John Cule

John Hedley Cule (7 February 1920 10 April 2015) was a Welsh physician who worked as a general practitioner and later as a psychiatrist. In 2005, he was awarded a MBE for his work in mental health in West Wales.

His interest in the history of medicine led him to become the editor of the journal Vesalius, lecturer in the history of medicine at the Welsh National School of Medicine and the president of the British Society for the History of Medicine, the Osler Club of London, the International Society for the History of Medicine and the Welsh Society of the History of Medicine.

Early life John Cule was born on 7 February 1920 in Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley, to Walter Edwards Cule, a draper. The eldest of his siblings, he attended the Rhondda Intermediate School for Boys, and then became the chorister in the local chapel at Porth County School.

Subsequently, he attended the Methodist Kingswood School in Bath. Here he was inspired into medicine and its history by the headmaster, A. Barrett Sackett, and as a result in 1938 gained admission to Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge. he was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 8 January 1944.

He was posted to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Crotone in Calabria, Italy. He was forced to learn Italian as his batman, an Italian prisoner of war Marcello Fillini, spoke no English. In addition, he was president of the Osler Club of London, the International Society for the History of Medicine and the Welsh Society of the History of Medicine.

Selected publications Wreath on The Crown: The Story Of Sarah Jacob, The Welsh Fasting Girl. Gomerian Press Llandysul, 1967. Wales and Medicine. Gomer Press, 1975. (Editor) A Doctor for the People: 2000 Years of General Practice in Britain. Update Books, London, 1980. Wales and Medicine: Source List for Printed Books and Papers Showing the History of Medicine in Relation to Wales and Welshmen. National Library of Wales, 1980. Child Care Through the Centuries: An Historical Survey from Papers Given at the Tenth British Congress on the History of Medicine. STS Publications, Cardiff, 1986. Russia and Wales: Essays on the History of State Involvement in Health Care. History of Medicine Society of Wales. (Editor with J. M. Lancaster)