Arthur Henry Cheatle

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(4 December 1866 – 11 May 1929) was an

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surgeon who made important contributions to understanding of the anatomy and diseases of the mastoid region.

Early life and education

Arthur Henry Cheatle was born on 4 December 1866. He was a descendant of the parliamentarian

William Lenthall William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the English Civil War, Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before ...

. His family had settled in

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswolds, Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeas ...

, Oxfordshire in 1819. His father, George Cheatle, was a solicitor. His elder brother was Sir

George Lenthal Cheatle Sir George Lenthal Cheatle, (13 June 1865 – 2 January 1951) was a British surgeon who made important contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Birth and education George Lenthal Cheatle was born on 13 June 1865 in Belved ...

, who also became a surgeon. Arthur Henry attended Merchant Taylor's School from 1876 to 1882, then studied at

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by K ...

and in

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. He suffered from a hearing defect that gradually became more acute, although it was not particularly noticeable to others. In 1888 he passed the examinations for

Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the United Kingdom, UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four sur ...

(MRCS).

Career

Cheatle was House Surgeon at King's College Hospital under

Sir Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of su ...

and then House Accoucher. In 1892 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He went to Vienna for further studies on aural surgery, and on return to England was appointed assistant aural surgeon to Kings College Hospital. He became aural surgeon at the hospital when Urban Pritchard retired. In 1899, he co-founded the Otological Society of the United Kingdom, which merged with the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...

in 1907 to form the Section of Otology, with the endorsement by Alfonso Cumberbatch. In 1904, he was listed honorary medical staff at

King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers King Edward VII's Hospital (formal name: King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes) is a private hospital located on Beaumont Street in the Marylebone district of central London. Agnes Keyser, later known as Sister Agnes, established the hospit ...

. He taught otology at the

Royal Army Medical College The Royal Army Medical College (RAMC) was located on a site south of the Tate Gallery (now known as Tate Britain) on Millbank, in Westminster, London, overlooking the River Thames. The college moved from the site in 1999 and the buildings are no ...

, and served as surgeon at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

. In 1906 he became Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology at the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

, lecturing on the Surgical Anatomy of the Temporal Bone. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914-1918) he was an officer in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

's medical branch and was Aural Surgeon to the

King George V Hospital The King George V Memorial Hospital for Mothers and Babies is a former hospital, exclusively for mothers and babies, in Sydney, Australia. It is located on Missenden Road in Camperdown, directly opposite the main buildings of the much larger Roy ...

Death

He died on 11 May 1929 in London from a vascular lesion. He was buried in

Awards and achievements

Cheatle won the Adam Politzer Prize at the ninth Otological International Congress. He was mentioned in dispatches and was made a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for his war service. He made various discoveries in aural surgery for which he let others be credited, since he shunned publicity. He built an important collection of more than 700 specimens of the anatomy of the mastoid region, with a descriptive catalog, that he donated to the Royal College of Surgeons Museum in 1911 but continued to expand and update. The collection and catalog showed how variations in the temporal bone due to factors such as age and sex affected middle-ear infections. This work is the basis for modern understanding of the anatomy of the mastoid region.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatle, Arthur Henry 1866 births 1929 deaths British otolaryngologists People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of King's College London Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Commanders of the Order of the British Empire