BROCKLEHURST, JOHN

c.1970-2013

Admin history: John Charles Brocklehurst was the first professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester, and a pioneer in the development of geriatrics as a specialty. He was a research fellow at Glasgow University, and then, from 1949 to 1951, he carried out his National Service in the RAMC, to the rank of major, mostly as a medical officer on board the troopship Medway. He held various junior posts between 1951 to 1955, and then joined the Grenfell Mission in Labrador, Canada, as a medical officer. The mission had been set up to help the poor with food, clothing and medical care. John's reasons for joining the mission were, in part, religious; he was inspired by founder Wilfred Grenfell's 'muscular christianity'. It was in Canada that he met his wife, Susan, who was working as a nurse for the mission. Despite the influence of religion at this time in his life, he became a humanist in later years, partly because of his medical work. In 1957 he returned to the UK and, until 1960, he held trainee appointments in general practice and general medicine. From 1961 to 1969 he was a consultant geriatrician in Bromley, Cray Valley and Sevenoaks. He was then a consultant at Guy’s. From 1970 he was appointed as professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester, where he established the unit for biological ageing research, and pioneered the teaching of geriatric medicine. From 1978 to 1979 he was professor and chairman of the division of geriatric medicine, University of Saskatchewan. He retired from his Manchester professorship in 1990 and joined the Royal College of Physicians’ research unit. He finally retired in 1999, aged 75. His Textbook of geriatric medicine and gerontology (Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1973) has become a standard work in the specialty and is now in its seventh edition (now bearing his name in the title). His work established one of the fundamental ideas within geriatric medicine: that the biological impact of ageing could affect the presentation of disease. He had a particular expertise in incontinence in older people, the subject of his first book in 1951 (Incontinence in old people, etc Edinburgh, E & S Livingstone). He also made a significant contribution to our understanding of stroke, falls and nutrition in old age. He was chairman of Age Concern England from 1973 to 1977 and then, from 1980, honorary vice president. He was president of the British Geriatrics Society from 1984 to 1986. At the Royal College of Physicians he was chairman of the geriatrics committee from 1986 to 1989 and then associate director of the research unit. He also chaired the RCP working party on incontinence. He received many honours, including the CBE in 1988, the founders medal of the British Geriatrics Society and the Willard O Thompson gold medal from the American Geriatrics Society.‎