Sir Christopher Charles Booth (22 June 1924 – 13 July 2012) was an English clinician and medical historian, characterised as "one of the great characters of British medicine". Booth was born in 1924 in Farnham, Surrey. His father Lionel Booth is credited as the inventor of the telephoto lens. He was brought up in

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and attended

Sedbergh school Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. I ...

. He served as a frogman in the Royal Navy from 1942. A Navy doctor encouraged him to study medicine, so he enrolled at the

Bute Medical School The University of St Andrews School of Medicine (formerly the Bute Medical School) is the school of medicine at the University of St Andrews in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and the oldest medical school in Scotland. The medical school offers two ...

of the

University of St. Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milit ...

and graduated in 1951, serving as a houseman in Dundee before moving to the postgraduate medical school at

Hammersmith hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. His MD was awarded in 1958 for work showing that

Vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. ...

is absorbed at the far end of the small intestine, work for which he also received the Rutherford gold medal. His medical speciality was

gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

and he was a founder of Coeliac UK. He was also director of the Medical Research Council Clinical Research Centre at

Northwick Park Northwick Park is a large green public park between Harrow and Kenton in north-west London, forming part of the London Borough of Brent. Most of the park consists of playing fields. It is also the name of the electoral ward of Brent that cover ...

and research director at the

Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (1968–1999) was a London centre for the study and teaching of medical history. It consisted of the Wellcome Library and an Academic Unit. The former was and is a world-class library collectio ...

. He was president of the British Medical Association from 1986 to 1987 and president of 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’ chamber ...

from 1988 to 1990. Booth defended,

Chris Pallis Christopher Agamemnon Pallis (2 December 1923, in Bombay – 10 March 2005, in London) was an Anglo-Greek neurologist and libertarian socialist intellectual. Under the pen-names Martin Grainger and Maurice Brinton, he wrote and translated for th ...

, a neurologist working under him at

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of ...

, when he was attacked for his left-wing views. He was also an outspoken, on one occasion noting that taking the doctors' pay demand to the then prime minister,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, would be not a red rag to a bull, as a colleague suggested, but "a red rag to an old cow". He published four books and 50 papers on the history of medicine, and played a leading role in the founding of the

History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group The History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group (HoMBRG) is an academic organisation specialising in recording and publishing the oral history of twentieth and twenty-first century biomedicine. It was established in 1990 as the Wellcome Trust's ...

. A ward at the Hammersmith Hospital is named after him and looks after gastroenterology patients. He married three times; firstly Lavinia Loughridge, with whom he had a son and daughter, secondly Professor Soad Tabaqchali, with whom he had another daughter and lastly Joyce Singleton, who survived him.

Awards and honours

* Honorary Fellow,

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

, 1973 * Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, 1977 * Honorary LLD,

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

, 1982 * International member,

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, 1981 * Honorary Fellow,

, 1991 * Knighted for services to medicine in 1982

References

Biographical data
''

Debrett's Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company, publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John De ...

External links

Portrait
at the National Portrait Gallery * {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Christopher 2012 deaths 1924 births People from Surrey Alumni of the University of St Andrews English medical historians 20th-century English medical doctors Presidents of the British Medical Association Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Members of the American Philosophical Society