John Oliver Pearce Edgcumbe, FRCP, (1920 – 18 October 2001) was a British medical practitioner who became Devon's first consultant

haematologist Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

. He was a collateral descendant of the painter

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

and co-edited, with John Ingamells, a new edition of the letters of Sir Joshua, the first for over 70 years.

Early life and family

John Edgcumbe was born in

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the ...

in 1920, a

collateral descendant A lineal descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in the direct line of descent – the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. of a person. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate by in ...

of Joshua Reynolds. He married Teryll, née Degwell Thomas and they had a son and a daughter.John Oliver Pearce Edgcumbe.
''thebmj''. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

Career

Edgcumbe qualified in medicine from Cambridge/The London Hospital in 1946. He received his MD in 1952. He originally leaned towards neurology and won the Queen Square Prize for Neurology in 1954, but decided to specialise instead in

haematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

and became

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

's first consultant haematologist. He was a fellow of the

Royal College of Pathologists The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to pr ...

, president of the British Society for Haematology 1972-3 and president of the Devon and Exeter Medical Society in 1981-2.

Joshua Reynolds

The idea for a new edition of the letters of Joshua Reynolds had been raised in the 1980s when Brian Allen and John Edgcumbe found that they were independently collecting new material and decided to collaborate. After he retired, Edgcumbe held a visiting fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art in order to complete the work. The book was eventually published by Yale University Press in 2000, jointly edited by Edgcumbe and John Ingamells. In their review of the work, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' noted that the quantity of known letters from Reynolds had swollen by almost two-thirds since the last collected edition by Frederick W. Hilles in 1929, but lamented Reynolds uninspired prose style."Letters from the art.", Ian McIntyre, ''The Times'', 21 February 2001, p. 14 Records relating to the editing of the book are held at the

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is a scholarly centre in London devoted to supporting original research into the history of British Art. It was founded in 1970 and endowed by a gift from Paul Mellon. Since 1996, it has been si ...

, Yale University.John Edgcumbe.
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Retrieved 7 March 2016. Edgcumbe was a member of the Reynolds Society and the Johnson Club.

Death

Edgcumbe died on 18 October 2001 at his home after suffering from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

. He was survived by his wife (died 2009) and two children.''The Times'', 25 October 2001, p. 24.

Publications

*''The letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, New Haven, 2000. (Editor with John Ingamells)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgcumbe, John 1920 births 2001 deaths British haematologists Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists Deaths from prostate cancer People from Teignmouth 20th-century English medical doctors