William Pickles

William Norman Pickles (March 6, 1885 – March 2, 1969) was a British general practitioner and epidemiologist. He was the first president of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

History

William was one of six sons of John Jagger Pickles, a general practitioner, and Lucy Pickles. All six children went into medicine.He attended Leeds Grammar School and then started attending the Leeds Medical School (Yorkshire College) in 1902. In his third year he proceeded with his clinical studies at the Leeds General Infirmary, qualifying as a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA) in 1909. He served as "resident obstetric officer" at the Infirmary, followed by a series of temporary jobs and locums. He graduated MB BS London in 1910 and MD in 1918.

Will began working in Leeds, but in 1912 he visited Aysgarth as a locum for Dr. Edward Hime. Later that year he served as a Ship's Doctor on voyage to Calcutta, and on return to England, resumed working for Dr. Hime as a 2nd assistant in either 1912 or 1913.

In 1913, Dr. Hime left Wensleydale and sold the practice to Dr. Will Pickles and Dr. Dean Dunbar for £3000. Dr. Dunbar from the Aysgarth, Wensleydale, surgery assumed the position of Medical Officer for Health at the workhouse and was also on the Board of Guardians of the workhouse at Bainbridge. [ [http://www.sycamorehall.co.uk/AysgarthUnionWorkhouse Aysgarth Union Workhouse] ] Pickles was the second assistant to Dunbar. At the time, the practise in Aysgarth serviced eight villages and a population of 4,267.cite journal | url = http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1282214 | title = Pickles of Wensleydale | journal = J R Soc Med. | author = R Moorhead, MD FRACGP | year = 2001 | month = October | volume = 94 | issue = 10 | pages = pp. 536–540] .

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Pickles joined the Royal Navy as ships doctor in the Atlantic and remained in service until the end of the war. In 1919 he published his first article about Vincent's disease, from his experiences during the war.

In 1917 he married Gerturde Adelaide, daughter of Harry Tunstill, a wealthy mill owner from Burnley. [http://www.rcgp.org.uk/services__contacts/history_heritage__archives/archives/personal_papers/william_pickles_collection.aspx William Pickles (1885-1969)] , Royal College of General Practitioners]

In 1930 he published an account in the "British Medical Journal" of a epidemic of catarrhal jaundice in Wensleydale the previous year, in which he traced the entire epidemic affecting 250 people to a single child, and also established the long incubation of the disease of between 26 and 35 days. His seminal text "Epidemiology in Country Practice" appeared in 1937, touting the benefits of being a general practitioner in order to study diseases.

Pickles became the first President of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1967.

He died 2 March 1969, and his wife died later in the same year.

Publications

* "Vincent's disease", "J Roy Nav Med Serv" 1919; 5: 87.
* "Epidemiology in Country Practice", "Proc R Soc Med." 1935 August; 28(10): [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2205830 1337–1342] .
* "Trends of general practice; a hundred years in a Yorkshire dale", "The Practitioner". 1951.
* "Sylvest's disease" (Bornholm disease). "N Engl J Med." 1954 Jun 17;250(24):1033-6.
* "William Hillary; 1697-1763" "Br Med J." 1957 Jan 12;1(5010):102.

Further reading

* Pemberton, John. "Will Pickles of Wensleydale" (1970).

References

External links

* [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/history/pickles.html William Pickles, MBBS, MD London, Hon. DSc. Leeds (1885 - 1969)] , School of Medicine, University of Leeds
* [http://www.nepho.org.uk/index.php?c=800 Dr William Pickles 1885 - 1969] (PDF), North East Public Health Observatory