Dr John Wedgwood (1919–2007) Post 2

Wedgwood, John (1919–2007), consultant geriatrician, was born on 28 September 1919 at Providence Cottage, Well Road, Hampstead, London, the eldest child of , master potter, and his wife, Dorothy Mary Haskins, née Winser (1893–1974). He had a brother, Josiah, and a sister, Jennifer. He was the grandson of , and his family tree was linked by marriage to the Darwin family and included Ralph Vaughan Williams, the Keyneses, the Huxleys, and the Trevelyans. His early life was spent in Hampstead Garden Suburb and Staffordshire until he was sent to Abbotsholme School, Derbyshire. During his holidays he and his brother made model soldiers, boated, climbed mountains, built a kayak, and rebuilt an old Fiat. The only instructions from their parents were ‘if in trouble send a telegram—use Latin: it takes fewer words’ (private information). In 1938 he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read medicine; he completed his studies at Guy's Hospital, London, and qualified in 1943. On 17 July 1943 he married Margaret Webb Mason (b. 1920), an assistant almoner, and daughter of Alfred Mason, schoolmaster. They had three sons and two daughters.

In 1944 Wedgwood was commissioned surgeon-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He served in the Mediterranean and later in the Far East on the minesweeper HMS Squirrel, which was mined and sunk off Phuket Island on 24 July 1945. Wedgwood was wounded in his back and right leg and spent several hours in the sea before rescue. These injuries caused increasing discomfort with age and influenced his career direction.

After demobilization Wedgwood completed his Cambridge medical degrees and passed the MRCP examination in 1949. His father wanted him to work in the family's pottery business but he planned to be a surgeon. However, his wartime injuries caused such pain when standing that he decided to be a physician instead. Medical registrar appointments followed and later a senior registrar post at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where he completed his MD. His initial thoughts were to become a cardiologist, and senior registrar posts followed at St Bartholomew's and the National Heart hospitals. However, at Cambridge he had surveyed 200 neglected chronic sick patients in a local workhouse. What he saw influenced his final career decision: he had always wanted to specialize in an untapped field of medicine and geriatric medicine beckoned.

Wedgwood's first consultant post was in 1960 at Bury St Edmunds, where he had no medical, rehabilitation, or secretarial staffs. He was responsible for 243 patients in old overcrowded infirmaries, one of which still had gas lighting. Bedpans were washed out in the patients' bath and the sister's office doubled as a day room. Eventually he persuaded the authorities to build a new forty-five bed geriatric unit, a day hospital, and a postgraduate medical centre, upgrade his remaining old wards, and close a 180 bed workhouse. Meanwhile he joined the British Geriatrics Society, serving as treasurer (1966–72), chairman of the executive committee (1968–73), and chairman of the editorial board of the society's journal, Age and Ageing (1969–86). While treasurer he placed the society on a firm business footing and established it as a registered charity.

In 1968 Wedgwood was appointed consultant geriatrician at the Middlesex Hospital, where he actively promoted the multidisciplinary teaching of geriatric medicine. He was elected FRCP in 1968, was an examiner for the MB and MRCP, and published extensively. His first marriage was dissolved in 1971 and on 20 May 1972 he married Joan Alice Tamlyn (b. 1927), daughter of Harold Swann Ripsher, shopkeeper, and former wife of Robert J. Tamlyn. He thereby acquired one stepson.

In 1980 Wedgwood moved to the Royal Hospital for Incurables in Putney, as medical director and chairman of the board of management until he retired in 1986. He raised £3.5 million for new facilities, helping to create a centre of excellence with a new brain injury unit, a rehabilitation unit, a day centre, an engineering workshop, improved accommodation for patients, and research offices. He was a member of the council of the Royal Society of Arts (1981–5), a liveryman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, and served on several national committees on the disabled. Between 1986 and 2003 he was chairman of the Royal Surgical Aid Society (AgeCare), whose meetings he opened with a prayer. He organized multidisciplinary conferences and teaching, and opened new residential homes. In 1987 he was appointed CBE, and in 1994 he was awarded the British Geriatrics Society's presidential medal.

Wedgwood was proud of his family history and was a non-executive director of the Wedgwood firm from 1967 to 1987. He was kind, gracious, supportive, always willing to give credit to others, and a skilled negotiator. He engendered great loyalty in staff and was affectionately known to many as Dr John. His Christian philosophy strengthened his determination to improve the care of the disadvantaged and older people. For many years he lived at 156 Ashley Gardens, Thirleby Road, Westminster. He died of bronchopneumonia in the Bradbury Centre, Manygate Lane, Shepperton, Surrey, on 30 August 2007. A celebration of his life was held on 29 November 2007 at the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in London. He was survived by his wife, Jo, his stepson, and the five children of his first marriage.

MICHAEL JOHN DENHAM 
Sources  
Daily Telegraph (1 Sept 2007) • The Times (19 Sept 2007); (29 Sept 2007); (2 Oct 2007) • BMJ, 335 (2007), 999 • memorial order of service, 29 Nov 2007, priv. coll. • ‘Geriatrics as a medical speciality’, BL NSA, F3278–9 • British Geriatrics Society archives • Burke, Peerage • personal knowledge (2011) • private information (2011) • b. cert. • m. certs. • d. cert.
Archives  
British Geriatrics Society 
  
SOUND
  
BL NSA, ‘Geriatrics as a medical speciality’, F3278-9

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Michael John Denham, ‘Wedgwood, John (1919–2007)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/99125, accessed ]
John Wedgwood (1919–2007): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/99125