Herbert Alexander Haxton

Herbert Alexander Haxton FRCS FRSE (1913 – 30 April 2009) was a Scottish surgeon to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and the Manchester North Hospital and Crumpsall Hospital. He contributed to surgical techniques of suturing and investigated the function of the sympathetic nervous system in the sweating conditions hyperhidrosis and gustatory hyperhidrosis.

In his early career he published research on the ankle, elbow, hip, knee and ankle joints and he taught anatomy at St Andrews University, where he demonstrated that the kneecap was not just to protect the knee but important for straightening the leg.

He gave three Arris and Gale Lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and was elected to a Hunterian Professorship in 1946. In 1971 he published his book Surgical Techniques. In the same year he was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Early life and education Herbert Haxton was born in St Andrews, Scotland, in 1913, and was the son of a grocer. He attended Madras College and subsequently gained admission to study medicine at the University of St Andrews, from where he graduated as a Bachelor of Science in 1934 and then Bachelor of Medicine in 1937. At university he become a scratch golfer. Partial understanding of the importance of the patella led to the trend of removing the whole patella, also resulting in pain, disability and dissatisfaction. Haxton's experiments proved that the kneecap was not just to protect the knee but important for straightening the leg. On comparing patellas of several mammals, he concluded that the patella has a "functional value in extension of the knee joint". Subsequently, following patella fractures, efforts were made to preserve the patella where possible. For his work on muscle function mechanics he was awarded a Masters in Surgery in 1944 and an MD in 1946.

Later career In 1946 he became consultant surgeon to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and the Manchester North Hospital and Crumpsall Hospital, where he wrote on the surgery of the gut, blood vessels and congenital heart disease.

Personal and family Haxton represented Cheshire as a golfer at inter-county level and in 1949 was semi-finalist in the County Championship. In 1962 he won the national dinghy sailing championships.

Selected publications Articles

Books