Obituary

Abstract

Professor Thomas Cecil Gray was one of the most innovative medical anaesthetists of his generation. He was one of the pioneers of the use of muscle relaxants in anaesthesia, was involved in the early work on cardiac bypass technology and was instrumental in developing the train of four technique for the monitoring of neuromuscular blockade. He was born in Liverpool in 1913, educated at Ampleforth College and graduated in medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1937. After a period in general practice he became interested in anaesthesia and studied under Dr R. J. Minnitt. He served in the Army in the Second World War and was invalided out and returned to anaesthesia and was appointed Demonstrator at the University of Liverpool. Together with Dr John Halton he introduced curare into medical anaesthetic practice for the first time in the UK which resulted in the classic paper ‘The use of d-tubocurarine in 1000 patients: a milestone in anaesthesia?’ He was later joined by Dr Jackson Rees, who had responsibility for paediatric anaesthesia and was appointed to a personal Chair in Anaesthesia in 1959. He served as Editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia for 16 years and edited the standard text in anaesthesia initially with F.T. Evans and latterly with J.F. Nunn and J.E. Utting. He was a foundation board member of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons and Dean in 1964, President of the Section of Anaesthesia of the Royal Society of Medicine and a recipient of their Henry Hill Hickman Medal. He also served as President of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and was Treasurer of the Medical Defence Union. At the University of Liverpool he held the post of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and later he became the Postgraduate Dean for the Region. Cecil Gray was a giant of a man but of small stature and a generous host. He was a formidable opponent in any debate or argument but the most loyal and welcome of allies. In the early 1960s, Professor Gray was a regular attendee at the meetings of the Anaesthetic Research Group and it was at these meetings that he met and talked to Drs Leslie Hall and Barbara Weaver. He suggested, with great foresight, that, as Liverpool University had a Veterinary Faculty and a Department of Anaesthesia, a Lectureship in Veterinary Anaesthesia should be established in his department. This was accepted by the University centrally but he relayed with great relish the story as to how he was out-manoeuvred by Professor J.G. Wright and the post was established in the Veterinary Clinical Department. However, true to his word, Professor Gray ensured that the appointee (Ronald Jones, subsequently to become Professor) spent one year training alongside medical colleagues and attending operating sessions in the local hospitals. In the mid 1960s, with considerable prescience, Professor Sir William Weipers wished to further clinical specialities in the veterinary profession and set up a small group to develop the Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Cecil Gray, as the past-Dean of the Faculty of the Anaesthetists, was a member of this group. The first examination was held in 1968 with Professor Gray as an examiner and he remained so for a period of about 10 years. Having been examined by him and with him I can state that he was a stern and thorough examiner but above all he was extremely fair to all candidates. He continued to support veterinary anaesthesia in Liverpool and in 1970 when he felt that the support of the Veterinary Faculty for the subject was less than it ought to be he manipulated the transfer of the Lectureship to his Department and obtained funding for a second post. It was always a great privilege and experience for veterinary anaesthetic trainees to attend the courses taught by him and his colleagues and it was the mark of the man that he never differentiated between the medical and veterinary trainees and a number of these people now hold senior academic posts in veterinary schools throughout the world. As a small recognition of his major contribution he was elected an honorary member of the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists. He died on the 5th January 2008. We extend our sympathy to his wife and family in their great loss.