My reminiscences of Sir Arthur Hurst

Abstract

was the reason for my going to Guys Hospital, thereby influencing my whole career. When I was at Cambridge in the late 1930s, medical undergraduates could only do the pre-clinical work for a medical degree, and not continue at Addenbrooks Hospital for the clinical training, as Oxford men could do at the RadcliVe. We lived in Edinburgh where my father was a general practitioner (GP). He expected me to go back there to do the clinical phase but my mother, who was an American, had very definite views on how her four sons should have their careers planned. Apparently she told my father "Ian can't possibly go anywhere else but Guys! He must be under Arthur Hurst". Her determination was due to her admiration of 'AH' since the middle of the First World War when in 1916, AH, then a physician at Guys, was selected to start the first hospital in Britain for shell-shocked soldiers and sailors. There is a great deal about this in his autobiography, where he relates that, after choosing the physicians and psychoanalysts, he chose Arthur Robin, a GP in Sidmouth, Devon with a "charming American wife and four sons, one of whom, Ian, later became my house physician at Guys, which was good training to become a laryngologist". So I actually met AH when I was 7 years old, as my father had a practice in Sidmouth from 1909 until 1919 when we all moved to Edinburgh so that we could go to Merchiston Castle School, where he had been. Hereby hangs another part of my life's story! My first real memory of AH is in 1929 when I was at Clare College, Cambridge, and my brother Alistair was at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He was 'passing out' there and due to receive the King's Dirk Award as the Best Cadet of the Year. My mother arranged for me to accompany her to Dartmouth for the ceremony and the Ball in the evening. My memory of him there is rather vague as it was of a very brief time. I mention this occasion because of the following incident which illustrates what a powerful influence he had in his quiet way which was to aVect me much later. My brother, all keyed up for the big occasion, suddenly developed, the day before, an acute ear infection and was in the College Sanatorium when my mother and I arrived. My mother talked to the Naval Medical OYcer who told her that my brother had an 'acute mastoid infection' and he was asking the Naval ENT surgeon to come and see him. Apparently, my mother very firmly insisted that my brother should be seen by Mr Worthington, Senior ENT surgeon in Exeter, who had done a double mastoidectomy on her son Ian (myself) when he was 5 years old (the first of several). On being rebuVed, my mother demanded that Dr Arthur Hurst (he was not knighted then) be asked to see the Medical OYcer. I can only imagine what happened: the result was that the Medical OYcer agreed, but insisted that my brother was taken to Exeter in the College's rather ancient and ill-sprung 'ambulance' and not in AH's Rolls Royce as oVered. So oV went Alistair to Exeter with my mother following behind in the Rolls Royce. I am glad to sa...

Shell shock: Psychogenic gait and other movement disorders—A film review

“…14 Several of the patients in this film met many of the criteria proposed by Gupta and Lang. 15 These criteria for the diagnosis of psychogenic movement disorders include abrupt onset, presence of psychological stressors (present in all patients), movement inconsistent with great variability of the symptoms (shown in Film 1, 4, 5, 6, 16, and 17), distractibility (Film 4), mixed and bizarre movements (shown in Film 3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,17,and 18), and suggestibility (probably in all cases but not shown on the film). Additionally, the very rapid recoveries (if not re-enactments), and the observation that the patients never ''fell,'' would further suggest psychogenic illness.…”

“… 6 Hurst was born Arthur Hertz on July 23 1879 in Bradford, UK. 1 , 5 His scientific career started when he attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won a Science Demy-Ship and in 1901 became a student at Guy’s Hospital, 7 where he won Gold Medals in both clinical medicine and surgery. In 1904 he was awarded his Bachelor of Medicine, BCh, from Oxford.…”

War Neuroses and Arthur Hurst: A Pioneering Medical Film about the Treatment of Psychiatric Battle Casualties

“…The motivation of Hurst in making the film probably evolved during the production process. Colleagues had noticed a theatrical side to his personality and one pupil remembered him as a “great showman.”40 Another colleague recalled his charisma and capacity to inspire not least because he assumed the guise of the distinguished physician, wearing a monocle when examining patients and owning a Rolls Royce 41. At first, it appears that he recorded movement disorders purely for teaching and research purposes.…”

Shell Shock: Psychogenic Gait and Other Movement Disorders - A Film Review

“…Hurst was born Arthur Hertz on July 23 1879 in Bradford, UK 1,5. His scientific career started when he attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won a Science Demy-Ship and in 1901 became a student at Guy’s Hospital,7 where he won Gold Medals in both clinical medicine and surgery. In 1904 he was awarded his Bachelor of Medicine, BCh, from Oxford.…”