One Hundred Members of the Association of British Neurologists: A Collective Biography for 1933–1960

Abstract

This article draws a quantitative portrait of British neurology in the interwar and postwar periods through an analysis of the first 100 members of the Association of British Neurologists. Through its presentation of data, this article argues that the members of the Association of British Neurologists were extremely ambitious and as a whole had attained unusually high levels of social, professional, and civil distinction. It makes this argument through an examination of their social and educational backgrounds, the trajectory of their careers, and their achievements in the form of editorships of journals, professorships in medicine, positions in government, honorary degrees, and other indicators of merit. This collective study therefore offers an explanation for how the Association of British Neurologists transformed from an elite club in the 1930s into an organization that eventually came to represent clinical neurology across Britain.

Keywords:

• prosopography
• collective biography
• neurology
• British neurology
• neuroscience
• British neuroscience
• demography
• twentieth-century medicine

Acknowledgments

Many people aided the author over the years in the preparation of this data and manuscript. Dr. L. Stephen Jacyna was of special importance. Yet, comments by Professor Marjorie Lorch, Dr. Steve Sturdy, Dr. Laura Ettinger, Dr. Michael O'Brien, Professor John Burnham, Professor Roger Cooter, Professor Anne Hardy, and Professor Alistair Compston were also especially helpful. Information provided by Lord Walton, Dr. Christopher Booth, Dr. William Gooddy, and Professor Roger Bannister was also invaluable. Karen Buckle provided important feedback as well. No part of this study would have been possible without the aid of the Wellcome Trust or the support and enthusiasm of the Association of British Neurologists. A draft of this article was presented as a poster at a Meeting of the Association of British Neurologists in October 2006. The author created an access database that possesses all of this information. Individuals interested in the database should write to him and request a copy.