Save the date: talks and book launch with Mr John Black President Royal College of Surgeons and Dr Mark Houghton

Book launch and talks with Mr John Black and Dr Mark Houghton. Saturday 12 April, 11:30am at the Charles Hastings Education Centre. Event details and prices to follow.

Bombed, machine gunned, torpedoed and trapped in a sinking ship, Paul Houghton was one of the colourful characters of the Malta convoys. He saved the lives at sea of two fighting admirals and became the first Fleet Surgeon of the Royal Navy. He was also consultant surgeon at the Castle Street and Ronkswood Branches of the former Worcester Royal Infirmary.

"Mark Houghton has written a fabulous biography of his father, the surgeon Mr. Paul Houghton. It is an extraordinary story of faith, of medical affairs, and of the Royal Navy in wartime.” Captain Peter Hore.

While you’re here…Can you help with an appeal for information on Sister Pullen?

Can you confirm the amazing story that was shared between Sister Pullen, Ronkswood's surgical ward sister, and Mr Paul Houghton FRCS, consultant surgeon at Ronkswood from 1947 to 1977? He told his son that they were talking about their war service on the ward one day and it turned out she had been pulled out of the sea by Paul's ship on not one but two occasions.

Get in touch to let us know if you’ve heard this story before. Email us.

Answers to a mystery: Who is Dr. Andrew Knox Blackall?

This portrait hangs in the historic boardroom of the former Worcester Royal Infirmary, where the British Medical Association was founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association in 1832. The piece is titled ‘Dr. Andrew Knox Blackall’ and attributed to Joshua Reynolds (both details now thought to be incorrect).

The sitter is generally now agreed to be simply Andrew Blackall (c.1754-1781), a surgeon and anatomist based in Dublin and later in London. He died of TB on 14 April 1781 aged 27 in Hotwells, Bristol, having gone to Bath to seek relief from his illness.

Blackall was born c.1754 and studied in Edinburgh, London and Paris before starting his practice in Dublin, his native city, in 1776. His abilities drew the attention of patrons such as Dr Cleghorn, Dr McBride and Dr Purcell (more research needed). In 1778 a vacancy in a London anatomical theatre enabled him to continue his promising career as a lecturer. Sale of medical specimens was common, and Blackall is recorded as purchasing some of the collection of the surgeon Mr Magnus Falconer whose death created the vacancy. Upon Blackall’s own death, it seems that some of his specimens may have been acquired by the Scottish surgeon John Hunter.*

He continued lecturing until about a month before he died, only giving up when the disease had taken hold in his upper airways and his students could no longer hear his voice. After his death, as befitted a dedicated anatomist, his body was dissected, and a record of the findings were included in his obituary in the London Medical Journal.

The name ‘Knox’ probably comes from confusion with younger relatives, two of whom were called Andrew Knox Blackall. It was Major J. Blackall who sent the portrait to Christie’s, a brother of Andrew Knox Blackall.

There is no direct connection between Andrew Blackall and Worcester, and certainly no connection between Blackall and the historic boardroom. The connection seems instead to be through Mr. J. Corbett MP for Droitwich and benefactor to several medical charities in Worcestershire. He purchased the portrait from Christie’s for the former Worcester Royal Infirmary and donated it.

While stated to be Joshua Reynolds, the artist is actually unknown. Reynolds only painted three portraits of medical men and Blackall was not one of them. There is no consensus but much discussion here including questions about the style and position of the hand.

Thank you to Helen Rendell with assistance from Art UK Art Detectives.

Helen Rendell 2024

“*The Senior Curator at the Royal College of Surgeons of England said “I can’t see any preparations linked to Andrew Blackall in the collections […]. However Blackall is mentioned several times in Simon Chaplin’s PhD about John Hunter. Simon Chaplin says that Hunter bought a ‘double uterus’ at Blackall’s sale in 1781 for fifty guineas, but that ‘the double uterus has since been lost’. This may have been when RCS England was bombed in May 1941, destroying up to three-quarters of John Hunter’s collection.”

— Sarah Pearson, Senior Curator RCS England

DIAGNOSIS DOCTOR: PLAY NEW VIDEO GAME ONLINE!

We worked with Andrew Round of Paradise Multimedia to create a video game based on our museums’ settings in both a former hospital and current medical education facility. We wanted the game to be a fun way for all visitors to experience the diagnostic process. We bring you Diagnosis Doctor!

Diagnosis Doctor invites you to test your diagnostic skills by examining patients and recording symptoms to make a diagnosis of real medical conditions. The more patients who are successfully diagnosed, the more points you will receive. Learn how doctors investigate and examine patients today. Will you get a high score?

How Droitwich's brine could help combat resisting infections: Guest blog by Matt Davies

GM2002.1.149.1 Bath Thermometer

In September of 2023  Dr. Michael Macey, a member of the Astrobiology OU group, approached Droitwich Spa town counsellor Bob Brookes after he learned of  his involvement in the ‘Save our Brine Baths’ campaign. Macey, who studies extremophiles (bacteria that live in extreme conditions), was keen to get involved and study the qualities of Droitwich’s brine baths. The counsellor, who is also keen on saving the baths, eagerly facilitated Macey’s collection of samples from the brine. Dr Macey’s research usually is in countries such as Iceland or Canada however he was very intrigued by the possibility of the town’s brine harbouring microbes capable of producing new antibiotics.

The discovery of new antibiotics has become crucial to medicine as antibiotic resistance poses severe threats to medical treatments. In October 2023 Dr Macey and his colleagues visited the brine well at tower hill, near Droitwich, to collect further samples. More recently in March 2024 Mara Leite, another researcher involved in the project, isolated three strains of salt-adapted microbes from the brine. Remarkably these strains were able to inhibit the growth of various hospital associated pathogens, including MRSA (which is responsible for many difficult-to-treat infections in humans). Researchers are now focused on identifying the specific chemicals and genes responsible for the antibacterial activity. While much work remains these early results are promising and suggest that Droitwich’s brine could play a key role in developing powerful new antibiotics to combat resistant infections.

Link to recent Droitwich Standard article: https://droitwichstandard.co.uk/news/droitwich-spas-brine-could-be-key-to-combatting-resistant-infections/#:~:text=Droitwich%20Spa's%20brine%20could%20be,resistant%20infections%20%2D%20The%20Droitwich%20Standard

Link to BBC Sounds interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jrs2qr#:~:text=Droitwich%20Spa's%20historic%20brine%20is,treat%20bacteria%20such%20as%20MRSA.

By Matt Davies, 2024

Student at Prince Henry’s High School, Evesham