Professor James William Edington M.D., D.P.H.. Professor Of Bacteriology, University Of Sheffield
Whilst I was updating the pages on the University of Sheffield's only holder of the Victoria Cross, the late Captain William Barnsley Allen (VC, DSO, MC & Bar)(1892 - 1933) , I came across the following newspaper report from The Manchester Guardian dated 10th April 1939
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 10th April 1939 also carried a report
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 12th April 1939 gave a full details of the funeral that took place at Sheffield's Abbey Lane Cemetery
A month later this report appeared in the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star dated 18th May 1939
and a day later the Leeds Mercury carried this report
An obituary in the British Medical Journal, gives a fuller appreciation of his contribution to both the University in particular, and the people of Sheffield in general
"Edington was born in Dowlaw Berwickshire,
and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where after a distinguished
career as a student, he graduated M.B., ChB.,with honours in 1913 and gained his
M.D. with honours in 1920. Soon after qualification he served in the was as a
captain in the R.A.M.C., being awarded the
Croix de Guerre for
his services in Salonika. From there he was invalided home and became attached
to the Cantebury District Laboratory and later took charge of the Shorncliffe
District Laboratory. In 1919, after demobilisation, he went to Bradford as an
assistant bacteriologist, and from there he came to Sheffield in 1921 to take
charge of the University Public Health Laboratory under the direction of the
late Professor J. S. C. Douglas. In the course of a few years the service grew
to very large proportions and Edington worked increasingly in organising his
department so that it could deal with the ever-increasing volume of work coming
from the Sheffield City hospitals and from the hospitals of the surrounding
districts. In 1931 a Chair of Bacteriology was created in the University of
Sheffield, and Edington was the natural
choice for this appointment; he was also appointed honorary bacteriologist to
the Royal Infirmary, Royal Hospital, the
Jessop Hospital for Women,
and the Children's Hospital.
Responsibilities weighed lightly on his shoulders and he was always happy in his
work. As a teacher his relation to his students was one of great friendliness
and help; despite lameness, he entered into many student activities and was a
keen follower of the fortunes of the Rugby football and fencing clubs. In his
laboratory he set a very high standard, and it was a great pleasure and an
education in itself to be associated with him. His
enthusiasm for his job was reflected in his research work, of which much was
related to problems of public health.
An accident in his youth aggravated by his war service had resulted in an
ankylosed
ankle-joint due to tuberculous infection. Even this disability Edington turned
to profit, for during a period spent at a sanatorium in Switzerland in 1925 he
studied in himself the effects of sunlight upon cutaneous and subcutaneous
temperature variations; indeed, the study of tuberculosis was his main interest,
and apart from many publications on this subject he had been engaged for more
than ten years in the synthesis of a very large series of chemotherapeutic
agents, some of which gave very encouraging results. But he was not satisfied
with anything but the best, and therefore being cut off so prematurely no
written account of this work
remains.
Not the least of Edington's qualities was his capacity for friendship. In his
laboratories, as elsewhere, he had a friendly word for everyone and radiated
great charm of manner. His genius for understanding his friends' difficulties
made him generous in his help, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than the
realization that he had been able to help others. His untimely death is a great
loss to his profession, and our deepest sympathy is extended to his two sons in
their tragic loss."
James served with Royal Army Medical Corps, the same regiment as William Allen - I wonder if they knew one another?. And there can be very few holders of the Croix de Guerre that have been employed by the University of Sheffield. Sadly I have been unable to locate any acknowledgement of this achievement by the University - in 2005, the University published a lavish Centenary History, "Steel City Scholars", but there was just a very brief mention of the "head on car crash" and none of about the award of the Croix de Guerre.
Sources
The Sheffield History Forum
J. W. Edington, M.D., D.P.H.. Professor Of Bacteriology, University Of Sheffield, by C. G. P. © 1939 BMJ Publishing Group.
The Manchester Guardian dated 25th June 1959
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 10th April 1939
The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated 12th April 1939
The Yorkshire Telegraph and Star dated 18th May 1939
The Leeds Mercury dated 19th May 1939
This page was last updated on 23/09/22 16:28