Sir Ernest Graham-Little, MP, MD FRCP (1867–1950): Dermatologist and Politician

Abstract

Sir Ernest Graham-Little was not only one of the foremost British dermatologists of the first half of the 20th century but he also served from 1924 to 1950 as an Independent Member of Parliament. As a dermatologist he played a leading role in medical education, wrote a vast number of clinical papers, was the President of both the British Association of Dermatology (as it then was) and the Section of Dermatology of the Royal Society of Medicine, and he described a form of scarring alopecia that has become known as Graham-Little syndrome. He was the first to describe the syndrome later named after Waterhouse and Friedrichsen. In Parliament he expressed his opinions on a vast array of subjects, often advancing views well ahead of his time. Perhaps most remarkably, for much of his time in Parliament he was still an active dermatologist. Notwithstanding the formidable achievements in his twin careers, his name is not well known.