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ARTHUR DICKSON WRIGHT, MS FRCS Address given by the Rt Hon Lord Porritt GCMG GCVO CBE PPRCS at a service of thanksgiving held on x8th February 1976 in the Church of St Martin in the Fields, London We are here this morning to remember Arthur Dickson Wright. I venture to suggest that those memories will be as varied and as numerous as are the members of this congregation-and that, surely, is the hallmark of this very exceptional man. He was so many different things to so many different people; his acquaintances were legion-but his intimate friends he chose carefully and sparsely; oddly enough considering his gregarious personality, he was a 'loner'. I feel this assessment may almost shock somc of you, but I have always thought that a valedictory address, unless it is personal, is pointless-and often heartless and at any rate in this case it would be lacking the robust honesty of deed and word that was so much a part of 'Dicky's' many-sided and multicoloured make-up. And, after all, we did know each other and work together as colleagues (and I hope as friends) for over 40 years at the two places which were dear to the heart of both of us-and from which our professional lives radiated-St Mary's Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons. Perhaps if you ponder quietly on my suggestion of 'apartness' in this volatile and mercurial character many of the contradictions that were so much a part of 'Dicky' Wright will become easier to understand. How many people, one wonders, ever appreciated that under the positive, self-confident, opinionated, sometimes almost brash exterior that was on everyday view there existed an entirely different person who-rather urgently-craved the warmth of genuine comradeship, who trod deliberately on emotion and sentiment, who loved music, and who worked out for himself a very personal philosophy of life? One group, certainly, did realize something of all thisthough they most certainly would not have expressed it as I have tried to do-and that group was his patients. Their trust and admiration and affection had to be seen and heard to be believed-even despite his infuriating habit of visiting them at all hours of the night and far too early in the morning! Equally, his hard-worked staff-whether secretary or nurse, house surgeon, registrar, or anaesthetist-appreciated to the full the privilege of serving him and learnt much from him, by example rather than precept. For he was, above all, surgically, a master-craftsman-one of the last and one of the greatest of the genus 'general surgeon'. His detailed knowledge of anatomy, his meticulous technique, his carefully controlled speed, his coolness in crisis-all made him the consummate artist in the operating theatre, confidently at home in any sphere from head to tail. This operative fluency derived, to a large extent, from the exceptional experience, both clinical and technical, gained during a few short years in Singapore, where at the early age of 26 he became Professor of Clinical Surgery-andl rapidly developed an extensive practice. It was here, too, that he met and married Molly Bath, the daughter of a well-
known and respected Singapore family, whom many of us here will remember with affection not only for her simplicity anid generosity but also, perhaps, for her endearing interest in all things mystical. She, too, sadly died last year. Dicky himself had gone to Singapore from St Mary's where, after a short period of service in the RFC at the end of the First World War, he had been a highly successful student and had achieved his higher surgical qualifications while fulfilling his resident appointments. And to St Mary's he returned in the early 'thirties and remained there, literally, for the rest of his life. He came back to partner St Mary's first Professor of Surgery, Aubrey Pannett, as Assistant Director of the Surgical Unit. Two more dissimilar personalities it would be hard to imagine-the quiet, retiring, artistic, sensitive professor and his positive, extrovert, confident, materialistic assistant-but they had a very real mutual appreciation of each other's qualities and capabilities and together they made a superb surgical team. Many a well-known surgeon of today gleaned his knowledge from sitting at their combined feet-and I myself was fortunate enough to be their 'No 3'. For almost 30 years Dickson Wright was a full member of the staff of St Mary's, and although his rugged independence allowed him to participate in the work of the NHS to only a limited extent, his extensive private practice was largely carried out at the hospital and, when his somewhat unpredictable appearances at lectures, ward-rounds, and outpatient operating sessions could be made to coincide with student attendances, his ready wit, his epigrammatic teaching, and his essentially practical approach to surgical problems always assured him of an appreciative student audience. In fact, with students, in all medical school activities, he was at his best and universally popular. In post-war years he became the 'father figure' of the hospital rugger team and was a constant attendant at their fixtures-not only in London but on such far-flung fields as those of Wales and the West Country. This passion for rugger, shared with his enjoyment of race-meetings and his love of the stagc and music, were, apart from omnivorous reading, his only relaxations-if such a man can ever be said to have had any. Even in these last sad, twilight years he was to be seen-in a wheel-chair and aphasic-at many a rugger field or racecourse or concert party. Of 'Dicky's' many attributes, courage was not the least. During his active life his workload was colossal; time seemed to mean nothing to him and he was apparently tireless. He had the great gift of being able to do with the minimum of sleep and always asserted that rest and reading were much more valuable than hours of unconsciousness in the arms of Morpheus. This is not the place-nor is there
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College news
time-to list the incredible number of hospitals, medical societies. And so the list of his multifarious institutions, clubs, and societies to which he gave activities goes on, seemingly interminably. But I would venture to say that the presidency unstintingly of his time and his services. But some must have mention as they are integral parts of his which gave him most delight was that of the 'Saints comprehensive saga. and Sinners'-a hilarious appointment that brought out, probably more than ever before, his undoubted Second only to his loyalty to St Mary's was that histrionic How many of us here this morning he devoted to the Royal College of Surgeons. For remember flare. that 'Punchinello' figure with the a full term of I6 years he was a member of its Pan face, vividly the crooked smile, the ventriloslightly Council and for two of those years its Vice-President. lips declaiming in a steady monotone a series His wise and commonsense advice, always outspoken, quist's sardonic quips larded with Irish frequently constructively critical, together with his of scintillating, but interspersed with much common sense wide circle of contacts in so many spheres of national humour derived from wide experience and much knowledge life was of the greatest value to the College. And of the world-and backed up by a photographic always through his communications ran that thread memory like a sponge could be squeezed proof caustic wit which was at the same time an enjoy- ductively that for such facts, and even figures, as the ment, a challenge, and a stimulus. occasion seemed to demand. His speeches were tours For many years a very successful Treasurer of the de force; he was probably the outstanding surgical Imperial Cancer Research Fund; a member of the figure in the lay world of contemporary times. Council of the BMA (though I think he really had Yes, 'Dicky' Wright was a character-a mercurial an inborn allergy to medical politics!); the President character of the genius type in his own entirely indiof no less than three different sections of the Royal vidual way. Medicine was in his blood, surgery was Society of Medicine-good evidence of his clinical in his hands, almost everything was in his head, and versatility; the first President (and rightly so) of the warm generosity was in his heart. British Institute of Surgical Technicians; and PresiIt is safe to say that it will be many a day until dent at various times of all London's ancient historical we see his like again-but we will not forget him.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF OTOLARYNGOLOGISTS Excerpts from Annual Report of Council '974/75 Mr Norman Regional Medical Committees would recognize Representation on outside bodies Crabtree continues to serve on the Council of the 'specialist groups' within their Region and Royal College of Surgeons of England as the co-opted members have been advised of the procedure for setting up such groups. member representing otolaryngology. The Council has been asked to put forward nominations to the Secretary of State for Prices and Audiological medicine Discussions have continued Consumer Protection from which will be selected the on the training programme for consultant audiologimember with specialized medical knowledge on the cal physicians. A subcommittee of the Specialist Hearing Aid Council. Advisory Committee in Neurology, which includes Mr John Ballantyne represents the Association on representatives of both medicine and surgery, has the Sub-Committee on Audiological Medicine of the been set up and has recently approved the training Specialist Advisory Committee on Neurology. He is programme for this specialty. This is based largely also Chairman of the DHSS's Advisory Committee on the recommendations made by the Association on Services for Hearing Impaired People (ACSHIP). to the Department of Health. Mr Charles Smith continues to represent the AssoWith the recognition of the specialty it now rests ciation on the Central Committee for Hospital Medi- with those otolaryngological departments which wish cal Services and keeps the Council informed of the to do so to make application through their area deliberations of the committee. health authorities for the appointment of a consulMr Norman Crabtree and Mr Douglas Ranger tant audiological physician. continue to serve on the Monospecialist Committee in Otolaryngology of the UEMS. The main discus- British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology sions during the year have been on training in oto- Negotiations are nearing completion to form the laryngology, and the British representatives have re- British Academic Conference into a limited liability affirmed their recommendations that there should be company. The Association was actively involved in a four-year training period. Reciprocal recognition the inauguration of the British Academic Conference of training has also been discussed. and the appointment of its Holding Committee. Council has been kept informed of the negotiations Regional Otolaryngological Advisory Committees and has approved the action taken. A subcommittee of the Council considered the possible reconstitution of the Liaison Committee of Re- Specialist recognition in the EEC The Association gional Otolaryngological Committees and Council was asked by the Joint Committee on Higher Surgiaccepted their recommendation that this committee cal Training to comment on a proposal by the BMA should not be reconstituted. It has been found that Hospital Junior Staff Group Council that there
333
ARTHUR DICKSON WRIGHT, MS FRCS Address given by the Rt Hon Lord Porritt GCMG GCVO CBE PPRCS at a service of thanksgiving held on x8th February 1976 in the Church of St Martin in the Fields, London We are here this morning to remember Arthur Dickson Wright. I venture to suggest that those memories will be as varied and as numerous as are the members of this congregation-and that, surely, is the hallmark of this very exceptional man. He was so many different things to so many different people; his acquaintances were legion-but his intimate friends he chose carefully and sparsely; oddly enough considering his gregarious personality, he was a 'loner'. I feel this assessment may almost shock somc of you, but I have always thought that a valedictory address, unless it is personal, is pointless-and often heartless and at any rate in this case it would be lacking the robust honesty of deed and word that was so much a part of 'Dicky's' many-sided and multicoloured make-up. And, after all, we did know each other and work together as colleagues (and I hope as friends) for over 40 years at the two places which were dear to the heart of both of us-and from which our professional lives radiated-St Mary's Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons. Perhaps if you ponder quietly on my suggestion of 'apartness' in this volatile and mercurial character many of the contradictions that were so much a part of 'Dicky' Wright will become easier to understand. How many people, one wonders, ever appreciated that under the positive, self-confident, opinionated, sometimes almost brash exterior that was on everyday view there existed an entirely different person who-rather urgently-craved the warmth of genuine comradeship, who trod deliberately on emotion and sentiment, who loved music, and who worked out for himself a very personal philosophy of life? One group, certainly, did realize something of all thisthough they most certainly would not have expressed it as I have tried to do-and that group was his patients. Their trust and admiration and affection had to be seen and heard to be believed-even despite his infuriating habit of visiting them at all hours of the night and far too early in the morning! Equally, his hard-worked staff-whether secretary or nurse, house surgeon, registrar, or anaesthetist-appreciated to the full the privilege of serving him and learnt much from him, by example rather than precept. For he was, above all, surgically, a master-craftsman-one of the last and one of the greatest of the genus 'general surgeon'. His detailed knowledge of anatomy, his meticulous technique, his carefully controlled speed, his coolness in crisis-all made him the consummate artist in the operating theatre, confidently at home in any sphere from head to tail. This operative fluency derived, to a large extent, from the exceptional experience, both clinical and technical, gained during a few short years in Singapore, where at the early age of 26 he became Professor of Clinical Surgery-andl rapidly developed an extensive practice. It was here, too, that he met and married Molly Bath, the daughter of a well-
known and respected Singapore family, whom many of us here will remember with affection not only for her simplicity anid generosity but also, perhaps, for her endearing interest in all things mystical. She, too, sadly died last year. Dicky himself had gone to Singapore from St Mary's where, after a short period of service in the RFC at the end of the First World War, he had been a highly successful student and had achieved his higher surgical qualifications while fulfilling his resident appointments. And to St Mary's he returned in the early 'thirties and remained there, literally, for the rest of his life. He came back to partner St Mary's first Professor of Surgery, Aubrey Pannett, as Assistant Director of the Surgical Unit. Two more dissimilar personalities it would be hard to imagine-the quiet, retiring, artistic, sensitive professor and his positive, extrovert, confident, materialistic assistant-but they had a very real mutual appreciation of each other's qualities and capabilities and together they made a superb surgical team. Many a well-known surgeon of today gleaned his knowledge from sitting at their combined feet-and I myself was fortunate enough to be their 'No 3'. For almost 30 years Dickson Wright was a full member of the staff of St Mary's, and although his rugged independence allowed him to participate in the work of the NHS to only a limited extent, his extensive private practice was largely carried out at the hospital and, when his somewhat unpredictable appearances at lectures, ward-rounds, and outpatient operating sessions could be made to coincide with student attendances, his ready wit, his epigrammatic teaching, and his essentially practical approach to surgical problems always assured him of an appreciative student audience. In fact, with students, in all medical school activities, he was at his best and universally popular. In post-war years he became the 'father figure' of the hospital rugger team and was a constant attendant at their fixtures-not only in London but on such far-flung fields as those of Wales and the West Country. This passion for rugger, shared with his enjoyment of race-meetings and his love of the stagc and music, were, apart from omnivorous reading, his only relaxations-if such a man can ever be said to have had any. Even in these last sad, twilight years he was to be seen-in a wheel-chair and aphasic-at many a rugger field or racecourse or concert party. Of 'Dicky's' many attributes, courage was not the least. During his active life his workload was colossal; time seemed to mean nothing to him and he was apparently tireless. He had the great gift of being able to do with the minimum of sleep and always asserted that rest and reading were much more valuable than hours of unconsciousness in the arms of Morpheus. This is not the place-nor is there
334
College news
time-to list the incredible number of hospitals, medical societies. And so the list of his multifarious institutions, clubs, and societies to which he gave activities goes on, seemingly interminably. But I would venture to say that the presidency unstintingly of his time and his services. But some must have mention as they are integral parts of his which gave him most delight was that of the 'Saints comprehensive saga. and Sinners'-a hilarious appointment that brought out, probably more than ever before, his undoubted Second only to his loyalty to St Mary's was that histrionic How many of us here this morning he devoted to the Royal College of Surgeons. For remember flare. that 'Punchinello' figure with the a full term of I6 years he was a member of its Pan face, vividly the crooked smile, the ventriloslightly Council and for two of those years its Vice-President. lips declaiming in a steady monotone a series His wise and commonsense advice, always outspoken, quist's sardonic quips larded with Irish frequently constructively critical, together with his of scintillating, but interspersed with much common sense wide circle of contacts in so many spheres of national humour derived from wide experience and much knowledge life was of the greatest value to the College. And of the world-and backed up by a photographic always through his communications ran that thread memory like a sponge could be squeezed proof caustic wit which was at the same time an enjoy- ductively that for such facts, and even figures, as the ment, a challenge, and a stimulus. occasion seemed to demand. His speeches were tours For many years a very successful Treasurer of the de force; he was probably the outstanding surgical Imperial Cancer Research Fund; a member of the figure in the lay world of contemporary times. Council of the BMA (though I think he really had Yes, 'Dicky' Wright was a character-a mercurial an inborn allergy to medical politics!); the President character of the genius type in his own entirely indiof no less than three different sections of the Royal vidual way. Medicine was in his blood, surgery was Society of Medicine-good evidence of his clinical in his hands, almost everything was in his head, and versatility; the first President (and rightly so) of the warm generosity was in his heart. British Institute of Surgical Technicians; and PresiIt is safe to say that it will be many a day until dent at various times of all London's ancient historical we see his like again-but we will not forget him.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF OTOLARYNGOLOGISTS Excerpts from Annual Report of Council '974/75 Mr Norman Regional Medical Committees would recognize Representation on outside bodies Crabtree continues to serve on the Council of the 'specialist groups' within their Region and Royal College of Surgeons of England as the co-opted members have been advised of the procedure for setting up such groups. member representing otolaryngology. The Council has been asked to put forward nominations to the Secretary of State for Prices and Audiological medicine Discussions have continued Consumer Protection from which will be selected the on the training programme for consultant audiologimember with specialized medical knowledge on the cal physicians. A subcommittee of the Specialist Hearing Aid Council. Advisory Committee in Neurology, which includes Mr John Ballantyne represents the Association on representatives of both medicine and surgery, has the Sub-Committee on Audiological Medicine of the been set up and has recently approved the training Specialist Advisory Committee on Neurology. He is programme for this specialty. This is based largely also Chairman of the DHSS's Advisory Committee on the recommendations made by the Association on Services for Hearing Impaired People (ACSHIP). to the Department of Health. Mr Charles Smith continues to represent the AssoWith the recognition of the specialty it now rests ciation on the Central Committee for Hospital Medi- with those otolaryngological departments which wish cal Services and keeps the Council informed of the to do so to make application through their area deliberations of the committee. health authorities for the appointment of a consulMr Norman Crabtree and Mr Douglas Ranger tant audiological physician. continue to serve on the Monospecialist Committee in Otolaryngology of the UEMS. The main discus- British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology sions during the year have been on training in oto- Negotiations are nearing completion to form the laryngology, and the British representatives have re- British Academic Conference into a limited liability affirmed their recommendations that there should be company. The Association was actively involved in a four-year training period. Reciprocal recognition the inauguration of the British Academic Conference of training has also been discussed. and the appointment of its Holding Committee. Council has been kept informed of the negotiations Regional Otolaryngological Advisory Committees and has approved the action taken. A subcommittee of the Council considered the possible reconstitution of the Liaison Committee of Re- Specialist recognition in the EEC The Association gional Otolaryngological Committees and Council was asked by the Joint Committee on Higher Surgiaccepted their recommendation that this committee cal Training to comment on a proposal by the BMA should not be reconstituted. It has been found that Hospital Junior Staff Group Council that there
