Obituaries

British Medical Journal, May 1, 1999

George Ronald Crompton Peatfield

Former consultant surgeon Bedford General Hospital (b 1912; q Cambridge/The London 1937; MCh, FRCS), d 16 February 1999. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Middle East and later in Europe. When he came to Bedford Ronald became involved in hospital administration and was secretary of the Bedford Medical Society for 14 years. He was responsible for the inauguration of day surgery in Bedford, and with Dr Margaret Snelling and help from the Sue Ryder Foundation he established St John's Home, Moggerhanger, for the care of patients with terminal cancer. He was its medical director for 10 years. Ronald had a great ability to communicate with patients and took care to discuss with them and their relatives their illness and its likely outcome. Whether it was day or dead of night he was always immaculately turned out and this attention to detail was carried through in his clinical work and his private life. He was a keen gardener, carpenter, and numismatist. He meticulously planned the numerous foreign trips he and his wife took. He leaves a wife, Ruth; two sons (one a consultant neurologist); and five grandchildren. [JACK VALENTINE, RICHARD PEATFIELD]

Robert Pollock

General practitioner Bedford, 1947-77 (b Monaghan, Eire 1910; q Trinity College Dublin 1937 (first class honours)), died from multiorgan failure on 17 January 1999. Born on the family farm, Bob matriculated at 15 and ran the farm for six years, during which time he bred and exhibited a Shorthorn bull that won first prize at the Royal Dublin Show. At 21 he started night school and in six weeks learnt enough physics and chemistry to pass the entrance examination to Trinity College. He paid his way by running cramming courses for junior colleagues. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1939 and was taken prisoner at Dunkirk. He frequently had to operate on patients in prisoner of war camps with no anaesthetic, just hypnosis. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Bronze Star Medal by the Americans. While in general practice he learnt to fly but failing eyesight obliged him to retire in 1977. Bob moved to Milford-on-Sea where he had already built up a thriving holiday business. Predeceased by his eldest son, he leaves a wife, Elizabeth; five children; 12 grandchildren; and one great granddaughter. [ELIZABETH M POLLOCK]

Ruth Margaret Taylor (nee Howitt)

Retired general practitioner (b London 1915; q Cambridge/King's 1939; DRCOG, MRCGP), d 19 March 1999. She was an accoucheur at King's during the war and then went into public health in Exeter and Reading and eventually into general practice in London. She retired to Bosham in west Sussex and became a parish counsellor and horticulturist. She leaves a husband, Selwyn (a retired consultant surgeon); a son and a daughter; and a granddaughter. [SELWYN TAYLOR]

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