India where he practised in Bangalore. In June 2004 the College was informed of his death.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000323
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Osborn, Samuel (1814 - 1869)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-09-12 2013-02-01
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375049375049
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on Dec 6th, 1814, and educated at Guy's Hospital, where he paid great attention to the subject of diseases of women. He early entered the Bombay Army as a Surgeon, but was compelled to resign owing to ill health caused by a shipwreck on the African coast, where he contracted dysentery. For many years he held the post of Medical Officer of the Stockwell District of the Lambeth Union. At the time of his death he was also Surgeon to the City of London Almshouses, Parkhill, and was a competitor for the post of Surgeon to the City of London Orphan School, which he had held as locum tenens. For a time he was Surgeon to the Royal South London Dispensary. In 1840 he won the Gold Medal for his Fothergillian Prize Essay "On Bronchitis". He died on Feb 10th, 1869, at his residence, 19 Manor Terrace, Brixton.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002866
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching O'Shaughnessy, Richard (1812 - 1889)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Otley, John (1809 - 1875)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ottaway, James Cuthbert ( - 1891)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ottley, Walter (1850 - 1883)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Otway, Charles William Carrol (1816 - 1879)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Ouston, Thomas George (1869 - 1911)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Overend, Wilson (1806 - 1865)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Owen, Edmund Blackett (1847 - 1915)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2012-09-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E002000-E002999/E002800-E002899
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/375057375057
Occupation General surgeon
Details Born on April 7th, 1847, the third son of William Buy Owen, then practising at Finchingfield, Essex, but originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his father, Daniel Owen, had settled towards the end of the eighteenth century. Edmund Blackett Owen's mother had been a Miss Mary Blackett, and he was the third of eight children, of whom five were sons. William Buy Owen, his father, moved to London in 1860, and bought a practice in Cleveland Square, Hyde Park. After leaving school at Bishop's Stortford in 1862, Edmund Owen became a student at St Mary's Hospital in 1863, the intention being that he should in time join his father in practice. He was, however, attracted first by anatomy and then by surgery. In 1868 he was Resident Medical Officer at St Mary's, and he afterwards studied in Paris. From 1868-1875 he was Demonstrator of Anatomy at St Mary's, and in 1876 was appointed Lecturer on Anatomy. In 1888 he changed that position for the Lectureship in Surgery. In June, 1871, he was elected Surgeon to Out-patients, became full Surgeon in 1882, and Consulting Surgeon on his retirement after twenty years in 1902. In 1896 he resigned the Lectureship in Surgery. His career at the Royal College of Surgeons was distinguished and most useful. He was a Member of Council from 1897-1913, holding his seat after re-election, and was Vice-President in 1905-1906 and 1906-1907. In 1906 he delivered the Bradshaw Lecture on "Cancer: its Treatment by Modern Methods"; in 1911 he delivered the Hunterian Oration. Owen's reputation as a teacher stood so high that he was often appointed to examinerships. In 1883 he was placed on the Board of Examiners in Anatomy and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1884 he joined the Board of Examiners in Anatomy and Physiology for the Fellowship, and from 1889-1899 was a Member of the Court of Examiners. In 1884, also, he was elected Examiner in Anatomy for the Second Examination of the Conjoint Board. He was likewise at different periods Examiner in Surgery to the Universities of Cambridge, London, and Durham. He held a great number of offices. He was at one time or another Member of the Medical Board of the University of Wales, Orator of the Medical Society in 1897, President in 1899, President of the Harveian Society in 1887, Member of Council of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Nurses Institute, Member of the Committee of the Cancer Research Fund, President of the North-West London Boy Scouts Association. He was also, at the time of his death, Consulting Surgeon to the Paddington Green Children's Hospital, the Royal Masonic Institute for Girls, and Hon Surgeon to the Royal Society of Musicians. Owen was most successful in his treatment of children, and was for many years on the staff of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, having become Assistant Surgeon there in 1877, full Surgeon in 1883, and Consulting Surgeon on his retirement in 1898. His work for the British Medical Association was of constantly increasing value. He joined the Association at an early stage of his career, and in 1883 was Secretary of the Section of Surgery at the Liverpool Meeting. In 1885 he was Vice-President of the Section of Surgery at the Cardiff Meeting, and President of the Section at the Swansea Meeting in 1903. He was President of the Section of Diseases of Children at the Portsmouth Meeting in 1899, and gave an address on the "Ununited Fractures in Childhood". At the Sheffield Meeting in 1908 he delivered the Popular Lecture on "Dust and Disease", in which he referred to the work of Pasteur and Lister, to trade diseases, and to the close relation of smoke and dust. It was a brilliant address, very well received. But undoubtedly his greatest service to the Association was rendered during the controversies which attended its reorganization in 1900 and the following years. As was inevitable, the proposals excited a good deal of feeling, and it was with great satisfaction that all friends of the Association heard that Edmund Owen had accepted the office of Chairman of the Constitution Committee. It was felt that he was a man whose impartial judgement and genial temperament made him well suited to compose differences, and in accepting the office he was doubtless influenced by the strong patriotic principles with which he was imbued, and his deep belief in the unity of the British Empire. He completed this part of his work for the Association by presenting the report of the Constitution Committee in a witty speech at the Cheltenham Meeting in 1901, and his presentation of its report went far to convince many members of the Association that the new constitution should have a trial. The interest he was known to take in the Overseas Branches led to Owen's election to be Chairman of the Colonial Committee appointed by the Association in 1902, and in 1907 his popularity and the high opinion held of his business capacity and devotion to the interests of the Association led to his election to be Chairman of Council, an office which he held until 1910. After the outbreak of the European War, Owen performed thoroughly congenial duties as Surgeon-in-Chief to the St John Ambulance Brigade. He smoothed over difficulties which had for some years existed between the St John Ambulance Association and the Red Cross Society, and in the autumn of 1914, when a Joint Committee was formed with offices in Pall Mall, worked amicably with Sir Frederick Treves in the selection of the medical personnel and the organization and training of the orderlies. "Nothing is too good for our sick and wounded soldiers and sailors", he wrote to the *British Medical Journal* (1914, ii, 949 - "Amateur War Nurses"), and in the same letter stated that it had been made as impossible for an untrained nurse to obtain work under the British Red Cross Society as it would be for an unqualified practitioner to get his name upon the Medical Register. Doubtless Sir Frederick Treves had brought this excellent state of things about, for it was he who, in describing his experiences during the South African War, had so pointedly complained of the 'plague of women', the fashionable amateur nurses, with which the Medical Department was then afflicted. Owen added that a certain number of women from the Voluntary Aid Detachments (the 'VADs') of the two societies were being employed to help in the work of the ward, the kitchen, and store-room, and that they had been given the title not of 'nurse', or even of 'probationer', but of 'woman orderly'. Owen had rendered eminent services at one time to the French Hospital, where as Surgeon he succeeded Sir William MacCormac in December, 1901. On the occasion of the visit of President Loubet to the hospital in 1903 he was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and he remained warmly attached to the hospital to the end of his life. At first he took up an attitude of opposition to Listerian antiseptic methods and poured contempt on the ritual of the spray. He even went further than this, and at one of the societies, when Lister brought forward his open operation for fractured patella, Owen, with characteristic temerity, remarked in parody of a famous saying that it might be magnificent, but was not surgery. Owen was an incisive speaker and his store of apt illustration was remarkable. His repartees were memorable, and there was nothing anywhere quite like Owen's class in the theatre at the close of operations. By informal questions, by encouragement and sympathy, by veiled irony and gentle ridicule, by humorous invective, by instructive anecdotes of professional experiences, he seemed to draw all the students unto him, and not even the most stupid of 'chronics' was afraid to go to the class again. Then there was the transparent honesty of the man, shown not least in an impulsiveness which led him to hasty conclusions, soon to be put aside, so that he would vote to-morrow against that which he had advocated to-day. You forgave, you laughed, and loved him the more. It was on leaving his work at the joint office of the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade that Owen, while walking down St James's Street, was seized with a stroke of paralysis, which in a few days proved fatal. He was taken to Charing Cross Hospital, where he died on Friday afternoon, July 23rd, 1915, and was cremated at Golder's Green. He had spent many delightful holidays with his daughters at his house, Malham Tarn, near Settle in Craven, Yorkshire, where he rejoiced in his garden and in fly-fishing. He lived at 64 Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, for many years, but latterly at 24 Berkeley Street, Portman Square. By his marriage in 1882 with Miss Annie Laura Clayton, of Brynmally, near Wrexham, Owen had four daughters, who survived him. Mrs Owen died in 1906. There is a fine portrait of him in the Council Album. It should be added that Owen took the greatest interest in all the activities of student life at St Mary's. He warmly supported the Athletic Club, and had in his student days been a keen cricketer and football player, being Captain of the Hospital football team. He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He was also one of the founders of Sancta Maria Lodge, No 2682, of Free and Accepted Masons, constituted within the School of St Mary's, and was appointed a Past Junior Grand Deacon of England in 1899. He wrote an interesting account of a night of terrific work at the Epsom and Ewell War Hospital, when the first patients were admitted on October 15th, 1914. Publications: *Introductory Address delivered to the Students of St Mary's Hospital*, 1874, 8vo, London, 1874. "On the Anatomy of Genu Valgum," 8vo, Cambridge, 1879; reprinted from the *Jour Anat and Physiol*, 1879, xiii, 83. "A Case of Furneaux Jordan's Amputation at the Hip-joint, in which Bone was Re-formed in the Stump," 8vo, London, 1886; reprinted from *Trans Med Soc*, 1886, ix, 205. "Rickety Deformities of the Lower Extremity: their Treatment by Operation," 8vo, London, 1888; reprinted from *Practitioner*, 1888, xl, 261. *The Rearing of Hand-fed Infants*. With an introduction by CHARLES WEST, 8vo, London, 1884. International Health Exhibition Lecture, No 37. *The Surgical Diseases of Children*, 12mo, 4 plates, London, 1885; American edition, 1885; 3rd ed, 6 plates, 1897; French translation of 2nd ed, considerably added to by O LAURANT, Paris, 1891. *A Manual of Anatomy for Senior Students*, 8vo, illustrated, London, 1890. This is a record of Owen's work at St Mary's, and contains matter not then found in works on surgery. *Selected Subjects in Connection with the Surgery of Infancy and Childhood*, being the Lettsomian Lectures delivered at the Medical Society of London, 1890, 8vo, London, 1890. "Post-nasal Growths, or Adenoids," 8vo, London, 1893; reprinted from *Practitioner*, 1893, l, 191. "Treatment of Severe Club Foot." - *Trans Med-Chic Soc*, 1893, lxxvi, 89. "A Case of Axial Rotation of the Testis," 8vo, London, 1894; reprinted from *Trans Med Soc Lond*, 1894, xvii, 61. "Acute Septic Osteitis in Children and Young People," Lectures 1 and 2, 8vo, 1895; reprinted from *International Clinics*, 1895. "A Distinct Variety of Hip-joint Disease in Children and Young Persons," 8vo, London, 1899; reprinted from *Trans Med-Chir Soc*, 1899, lxxxii, 65. "Cleft Palate and Hare-lip: the Earlier Operation on the Palate," 12mo, illustrated, London, 1904. *Cancer: its Treatment by Modern Methods*, being the Bradshaw Lecture for 1906, 8vo, London, 1907. *John Hunter and his Museum*. The Hunterian Oration delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1911, Feb 14, 4to. This is the typewritten copy of the Oration presented to the Library by the Orator. It is bound by Zaehnsdorf. "Appendicitis: a Plea for Immediate Operation," 8vo, 4 illustrations, Bristol, 1914; reprinted from *Brit Med Jour*, 1913, i, 321, etc. Article on "Surgery" in the *Encyclopaedia Britannica*, 11th ed.
Resource Identifier RCS: E002874
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First Title value, for Searching Porritt, Arthur Espie, Baron Porritt of Wanganui and Hampstead (1900 - 1994)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-05-25 2012-03-13
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372421372421
Occupation General surgeon
Details Arthur Espie Porritt was born in Wanganui, New Zealand, the elder son of E E Porritt, VD, MD, FRCS, and of Ivy Elizabeth, née Mackenzie, whose father was also a medical practitioner. After education at Wanganui Collegiate School and Otago University, where he had an outstanding athletic record, he secured a Rhodes scholarship to Magdelen College, Oxford, in 1923. He went on to St Mary's Hospital, London, with an Oxford scholarship, qualifying MRCS LRCP London and MB BCh Oxford in 1928, and becoming FRCS in 1930 and later MCh Oxford. After house surgeon and registrar jobs at St Mary's he was appointed assistant director of the surgical unit there before becoming assistant surgeon and then surgeon to his teaching hospital. He was later also consultant surgeon to King Edward VII Hospital, the Royal Masonic, St John and Elizabeth, Paddington General, the Royal Chelsea, Princess Louise, Kensington Children's and Hitchin Hospitals. Porritt was an essentially general surgeon with a special interest in breast and abdominal surgery. An ever kind and considerate doctor much loved by his patients, he was a tireless worker, an expert teacher and a true leader. Always cheerful and optimistic, and supremely practical, he was an ideal member of staff for an undergraduate hospital. He was always popular with students, nurses and resident staff who found him most approachable, and he had a wonderful capacity for getting on with people of all ages. In the operating theatre he was quick, decisive, and never out of temper. His busy life did not allow him to publish many papers but his book, *Essentials of modern surgery*, written with the late R M Handfield-Jones, was popular and widely read and went into six editions between 1939 and 1956. In 1929, with D G A Lowe, he had also written a book on athletics. Shortly after the outbreak of the second world war he joined the RAMC as a lieutenant-colonel in charge of the surgical division of a hospital with the BEF. After the withdrawal from France he served in Egypt for two years. Recalled to the UK in 1943 he joined 21 Army Group with the rank of brigadier and became a consultant surgeon to Montgomery's army in north-west Europe. On demobilisation he returned to his pre-war work, having been made OBE in 1943 and advanced to CBE in 1945. From his early school days, Arthur Porritt had made his mark in swimming, riding, rugby and, most notably, in athletics, where his performance soon reached the highest international level. He was already an athlete of national standing before leaving New Zealand: he was a member of the Oxford University athletic team in 1923 and became president in 1925. His sprint record of 9.9 seconds for the 100 yards in the Oxford v Cambridge event remained unbroken for many years. He also achieved records in the 100 and 220 yard hurdles at Oxford before going on to represent his country in the Olympics in Paris in 1924, where he took a bronze for the 100 metres, and in Amsterdam four years later. He again acted as team manager in 1936. Knee trouble in 1928 compelled him to give up competitive running but he became a member of the Olympic International Council, and a member of the Commonwealth Games Federation, of which he was chairman from 1945 to 1966, and later vice-president. He rode with the Burghley hunt until he was 50. Outside the ambit of his hospital and private work Porritt gave himself unstintingly to many important activities. He served on the College Council from 1950 to 1966 and was President 1960 to 1963. He was honorary Fellow of the Faculties of Dental Surgery and of Anaesthetics, Hunterian orator, Webb-Johnson lecturer and a patron of the College. He was a member and vice-chairman of the trustees of the Hunterian Museum until his death. The very first year of his Presidency of the College he was also President of the British Medical Association, a unique distinction. He performed a notable task as chairman of the Medical Services Review Committee of the BMA: what became known as the 'Porritt Report' put forward a number of valuable ideas and recommendations, some of which were to be subsequently fulfilled. For these services he was awarded the gold medal and honorary fellowship of the BMA, though he had twice resigned his membership in the past. He was a man of integrity who made close and firm friendships with all manner of people. Not surprisingly, he became an honorary Fellow of every Royal Surgical College in the Commonwealth, as well as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the College of Surgeons of South Africa. He also held the United States Legion of merit and was a Knight of the Order of St John. He had a particular love for some of the other medical bodies, notably the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, of which he was Master, and of the Hunterian Society, over which he twice presided. He had been President of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and was a Fellow of the American Surgical Association and of the French Academy of Surgery. In addition he was patron and past President of the Medical Council on Alcoholism, and had been President of the Medical Commission on Accident Prevention and of the Company of Veteran Motorists. In 1973 he was appointed Chairman of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council; the African Medical and Research Foundation (amongst other things sponsoring the flying doctor service in East Africa) and also Chairman of the Royal Masonic Hospital. Prior to the second world war Porritt had been appointed Surgeon-in-Ordinary to the Duke of York. Shortly after the war he became Surgeon to the Royal Household and then Serjeant-Surgeon from 1952 to 1967. He was awarded the KCMG in 1950; the KCVO in 1957 (later advanced to GCMG, 1967 and GCVO, 1970) and a baronetcy in 1963 on completing his period as PRCS. After finishing service on the Council of the College he became President of the Royal Society of Medicine for two years. He considered it fortuitous that his appointment as Governor-General of New Zealand in 1967 compelled him to give up active surgery for he did not think it wise for most surgeons to continue long after retirement from hospital work. He and Lady Porritt then had a very happy and fulfilling five years in the country of his birth. On his return to Britain Lord Porritt of Hampstead and Wanganui he made a nmber of sincere and thoughtful contributions to the work of the Upper House and continued to attend there until the end of his life. He was a keen Freemason, had been Master of several lodges and became Senior Grand Deacon in 1951 and Junior Grand Warden in 1964. He was a founder member and vice-President of Lord Horder's Fellowship for Freedom in Medicine, which was dedicated to the highest standards of medical care and very much concerned with the freedom of patients as well as doctors. Porritt was a great ambassador. Apart from his many overseas trips on athletic business (and he attended the Commonwealth Games and Olympics into his ninth decade), he had ranged far and wide for surgery and was a powerful advocate of Britain's finest medical brains and skills being freely available abroad. He was also anxious that foreign medical graduates should be encouraged to study here and, as chairman of the medical advisory committee of the Ministry of Overseas Development, he was well able to further these aims. His first marriage to Mary Frances Wynne in 1926 was dissolved; in 1946, he married Kathleen Peck who had served as a sister in the QAIMNS during the war. They had two sons and a daughter. Fully active until a few weeks before his death, Lord Porritt died peacefully at his home in St John's Wood on New Year's Day 1994, aged 93. A portrait by Sir James Gunn hangs in the College. The Hon Jonathon Espie Porritt, formerly director of Friends of the Earth and one-time Ecology Party parliamentary candidate, inherited the baronetcy and gave the address at his father's service of thanksgiving in St Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey, on 26 April 1994. The service was attended by the Governor General of New Zealand, the Lord Chancellor, representatives of seven members of the Royal Family, the President and Council of the College, the Chairman and members of the Board of the Hunterian Trustees, the Court of Patrons and a large congregation. This was followed by a reception at New Zealand House.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000234
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Bower, David Bartlett (1929 - 2007)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2009-01-30 2014-06-30
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000500-E000599
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372767372767
Occupation Obstetrician and gynaecologist
Details David Bower was a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea, later amalgamated into Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He was born on 1 July 1929 in northwest London, the eldest son of Bartlett St George Bower, a successful lawyer, and Vera Bower née Luson. He went to the Hall School, Hampstead, from which he won a bursary to Oundle. He suffered considerably from asthma in the days before Ventolin and antibiotics, and concentrated on school work rather than sports. He shone academically and won an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read law, as his father wished him to join his legal practice. However, David quickly decided that his real preference was medicine and he transferred to the medical faculty at Cambridge, whilst continuing his study of the law, and bought a motorbike so that he could commute between the Middle Temple and Cambridge. After being called to the Bar in 1950, he never in fact practised law. He completed his medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital and obtained his FRCS in 1958. After a registrarship at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, he became a senior lecturer at Charing Cross and Westminster, from which he gained the Berkeley research fellowship to Toronto General Hospital. Whilst in Canada, he went to rural Newfoundland, where he practised mainly gynaecology, frequently visited patients by snow cat, and operated on the kitchen table. After returning to London, he was appointed consultant gynaecologist at St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea, which later joined with the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. David's research interests included vaginal surgery, where his skills became legendary. He was a patient and supportive teacher, and passed on his techniques to future generations until he retired at the age of 68. Unpretentious, pragmatic and compassionate, David was ideally suited to caring for women with reproductive health problems, and his help was sought by nurses and others who worked with him. Outside his professional life, David enjoyed music and at one time toured post-war Germany playing jazz on the piano for the US troops. At the end of his life he was learning to play the organ, having borrowed the keys to his local church. He was a keen sailor and for years took his boat to Cowes Week. Perhaps his greatest self-indulgence was big motorbikes and his holidays were spent touring abroad. Dressed in leathers and with a tangled beard, he was the original hairy biker, proud to be viewed with suspicion and even disallowed entry into country inns until he had proved his credentials. Enjoying a pint or two of local ale at lunchtime with him was a treat as he was singularly affable and philosophical. David was married with three children, however much of his later life was spent with his partner Maureen Sands, with whom he retired to The Barley Mow, a 15th century former alehouse in Oxfordshire. David struggled bravely with progressive complications from renal carcinoma and died at home on 18 March 2007, at the age of 77.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000584
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Onyeaso, Onyemara Nduche (1931 - 1979)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by E Olumbumni Olapade-Olaola
Publication Date 2009-02-10 2014-06-27
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/372768372768
Occupation General surgeon
Details Onyemara Nduche 'Dick' Onyeaso was chief consultant surgeon at Aba General Hospital, Nigeria. He was born on 7 July 1931 in Enugu, Nigeria, the son of Samuel Onyeaso, a clerk, and Minah Onyeaso, a housewife. He was educated at St Peter's Primary School, Enugu, the Methodist College, Uzuakoli, and Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. He learnt his basic medical sciences at the University of Ibadan Medical School, which was then affiliated to the University of London, and went on to do his clinical studies at Westminster Hospital Medical School, London, where he won the class prize in midwifery and graduated MB BS on 16 November 1958. He completed his internship at University College Hospital, Ibadan, and thereafter returned to England, where he trained in general surgery and passed his FRCS in 1964. He was a senior registrar in cardiothoracic surgery at Bethnal Green Hospital in 1971, but thereafter his interest in cardiothoracic surgery waned. He worked variously in England, Switzerland and Nigeria, and as personal physician to the family of the president of Gabon, Omar Bongo, until 1974, when he returned to Nigeria to be the chief consultant surgeon at the General Hospital, Aba. He started his private practice in 1976. Outside medicine, he loved swimming and lawn tennis, and was fluent in French. Dick was a family man. He married Ibobo Antoinette Allgoa in 1971. They had four children - Nduche, Chinwe, Nkechi and Obinna. Nduche and Nkechi are physicians in the USA, Obinna is a physician in Nigerian, while Chinwe is a banker in Nigeria. Dick Onyeaso became sick in 1979 and was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. He died on 24 September 1979 in Westminster Hospital, London, aged 48.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000585
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ellis, Frank Groves (1925 - 2003)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Norman Kirby
Publication Date 2009-02-10 2011-05-05
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/372769372769
Occupation Renal transplant surgeon Vascular surgeon
Details Frank Groves Ellis was a renal transplant and vascular surgeon at Guy's Hospital. He was born on 12 September 1925 into a long-standing farming family. After grammar school, he entered Guy's medical school in 1943, qualifying in 1949. He was an anatomy demonstrator in 1952. He gained a consultant post at the Royal Northern Hospital London as a general surgeon, gaining particular experience in oesophageal, breast and urinary surgery, but in 1969 was appointed as a renal transplant and vascular surgeon at Guy's Hospital. His first renal transplant at Guy's was in fact done in Brighton. In that early period transfer of the donor kidney was not easy, so he took the whole surgical team, with the recipient patient, to the south coast in his car. The operation was successful. Further developments made his department internationally renowned and he made countless working trips to the Middle East and built up a multitude of foreign connections. At one period, due to a shortage of established anaesthetists, he personally financed the employment of one to help lower his long waiting list. He genuinely enjoyed teaching students: he could be abrasive at times, but never talked down to them, or to junior colleagues. He did on occasion talk down to many of his seniors, which displeased a minority. However, this was usually regarded as professional tactlessness rather than intentional rudeness. He was particularly helpful to new consultants to Guy's. He was a staunch friend to his juniors. Alongside this thrusting personality was a man who was courteous with patients, NHS or private, who took careful case histories, with diligent note and record keeping, together with a comprehensive pre-operative examination and investigations. He was not a committee man, so did not rely on their decisions and usually did what he had decided to do. This undoubtedly did upset the committees, but benefited his patients. Frank belonged to many surgical societies and was a fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. The Lettsomian lecture he gave to the Medical Society of London in 1975 was entitled 'Organ transplantation'. He was elected president of the society in 1978. In 1961 he was Hunterian Professor of our College. He published many papers on vascular surgical emergencies and angioplasty, and wrote a chapter on acute and chronic renal failure in *Surgery* by Kirk et al (London, Pitman). His wife and children endured with him the difficulties of the last phase of his life. He bore this period with great courage. He died on 10 August 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000586
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sellors, Sir Thomas Holmes (1902 - 1987)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-01 2012-03-09
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372424372424
Occupation Cardiothoracic surgeon
Details Thomas Holmes Sellors, the only son of Dr Thomas Blanchard Sellors, a general practitioner and of Anne Oliver Sellors (née McSparron) was born on 7 April 1902, at Wandsworth. A few years later his father moved his practice to Southend-on-Sea and Tom, as he was always known, went to Alleyn Court Preparatory School at Westcliff-on-Sea, before moving to Loretto School, Musselburgh, and then to Oriel College, Oxford. He secured a university entrance scholarship to the Middlesex Hospital and qualified there in 1926. Following resident medical and surgical appointments at the Middlesex and Brompton Hospitals, he was surgical registrar to Gordon Taylor at the Middlesex. During this period he was the first recipient of the G.H. Hunt Travelling Scholarship, awarded by Oxford University in 1928, and was able to spend some time at surgical centres in Scandinavia. After a thorough grounding in general surgery, during which period he later recorded his indebtedness to Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor, R.V. Hudson, Tudor Edwards and the physicians R.A. Young and Evan Bedford, he decided to specialise in chest surgery. He was an excellent technician and, with the contemporary rapid developments in anaesthesia, he was keen to devote himself to the specialty. He surprised some of his seniors when his book *Surgery of the thorax* was published in 1933. In the early 1930's few of the London teaching hospitals, or the large general hospitals, offered opportunity for the newly emerging surgical specialties. But opportunity came with his appointment to the staff of the London Chest Hospital in 1934, followed by further appointments to the Royal Waterloo Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford. He also secured appointments at various London County Council hospitals and sanatoria, and started chest units at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and at Leicester Royal Infirmary which entailed much travelling by car and an immense workload. Such was the peripatetic and scattered character of thoracic practice in a period when tuberculosis was principal preoccupation of a chest surgeon. On the outbreak of the second world war he was appointed adviser in thoracic surgery to the North West Metropolitan Region, based on Harefield Hospital, Middlesex, where he worked most happily and productively until his retirement. Shorttly after the war, in 1947, he was appointed thoracic surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital where he developed close and cordial relationships with the cardiologists Evan Bedford and Walter Somerville, to whose skilful assessment of cardiac problems he always paid warm tribute. From this time onwards, both at Middlesex Hospital and Harefield, cardiac surgery progressively displaced most of his earlier pulmonary and oesophageal work. As a result of this, in 1957, he was appointed as consultant surgeon to the National Heart Hospital when cardiac surgery became a rather belated funcition of that institution. In the second half of his surgical life he set up open heart surgery units at these last three hospitals. But he never allowed cardiac surgery at the Middlesex to threaten the work of other departments, such was his concern for the interests of his colleagues. A number of the other hospitals to which he had previously been attached provided opportunity for several of his trainees to establish thoracic and cardiac surgical centres. Ever courteous in the operation room, he was superb craftsman and a master of sharp dissection. He was never known to raise his voice, nor did he ever blame anyone else when things went wrong. A clumsy assistant might received his favourite admonition "Juggins!". But he had a devoted and enthusiastic band of trainees, some of whom became internationally renowned and several of whom predeceased him. To all of them he was affectionately known as "Uncle Tom." He was up at daybreak, or earlier, often visiting a ward before the residents or day staff were around. His gentlemanly style and good manners ensured excellent rapport with nursing staff and gave immense confidence to his patients. He worked with deceptive rapidity and economy of effort, seldom wasting time with idle chatter, so much so that an astute trainee - anxious to secure his shrewd advice under rather pressing conditions - once hopped into his car and took an unplanned trip from Harefield to London with him. Despite being in the forefront of cardiac surgery in this country, he showed a healthy conservatism in avoiding frankly experimental procedures. Nevertheless, having set out to do a Blalock operation, which proved quite impossible due to dense lung adhesions in a man with bilateral pulmonary tubercule, and noting the tightness of the valvular obstruction, he calmly borrowed a tenotomy knife from a nearly orthopaedic theartre and did the first direct operation for the relief of pulmonary stenosis. It is worthy of report that, on hearing of this operation, one of his rivals then emulated him and got into print first. He learnt his hypothermic technique from Henry Swann and then closed some five hundred atrial septal defects, in which procedure his results were unrivalled at that time. He next unashamedly learnt his cardiopulmonary by-pass technique from John Kirklin, by which time his rapid technique became relatively less essential to a successful outcome. He had retired before coronary artery by-pass was established and later frankly admitted that he had believed the successful anastomosis of such small vessels to be impracticable. From the inception of the National Health Service in 1948 he was active in the medico-political field. This was almost an inadvertent development, surprising in a man who was so deeply involved in his surgical work, but largely due to his public spiritedness and readiness to serve his colleagues. He was chairman of the North West Metropolitan Consultants' and Specialists' Committee for some years; was a member of the Central Consultants' Committee form its inception and its chairman for five years. He was elected to Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1957. The following year he became Chairman of the Joint Consultants' Committee in succession to Lord Brain, a demanding task which he undertook for eleven years, having received the accolade of Knight Bachelor in 1963. A year after demitting office as chairman of JCC, and having been Vice-President for one year, he was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1969 to 1972. Earlier at the College he had been Tudor Edwards and Gordon-Taylor lecturer, and was then Bradshaw lecturer in 1968 and Hunterian Orator in 1973. He also served as President of the British Medical Association and was awarded its Gold Medal. After demitting office at the Royal College of Surgeons he was elected a College Patron and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Dental Surgery. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hunterian Collection and ultimately its Chairman. Despite his intensely busy surgical life he travelled widely abroad, lecturing and demonstrating in Europe, India, Russia and South America. He also visited the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa, becoming an honorary fellow of the surgical colleges of South Africa and America, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was elected to the FRCP London and to honorary membership of the European Cardiological Society, the Academy of Medicine in Rome and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Belgium. Whilst giving a number of eponymous lectures in the course of his travels he received honorary degrees at Groningen, Liverpool and Southampton, as well as the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Française, and became an officer of the Order of Carlos Finlay, Cuba. He had a strongly international outlook and did much for the generality of surgery and in particular for the International Society of Surgery, of which he was President from 1977 to 1979. Well after retirement from hospital and private practice he supported many good causes. He was Chairman of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund for five years; Chairman of the National Heart Foundation; Chairman and later President of the Medical Council on Alcoholism. Apart from the publication of his textbook at an early age, he wrote many papers and edited a number of other cardiothoracic works. He had a capacity for graceful living and was a keen gardener and a proficient painter in water colours. Few were privy to the personal tragedies he suffered during a long life of service. In 1928, aged 26, he had married Brenda Lyell, who died of appendicitis a few weeks later. In 1932 he married Elizabeth Cheshire by whom he had a son and a daughter; but, when both children were in their 'teens their mother developed a stroke and hypertension. She died in 1953 when Tom was at one of the most demanding periods of his life. He married his secretary, Marie Hobson, in 1955, a union which was to last thirty years. Ironically, as the non-smoking wife of a thoracic surgeon, she developed lung cancer and died nearly two years before him. When he died on 13 September 1987 he was survived by his daughter, Susan, and by his son, Patrick, who is a fellow of the College and Surgeon-Oculist to Her Majesty the Queen. A service of thanksgiving was held at St Clement Danes Church, on 2 December, 1987 when the address was given by Sir Reginald Murley, PPRCS.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000237
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Muir, Sir Edward Grainger (1906 - 1973)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-01 2013-11-25
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372425372425
Occupation General surgeon
Details Edward Grainger Muir was born on 18 February 1906 in North China where his father was a medical missionary. He was educated at Eltham College, and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School where he distinguished himself by winning the Senior Broderip Scholarship and qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma at the early age of 21, and graduating MB, BS (Lond) in 1928. After resident appointments he passed the FRCS examination before he was old enough to receive the diploma, and in 1932 he won the gold medal in the London University MS examination. At Middlesex Hospital was influenced particularly by Lord Webb Johnson, Sir Gordon Gordon-Taylor and Sir Eric Riches, and after junior clinical appointments there he spent two years between 1930 and 1932 in the laboratories of the Royal College of Surgeons as the Bernhard Baron Research Scholar. He then returned to the Middlesex Hospital as assistant pathologist, and later surgical registrar, which prepared him for the appointments of consultant surgeon to King's College Hospital, the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and King Edward VII Hospital for Officers. From 1940-1945 he served in the RAMC with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was later consultant surgeon to the Army. Muir was a general surgeon with a special interest in the surgery of the colon and rectum. He regarded the training of his house surgeons and registrars as one of his principal tasks, and he made a significant contribution to post-graduate education when he was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons and was appointed Dean of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. Edward Muir's association with the College extended over the greater part of his professional life, dating from his Bernhard Baron Scholarship, then Hunterian Professorship in 1934, membership of the Court of Examiners and finally of the Council, becoming Vice-President in 1971 and President in July 1972, just over a year before he died. Besides his College activities he held many other distinctions, having been President of the Harveian Society and of the Medical Society of London, and in the Royal Society of Medicine he was President of the Proctological Section and of the Section of Surgery. In 1954 he was appointed Surgeon to the Royal Household, in 1964 Surgeon to the Queen, and shortly before his death Sergeant Surgeon. He was knighted in 1970. In spite of all these distinctions Muir was a modest, retiring person, a hard worker entirely dedicated to the care of his patients and the advancement of the science and art of surgery. He was devoted to his family, very fond of music, and took a special delight in driving motor cars, even in London. In 1929 he married Estelle Russell and they had two sons; the elder, a consultant pathologist and microbiologist was tragically killed in a road accident, and the younger became the professor of cardiology at the Welsh National School of Medicine. He died in the National Hospital, Queen Square, after a subarachnoid haemorrhage on 14 October 1973.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000238
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Parks, Sir Alan Guyatt (1920 - 1982)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2006-06-01 2012-03-13
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Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000200-E000299
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372426372426
Occupation Colorectal surgeon
Details Alan Parks became President of the College but died while in office. He was born on 19 December 1920. After education at Sutton High School and Epsom College he proceeded to Brasenose, Oxford, in 1939, graduating BA in 1943. He was due for enrolment at Guy's for clinical training, but was one of a small wartime group selected for further training in America, becoming a Rockefeller Student at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, in 1943. He was medical intern there and graduated MD in 1947 before returning to Guy's to complete his BM, BCh in the same year. He served as house surgeon to Sam Wass and Sir Heneage Ogilvie, passed the MRCP in 1948 and FRCS in 1949. There followed two years in the RAMC, when he was a graded surgeon and served in Malaya, Japan and Korea. On returning home he was resident surgical officer at Putney and then registrar and senior registrar at Guy's from 1953 to 1959, having obtained his MCh in 1954. Parks was an only child, and himself believed that this made it difficult for him to adjust socially. At an early age he developed a wide interest in crafts and hobbies, his later attraction to surgery was largely attributable to this. He was head boy at Epsom and a good athlete who earned his place in the rugby XV. He was a big man and at wartime Oxford, when blues were not awarded, he was captain of athletics and a forward in the university XV. Early in his career he decided which field of surgery was to become his life's work. At Guy's Hospital his study of 'thick sections' of the anal canal enhanced the knowledge of anatomy, leading to papers on fistulas, the development of the submucosal plane of dissection, and submucosal harmorrhoidectomy. His first published work appeared in 1954 with the anatomical study of the anal canal in the *Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine*. This was followed with a thesis on the surgical treatment of haemorrhoids for the degree of Master of Surgery at Oxford University. Alan's interests at this stage also included fibroadenosis of the breast, in which he collaborated with Sir Hedley Atkins, when he was research assistant, and the lymphovascular systems of the leg. His main interest, however, remained in the lower bowel; papers on submucous haemorrhoidectomy (1959) were followed by others on fistula-in-ano (1961), pelvic floor physiology (1962), pharmacokinetics of the intestinal wall musculature (1963), per-anal removal of rectal tumours (1970), techniques of colo-anal anastomosis (1976) and the 'pelvic pouch' operation after pan-proctocolectomy (1980): each of these introduced a new field or altered surgical practice. It is a truly astonishing list and a full bibliography was published in a commemorative supplement by the *Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England* 1983. He joined St Mark's in 1959, the only consultant surgeon to be appointed without having been a resident. Soon after this his interest switched to a better understanding of anorectal physiology in relation to continence. Parks gathered around him experts, neurophysiologists and neuropharmacologists and young men clamouring to work with him. He left a devoted band form all parts of the globe with a better understanding of the function of pelvic-floor muscles. He perfected the technique of colo-anal anastomosis and ileoanal anastomosis with a reservoir (Parks' pouch) - a technique dependent upon his work on sub-mucosal dissection and an understanding of pelvic physiology. In these two procedures his technique as a master surgeon is well exemplified, it was perhaps in the operating theatre that he was able to teach at his best, demonstrating his special techniques and instruments. In addition to his demanding clinical commitments he undertook a heavy load on behalf of the profession and shortly after being elected to Council in 1971 he became an honorary secretary of the Joint Consultants' Committee, being elected Chairman the following year. Few but those closest to him realised how much time, energy, and personal expense he devoted to this work; for this and his seminal contributions to surgery he received the accolade of knighthood in 1977. He was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1980 having previously been Hunterian Professor in 1965; he was to be Hunterian Orator in 1983. He was consultant surgeon to the Army, had been President of the Section of Proctology at the Royal Society of Medicine, an examiner for Cambridge University, and chief medical adviser of BUPA. He was particularly proud and delighted by the award in 1980 of the Ernst Jung Prize in medicine in recognition of his signal contributions to colorectal surgery and physiology. In 1981 the University of Geneva awarded him the Nessim Habif Prize and he was later awarded Honorary Fellowships of the Edinburgh, Australasian, and American Colleges of Surgeons and of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and Canada. He was corresponding member of the German Surgical Society, and honorary member of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and, only a few days before the onset of his fatal illness was admitted to Honorary Fellowship of the Italian Surgical Society. He possessed a deep faith which pervaded all his activities. He was at the time of his death President-elect of the Christian Medical Fellowship. He would always do what he conceived to be his duty, even when exhausted, Sir Alan was blessed by a supremely happy marriage to Caroline Cranston, herself a medical graduate, who survived him with their four children. They much enjoyed visits to their seaside home in Dunwich, Suffolk, bird watching. Parks' own hobbies included craftwork with old books, binding and particularly engraving. In October 1982 Sir Alan suffered a myocardial infarct when in Rome. Later he was moved to London and died on 3 November after emergency cardiac surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000239
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Barrett, John (1811 - 1881)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barrett, Thomas (1816 - 1868)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z

First Title value, for Searching Barron, Edward Enfield (1811 - 1878)

2025-06-25T01:10:29Z