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 ...

St Mark's Hospital St Mark's Hospital (informally St Mark's) is a hospital in Harrow, Greater London, England. Managed by London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, it is the only hospital in the world to specialise entirely in intestinal and colorectal m ...

rectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of th ...

colorectal surgery Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices relati ...

John Howard Mummery John Howard Mummery, CBE, FRCS (19 January 1847 – 30 August 1926) was a British dentist and microscopist. Early life and education John Mummery was born on 19 January 1847, the son of John Rigden Mummery, a dentist. He qualified MRCS (Eng) in ...

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal (connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sarcom ...

Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of s ...

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

sigmoidoscopy Sigmoidoscopy (from the Greek term for letter " s/ς" + "eidos" + "scopy": namely, to look inside an "s"/"ς"-like object) is the minimally invasive medical examination of the large intestine from the rectum through to the nearest part of the col ...

large bowel The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being ...

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 ...

King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes King Edward VII's Hospital (formal name: King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes) is a private hospital located on Beaumont Street in the Marylebone district of central London. Agnes Keyser, later known as Sister Agnes, established the hospit ...

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 ...

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Northolt Northolt is a town in West London, England, spread across both sides of the A40 trunk road. It is west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the seven major towns that make up the London Borough of Ealing. It had a population of 30,304 at ...

, on 14 February 1875 to

John Howard Mummery John Howard Mummery, CBE, FRCS (19 January 1847 – 30 August 1926) was a British dentist and microscopist. Early life and education John Mummery was born on 19 January 1847, the son of John Rigden Mummery, a dentist. He qualified MRCS (Eng) in ...

, a dental surgeon, and his first wife Mary Lily. His paternal grandfather was a dental surgeon, and his younger brother, Stanley, also became a dental surgeon. He was educated first at

Eagle House School Eagle House School is a coeducational preparatory school near Sandhurst in Berkshire, England. Founded in 1820, it is one of the country's oldest preparatory schools. History Eagle House was founded in 1820 at Brook Green, Hammersmith. In 1 ...

and then

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

.Venn, J. A., comp.. Alumni Cantabrigienses. London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954. Via www.ancestry.co.uk Subsequently, he gained admission to

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 th ...

, passing the first part of the

Natural Sciences Tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...

in 1897 with second-class honours. During his time at Cambridge he developed

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal (connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sarcom ...

of his leg, for which

Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of s ...

carried out an amputation. Subsequently, he took up a post as assistant anatomy demonstrator at Cambridge. He completed his clinical training in 1899 at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, London, where he won the Thompson gold medal and completed resident posts there. In 1900 he gained a

Fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

.

Early career

Lockhart-Mummery worked at the North Eastern Hospital for Children at Hackney and at the

King Edward VII Hospital for Officers King Edward VII's Hospital (formal name: King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes) is a private hospital located on Beaumont Street in the Marylebone district of central London. Agnes Keyser, later known as Sister Agnes, established the hospit ...

. In 1903 he was appointed to the staff of

St Mark's Hospital St Mark's Hospital (informally St Mark's) is a hospital in Harrow, Greater London, England. Managed by London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, it is the only hospital in the world to specialise entirely in intestinal and colorectal m ...

, London. The following year he was Hunterian Professor at the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

, where he spoke on the physiology and treatment of surgical shock and collapse, drawing on his book ''After-treatment of Operations'' (1903), which ran into four editions and was translated into a number of languages including Arabic. In 1904 he revealed improvements in

sigmoidoscopy Sigmoidoscopy (from the Greek term for letter " s/ς" + "eidos" + "scopy": namely, to look inside an "s"/"ς"-like object) is the minimally invasive medical examination of the large intestine from the rectum through to the nearest part of the col ...

, and subsequently showed it was safe and effective in looking for diseases of the

large bowel The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before being ...

. He won the Jacksonian Prize for 1909 for his essay on diseases of the colon, which he published in 1910 as ''Diseases of the Colon and their Surgical Treatment'' and later combined with ''Diseases of the Rectum and Anus: A practical handbook'' (1914) to produce ''Diseases of the Rectum and Colon and their Surgical Treatment'' (1923). It was published by Baillière, Tindall & Cox and a second edition was produced in 1934. In 1913, upon

Swinford Edwards Swinford Edwards (1853-1939) was a British surgeon to St Peter's Hospital for Stone and St Mark's Hospital St Mark's Hospital (informally St Mark's) is a hospital in Harrow, Greater London, England. Managed by London North West University Heal ...

' retirement, Lockhart-Mummery became senior surgeon at St Mark's. The following year and a few days before the start of 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 ...

, Sister Agnes of King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, drew up a list of 21 honorary staff to treat wounded officers at 9

Grosvenor Gardens Grosvenor Gardens is the name given to two triangular parks in Belgravia, London, faced on their western and eastern sides by streets of the same name. Both roads run roughly north to south from Hobart Place and Grosvenor Place to Buckingham P ...

without a fee. Lockhart-Mummery became a significant name on the list, probably carried out more operations at the hospital than any other surgeon there, and treated mainly gunshot wounds affecting the colon,

rectum The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the Gastrointestinal tract, gut in others. The adult human rectum is about long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the s ...

and

anus The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...

.Hough, 1998, pp. 45–56. Among officers he treated was Major Horace Sewell, who had been injured in May 1915 and required shell casing removing from the thigh.Hough, 1998, p. 60. When Leonard Tyrwhitt was wounded by a Mauser bullet above his left knee, it was Lockhart-Mummery who removed it. On

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I a ...

, he operated twice.Hough, 1998, p. 74. His work on

colorectal surgery Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices relati ...

earned him the nickname "King Rectum".

Later career

Despite operating on the most rich and famous of London of the time, operating on the colon, rectum and anus was not fashionable to discuss. In 1924 he started the Polyposis Registry with

Cuthbert Dukes Cuthbert Esquire Dukes OBE (24 July 1890 – 3 February 1977) was an English physician, pathologist and author, for whom the Dukes classification for colorectal cancer is named. Career Dukes was educated at Caterham School. He graduated with a ...

, which kept data on people with inherited multiple polyps. In 1925 his systematic study of people and their families demonstrated a genetic explanation for the association between people with multiple bowel polyps and

bowel cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

, 20 years after polyposis was first suggested to be a familial condition by

William Harrison Cripps William Harrison Cripps (born West Ilsley, Berkshire, 15 January 1850; died London, 8 November 1923) was a prominent British surgeon. He was particularly noted for his expertise on cancer of the rectum. Early life Cripps was the second son of Ju ...

of

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 ...

. Lockhart-Mummery was a co-founder and key figure in the 1923 British Empire Cancer Campaign, in which he remained active for the rest of his life and which slanted more clinically than the rival scientific

Imperial Cancer Research Fund Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

, who had their own significant figures including

Walter Morley Fletcher Sir Walter Morley Fletcher, (21 July 1873 – 7 June 1933)- was a British physiologist and administrator. Fletcher graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded ...

and

Frederick Gowland Hopkins Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins, even though Casimir Funk, a Po ...

. He believed that

pruritus ani Pruritus ani is the irritation of the skin at the exit of the rectum, known as the anus, causing the desire to scratch. The intensity of anal itching increases from moisture, pressure, and rubbing caused by clothing and sitting. At worst, anal it ...

had a local cause and not a general cause as believed by others such as Lord Horder. In 1939 he described

rectal prolapse A rectal prolapse occurs when walls of the rectum have prolapsed to such a degree that they protrude out of the anus and are visible outside the body. However, most researchers agree that there are 3 to 5 different types of rectal prolapse, depend ...

in children. He also practised in

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...

.

Theories

Lockhart-Mummery's understanding of cancer, reflected in his frequent use of metaphors such as "Bolshevist", "communist" and "utopian", in his explanation of the origin of cancer, led to cancer being seen as an infectious disease, something that could be passed from one generation to another, spreading its way through society. In ''The Origin of Cancer'', he wrote "the cancer cell may be compared with the citizen of a country who suddenly becomes a communist". On two occasions he had disagreements with

William Ewart Gye William Ewart Gye FRS (born William Ewart Bullock; 11 August 1889, Breaston – 14 October 1952) was a British pathologist and cancer researcher. Career After a difficult financial struggle, Bullock matriculated at University College, Notti ...

. Some of his theories on race and

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

were also controversial. Although he did not practice eugenics, Lockhart-Mummery had held the view that families with polyposis would eventually die out and wrote in one review with Dukes, that "one may hope that polyposis families will remain small and finally die out as the result of celibacy or the adoption of eugenic principles". In 1935, he defended Lord Dawson's views on eugenics and argued that "human genetics must inevitably become the most important social and scientific problem in the next few decades, since it must be solved if the human race is to make any serious progress towards something better". In his book '' After Us, or the World as it Might Be'' (1936), he imagined a world where "all men, except those approximating the ideal citizen" would be sterilised, and women would conceive children from the remaining stock, in order to produce "perfection". In the book, he accused "sloppy sentiment" as preventing this method and argued that the nation would have to wait for an "autocratic government" to enforce it for the advantage of men. Such theories were thought of as radical at that time, considered so even by his friend Lord Horder, president of the Eugenics Society. He described what he called the 'morbid state of mind' or 'rectal neuralgia or hysteria', a condition later better known as

irritable bowel syndrome Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...

. He was a friend of

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

He dismissed Arthur Todd's developments of chemotherapy for bowel cancer.

Other roles

In 1913 he became the first secretary of the British Proctological Society, which in 1939, became a section 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 ...

(RSM). In 1921, at the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...

's annual meeting, he became president of the section of proctology and of the section of children's diseases at the RSM. In 1930, Lockhart-Mummery became a member of King Edward VII's Hospital's first council, formed by Sister Agnes. He was active in promoting the London International Cancer Conference of 1928, and published ''The Origin of Cancer'' in 1934. In all he wrote six books on colorectal surgery and two on other non-medial topics. Lockhart-Mummery retired in 1935, becoming emeritus surgeon to St Mark's. In the same year, the ''Collected Papers'', published to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of St Mark's, included his work.

Personal and family

Lockhart-Mummery enjoyed fishing, played golf and later

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

. He once won the Dog Derby with one of his greyhounds. From his first marriage to Cynthia in 1915, he had two sons,

Hugh Evelyn Lockhart-Mummery Sir Hugh Evelyn Lockhart-Mummery, KVCO, (28 April 1918 – 24 June 1988), was a British surgeon who researched inflammatory bowel disease and distinguished Crohn's disease, Crohn's from Ulcerative colitis, colitis. He was educated at Sandroyd Sch ...

, a surgeon who succeeded him at St Mark's Hospital and was later

Serjeant-Surgeon The Serjeant Surgeon is the senior surgeon in the Medical Household of the Royal Household of the Monarch, Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The origin of the post dates back to 1253. Early serjeant surgeons were military surgeons who followed the ...

to

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

and knighted; and Robert Desmond. His second marriage, in 1932, was to Georgette. Following retirement he moved to

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

in East Sussex.

Death and legacy

Lockhart-Mummery died in Hove on 24 April 1957. He received an obituary in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'', and biographical profiles in the RCSE's ''

Plarr's Lives of the Fellows ''Plarr's Lives of the Fellows'' is a biographical register of the fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England that contains over 9,000 obituaries.' The first printed volumes of the work were produced by Victor Plarr Victor Gustave Plar ...

'', and in ''

Diseases of the Colon & Rectum ''Diseases of the Colon & Rectum'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering colorectal surgery. It was established in 1958 and is published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins on behalf of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeo ...

''.

Selected publications

Articles

* * * * *

Books

''The After-treatment of Operations: A Manual for Practitioners and House Surgeons''
Baillière & Co., London, 1903. * ''The Sigmoidoscope: A clinical handbook on the examination of the rectum and pelvic colon''. Baillière, Tindall and Cox, London, 1906.
''Diseases of the Colon and their Surgical Treatment''
John Wright & Sons, Bristol, 1910.
''Diseases of the Rectum and Anus: A practical handbook''
Baillière, Tindall & Cox, London, 1914.
''Diseases of the Rectum and Colon and their Surgical Treatment''
Baillière, Tindall & Cox, London, 1923. (2nd edition 1934) * ''The Origin of Cancer''. J. & A. Churchill, London, 1934. * ''The Collected Papers of St. Mark's Hospital, London, Including a History of the Hospital: Centenary Volume, 1835-1935''. H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., London, 1935. * ''After Us, or the World as it Might Be''.

Stanley Paul Stanley Paul are a firm of publishers founded in London in 1906. The original firm published mainly "cheap editions of thrillers and romances, and some light non-fiction" and traded until 1927 when it went in liquidation. In 1928 the imprint was r ...

, London, 1936.
''Nothing New Under the Sun''

Andrew Melrose Andrew Melrose (5 February 1860 - 6 November 1928''The Times'' obituary; 7 November 1928) was a British publisher. Although he was noted for publishing theological works, he was also active in promoting new fiction, and offered a substantial cas ...

, London & New York, 1947.

References

External links

St. George's Hospital ArchiveThe Leys ArchiveJ. P. Lockhart-Mummery publicationsJ. P. Lockhart-Mummery books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockhart-Mummery, John Percy 1875 births 1957 deaths 20th-century surgeons Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British amputees British surgeons Cancer researchers History of surgery People educated at Eagle House School People educated at The Leys School People from Middlesex