Dr Charles John Massey Dawkins

Dr Charles John Massey Dawkins

13/07/1905 to 08/08/1975

Place of birth: London NW3 England

Nationality: British

CRN: 715385

Also known as: Massey to colleagues; Jack to friends

Education and qualifications

General education

Mill Hill School, London NW7 1918-1923; Emmanuel College, Cambridge University 1923-26; Middlesex Hospital, 1926-1929

Primary medical qualification(s)

MB BChir Cambridge 1929

Initial Fellowship and type

FFARCS by Election

Year of Fellowship

1948

Other qualification(s)

MA, Cambrdge, 1926; MD Cambridge 1936; DA (RCP & RCS) 1936

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

1929 resident anaesthetist, Middlesex Hospital then anaesthetist to the dental department. GP in Hampstead with honorary anaesthetic posts at Hampstead General Hospital and Paddington Green Children’s Hospital. Assistant anaesthetist, University College Hospital, 1939. Honorary, then consultant anaesthetist, UCH, 1941-1970. Also consultant anaesthetist; Hampstead General Hospital (Royal Free) and Paddington Green Children’s Hospital (St Mary’s).

Professional interests and activities

Pioneer of epidurals, administering the first in the UK in 1942. Film of epidural for Caesarean section, 1954; honoray member of Finnish Society of Anaesthetists, 1958; Honorary Secretary, Section of Anaesthestics, RSM, 1966-8 and President, 1974-5; Honorary Member of AAGBI 1974.

Other biographical information

His Father was European manager of Massey Ferguson, hence the name. He married Sylvia twice: first secretly 1929, then publicly 1930; one son (medical, died young) and two daughters (one medical). Keen and enthusiastic yachtsman; avid, but random collector of ‘antiques’.

Author and sources

Author: Adrian Padfield

Sources and any other comments:
[1] Lee JA. Obituary: C J Massey Dawkins. BMJ 1975; 3: 493 [2]Padfield A. Dawkins, (Charles John) Massey (1905-75). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004: Index number 101070868.