Vernon Frederick (“Sam”) Hall
Consultant anaesthetist and dean of King’s College Hospital Medical School 1951-65 (b New Cross, London, 1904, to parents who were both teachers; q King’s 1927; FFARCS; CVO), died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm on 19 August 1998. At medical school he was a keen sportsman, being full back in the most successful rugby team it ever had. He became a resident anaesthetist at King’s. This was an unpaid post and he made his living working at a dispensary and from the occasional private fee. An unexpected retirement in 1931 resulted in his becoming a consultant at the age of 27. This post was also unpaid and income had to be earned from private cases done at the invitation of the surgeon and from locums outside the hospital. He later got a post at Southend Hospital for two sessions a week, earning £150 a year.
At the beginning of the war Sam worked at King’s during the blitz. He then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, being posted to India, where he found himself charged with having to staff numerous mobile surgical units, formed to treat casualties as near to the front line as possible. Although there was a plentiful supply of surgeons, there were only 11 recognised anaesthetists in the whole of India Command, and the work soon involved the organisation and training of anaesthetists. Sam spent much time in rough travelling to forward units in north east India and Burma. On one occasion, picking up a sick anaesthetist, he spent 18 hours in a flying boat because of its other duties in protecting a merchant ship from submarine attack. Later in 1944 he became anaesthetic adviser to South East Asia Command, attaining the rank of brigadier.
After the war Sam returned to his consultant post at King’s, becoming a founder member of the board of the newly established faculty of anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons. He worked with many of the leading surgeons of the day, and, initially for Sir William Gilliatt and later Sir John Peel, administered the anaesthetics for the birth of all four of the Queen’s children. He was created CVO in 1960.
Interest in medical education: Sam took an increasing interest in medical student education and was vice dean of King’s College Hospital Medical School from 1948 to 1951 and then dean from 1951 to 1965. He was chairman of the board of advanced medical studies and a member of the senate of London University in 1952-62. During this time he oversaw the separation demanded by the new National Health Service of the preclinical and clinical schools at King’s, something he described as “like trying to unravel a large piece of knitting with stitches all the same colour.” He was recently amused to learn that under the current administrative changes the two schools are being put together again.
Retiring in 1969, he moved to north Devon, where he pursued his interests of walking, riding, and music. With the help of his wife he did much to inspire the building of the village hall in Brendon, and he was an active member and later vice president of the Exmoor Society. His interest in the countryside and walking took him many times to the famous mountaineer’s inn at Pen-y-Gwyrd, in north Wales, and in 1982 he published a Scrapbook of Snowdonia, a history of the inn and surrounding area. His other publications included a history of King’s College Hospital Dental School (1973) and Anaesthesia in India 1942-46 (1991).
Sam was firmly against rigidity of thought, and his opinions, held strongly, were often spiced with his sense of humour. Although he quickly developed great ability as a public speaker (particularly after dinner), he was always worried about it and often spent ages preparing impromptu speeches. Described by Paris Match on one occasion as “a typical Englishman of the strong silent type,” he was a disciplined man who liked punctuality, particularly at mealtimes, and continued to dress daily in a suit and tie until the day of his death. In his recent book Reminiscences (1997), he wrote of the difficulties in integrating a medical vocation with market place economics, a subject about which he felt strongly and spoke with great clarity on his 90th birthday. He leaves a wife, Marcia (a paediatrician); a son (a GP) and two daughters; eight grandchildren (one a medical oncologist); and five great grandchildren.
David Marsden Fletcher
Consultant surgeon Scarborough Hospital, 1968-92 (b Beccles, Derbyshire, 1930; q Leeds 1956; FRCS), d 24 November 1998. While training in surgery at Leeds he developed an interest in surgery of the large bowel. David worked tirelessly at Scarborough and Malton and also contributed to the management as chairman of the Scarborough district medical staff committee. He was one of the founders of St Catherine’s Hospice, which opened in 1985, and was elected its first president. He had little time for hobbies, but was a keen gardener and regularly opened the garden at Gristhorpe Hall to raise funds for the hospice. He loved classical music and took up photography when he retired due to ill health at the age of 62. Predeceased by his wife, Joan, he leaves a son (professor of pathology at Harvard); a daughter; and four grandchildren.
by Alan Jackson
James Edward Hilton
Former police surgeon (b Glasgow 1920; q St Andrews 1944 (commendation); FRCGP), d 27 October 1998. He saw active service with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Italy and was then in Haifa, Cairo, and Cyprus with the 1st South Wales Borderers. After the war he was a registrar in Norfolk and then set up in general practice. But it is as a pioneer of clinical forensic medicine that he will be remembered; he was in the vanguard of getting it recognised internationally as a separate discipline. James was force surgeon to the Norfolk Constabulary and one of the earlier diplomates in medical jurisprudence, and his work encompassed the whole range of forensic medicine in rural and urban settings. Although the battered baby syndrome had been described as a clinical entity, James and others pioneered the gathering and recording of forensic aspects of non-accidental injuries in children. He strongly opposed the idea that only women doctors should examine the victims of child and adult sexual abuse. James was coeditor of The New Police Surgeon, which was first published in 1978 and set the scene for the academic advancement of clinical forensic medicine. He later helped to launch the Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine. James was president of the Association of Police Surgeons in 1982 and a trustee of the W G Johnson Memorial Trust, which sponsors and encourages research by members of the association. He leaves a wife, Mary; a daughter; and three sons.
by Ralph A A R Lawrence
Lancelot Craig Montgomery
International voluntary worker and general practitioner (b 1910; q Queen’s University Belfast 1933; MD, FRCSI), d 22 May 1998. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the second world war in Egypt and Italy and was mentioned in dispatches. Lance had a strong Christian faith and after a spell in the Army Medical Directorate and a house job he worked on a voluntary basis to care for the health needs of a large international group of the Moral Rearmament Movement, travelling on a mission of reconciliation in Europe, Asia, and Africa. During the 1970s he returned for a time to Northern Ireland, where he played a part in bridge building between the divided communities. In 1976 he became a general practitioner in the Shetland Islands, where he and his wife, Nan, were quickly integrated into the local community; they stayed on after he retired.
by K D Stewart and J R Evans
Leslie Gordon Morrison
Former consultant anaesthetist Leith Hospital, Edinburgh, 1948-80 (b Edinburgh 1915; q Edinburgh 1937; FFARCS; MC), d 22 October 1998. When he was a house officer he contracted rheumatic fever. As he was confined to bed for a long time he took up painting and sculpting, hobbies which he enjoyed throughout his life. He continued his training in the army, serving in north Africa, the Mediterranean, and Europe. The hospital ship on which he was serving was sunk by enemy action, and although wounded he helped to rescue many, for which he was awarded the Military Cross. Before being appointed a consultant in Edinburgh he was invited to set up an anaesthetic department in Zurich. He took up fencing at school and continued to be interested, captaining the Scottish fencing team at the 1958 Commonwealth Games and organising the fencing programme for the 1970 games. He was Scottish team manager at the 1978 games in Edmonton. He used his administrative skills to set up several Abbeyfield Homes for the elderly in Edinburgh. In 1987 he and his wife emigrated to Australia to join their family. He thrived in the warm climate and made many new friends. On the day before he died in his sleep he was reminiscing in his garden with two of his former registrars, one a professor from England, the other a consultant in Adelaide. He leaves a wife, Zina (a retired doctor); a son (an orthopaedic surgeon); two daughters (one a dental surgeon, the other a general practitioner); and eight grandchildren.
by G Johnston
Helen Duncanson Tennent Smith
Former consultant in public health medicine Glasgow and Argyll and Clyde, and former general practitioner Ayrshire, 1964-80 (b 1936; q Glasgow 1961; DRCOG, FFPHM), died from a cerebral haemorrhage while on a cruise on 28 October 1998. She worked for the Greater Glasgow Health Board as a public health doctor and a senior health services manager, specialising in services for mental handicap and mental health from 1980 to 1992. She was director of social services for the archdiocese of Glasgow before joining the Argyll and Clyde Health Board in 1994. Here Helen used her experience and skills in developing mental health services as well as taking forward her remit for services to lessen the harm to health from drug and alcohol misuse. In all her jobs she cared deeply about helping the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society. For many years she was involved locally, nationally, and internationally with the UK Federation of Business and Professional Women and worked tirelessly to improve, among other things, the delivery of health care to isolated villages in India. She had a strong religious faith, was a church elder, and served on several church committees. She never married and is survived by her mother.
by Lewis Reay, Betty Taylor and Douglas Philips
John Edward Utting
Professor of anaesthesia University of Liverpool (b Liverpool 1932; q Cambridge/Liverpool 1957; FRCA), died on 26 August 1998 after a hemicolectomy for carcinoma in 1993. He was the first Roman Catholic to be head boy of Liverpool College, an Anglican public school, and 30 years later became the first Catholic chairman of governors. He became an anaesthetist because, as he used to say, his wife, Jean, also an anaesthetist, showed him some textbooks on the subject. John was a renowned teacher both of anaesthesia and of clinical physiology and pharmacology. Along with colleagues he described a method of monitoring muscular relaxation which is still widely used today, and he carried out work on awareness during anaesthesia. He was public orator and pro vice chancellor at Liverpool, but was always assiduous in performing his clinical duties. A superb speaker and writer, he was for many years joint editor of the oldest major British textbook on anaesthesia. John had a wide knowledge of literature and classics, and he took a great interest in the city of Liverpool and its history. He had a sharp sense of humour and was a true gentleman who treated people from all walks of life with respect, and as a father figure helped many people through personal crises. Predeceased by his wife, he leaves a son and three daughters.
by R S Ahearn
Alan Richardson Wilson
Consultant psychotherapist Cassel Hospital, 1969-84 (b Withernsea 1923; q Oxford/St Mary’s 1948; FRCPsych), d 26 August 1998. Alan worked in child psychiatry and became interested in the psychological aspects of pregnancy and the puerperium, using group analysis as a means of research. In 1978 he became chairman of the medical executive committee at the Cassel. He planned a research institute linked to Brunel University, but the plan was not supported by medical colleagues. After retirement his interests included science, philosophy, computer science, music, furniture making, and travelling. He leaves a wife, Eileen (also a doctor); two sons; and three grandchildren.
by J E Wilson