Sir James Berry

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...

FSA (1860-17 March 1946) was a Canadian-born British surgeon. Berry was born in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, to English solicitor Edward Berry of

Croydon, London Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

and was educated at

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

, Croydon and

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

. He then served as house surgeon at St Bartholomew's to Sir Thomas Smith, and was demonstrator of anatomy. In 1885 he became surgeon to the Alexandra Hospital for Diseases of the Hip, in Queen Square but in 1891 was elected consulting 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 ...

. There he established a reputation for surgery of cleft palates, a condition from which he himself suffered, and the treatment of

goitre A goitre, or goiter, is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly. Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are caused by iodine deficiency. The term is ...

. During the

First World War 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 ...

he and his wife Frances established six hospitals in Serbia for the treatment of wounded soldiers and refugees. He was with the Serbian army at Odessa in Russia from 1916 to 1917. For his efforts here, he was awarded the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

(4th class),

Order of St Sava The Royal Order of St. Sava is an Order of merit, first awarded by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1883 and later by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was awarded to nationals and foreigners for meritorious ach ...

(3rd class), and

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Hol ...

of Russia. He was President of the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthrop ...

, 1921–22 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’ chambers ...

, 1926–28. He was knighted in the

1925 Birthday Honours The 1925 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

. He retired in 1927 and was elected consulting surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital. In 1891, he married in Dr Frances May Dickinson (1857-1934), the daughter of Sebastian Dickinson, MP for Stroud. Frances, an

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

, was a distinguished doctor in her own right. She studied at

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a lead ...

and worked alongside James in a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

hospital in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in World War I. She later became anaesthetist at the Royal Free Hospital as well as Assistant Medical Officer of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

, President of the Association of Registered Medical Women, and Honorary Secretary of the Anaesthesia Section of the

. After her death in 1934 he had married Mabel Ingram, a doctor. He died childless in 1946.

Published works

* ''Goitre, its pathology, diagnosis and surgical treatment''; Hunterian lectures, 1891. St Bart's Hosp J. 1898, 5, 109. * ''The thyroid, in Sir Henry Butlin's Operative surgery of malignant diseases''. 2nd ed. London, 1900. * ''Diseases of the thyroid gland and their surgical treatment''. London, 1901. * ''A manual of surgical diagnosis''. London, 1904. * ''Hare-lip and cleft palate'', with T P Legg. London, 1912. * ''Surgery of the thyroid gland'' (Lettsomian lectures, Medical Society of London). Lancet, 1913, 1, 583, 668, 737. * ''Clinical notes on malignant tumours of long bones''. Clin J. 1914, 43, 465, 487. The story of a Red Cross unit in Serbia, with F M Berry and W L Blease. London, 1916. * ''Fortified churches of southern Transylvania''. Archaeologia, 1919. * ''Fallen idols'' (annual oration). Trans Med Soc Lond. 1932, 55, 261. * ''A Cromwellian Major-General, the career of Colonel James Berry 1610-1691'', with Stephen G Lee. Oxford University Press, 1938.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, James 1860 births 1946 deaths People from Croydon People educated at Whitgift School British surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Commanders of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of St. Sava