Dr John Henry Challenger

Personal Details

Dr John Henry Challenger MB ChB FFARCS DA

06/1908 to 26/03/1987

Place of birth: ​​Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales​ 

Nationality: British

CRN: 715767

 

 

General education	Medical School, University of Bristol
Primary medical qualification(s)	MB, ChB, University of Bristol, 1942
Initial Fellowship and type	FFARCS by Election
Year of Fellowship	1953
Other qualification(s)	DA (RCP&S), 1947

 

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

​​After registering in January 1943 Challenger was a house officer at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, followed by Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Cornwall Infirmary in Truro. In January 1944 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and served in the Italian campaign, later transferred to the Army Blood Transfusion Service in Bristol. After demobilisation in 1947 he was appointed as a registrar at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Tutor in Anaesthesia at the University of Bristol. In 1952 he was appointed Consultant Anaesthetist to the United Bristol Hospitals and Clinical Teacher at the University of Bristol. He remained in these posts until his retirement in 1977. ​  

Professional interests and activities

​​He served as a Major in the Territorial RAMC from the 1950s and was promoted to Lt.-Col. (1960s) and Col. (1970s). In 1967 he was a founder member and first Treasurer of the Intractable Pain Society (of Great Britain & Ireland). Locally he was President in 1970 of the Society of Anaesthetists of the South Western Region. Further he was an early member of the International Association for the Study of Pain formed in 1974. In the late 1960s he was the first chairman of the (Cogwheel) Division of Anaesthetics in Bristol. He published on chronic pain, including a Chapter titled “Sympathetic Nervous System Blocking and Pain Relief” in Mark Swerdlow’s book ‘Relief of Intractable Pain’ (1974). On retirement he emigrated to Arthus, Denmark where he continued to practise anaesthesia and pain relief.​ 

Other biographical information

​Remembered by his colleagues for his energy and drive in innovation and eagerness to learn, he died in Knebel, Denmark at the age of 78 years.

Author and Sources

Author

Alistair McKenzie

 

Sources and Comments For material which does not fit other categories

​​[1] Obituary JH Challenger TD, MB, ChB, FFARCS, DA (with photograph). BMJ 1987; 294: 1425. 

[2] Medical Registers and Directories. 

[3] ancestry.co.uk ​