Dr George Quayle

Personal Details

Dr George Quayle MRCS LRCP FFARCS DA

13/07/1913 to 27/12/1983

Place of birth: Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales

Nationality: British

CRN: 723711

Education and qualifications

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

Following graduation, Quayle undertook initial house officer posts and a short spell as a casualty officer at St Georges Hospital. His anaesthetic career started with posts at the Chelsea Hospital for Women, the North Middlesex Hospital and the Hospital for Women, Soho Square. In 1942 he joined the Indian Army Medical Corps as a Captain (later becoming a Major) as a specialist anaesthetist. He served with a mobile army surgical unit in Burma  and was twice mentioned in despatches. According to the London Gazette he was  initially appointed as a Lieutenant in the army medical service 1939.

After his military war service, in 1945 he resumed his civilian clinical career with appointments at the Soho Hospital for Women and North Middlesex Hospitals. In 1946 he moved to the Midlands with an appointment as a senior anaesthetist at the City General Hospital in Leicester. A year later, he was appointed Anaesthetist to the General Infirmary, Burton-on-Trent. With the advent of the NHS in 1948 he was appointed as a consultant anaesthetist to the Burton-on-Trent Hospitals. He was the first appointed consultant at Burton and remained as the only consultant until 1970. Dr Quayle kept abreast of developments in anaesthesia and  built up a soundly based and expanded department during the 1970s . He formally retired in 1977 at the age of 65 years,  however due to staffing shortages he continued to work for a short time, donating his earnings to charity.

Professional interests and activities

In 1940 Dr. Quayle co-authored an article about intravenous anaesthesia for abdominal surgery. During his career he had interests in the emerging developments in intensive care. He produced several training films about anaesthesia which were apparently in much demand by medical and dental schools, including a film about the management of patients with tetanus after caring for an affected  patient. This film was recognised with a bronze medal from the British Medical Association. He is credited with having a strong interest in dental anaesthesia and was an early advocate of intubation for chair dental practice. (A copy of the film about tetanus is archived at the Wellcome Colllection). He was a member of the Association of Anaesthetists, the Midland Society of Anaessthetists and the Southwest Metropolitan Society of Anaesthetists. He served a term as president of the Midland Society 1975-77.

Other biographical information

In 1940 Dr. Quayle co-authored an article about intravenous anaesthesia for abdominal surgery. During his career he had interests in the emerging developments in intensive care. He produced several training films about anaesthesia which were apparently in much demand by medical and dental schools, including a film about the management of patients with tetanus after caring for an affected  patient. This film was recognised with a bronze medal from the British Medical Association. He is credited with having a strong interest in dental anaesthesia and was an early advocate of intubation for chair dental practice. (A copy of the film about tetanus is archived at the Wellcome Colllection). He was a member of the Association of Anaesthetists, the Midland Society of Anaesthetists and the Southwest Metropolitan Society of Anaesthetists. He served a term as president of the Midland Society 1975-77.

Author and sources

Author:

Dr Innes Simon Chadwick

Sources and comments:

Bibliographic information accessed online at Ancestry.com and FindmyPast.com
1921 Census accessed online FindmyPast.
The Medical Registers and Medical Directories accessed online at Ancestry.com.
The Medical Directory, Churchill, 1968 vol II. 
Medical Directories 1942-55 accessed at University of Edinburgh Library by Dr A.G. McKenzie.
Obituary. British Medical Journal 1984; 288: 649 (with photograph).
Rivett LC, Quayle G. A Method of Administering  Continuous Intravenous Anaesthesia for Abdominal Surgery. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 1940; vol XXXIII: 25-30.
“Death of Hospital Figure”, local newspaper article about Dr Quayle, Burton Daily Mail, 30 December 1983. Accessed online at Findmypast and newspaper archives.