Cecil Thompson Buchanan Adams
Former physician Coleraine and Londonderry (b Londonderry 1914; q Queen's University Belfast 1937; DPH), d 30 March 1999. He served in the Royal Air Force during the second world war with postings as squadron leader in India and Africa. After the war Dr Adams worked with the newly formed Northern Ireland Tuberculosis Authority and was responsible for the service in several towns. At the time there were over 14 000 people with tuberculosis out of a population of about 1.3 million. The authority's report was published in 1959 when it was clear that the task to control the disease had been accomplished. Dr Adams then transferred to the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority and continued working in chest medicine. He had a special interest in farmer's lung. He was described as shy and unassuming but was caring and competent. He leaves a wife, Maud.
Elisabeth Bride Carnegie Dickson
Missionary doctor South Africa (b 1921; q Royal Free Hospital 1943), died during a robbery in June 1999. Her first posting was in Tsolo, Transkei, where she detected and contained a diphtheria epidemic, earning the commendation of the South African government. She said that the difficulty of getting free vaccine for the children was equalled by the difficulty in persuading the mothers to accept it. In 1962 she moved to the Holy Cross mission and the Victoria Hospital Lovedale, where her diagnostic and surgical skills were appreciated. In 1975 she retired to the mountain resort of Hogsback and joined the local general practice. She was delighted that the resort was a mixed race community. Bride fulfilled two ambitions, to have a beautiful garden and to become an ordained minister of the Anglican church—she was one of the first group of women to be ordained in 1992. He church was the smallest in South Africa, St Patrick's on the Hill. Cancer, mugging, and a robbery tested her courage in 1995, but she refused to give up living alone.
by Doris A Craigmile
John Robert Pelham Gibbons
Former consultant thoracic surgeon Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, 1977-93 (b Birmingham; q Leeds 1954; FRCS; MBE, TD), died after cardiac surgery on 23 April 1999. John Gibbons was one of the most popular and imposing figures in medicine in Northern Ireland where he developed a unique experience in treating gunshot wounds to the chest. At the end of the war he enlisted with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and saw active service in Palestine. When he was a senior registrar in London he was first assistant to the first heart transplant performed in the United Kingdom. In Belfast he became an authority on chest traumas, for which he was made a Hunterian professor. John published widely on chest injuries and oesophageal surgery, and took delight in teaching junior surgeons and examining for the Edinburgh college until 1999. He was self deprecating with little time for arrogance. He continued his connections with the army, becoming president of the Northern Ireland branch of the Parachute Regiment, and maintained his links with the Royal Army Medical Corps until his death. Outside medicine John was interested in travelling, railways, and good food and wine. He leaves a wife, Marie-Jeanne; four sons (two of whom are doctors); and two daughters.
by Jim McGuigan
David Stoakley Hinson
Former general practitioner Filey, north Yorkshire, 1963-88 (b 1933; q Leeds 1960), d 7 September 1999. He started training in bacteriology before reading medicine. After joining the new group practice in Filey he was innovative and helped to move the partnership into the first purpose built premises in the area. He was a great raconteur and his ebullient personality and laugh resonated round the surgery. During the summer the practice population quadrupled and David often went from the practice surgery to the packed waiting room in the ramshackle surgery in the Butlin's camp, on to the maternity wards 15 miles away, back to the practice surgery, and then was on call for the city of caravans and chalets on the clifftops. He loved to escape to his boat on the Ouse; he was a keen Rotarian, vice chairman and honorary medical officer for the local lifeboat, and divisional surgeon for St John Ambulance. He leaves a wife, Asa, and two children.
by Roger Nunn
George Downes McDowell
Consultant otolaryngologist Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1950-78 (b Stranraer 1914; q Edinburgh 1937; FRCSEd), died from coronary thrombosis on 20 August 1999. At the start of the war he was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps as a specialist ear, nose, and throat surgeon, rising to the rank of major with the 13th General Hospital, serving in the Middle East and Germany. When he was appointed a consultant it was the custom to work in peripheral hospitals and bring the major surgery back to the centre. Although a large man with large hands, he was a natural surgeon who found his métier in microscopic ear surgery. He was totally ambidextrous and could be scathing of his juniors who did not have this facility. He became head of the university department of otolaryngology, where he enjoyed teaching but found university administration and politics trying. He was secretary, treasurer, and president of the Scottish Otolaryngological Society. Outside medicine he enjoyed curling, fishing, walking, and sailing—he was commodore of the Queensferry Boat Club—and had a cottage on Loch Fyne for many years. Predeceased by his wife, he leaves a daughter; two sons; and grandchildren.
by Bryan Dale
Frederic (“Eric”) Guy Neild
Medical officer Health and Safety Executive, 1971-1981 (b Shanghai 1917; q St Thomas's 1940; MRCS, MFCM), d 7 August 1999. During the blitz he was a casualty officer and was at St Thomas's on all three nights that the hospital was hit. Eric joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was with the 50 Indian Parachute Battalion and the 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalion, which was involved in desperate fighting in the jungle on the Indian and Burmese border. Parachuting in India was not without risk—about 1% mortality per course. He stayed in the army, serving in Berlin during the airlift and in Cyprus during the Suez crisis. He was seconded to the Nigerian Army at the time of independence as the commanding officer of the Military Hospital, Kaduna, 1960-3. Most of the rest of his army career was spent teaching hygiene and tropical medicine at Millbank and he left as colonel. He then joined the medical branch of the Health and Safety Executive and was its medical representative in Luxemburg. When he retired he was proud of his role in the Society of Apothecaries and was master in 1988-9. He leaves a wife, Marjorie; and a son and two daughters (all three of whom trained at St Thomas's).
by G H Neild
Louis Falconer Smith
Former general practitioner Greenford, Middlesex (b 1905; q Edinburgh 1936), d 23 August 1999. At the age of 5 Louis and his family moved to British Columbia where he gained a degree in chemistry before returning to Edinburgh to read medicine. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Crete and was a prisoner of war for five years because he chose to stay with the wounded rather than try to escape. Louis was singlehanded for 32 of the 35 years that he worked in Greenford, and worked well into his 70s. He was a shrewd diagnostician and a caring and good humoured doctor. In 1980 he and his wife retired to British Columbia to be near their daughter. He remained fit and active until shortly before his death. He leaves a wife, Ann; a daughter and a son (a consultant chemical pathologist); two grandchildren; and one great granddaughter.
by James Falconer Smith
John Turner Spare
General practitioner Taunton (b 1917; q Middlesex 1942), died suddenly from metastatic liver cancer on 6 June 1999. After qualification John joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a captain, serving with the allied forces in France and the Netherlands until the end of the war. When he entered general practice he embraced the new NHS with the enthusiasm and commitment that were the hallmarks of his practice. His clinical acumen and gentlemanly approach endeared him to both colleagues and patients. Outside medicine he was interested in motor sports and the Rotary, and after retirement he was founder chairman of the Somerset Dyslexia Association and president of the local committee of the Cancer Research Campaign. He leaves a wife, Mary; a son (me, a general practitioner); two daughters; and nine grandchildren.
by Tim Spare
Jessie Vivien Mary Walls (née Robb)
Former clinic doctor (b 1910; q Glasgow 1934; DPH), died on 10 September 1999 one week after celebrating her diamond wedding. Her first job was as clinical tutor at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, a private arrangement as women doctors had no place on the staff. After house jobs Professor Carl Browning, professor of bacteriology, invited her to be his research fellow, and she held this post until she married. The late 1930s were exciting times for the discipline and Browning and his team were kept busy. Dr Walls's management of the animals involved was speedy and compassionate, although a mouse in her country cottage brought the textbook female response. When her children were in their teens she returned to work part time, mainly in baby clinics. She leaves a husband (they qualified on the same day), and a son and a daughter (also doctors).
by E W Walls
John Whyte
Consultant paediatrician Lanarkshire Hospitals (b Inverkeithing 1942; q Edinburgh 1967; FRCPEd, DCH), d 3 June 1999. He began his paediatric career in the Western General Infirmary in Edinburgh before moving to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow. He had graduated in pharmacology in 1964, and this training allowed him to carry out research in drug reactions in paediatrics, and at the same time he developed his neonatal skills and started his lifelong enthusiasm for the care of the newborn. He was appointed consultant paediatrician in 1975 and became a great champion for mothers, babies, and children. John devoted much of his time to building children's health services in an area ravaged by the effects of social and employment changes. He was a founder member of the Scottish Neonatal Consultants Group, served on the executive committee of the British Association for Perinatal Medicine, was a council member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and an examiner for the Royal College of Physicians. John was a wonderful raconteur and was often able to poke gentle fun at the pomposity of some of the medical profession. He had a lifelong passion for the theatre, took part in and produced amateur dramatics, and wrote plays for a junior drama group for many years. The combination of dramatic art and wonderful humour made John a much sought after teacher, both in Britain and abroad. He leaves a wife, Nancy; two daughters; a granddaughter; and his mother.
by T L Turner and J P McClure
Rodney Finlayson
Former pathologist (b 1922; q Cambridge/St Bartholomew's 1946; MD, FRCPath), d 27 September 1999. He leaves a wife, Helene.