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Royal College of Surgeons of England

Woolmer, Ronald Francis (1908-1962)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0114 MS0090

Held at: Royal College of Surgeons of England

Title: Woolmer, Ronald Francis (1908-1962)

Date(s): 1942-1964

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 2 boxes

Name of creator(s): Woolmer | Ronald Francis | 1908-1962 | anaesthetist

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Ronald Francis Woolmer was born in 1908. He was educated at Rugby School; University College, Oxford; and St Thomas's Hospital where he attained B M, B Ch in 1932. He took up anaesthetics and became Senior Resident Anaesthetist at St Thomas's in 1934. He then became Resident Medical Officer and St Thomas's Home from 1936-1938 and then became Anaesthetic Registrar at Westminster Hospital in 1939. During World War Two, he served in the Royal Navy, attaining the rank of Surgeon Commander. After the War, Woolmer obtained an appointment as Senior Lecturer and then Reader in Anaesthetics in Bristol University. During this time he helped with the foundation of the South Western Society of Anaesthetics. He took over the Research Department of the Faculty of Anaesthetists in the Royal College of Surgeons in 1957, becoming Professor in 1959. He was founder and first President of the Biological Engineering Society, a Vice-President of the International Federation for Medical Electronics, and a founder member of the Anaesthetic Research group. He became the first medical man to deliver the Kelvin lecture to the Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1961. He published a book, The Conquest of Pain (1961), which was aimed at lay audiences, and was also awarded the Henry Hill Hickman medal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1962. He died in 1962.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Ronald Francis Woolmer, 1942-1964, comprising personal items, 1962; press cuttings, c1962; lectures, 1958-1962; publications by Woolmer, 1942-1964; Bernard Price Memorial Lecture, 1962-1964; notes and photographs, 1950s-1960s; and other publications, 1960-1962.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As outlined in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

By written appointment only.

Conditions governing reproduction:

At the discretion of the Librarian.

Finding aids:

Additional manuscripts catalogue.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The provenance of the collection is not recorded. The papers were found on the Librarian's desk in 1986.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Compiled by Anya Turner.
Source: Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons Volume 32, Jan-Jun 1963

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Aug 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Anaesthesia | Medical sciences
Anaesthetics | Drugs | Pharmacology
Lectures (teaching method) | Teaching methods

Personal names
Woolmer | Ronald Francis | 1908-1962 | anaesthetist

Corporate names

Places