Sir Francis Henry Champneys

Sir Francis Henry Champneys, first baronet (1848-1930), obstetrician, was born on 25 March 1848 in Whitechapel, London, the fourth son of the Revd (William) Weldon Champneys (1807-1875), rector of St Mary's Church, Whitechapel, afterwards dean of Lichfield, and his wife, Mary Anne, fourth daughter of Paul Storr, of Beckenham, Kent. The third son was the architect Basil Champneys (1842-1935). Francis Champneys was educated at Winchester College, where he was a scholar (1860-66), and at Brasenose College, Oxford (1866-70), where he obtained a first class in natural science in 1870 and was captain of boats. He then proceeded as a medical student to St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, qualifying for the degrees of BM in 1875 and of MD in 1888. Elected to the Radcliffe travelling fellowship of Oxford University in 1872, Champneys spent half of each of the following three years in study at Vienna, Leipzig, and Dresden. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1876 and a fellow in 1882. In 1880 he was elected assistant obstetric physician to St George's Hospital and obstetric physician to the General Lying-in Hospital, York Road. In 1885 he became obstetric physician to St George's. In 1891 he succeeded James Matthews Duncan as physician accoucheur to St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he remained until his retirement in 1913.

Champneys had considerable success as a consultant and as a teacher. He also tried to influence medical practice through his writings, but his bias towards the medical aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology was out of step with a growing interest in the introduction of surgical procedures. His most important contribution to his profession was through his many public services. He was a fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London and played an active part in the uniting of the various medical societies of London into the Royal Society of Medicine. He was elected president of the society in 1912. Although he had very decided convictions and a tendency towards conservatism, Champneys had an openness of mind and a breadth of outlook which meant that other medical professionals sought his help and advice. He is perhaps best known for the prominent part he took in the movement to raise the status of midwives which led to the Midwives Act of 1902 and for his chairmanship of the Central Midwives' Board (CMB), the regulatory body set up under the act.

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