EAU History Office explores early developments
Many of the biggest names in the history of British Urology echoed through the ExCel London venue, as their contributions to the field were presented and analysed from a historic perspective. Sir Henry Thompson, Sir Peter Freyer and Terrence Millin were extensively eulogized, as were more recently departed pioneers like John Blandy and John Fitzpatrick.
Thanks to many contributions from historically-minded BAUS members, the History Office’s annual thematic session was expanded into a three-hour “Special Session” on Saturday morning. In addition to presenting some highlights from local (insofar as the British Empire can be considered “local”) urology, the session also gave time to two contributors to this year’s Congress Gift: Urology Under the Swastika.
Truly international
While intending to serve as an overview of British urology, British history being what it is made the morning session more international than one might initially expect. The profiles of the 19th and early 20th century urological surgeons created a veritable atlas of the once global British Empire.
Mr. Michael Dinneen (GB) presented a detailed biography of Sir Peter Freyer (1851-1921), beginning with his childhood and education in Ireland shortly after the Great Famine. Freyer signed up for the Indian Medical Service (IMS), serving in India for many years before joining the staff at St. Peter’s Hospital for the Stone in London in 1897. He pioneered his eponymous technique for total enucleation of the prostate, popularizing its implementation.
As war broke out in Europe in 1914, Freyer rejoined the IMS, having remained fluent in Hindustani from his earlier stretch with the service. Freyer was knighted in 1917, and in 1920, he was elected the first president of the section of urology of the Royal Society of Medicine. This cemented his reputation as “the first leader of British Urology”.
Freyer passed away in 1921, and was buried in Clifden, Ireland. Mr. Dinneen showed a picture of Freyer’s gravestone, which is due to be restored in 2021 for the centenary of his death.
Freyer’s was just one of the biographies presented at the session, which had serious international connections with several of the profiled urologists being born on the Indian subcontinent, serving within the Empire or, in the case of Thompson, treating 19th century global high society.
Britain and European Refugees
The second part of the session focused on the publication Urology Under the Swastika, the end of a “seventeen-year process” for its editors Prof. Dirk Schultheiss (DE) and Dr. Friedrich Moll (DE). Schultheiss gave an introduction to the topic, as well as an overview of the book’s major findings. He introduced one of its contributors, medical historian Prof. Paul Weindling (GB), who proceeded to explain the role Britain had in accepting medical professionals (including urologists) who escaped the emergence of National Socialism on the continent.
Between 1930 and 1945, 6000 medical professionals (of which 4258 were physicians) entered the United Kingdom, the largest single group coming from Poland. Other sizeable groups were Germans, Austrians (including Sigmund Freud and his family and staff in 1938) and Czechoslovakians.
Many entered Britain as a first step to emigrating to the United States or beyond, but several “concessionary schemes” were introduced to re-qualify physicians, nurses and dentists. These immigrants were able to find employment after the establishment of the National Health Service shortly after the Second World War, as there was a demand for qualified specialists.