It is with sadness that we report the death of John Bourne Davies in late December 2021.
Born on the 16th September 1942 John showed an early interest in photography from the age of twelve onwards and was in to processing his own monochrome films and prints. His father and mother encouraged this interest and helped foster his commitment initially as an amateur, and later on, as a professional photographer within medicine, dentistry and related sciences.
His early career started at Cumberland Infirmary working as a Darkroom Technician, then later at Newcastle Dental School where he worked with Brian Hill, MIMI, RMIP, and went from Trainee to qualified Medical Photographer within the NHS structure.
Nationally things were happening in England and in Scotland with the formation in Glasgow of the Institute of Medical Illustrators in Scotland in 1966 and later in Manchester in 1968 the Institute of Medical and Biological Illustration – and originally linked to this Journal of the same name.
For the first time Medical Artists and Graphic Designers along with Medical Photographers and a few Audio-visual Technicians and Physicians came together under one professional organisation. This was not easy as separate and older organisations laid claim in the United Kingdom to the existing Artists and Photographers!
In the middle of all this John moved to Glasgow in 1967 and joined the staff of the Glasgow Dental Hospital and School. He quickly established contacts with other colleagues and local hospitals and joined the Institute.
Along with a few other colleagues John helped produce a teaching film for the pharmaceutical company Davis and Geck which later donated a special award to IMIS that was later given where appropriate to Institute members.
In Scotland John immediately met and integrated with other colleagues and took an active part in promoting the emerging profession nationally.
He served on a number of sub-committees and after the linking of both IMIS and IMBI in January 1975 went on to play a full part in professional affairs throughout the United Kingdom.
He was International Conference Secretary at St. Andrews in 1994 and at Heriot Watt University in 1997. He was an Associate (ARPS) of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and a full qualified Member (MIMI) of the combined Institute of Medical Illustrators.
John was a real character with a dry and very amusing sense of humour who could always be relied upon to complete any allotted t ask with professional honesty and efficiency.
On a personal note, and after a local purge in hospital staffing, John served as my Deputy within the Department of Medical Illustration at the University of Glasgow and the then Scottish Western Regional Hospital Board for which I was most grateful.
Correction Statement
This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17453054.2022.2069714)