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Court On 26 July, William Edward Court, FRPharmS, of 1 Maes yr Haul,
Mold, Clwyd CH7 1NS. Dr Court, who registered in 1948, was a former reader
in pharmacognosy at the University of Bradford.
“ Bill” Court was born in 1921 and served an apprenticeship in community
pharmacy before war service in the Royal Navy. After graduating BPharm in 1949,
he gained experience in industrial and hospital pharmacy before joining the teaching
staff of the Liverpool school of pharmacy in 1951. He was appointed senior lecturer
in 1955 and principal lecturer in 1965. He moved to Bradford as reader in 1969
and retired in the early 1980s.
Dr Court was awarded a PhD of the University of London in 1966 for research into
Rauwolfia. He was also awarded a fellowship of the Linnean Society.
He was a former president of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy.
He was a former chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society’s Bradford and Clwyd
branches and a past member of the Yorkshire regional committee.
Dr Court served on the the Committee on Safety of Medicines herbal products subcommittee
and the British Pharmaceutical Codex subcommittee on crude drugs. He was a former
member of the senate and of the court of Bradford university and a past chairman
of Bradford Drug Liaison Committee.
Payne On 10 June, William Francis Payne, MRPharmS, of Mountain Ash, St John’s
Road, Petts Wood, Orpington, Kent BR5 1HS. Mr Payne registered in 1962. He retired
as manager of Boots in Beckenham, Kent, in 1995.
Wardle On 27 June, Doris Wardle (formerly Mrs McCarthy, née Morgan), of
16 Matheson Gardens, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 1ET, aged 100. Mrs Wardle registered
in 1925 and retired from the register in 1999. She spent her first years after
registration as a locum pharmacist in north-west Kent. During the 1939–45
war she moved to Wellington, Shropshire, where she managed a community pharmacy.
After the war she returned to Kent, working for two years at Jaques Pharmacy
in New Eltham. She then worked as a locum for Roadnights Pharmacy in Sidcup before
buying the business, where she remained until 1962, when she decided to retire.
She was one of five founder members of UniChem, formed shortly after the 1939–45
war.
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Tribute
Dobbin In a tribute to the late Thomas
Coates Dobbin (PJ, 31 July, p171),
G. W. Herdman writes:
Tom Dobbin died on 17 July after a short spell
in hospital at the age of 83. I saw him last, as did most of his friends,
on 20 June when he gave his daughter away at her wedding.
Tom leaves a widow, two sons and a daughter, two of whom are pharmacists.
Tom was well known in the north-east, but those who did not know him
should at
least be reminded of their debt to him.
I first knew Tom in the late 1950s when he was secretary of the Durham County
branch of the Chemists Federation. The CF was was an agreement between manufacturers
and retail pharmacy whereby the manufacturers would only allow their products
to be sold in pharmacies. I remember Tom being told that a well known CF manufacturer
was taking him to court because no pharmacy in County Durham would buy its products
after Tom discovered it had sold one product to a grocery group. Tom believed
in direct action — illegal today and questionable then. he was not taken
to court, and the supply situation was corrected.
Later, when a local pharmacy wholesaler supplied a brand of indigestion tablets
to a grocery group, Tom moved again. He closed his account with that wholesaler
and persuaded five friends to do likewise.
In 1960 this band of six formed their own buying group, which operated from above
Tom’s pharmacy in Ferryhill. In May of that year they formed a limited
company, and rapidly inspired like-minded pharmacists to join them. Norchem Ltd
was born. It was soon realised that more space was needed and Norchem bought
Howlish Hall in Coundon, Durham, for £5,000. By this time Tom had sold
his pharmacy and was working full time running Norchem. By 1973 Norchem had outgrown
Howlish Hall and it moved into a custom built warehouse at Chilton. This site
is still its home but it now occupies three times the area and is twice the height
of the 1973 building. The leading independent pharmacy wholesaler in the north-east,
it is is owned by pharmacists and run by pharmacists for the benefit of pharmacists.
What a legacy! Tom made Norchem his life’s work.
As a past chairman of Norchem, I am pleased to say it goes from strength to strength,
built on what Tom started. What greater epitaph could a man wish for?
Our sympathy and thoughts go to his widow Doreen, his children and grandchildren.
Jenkins In a tribute to the late Peter
Jenkins (PJ, 31 July, p171),
John D’Arcy, chief executive, National Pharmaceutical Association,
writes:
During his long career, Peter did a great deal for pharmacy,
both at local and national level. At local level he provided a first
class service to patients and was the epitome of the local community
pharmacist. At national level, he was an outstanding politician who at
all times did business in a robust, professional, gentlemanly and effective
manner.
Peter made an outstanding contribution to the NPA board of management.
He was elected in 1990 and was chairman between 1996 and 1997. He was
treasurer from
1998 until he retired from the board in 2001. Peter’s year as chairman
coincided with the untimely death of Tim Astill. Peter kept a steady hand on
the tiller during this unsettling period and I was particularly grateful for
his support and wise counsel in my early days as chief executive.
Peter was a great advocate for NPA members in Wales and always ensured that
the NPA best served their interests. His good work as a pillar of the local
community and as a pharmacy politician was justifiably rewarded with his MBE.
He was always polite, helpful and courteous to all the staff at Mallinson House
and consequently was held in high regard by all who worked with him. He was
particularly popular with the public relations team because he was always able
to sell in to the media in Wales the NPA’s Ask Your Pharmacist messages
and thus contribute to raising the profile of pharmacy in his country.
Peter’s passing is a great loss to the pharmacy profession and he will
be missed, particularly in Wales. Our thoughts are with Mary and his family
at this difficult time.
Owen In a tribute to the late Stanley
Thomas Owen (PJ, 8 May, p591),
J. F. McWILLIAM writes:
I met Stan Owen 32 years ago when he employed
me as a manager in Cardiff. Our professional relationship over seven
years was enjoyable, relaxed and fulfilling. A scrupulously fair man,
he was respected by both staff and customers. He was a quiet, kind
man who nevertheless held strong views on many issues and retained a
keen
interest in Society affairs, current and future.
After I returned to Scotland 25 years ago, and he retired, we corresponded
regularly, exchanging gifts at Christmas. His letters, in a firm hand to
the end, were masterpieces of clarity, faultlessly constructed and
always topical,
interesting and entertaining.
As a young man he travelled extensively in the Scottish Highlands and retained
his interest in things Scottish throughout his life. He remained in touch
with the remnants of his Cardiff staff, reacting instantly to our illnesses,
misfortunes
and bereavements. We will miss him.
Parker In a tribute to the late Joyce
Parker (PJ, 31 July, p171), MIKE
BEAMAN, chief pharmacist, North Hertfordshire and Stevenage Primary Care
Trust, writes:
I was saddened to learn that Joyce Parker had passed away
on 17 July. I had known her for nearly 30 years. We first met in 1976,
shortly after I was appointed manager of the pharmacy department at the
Towers Hospital, Leicester. In those days Joyce worked for Sandoz and,
because of their product range, had a particular interest in supporting
the development of pharmacy in mental health. Many pharmacists in that
field in the 1970s were professionally isolated (although this was not
the case at Leicester). Joyce was instrumental in the formation of the
UK Psychiatric Pharmacy Association, of which I was a founder member
and first secretary. In subsequent years she enabled the association
to receive sponsorship and promotion of its annual autumn meeting, which
she regularly attended each year, affectionately calling it the last
engagement of her “conference season”!
On moving to London in 1983 my links with Joyce continued, aided by the
fact that we now lived near each other and had mutual friends in Barnet
in connection
with an army regiment association to which her partner Jack belonged. Like
Ed Mallinson, I too was sorry not to meet her this year at the annual general
meeting of the Royal Society of Health, although I had been in touch with her
earlier in the year. Her funeral at Golders Green Crematorium was uncharacteristically
short and simple, although the solemnity of the service was broken by a recording
of Frank Sinatra singing “I am what I am” was played — a
favourite song of hers which reflected her character and wide range of friends
and colleagues who identified with her.
Pharmacy has lost a great character and a well-loved one. Our thoughts and
prayers go out to her family and friends, not least to Jack, her partner of
many years.
Roberts In a tribute to the late Tegwyn
Glyn Roberts (PJ, 31 July,
p171), NICHOLAS L. WOOD writes:
It was with both shock and sadness that
I learnt of the sudden
death of my old friend Tegwyn Roberts. We had studied at “the Square” together
from 1969 to 1972. While we both came from a family background in pharmacy,
Tegwyn was never to be comfortable with the responsibility of owning his own
business. Although he worked with his father Ivor for a while at the family’s
pharmacy at Leigh on Sea, Tegwyn preferred globetrotting and the freedom of
working as a locum in his home area of Essex. Quiet and reserved, he nevertheless
had a ready wit and was popular with the staff with whom he worked.
It was a little later in life that, while working as a locum, he met and
married Pauline. With his unexpected death while still in his early 50s,
tragically
he leaves behind a young family of three girls. Our thoughts are with them
and with Pauline, as well as with his parents.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal