John M. Holford
Encyclopedia
John Morley Holford CB
, OBE (10 January 1909 - 4 November 1997) was a medical officer in the Royal Navy
.
, Bath, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge
, where he studied for the natural science tripos. He then went on to St George’s Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1933. Following RMO jobs, at Paddington Green Children’s Hospital and Maidenhead Hospital, he joined the Royal Navy for short service as a surgeon-lieutenant in April 1935. He was also married that year, to Monica Peregrine Propert (who predeceased him in 1986). They had two sons, Andrew (1941) and Charles (1945).
After initial training appointments at RN Hospital Haslar
and RN Barracks Chatham, he served as second medical officer on board HMS Valiant
on the Mediterranean Station
before being appointed to HMS Grenville
in December 1936 as flotilla medical officer accommodated in HMS Glowworm
.
His early naval seniors considered him to have exceptional ability and in 1940 he was successful in his application to transfer to the permanent list. He joined HMS Nelson in April 1940, initially as medical officer, then, having been promoted to surgeon lieutenant commander, as principal medical officer. He survived service in the Battle of the Atlantic and Malta Convoys
.
Following a short period of general duties ashore, in March 1942 he was appointed as a medical specialist at RNH Plymouth where he continued an interest in the use of mass miniature radiography in the diagnosis of diseases of the chest. He was appointed medical specialist at RNH Simonstown
, Cape of Good Hope, from August 1944 and was promoted to the rank of surgeon commander in April 1946. A brilliant chess player and half blue at Cambridge, he became joint chess champion in 1946
.
In August 1947 he was awarded the King Haakon VII liberty medal bestowed by the King of Norway for services rendered during the war. Following a short appointment as a medical specialist to Washington DC in the summer of 1948, he was appointed for duty inside the Admiralty
as an assistant to the medical director general (naval), advising on all research matters and keeping close contacts with scientific and research authorities in the other services and civil life. His work included research into the chemical
, toxicological
and radiological
aspects of warfare, medical intelligence
and psychiatry. His publications included a medical manual on chemical warfare and papers on occupational health and aspects of atomic medicine.
He was appointed OBE in the 1954 New Year Honours, elected FRCP in the spring of that year and was awarded the Gilbert Blane medal in 1956.
Following his promotion to surgeon captain in 1957 he saw service for a few months as principal medical officer of the submarine base HMS Dolphin
and flotilla medical officer to the flag officer (submarines) before being appointed as senior specialist in charge of the medicine section at RN Haslar where he was held in very high esteem. 1960 saw him back as an assistant to the medical director general (naval) on duties outside the Admiralty, advising on research matters and especially atomic energy and radiobiology
. Considered to be ‘the best brain in the Royal Naval Medical Service’, he was appointed a consultant in medicine, promoted to the rank of surgeon rear-admiral in April 1963 and in the same month was appointed an honorary physician to Her Majesty the Queen. He was then appointed command medical adviser to the commander in chief at Portsmouth and medical officer in charge of RNH Haslar. Admiral Holford was appointed as a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the 1965 New Years Honours and retired from the Royal Navy four months later. He then pursued a successful career in the Ministry of Health
, retiring as senior principal medical officer in 1974.
1940 : surgeon lieutenant commander
1946 : surgeon commander
1957 : surgeon captain
1963 : surgeon rear admiral
1965 : retired
(1930)
MRCS LRCP
(1933)
MB BCh
(1939)
MRCP
(1939)
Haakon VIIs Freedom Medal (1947)
OBE
(1954)
FRCP
(1954)
Gilbert Blane
medal (1956)
CB
(1965)
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...
, OBE (10 January 1909 - 4 November 1997) was a medical officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Life
John Morley Holford was born at Ettingshall, Staffordshire, the son of the reverend William James Holford and Amy Finnemore Lello. He was educated at Kingswood SchoolKingswood School
Kingswood School, referred to as 'Kingswood', is an independent day and boarding school located in Bath, Somerset, England. The school is coeducational and educates some 950 children aged 3 to 18. It is notable for being founded by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1748...
, Bath, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
, where he studied for the natural science tripos. He then went on to St George’s Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1933. Following RMO jobs, at Paddington Green Children’s Hospital and Maidenhead Hospital, he joined the Royal Navy for short service as a surgeon-lieutenant in April 1935. He was also married that year, to Monica Peregrine Propert (who predeceased him in 1986). They had two sons, Andrew (1941) and Charles (1945).
After initial training appointments at RN Hospital Haslar
Royal Hospital Haslar
The Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, England was one of several hospitals serving the Portsmouth Urban Area. The Royal Hospital Haslar officially closed as the last military hospital in the UK in 2007...
and RN Barracks Chatham, he served as second medical officer on board HMS Valiant
HMS Valiant (1914)
HMS Valiant was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. She was laid down at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan on 31 January 1913 and launched on 4 November 1914...
on the Mediterranean Station
Mediterranean Fleet
Several countries have or have had a Mediterranean Fleet in their navy. See:* Mediterranean Fleet * French Mediterranean Fleet* Mediterranean Squadron * United States Sixth Fleet...
before being appointed to HMS Grenville
HMS Grenville (H03)
HMS Grenville was the flotilla leader for the G-class destroyers, built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. She spent most of the pre-war period as part of the Mediterranean Fleet. The ship was transferred to the British Isles to escort shipping in local waters shortly after the beginning of...
in December 1936 as flotilla medical officer accommodated in HMS Glowworm
HMS Glowworm (H92)
HMS Glowworm was a G-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War the ship spent part of 1936 and 1937 in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict...
.
His early naval seniors considered him to have exceptional ability and in 1940 he was successful in his application to transfer to the permanent list. He joined HMS Nelson in April 1940, initially as medical officer, then, having been promoted to surgeon lieutenant commander, as principal medical officer. He survived service in the Battle of the Atlantic and Malta Convoys
Malta Convoys
The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War...
.
Following a short period of general duties ashore, in March 1942 he was appointed as a medical specialist at RNH Plymouth where he continued an interest in the use of mass miniature radiography in the diagnosis of diseases of the chest. He was appointed medical specialist at RNH Simonstown
Simon's Town
Simon's Town , sometimes spelled Simonstown; is a town in South Africa, near Cape Town which is home to the South African Navy. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour...
, Cape of Good Hope, from August 1944 and was promoted to the rank of surgeon commander in April 1946. A brilliant chess player and half blue at Cambridge, he became joint chess champion in 1946
South African Chess Championship
The first South African Chess Championship was organised in 1892 by the Cape Town Chess Club. Nowadays the Championship is organised by Chess South Africa , the governing body of chess in South Africa. The tournament is normally held every two years...
.
In August 1947 he was awarded the King Haakon VII liberty medal bestowed by the King of Norway for services rendered during the war. Following a short appointment as a medical specialist to Washington DC in the summer of 1948, he was appointed for duty inside the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
as an assistant to the medical director general (naval), advising on all research matters and keeping close contacts with scientific and research authorities in the other services and civil life. His work included research into the chemical
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
, toxicological
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
and radiological
Radiological warfare
Radiological warfare is any form of warfare involving deliberate radiation poisoning, without relying on nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.Radiological weapons are normally considered weapons of mass destruction, and are very commonly equated with a radiological bomb often mis-called a "dirty bomb"...
aspects of warfare, medical intelligence
Medical intelligence
Medical Intelligence is defined by the Department of Defense as:That category of intelligence resulting from collection, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of foreign medical, bio-scientific, and environmental information that is of interest to strategic planning and to military medical...
and psychiatry. His publications included a medical manual on chemical warfare and papers on occupational health and aspects of atomic medicine.
He was appointed OBE in the 1954 New Year Honours, elected FRCP in the spring of that year and was awarded the Gilbert Blane medal in 1956.
Following his promotion to surgeon captain in 1957 he saw service for a few months as principal medical officer of the submarine base HMS Dolphin
HMS Dolphin shore-establishment
The seventeenth Royal Navy 'ship' to be named HMS Dolphin was the RN shore establishment sited at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport. Dolphin was the home of the Royal Navy Submarine Service from 1904 to 1999, and location of the Royal Navy Submarine School....
and flotilla medical officer to the flag officer (submarines) before being appointed as senior specialist in charge of the medicine section at RN Haslar where he was held in very high esteem. 1960 saw him back as an assistant to the medical director general (naval) on duties outside the Admiralty, advising on research matters and especially atomic energy and radiobiology
Radiobiology
Radiobiology , as a field of clinical and basic medical sciences, originated from Leopold Freund's 1896 demonstration of the therapeutic treatment of a hairy mole using a new type of electromagnetic radiation called x-rays, which was discovered 1 year previously by the German physicist, Wilhelm...
. Considered to be ‘the best brain in the Royal Naval Medical Service’, he was appointed a consultant in medicine, promoted to the rank of surgeon rear-admiral in April 1963 and in the same month was appointed an honorary physician to Her Majesty the Queen. He was then appointed command medical adviser to the commander in chief at Portsmouth and medical officer in charge of RNH Haslar. Admiral Holford was appointed as a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the 1965 New Years Honours and retired from the Royal Navy four months later. He then pursued a successful career in the Ministry of Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...
, retiring as senior principal medical officer in 1974.
Rank
1935 : surgeon lieutenantLieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
1940 : surgeon lieutenant commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
1946 : surgeon commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
1957 : surgeon captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
1963 : surgeon rear admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
1965 : retired
Honours
BA CantabBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(1930)
MRCS LRCP
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...
(1933)
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...
(1939)
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...
(1939)
Haakon VIIs Freedom Medal (1947)
OBE
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...
(1954)
FRCP
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...
(1954)
Gilbert Blane
Gilbert Blane
Sir Gilbert Blane of Blanefield, 1st Baronet FRSE FRS MRCP was a Scottish physician who instituted health reform in the Royal Navy....
medal (1956)
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...
(1965)