Charles Symonds
Encyclopedia
Sir Charles Putnam Symonds KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (11 April 1890-7 December 1978) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 neurologist
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...

.

His initial medical training was at Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...

, followed by specialised training at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...

. Contributions to neurology by Symonds include a highly accurate description of subarachnoid haemorrhage in 1924, and idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Idiopathic intracranial hypertension , sometimes called by the older names benign intracranial hypertension or pseudotumor cerebri , is a neurological disorder that is characterized by increased intracranial pressure in the absence of a tumor or other diseases...

 (which he termed "otitic hydrocephalus") in 1931.

He served in both the First
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and Second World Wars, initially in the ranks
Other Ranks
Other Ranks in the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force are those personnel who are not commissioned officers. In the Royal Navy, these personnel are called ratings...

 as a motorcycle despatch rider
Despatch rider
A despatch rider is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle.Despatch riders were used by armed forces to deliver urgent orders and messages between headquarters and military units...

 on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...

. After being wounded and invalided back to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, he completed his basic medical training and served as a medical officer, both on the front lines, and attached to the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 at Farnborough. In the mid 1930s he became a civilian consultant
Consultant (medicine)
In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...

 to the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 and on the outbreak of the Second World War was commissioned
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

 as a group captain
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore...

. By the end of the war he held the acting rank of air vice marshal and had been knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

ed.

Early life

Symonds was born in London on 11 April 1890 to the Canadian-born Sir Charters Symonds, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, and his wife, Fanny Marie (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...

 Shaw). Symonds was educated at Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

 and then proceeded to New College
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 on a classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 scholarship. He soon changed his degree course to medicine, and took a second class honours degree in physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 in 1912. He then continued his medical training at Guy's on a scholarship.

First World War

On the outbreak of the First World war Symonds left his medical studies and joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, serving as a despatch rider in the motorcycle section of the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

. Attached to the 1st Division (sources are unclear if this was 1st Infantry Division or 1st Cavalry Division), he saw action at the Retreat from Mons, then in the battles of Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...

 and Aisne
First Battle of the Aisne
The First Battle of the Aisne was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army & Second Army as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914...

. He was wounded at the start of the Race to the Sea
Race to the Sea
The Race to the Sea is a name given to the period early in the First World War when the two sides were still engaged in mobile warfare on the Western Front. With the German advance stalled at the First Battle of the Marne, the opponents continually attempted to outflank each other through...

 in September 1914, and was awarded the médaille militaire
Médaille militaire
The Médaille militaire is a decoration of the French Republic which was first instituted in 1852.-History:The creator of the médaille was the emperor Napoléon III, who may have taken his inspiration in a medal issued by his father, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland...

, and then returned to his medical studies at Guy's.

He qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) early in 1915, and was then commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...

. He was initially attached to the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough, gaining his first experience of aviation medicine
Aviation medicine
Aviation medicine, also called flight medicine or aerospace medicine, is a preventive or occupational medicine in which the patients/subjects are pilots, aircrews, or persons involved in spaceflight...

. In this role he also regularly visited Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...

 where he worked with Edgar Adrian
Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian
Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian OM PRS was a British electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons....

, a neurologist, and this was when he decided to specialise in neurology himself. He married Janet (née Palmer), daughter of Edward Bagnall Poulton
Edward Bagnall Poulton
Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS was a British evolutionary biologist who was a lifelong advocate of natural selection...

 in 1915, they were to have two sons, one of whom was the political satirist Richard Symonds
Richard Symonds
Richard Symonds was an English academic and civil servant.He was born in Oxford, the son of neurologist Sir Charles Symonds. He was educated at the Dragon School, Rugby School, and Corpus Christi College.-References:*...

. After his MRCP
Membership of the Royal College of Physicians
Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians is a postgraduate medical diploma. The examinations are run by the Federation of the Medical Royal Colleges of the United Kingdom – the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Royal College...

 in 1916 he returned to France with 101 Field Ambulance and medical officer to 1st battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

, the Middlesex Regiment
Middlesex Regiment
The Middlesex Regiment was a regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th and 77th Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.On 31 December 1966 The Middlesex Regiment was amalgamated with three...

, and was promoted temporary captain
Captain (OF-2)
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery...

 on 8 May 1916, He resigned his commission on the grounds of ill-health contracted on active service on 2 February 1919.

Inter-war years

Symonds completed his medical studies in 1919, gaining his MB BCh
Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae , are the two first professional degrees awarded upon graduation from medical school in medicine and surgery by universities in various countries...

 and also his Oxford MA and DM
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

. He was then appointed to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and in 1920 to Guy's as assistant physician for nervous diseases. His first wife died in 1919.

In 1920 he received a Radcliffe travelling fellowship, which he used to travel to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, studying psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

 with Adolf Meyer
Adolf Meyer (psychiatrist)
Adolf Meyer, M.D., LL.D., , was a Swiss psychiatrist who rose to prominence as the president of the American Psychiatric Association and was one of the most influential figures in psychiatry in the first half of the twentieth century...

 at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...

, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 and neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...

 with Harvey Cushing
Harvey Cushing
Harvey Williams Cushing, M.D. , was an American neurosurgeon and a pioneer of brain surgery, and the first to describe Cushing's syndrome...

 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. In America he met and married his second wife Edythe Eva (née Dorton), with whom he had two sons. He contributed the neurological section to Practice of Medicine (12th edn, 1922 ed. Sir Frederick Taylor). In Boston, he describedsubarachnoid haemorrhage in 1924, in which year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).

He returned to the National Hospital in London in 1926, and was also appointed consultant in neurology to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital
Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital
The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital is a hospital located on the Gray's Inn Road, London in the United Kingdom. It is operated by the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....

. From his observations of patients in these hospitals he published his description of what he named "otitic hydrocephalus" in 1931. The condition is now known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

Second World War

Having been appointed a civilian consultant in neurology to the RAF in 1934, he was commissioned as a group captain on 11 September 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War. He initially worked on the RAF medical boards at the RAF's Central Medical Establishment, RAF Halton
RAF Halton
RAF Halton is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom, located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire.HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is the Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Halton.-History:...

, and organised the establishment of the Military Hospital for Head Injuries at St Hugh's College, Oxford
St Hugh's College, Oxford
St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a fourteen and a half acre site on St Margaret's Road, to the North of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986...

 in partnership with Hugh Cairns
Hugh Cairns (surgeon)
Sir Hugh William Bell Cairns was a British neurosurgeon.Hugh Cairns was born in Port Pirie, but came to Adelaide for his secondary education at Adelaide High School and tertiary education at the University of Adelaide...

. As the war progressed, much of his work centred on a condition called "flying stress", with Denis Williams he analysed over 3000 case studies leading to the report Clinical and Statistical Study of Neurosis Precipitated by Flying Duties for which Symonds was awarded the 1949 Raymond F. Longacre award, administered by the U.S. Aerospace Medical Association
Aerospace Medical Association
The Aerospace Medical Association is the largest professional organization in the fields of aviation, space, and environmental medicine. The AsMA membership includes aerospace and hyperbaric medicine specialists, scientists, flight nurses, physiologists, and researchers from all over the world.-...

 (AsMA), for scientific contribution to aviation medicine.

He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1944 New Year Honours
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...

, by which time he was an acting air commodore
Air Commodore
Air commodore is an air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 and on 16 January he was promoted acting air vice marshal. He retired from the RAF in 1945, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1946 New Year Honours.

Later life

Symonds then returned to hospital practice, publishing more important papers, and becoming a highly-regarded teacher. In 1952 he was appointed Sir Arthur Sims
Arthur Sims
Sir Arthur Sims was a New Zealand first class cricketer who played for Canterbury. He was born in Lincolnshire, England...

 Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 travelling professor for 1953 visiting Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. This was followed by appointments as visiting professor in San Francisco, and at the Montreal Neurological Institute
Montreal Neurological Institute
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital is an academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience research, training and clinical care. The Institute is part of McGill University and the Hospital is one of the five teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal,...

. He was visiting neurologist at John Hopkins; an honorary member of both the American Neurological Association
American Neurological Association
The American Neurological Association, is a professional society with a mission of educating neurologists and physicians as well as increasing knowledge and enhancing treatment of diseases of the nervous system. It was founded in June 1875.-Officers:...

 and the New York Neurological Association; corresponding member of the Société de Neurologie de Paris; president of both the neurological and psychiatric sections of the Royal Society of Medicine
Royal Society of Medicine
The Royal Society of Medicine is a British charitable organisation whose main purpose is as a provider of medical education, running over 350 meetings and conferences each year.- History and overview :...

 (RSM); and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh was established in the 17th century. While the RCPE is based in Edinburgh, it is by no means just a Scottish professional body - more than half of its 7,700 Fellows, Members, Associates and Affiliates live and practice medicine outside Scotland, in 86...

. In 1954 he gave the Harveian Oration
Harveian Oration
The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feast on St...

 at the Royal College of Physicians on 18 October and in 1956 was elected president on the Association of British Neurologists. He retired from practice in 1963, moving to Ham, Wiltshire
Ham, Wiltshire
Ham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. In the Census 2001, the parish had a population of 152.- Location :Position: Nearby towns and cities: Hungerford, Marlborough, Newbury...

 and was elected an honorary fellow of the RSM in 1964. In retirement he enjoyed bird-watching and fly-fishing. He continued to publish, in particular a 1970 edition of his own papers entitled Studies in Neurology. He died in Totteridge
Totteridge
Totteridge is an area of the London Borough of Barnet in north London, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land situated 8.20 miles north north-west of Charing Cross....

, north London on 7 December 1978.

External links

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