Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
Davis Evan Bedford (1898–1978) was a British physician and
cardiologist
Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular hear ...
.
After education at
Ipswich School
Ipswich School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nursery ...
and at
Epsom College
Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orpha ...
, D. Evan Bedford entered the
Middlesex Hospital Medical School
Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
in 1916.
[ In 1918 he became a surgeon sub-lieutenant in the ]Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
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(RNVR) and in 1919 resumed his medical training, graduating in 1921 MB BS (Lond.) and qualifying MRCS, LRCP. After resident appointments at the Middlesex Hospital
Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
, he was appointed medical officer in charge of the cardiac wards at the Orpington Hospital
Orpington Hospital is an acute general hospital in Orpington, London. It is managed by the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The hospital has its origins in a military hospital built for soldiers originating from the Province ...
belonging to the Ministry of Pensions
Ministry may refer to:
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* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
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. In 1925 he graduated MD. At the Orpington Hospital, he was influenced by John Parkinson and in 1925–1926 pursued postgraduate study in France.[
Returning from France, Bedford in 1926 was appointed Paterson Research Scholar at the ]London Hospital
The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...
and assistant physician to the Middlesex Hospital.[ At the Cardiac Club he became a member in 1928 and was the Club's secretary from 1932 to 1936. In 1931 he was elected FRCP. In 1933 he was appointed physician to outpatients at the ]National Heart Hospital
University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, named The Heart Hospital until refurbished and renamed in 2015, was a specialist cardiac hospital located in London, United Kingdom until 2015. It is part of the University College London Hospi ...
.[ With J. Maurice Campbell, Bedford was the co-editor of the '']British Heart Journal
''Heart'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all areas of cardiovascular medicine and surgery. It is the official journal of the British Cardiovascular Society. It was established in 1939 as the ''British Heart Journal'' and i ...
'' from 1939 to 1947 when he resigned.
During the war, he kept a detailed diary, chronicling notable events such as his treatment of Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, who became ill while visiting Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
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, population_metro = 2658816
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, utc_offset1 ...
.
When WWII ended, D. Evan Bedford resumed his appointments at the Middlesex Hospital and the National Heart Hospital and established a large private practice in cardiology. In the post WWII era, cardiac catherisation and angiocardiography helped to revolutionise cardiac surgery. Evan Bedford and William Somerville worked closely with cardiac surgeons such as Thomas Holmes Sellors
Sir Thomas Holmes Sellors (7 April 1902 – 13 September 1987) was a British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependenci ...
and Russell Brock
Russell Claude Brock, Baron Brock (24 October 1903 – 3 September 1980) was a leading British chest and heart surgeon and one of the pioneers of modern open-heart surgery. His achievements were recognised by a Knighthood in 1954, a Life Peera ...
.
Bedford was appointed in 1946 the Bradshaw Lecture
The Bradshaw Lectures are prestigious lectureships given at the invitation of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
List of past lecturers at Royal College of Physicians
List of past lecturers at Royal C ...
r, in 1960 the Lumleian Lecturer
The Lumleian Lectures are a series of annual lectures started in 1582 by the Royal College of Physicians and currently run by the Lumleian Trust. The name commemorates John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, who with Richard Caldwell of the College endowed ...
,[ and in 1968 the ]Harveian Orator
The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feas ...
. He was president from 1960 to 1964 of the British Cardiac Society
The British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) is a United Kingdom-wide health organisation based in London. It aims to represent all healthcare professionals working in the field of cardiology, set standards for prevention, diagnosis, and clinical care, ...
and was in 1963 appointed CBE. He was intimately familiar with the history of cardiology and often quoted from memory such sources as Rokitansky’s ''Die Defecte der Scheidewande des Herzens'', Lower
Lower may refer to:
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Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...
’s ''Tractatus de Corde'', or the writings of the Irish Victorians, Adams, Stokes and Corrigan.[
He collected a private library of over 1000 books which he donated in 1971 to the Royal College of Physicians. According to Peter Robert Fleming, the Bedford collection is an indispensable and comprehensive resource for historians of cardiology.]
In 1935 in Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
, London, he married Audrey Selina Ely (b. 1902), daughter of Milton Victor Ely (b. 1873), chair of the Board of Governors of the National Heart Hospital. Evan and Audrey Bedford had two sons.[
]
Selected publications
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Davis Evan
1898 births
1978 deaths
People educated at Ipswich School
People educated at Epsom College
Physicians of the Middlesex Hospital
20th-century English medical doctors
British cardiologists
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
Royal Army Medical Corps officers