Lionel Whitby

Brigadier Sir Lionel Ernest Howard Whitby, CVO, MC (8 May 1895 – 24 November 1956) was a British haematologist, British Army officer and academic. He served as Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge from 1945 to 1956, Master of Downing College, Cambridge from 1947 to 1956, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1951 to 1953.

Early life Whitby was born on 8 May 1895 in Yeovil, Somerset. He was the second of three sons born to Benjamin Whitby and his wife, Jane Elizabeth Whitby (née Milborne).

Having returned from military service as a decorated but disabled officer, he returned to studies. In October 1918, he took up his scholarship and matriculated into Downing College, Cambridge, to study medicine. He trained and served as a machine gun officer. On 1 December 1916, he was made a temporary lieutenant. On 1 July 1917, his promotion to lieutenant was confirmed. On 10 October 1917, while attached to the Machine Gun Corps, he was made an acting captain to command a company. On 19 February 1918, while attached to the Machine Gun Corps, he was further promoted to acting major

During World War I, he saw active service in the Serbian Campaign, in the Gallipoli campaign, at the Macedonian front, and at the Western Front. He had received a wound in battle in March 1918, that resulted in one of his legs having to be amputated.

Medical career In 1923, Whitby began his career in medicine having received an appointment at Middlesex Hospital as an assistant pathologist.

His publications during this period included Medical Bacteriology (1928), The Laboratory in Surgical Practice (1931), and Disorders of the Blood (1935). On 2 September 1939, he was called up for active service and transferred from the TA Reserve of Officers (RAMC) to the Territorial Army (Commands and Staff). He was promoted to brigadier on 1 March 1942, when he was commanding officer of the Army Blood Transfusion Service at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

Personal life Whitby's wedding, to Ethel Murgatroyd, took place in Halifax (England) in the late summer of 1922. His wife was herself a qualified surgeon and physician. These included the biochemist Lionel Gordon Whitby FRSE (1926-2000).

Sir Lionel Whitby died in London.

Honours In 1929, Whitby was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in recognition of his role in the treatment of King George V. In the 1945 New Year Honours, when he was commanding officer of the Army Blood Transfusion Service at Southmead Hospital in Bristol it was announced he was to be made a Knight Bachelor 'for services in the development of the sulphonamide group of drugs'. On 13 February 1945, he was knighted at Buckingham Palace by King George VI.

In 1938, he was awarded the John Hunter triennial medal and prize by the Royal College of Surgeons for his work in the development of the clinical use of sulphapyridine.