Dr Harald Norris Webber
Personal Details
Dr Harald Norris Webber BChir MA FFARCS MRCS LRCP DA
09/07/1881 to 12/12/1954
Place of birth: Brighton
Nationality: British
CRN: 715279
Education and qualifications
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General education |
Brighton Grammar Shool; St John’s College, Cambridge; University College Hospital, London |
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Primary medical qualification(s) |
MRCS LRCP, 1912 |
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Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Election |
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Year of Fellowship |
1948 |
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Other qualification(s) |
BA, Cambridge, 1903 (MA, 1919); BChir, Cambridge, 1928 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
After obtaining his BA, Webber remained in Cambridge helping WHR Rivers with research on the effects of alcohol, caffeine and other drugs on fatigue and muscular performance. He started his clinical training in 1908, qualified in 1912 and worked as house surgeon, house physician and resident medical officer at the West London Hospital. He served in the RAMC during WW1, some of the time in Egypt, and attained the rank of major. On demobilisation he was assistant medical officer to the London Fever Hospital and, from 1922, resident medical officer at UCH, a post which involved him in the administration of anaesthetics. Deciding to specialise he was appointed anaesthetic registrar in 1924, and to the staff after six months, but also working at several other hospitals. He remained at UCH with the Emergency Medical Service during WW2, retiring from the hospital in 1946, but continuing in private practice for a while thereafter.
Professional interests and activities
After his Cambridge research days Webber published little, the main exception being the textbook ‘Anaesthesia and Anaesthetics’ written with Dr F S Rood that became a standard work. A prominent member of the RSM section he was both secretary (1935-7) and president (1940-1). Scrupulous in his care of patients, he visited them before and after surgery, unusual for the time. He was awarded the DA(RCP&S) without examination in 1936.
Other biographical information
Little is known of Webber’s personal life, other than his marriage to Madeleine Mary Ryder, and that during WW2, having been bombed out of two previous homes, he moved into TOP floor flat in a building next to UCH!
Author and Sources
Author: Prof Tony Wildsmith
Sources and any other comments: Obituary. BMJ 1955; i: 172 | Venn J, Venn JA (Eds). Alumni Cantabrigienses 1954; 2 (part 6): 389