6 AUGUST 1977
JOURNAL BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL
BRITISH MEDICAL
395
6 AUGUST 1977
395
OBITUARY
Sir ARTHUR THOMSON MC, LLD, MD, FRCP
Sir Arthur Thomson, dean of the Birmingham faculty of medicine from 1951 to 1959 and a former vice-principal of the university, died on 15 July. He was 86. Sir Arthur was president of the BMA in 1958-9 and a former chairman of the Journal Committee. Arthur Peregrine Thomson was born in 1890 in British Guiana, where his father, Arthur Henry Thomson, was a colonial civil servant. He was educated at Dulwich College and the
University
of Birmingham, where he gave notice of his future
'
success
and
bril-
liance
by
be-
coming
Queen's
scholar,
Ingleby
scholar, and Russell Memorial prizeman
achieving
and first-
class honours in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynaecology. After graduation he joined the Army and served as a regimental medical officer with the Guards in France from 1915 to 1918, whereafter he was promoted to command a field ambulance. He was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre with star, and was twice mentioned in dispatches. After the war he returned to Birmingham and was invited to join the consultant staff of the General Hospital, being appointed assistant physician in 1919. He was elected MRCP in the following year and obtained his MD in 1923. Thereafter AP,
as he was always affectionately called, enjoyed a long career of outstanding success as a consulting physician. He had prodigious energy and a diagnostic flair that is given to few, while his fine appearance, his kindness, his understanding, and his ability always to say the right thing made him the physician to whom every general practitioner turned for help in time of difficulty and the consultant who gave a feeling of confidence and security to all his patients whatever their station. He had an enormous practice which extended the length and breadth of the land. Es'sentially a general physician, he was especially interested in diabetes, and his long experience in charge of the diabetic clinic in Birmingham led to the publication of a number of valuable papers at a time when it first became possible to give worthwhile treatment to those afflicted by the disease. Also on the staff of the Birmingham Children's Hospital, he did notable work on the epidemiology of rheumnatic fever and in the establishment of the Baskerville School for children with rheumatic heart disease. An epidemic of psittacosis in Birmingham in 1930 led to other important papers, and towards the end of his period in active practice, realising the implications of increased expec-
tation of life, he turned his research activities to the problems of aging and chronic sickness, which was the subject of his Lumleian lecture in 1949. He was elected FRCP in 1930 and was Harveian orator at the college in 1962. In 1947, in recognition of his research and teaching activities and 'his high professional standing, the University of Birmingham appointed him part-time professor of therapeutics. Four years later, on the death of Sir Leonard Parsons, he became dean of the medical faculty and in 1952 vice-principal of the university. This increasing academic commitment necessitated a reduction in his clinical work, but right up to the day he reached retiring age he continued to fulfil all his hospital commitments with enjoyment and devotion. He was a member of the General Medical Council, 1951-65; the governing body of University College, Ibadan; and the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas. He also served on the Hinchliffe and McNair committees and the council to advise the Minister of Health on the efficiency of hospitals. He was president of the Midland Medical Society in 1956-7, and from the inception of the NHS gave magnificent service to the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board, of which he was chairman in 1962-3. His term of office as president of the BMA was a magnificent success. AP was one of the original members of that most exclusive club, the Medical Pilgrims, and a diligent and popular figure at the meetings of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. He was knighted in 1959 and received honorary degrees from the universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham. In 1959 he was Linacre lecturer at St John's College, Cambridge. He was chairman of the Union Club in Birmingham and of the Buckland Club. Always a keen bridge player, he had much happiness in his later years playing bridge at the Edgbaston Golf Club. He loved the countryside and spent some of his holidays walking with the Octet; a small group of intellectuals with similar interests. He had a beautiful country home at Ombersley in Worcestershire, which gave him enormous pleasure, but in later years illness-StokesAdams attacks and .a pacemaker-restricted him to walking, reading, bridge, and dining and talking with his countless friends. AP will be remembered always for the magnificent contribution he made to medicine i.n so many ways. To those who knew him and had the privilege of his friendship, his sparkling wit, his culture, his great generosity, his kindness, his constant consideration for the feelings and welfare of others, and his courage in adversity will never be forgotten. Future generations in Birmingham medicine will know him through the splendid Arthur Thomson Hall in the Medical School; the Franta Belsky bust of him, which must be the sculptor's-finest work; and the headquarters of the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board (now the West Midlands Regional Health Authority), which also bears his name-but this remoteness will not prevent them from enjoying all that he did
for and gave to the University of Birmingham. He married Minnie Scott Lindsley. It was a supremely happy marriage, and they had one adopted daughter. Lady Thomson died in 1960.-AGWW.
G YOUNG MC, MB, CHB, FRCSGLAS
Dr Gavin Young, for many years chief of the department of otolaryngology at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, died at Ayr on 5 July after a long illness. He was 85. Gavin Young was born on 25 May 1892 and educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School and Glasgow University, where he graduated in medicine in 1914. After distinguished war service, during which he was awarded the Military Cross, he returned to Glasgow and specialised in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat. For a number of years he was first assistant to Dr W S Syme, senior, at the Western Infirmary and at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital. On the death of Syme, Gavin Young succeeded him at the Western Infirmary as chief at the early age of 35 years. He held the post with distinction for almost 30 years, along with other hospital appointments. He was known well beyond' the west of Scotland and was a member of the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists and a regular attender at meetings of the Royal Society of Medicine, in which he held the office of president of the otological section. He had many outside interests, most notably music, and he was particularly interested in piping, both as a piper and as a judge of piping. His wife Marjory died in 1966 and he is survived by one son, who is an otolaryngologist, and by two daughters.JFC.
W PETER MB, CHB, DOBSTRCOG
Dr William Peter, who was in general practice at Birmingham, died suddenly on 11 July. He was 53. William Peter was born at Falkirk, Stirling-
shire, and educated at Falkirk High School. He graduated in medicine at Edinburgh in 1952 and held house appointments at Falkirk Royal Infirmary and Lennox Castle Maternity Hospital. He. entered general practice at Birmingham in 1954 and remained in the same practice up to the time of his death, at first in partnership and later' as a singlehanded practitioner. Dr Peter was an extremely conscientious family doctor, respected and admired by his patients and the Health Service colleagues who came into contact with him. He was of a modest and unassuming disposition, and,'apart from the love of a breath of sea air, his main interests were associated with his work in general practice. He is survived by his wife Kay.-SB.
JOURNAL BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL
BRITISH MEDICAL
395
6 AUGUST 1977
395
OBITUARY
Sir ARTHUR THOMSON MC, LLD, MD, FRCP
Sir Arthur Thomson, dean of the Birmingham faculty of medicine from 1951 to 1959 and a former vice-principal of the university, died on 15 July. He was 86. Sir Arthur was president of the BMA in 1958-9 and a former chairman of the Journal Committee. Arthur Peregrine Thomson was born in 1890 in British Guiana, where his father, Arthur Henry Thomson, was a colonial civil servant. He was educated at Dulwich College and the
University
of Birmingham, where he gave notice of his future
'
success
and
bril-
liance
by
be-
coming
Queen's
scholar,
Ingleby
scholar, and Russell Memorial prizeman
achieving
and first-
class honours in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics and gynaecology. After graduation he joined the Army and served as a regimental medical officer with the Guards in France from 1915 to 1918, whereafter he was promoted to command a field ambulance. He was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre with star, and was twice mentioned in dispatches. After the war he returned to Birmingham and was invited to join the consultant staff of the General Hospital, being appointed assistant physician in 1919. He was elected MRCP in the following year and obtained his MD in 1923. Thereafter AP,
as he was always affectionately called, enjoyed a long career of outstanding success as a consulting physician. He had prodigious energy and a diagnostic flair that is given to few, while his fine appearance, his kindness, his understanding, and his ability always to say the right thing made him the physician to whom every general practitioner turned for help in time of difficulty and the consultant who gave a feeling of confidence and security to all his patients whatever their station. He had an enormous practice which extended the length and breadth of the land. Es'sentially a general physician, he was especially interested in diabetes, and his long experience in charge of the diabetic clinic in Birmingham led to the publication of a number of valuable papers at a time when it first became possible to give worthwhile treatment to those afflicted by the disease. Also on the staff of the Birmingham Children's Hospital, he did notable work on the epidemiology of rheumnatic fever and in the establishment of the Baskerville School for children with rheumatic heart disease. An epidemic of psittacosis in Birmingham in 1930 led to other important papers, and towards the end of his period in active practice, realising the implications of increased expec-
tation of life, he turned his research activities to the problems of aging and chronic sickness, which was the subject of his Lumleian lecture in 1949. He was elected FRCP in 1930 and was Harveian orator at the college in 1962. In 1947, in recognition of his research and teaching activities and 'his high professional standing, the University of Birmingham appointed him part-time professor of therapeutics. Four years later, on the death of Sir Leonard Parsons, he became dean of the medical faculty and in 1952 vice-principal of the university. This increasing academic commitment necessitated a reduction in his clinical work, but right up to the day he reached retiring age he continued to fulfil all his hospital commitments with enjoyment and devotion. He was a member of the General Medical Council, 1951-65; the governing body of University College, Ibadan; and the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas. He also served on the Hinchliffe and McNair committees and the council to advise the Minister of Health on the efficiency of hospitals. He was president of the Midland Medical Society in 1956-7, and from the inception of the NHS gave magnificent service to the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board, of which he was chairman in 1962-3. His term of office as president of the BMA was a magnificent success. AP was one of the original members of that most exclusive club, the Medical Pilgrims, and a diligent and popular figure at the meetings of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. He was knighted in 1959 and received honorary degrees from the universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham. In 1959 he was Linacre lecturer at St John's College, Cambridge. He was chairman of the Union Club in Birmingham and of the Buckland Club. Always a keen bridge player, he had much happiness in his later years playing bridge at the Edgbaston Golf Club. He loved the countryside and spent some of his holidays walking with the Octet; a small group of intellectuals with similar interests. He had a beautiful country home at Ombersley in Worcestershire, which gave him enormous pleasure, but in later years illness-StokesAdams attacks and .a pacemaker-restricted him to walking, reading, bridge, and dining and talking with his countless friends. AP will be remembered always for the magnificent contribution he made to medicine i.n so many ways. To those who knew him and had the privilege of his friendship, his sparkling wit, his culture, his great generosity, his kindness, his constant consideration for the feelings and welfare of others, and his courage in adversity will never be forgotten. Future generations in Birmingham medicine will know him through the splendid Arthur Thomson Hall in the Medical School; the Franta Belsky bust of him, which must be the sculptor's-finest work; and the headquarters of the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board (now the West Midlands Regional Health Authority), which also bears his name-but this remoteness will not prevent them from enjoying all that he did
for and gave to the University of Birmingham. He married Minnie Scott Lindsley. It was a supremely happy marriage, and they had one adopted daughter. Lady Thomson died in 1960.-AGWW.
G YOUNG MC, MB, CHB, FRCSGLAS
Dr Gavin Young, for many years chief of the department of otolaryngology at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, died at Ayr on 5 July after a long illness. He was 85. Gavin Young was born on 25 May 1892 and educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School and Glasgow University, where he graduated in medicine in 1914. After distinguished war service, during which he was awarded the Military Cross, he returned to Glasgow and specialised in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat. For a number of years he was first assistant to Dr W S Syme, senior, at the Western Infirmary and at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital. On the death of Syme, Gavin Young succeeded him at the Western Infirmary as chief at the early age of 35 years. He held the post with distinction for almost 30 years, along with other hospital appointments. He was known well beyond' the west of Scotland and was a member of the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists and a regular attender at meetings of the Royal Society of Medicine, in which he held the office of president of the otological section. He had many outside interests, most notably music, and he was particularly interested in piping, both as a piper and as a judge of piping. His wife Marjory died in 1966 and he is survived by one son, who is an otolaryngologist, and by two daughters.JFC.
W PETER MB, CHB, DOBSTRCOG
Dr William Peter, who was in general practice at Birmingham, died suddenly on 11 July. He was 53. William Peter was born at Falkirk, Stirling-
shire, and educated at Falkirk High School. He graduated in medicine at Edinburgh in 1952 and held house appointments at Falkirk Royal Infirmary and Lennox Castle Maternity Hospital. He. entered general practice at Birmingham in 1954 and remained in the same practice up to the time of his death, at first in partnership and later' as a singlehanded practitioner. Dr Peter was an extremely conscientious family doctor, respected and admired by his patients and the Health Service colleagues who came into contact with him. He was of a modest and unassuming disposition, and,'apart from the love of a breath of sea air, his main interests were associated with his work in general practice. He is survived by his wife Kay.-SB.
