Sir Cyril Astley Clarke, KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS (22 August 1907 – 21 November 2000) was a British physician,

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...

and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

. He was honoured for his pioneering work on prevention of

Rh disease Rh disease (also known as rhesus isoimmunization, Rh (D) disease, and blue baby disease) is a type of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). HDFN due to anti-D antibodies is the proper and currently used name for this disease as the ...

of the newborn, and also for his work on the genetics of the Lepidoptera ( butterflies and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s).

Biography

Cyril Clarke was born on 22 August 1907 in Leicester, England and received his school education at

Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys was a grammar school in Leicester, England, in existence from 1876 to 1976. It was succeeded by the present-day Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College. History After William Wyggeston's death in 1536, his bro ...

, Leicester and at the independent

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. His interest in butterflies and moths began at school. His studied natural science at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

, graduating in 1929, and then medicine at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

, London, graduating in 1932. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he worked as a medical specialist in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. After the war Clarke worked as a registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and then as Consultant Physician at the United Liverpool Hospitals. In 1963 he was appointed Director of the Nuffield Unit of Medical Genetics based at the University of Liverpool and two years later was made Professor of Medicine. He held these posts until his retirement in 1972. In retirement he served as President of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

(1972–1977) Clarke helped to develop the technique of giving Rh-negative women inter-muscular injections of anti-RhD antibodies during pregnancy to prevent Rh disease in their newborn babies. This was one of the major advances in

preventive medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

in the second half of the 20th century. Clarke answered an advert in an insect magazine for swallowtail butterfly

pupae A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

that had been placed by Philip Sheppard. They met and began working together in their common interest of lepidoptery. From 1959 they started running a moth trap in Caldy Common near

West Kirby West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, to the north-east lies Hoylake, to the east Grange ...

, Wirral, England. They studied the

peppered moth The peppered moth (''Biston betularia'') is a temperate species of night-flying moth. It is mostly found in the northern hemisphere in places like Asia, Europe and North America. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics an ...

, the

scarlet tiger moth The scarlet tiger moth (''Callimorpha dominula'', formerly ''Panaxia dominula'') is a colorful moth belonging to the tiger moth subfamily, Arctiinae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae ...

and swallowtail butterfly. They published papers on the genetics of Lepidoptera and also on

. Clarke continued research in his retirement and in 1988 he rediscovered a scarlet tiger moth colony on the Wirral Way, West Kirby, that had been started in 1961 by Philip Sheppard. The colony was useful for study of the genetics of changes in populations. He married Frieda (or Féo) in 1934. Lady Clarke died in 1998. Cyril Clarke died in 2000. They had three sons, one of whom is a consultant neurologist.

Career and awards

– Medic in

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Volunteer Reserve * 1947 to 1958 – Part-time Clinical Lecturer at Liverpool University, England. * 1958 to 1965 – Reader at Liverpool University, England. * 1965 to 1972 – Professor of Medicine at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, England. Later, Honorary Nuffield Research Fellow, Department of Genetics and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Liverpool. Director, Research Unit, Royal College of Physicians of London. * 1967 – Lumleian lecture to Royal College of Physicians on ''Prevention of Rh-Haemolytic Disease''

Awards and accolades

* 1969 –

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 o ...

(CBE) * 19 March 1970 –

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

(FRS) * 1972 to 1977 – President of the

Royal College of Physicians of London The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

. * 1974 –

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed * 1977 –

Gairdner Foundation International Award The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a ...

* 1980 –

Lasker Award The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was ...

– Prof Cyril Clarke, together with Dr

Ronald Finn Ronald Finn (12 June 1930 – 21 May 2004) was a medical researcher born in Liverpool, England. His research work contributed to advancing knowledge on the Rhesus factor. He died of cancer of the stomach. Career and awards 1954 - Qualified a ...

, Dr John Gorman, Dr Vincent Freda, and Dr William Pollack were jointly awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research for their pioneering work on the

rhesus blood group system The Rh blood group system is a human blood group system. It contains proteins on the surface of red blood cells. After the ABO blood group system, it is the most likely to be involved in transfusion reactions. The Rh blood group system consists ...

, the role of rhesus D antibodies in the causation of

and the prevention of Rh disease. * 1981 – Linnean Medal from the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

. * 1990 –

Buchanan Medal The Buchanan Medal is awarded by the Royal Society "in recognition of distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally". The award was created in 1897 from a fund to the memory of London physician Sir George Buchanan (1831–1895). It ...

from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of the United Kingdom for work on

haemolytic disease of the newborn Hemolytic disease of the newborn, also known as hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, HDN, HDFN, or erythroblastosis foetalis, is an alloimmune condition that develops in a fetus at or around birth, when the IgG molecules (one of the five ...

. * 1992 – Honorary Degree given by the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

, Williamsburg,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States.

Bibliography

References

Bibliography

Obituary on Liverpool University website – includes a photograph

1980 Lasker award to Prof Cyril Clarke

RCP Presidents
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Cyril 1907 births 2000 deaths People from Leicester People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys People educated at Oundle School 20th-century English medical doctors English lepidopterists English geneticists Medical geneticists Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Liverpool Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians Linnean Medallists 20th-century British zoologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Recipients of the James Spence Medal Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II

Biography

Career and awards

Awards and accolades

Bibliography

See also

References

Bibliography