Sir Arthur Thomson

Sir Arthur Peregrine Thomson, 1890-1977, Professor of Therapeutics and Vice-Principal, University of Birmingham. He was born in 1890, the son of a Colonial Service officer in British Guiana. He was educated at Dulwich College and at the University of Birmingham (where he was Queen's Scholar, Ingleby Scholar and Russell Prizeman). He served in France during the First World War with the Royal Army Medical Corps, retiring with the rank of major. He was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre with star.

He returned to Birmingham after the war to join the consultant staff of the Birmingham General Hospital and built up a country-wide practice as a general physician, notably in the treatment of diabetes. His work on rheumatic fever in children led to the establishment of the Baskerville School. Other research arose from the Birmingham psittacosis epidemic in 1930; and subsequent studies included the problems of ageing and chronic sickness. He published many articles in medical journals.

He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, 1951-59 and Vice-Principal of the University for much of that time. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1930, a member of the General Medical Council, 1951-65 and President of the British Medical Association, 1958-59. He also served on many Government and professional committees and was Chairman of the Regional Hospital Board, 1962-63. He delivered various prestigious lectures including the Lumleian, the Harveian and the Linacre and received honorary degrees from Edinburgh and Birmingham. His many memorials include the Arthur Thomson Hall in the Birmingham Medical School.

Reference: University of Birmingham, University of Birmingham Bulletin (No. 301, 3 Oct 1977). ; Who was who, 1971-1980

For further reading about the University of Birmingham see: Eric Ives, Diane Drummond, Leonard Schwarz The First Civic University: Birmingham 1880-1980 An Introductory History (The University of Birmingham Press. 2000).

From the guide to the University of Birmingham Staff Papers: Papers of Sir Arthur Thomson, 1921-1977, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)