John Percy Lockhart-Mummery 1875–1957

Abstract

J. P. Lockhart-Mummery was born February 14, 1875, at Islips Manor, Northolt, England, the eldest son of a distinguished dental surgeon. He was educated at Leys School and Caius College, Cambridge. He was an outstanding student, and in 1897 was apointed an assistant demonstrator in anatomy at his alma mater. From there he went to St. George's Hospital, where he won the Thompson gold medal.

In 1900 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and subsequently received several hospital appointments. In 1903, having developed a special interest in proctology, he was appointed assistant surgeon at St. Mark's Hospital. In 1904 he was Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and in 1909 Jacksonian prize winner at the College.

He contributed extensively to the literature throughout his career. Among his writings were six books on colorectal surgery, in addition to two collections of essays on nonmedical subjects.

His work at St. Mark's Hospital attracted visitors throughout the world. His method of perineal excision was greatly admired and is the subject for thisClassics presentation. His operative mortality of only 3 per cent in 200 patients and an overall cure rate of 50 per cent is quite remarkable, considering that the paper was written in 1926. In this paper he also presents his clinical classification of cancer of the rectum, which actually preceded Dukes' pathologic classification.

Lockhart-Mummery was a very energetic man, playing golf with a handicap of nine, and was an avid fisherman. He was said to “hop” up the steps to the hospital, an observation that is not surprising since he had undergone a leg amputation, presumably for sarcoma, by Lord Lister, himself, when Lockhart-Mummery was a student at Cambridge.

His numerous contributions included his paper on cancer and heredity, in which he described three families with familial polyposis. This resulted in the establishment of the famous polyposis registry. His interest in anything relating to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer eventuated in his founding of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. He was the first secretary of the British Proctological Society, and was instrumental in establishing it as an independent section of the Roayl Society of Medicine. In 1937 he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. In 1940, after 37 years at St. Mark's Hospital, Lockhart-Mummery was made an Honorary Consulting Surgeon.

In retirement he continued to write, primarily on lay subjects. He died at Hove on April 24, 1957, at the age of 82.