Irvine Loudon Explained

Irvine Loudon (1 August 1924 – 7 January 2015) was a British doctor and a medical historian on childbirth fever and maternal mortality.

Biography

Loudon was born in Cardiff on 1 August 1924. His father, Andrew Walker Buist Loudon was a general practitioner who had served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and his mother was Sarah Margaret Black (Morag), née Lees, who was a trained midwife. He attended Llandaff Cathedral School and Dauntsey's School before serving in the RAF during World War II. After the war, he studied medicine at Queen's College, Oxford, graduating in 1951. He settled down as general practitioner in Wantage, where he also acted as a medical historian^[1]

Loudon's time as a medical historian was focused on childbirth fever and maternal mortality.^{[2] [3] [4]} His published writings included studies of the history of medicine, with a special interest in the history of general practice and maternal death in childbirth.^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} His oil paintings, drawings and etchings were shown at several galleries: Bankside Gallery London, UK and Dolphin Gallery, Wantage, UK,^[11] Branson Art Gallery, Rosedale, Lake Balsam, Ontario, Canada.^[12]

In 1948 he married Jean Norman, daughter of a university professor and they had five children together. He received a fellowship from the Wellcome Trust, and was made an honorary fellow of Green College. Loudon suffered from vascular dementia in his later years and died on 7 January 2015 at Wantage Community Hospital.^[1]

Notes and References

1. Book: Bynum . W. F. . Loudon, Irvine Stewart Lees (1924–2015) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 3 May 2020 . 10 January 2019. 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110370 . 978-0-19-861412-8 .
2. Obituary, Independent, Web site: Irvine Loudon: Physician and graphic artist who became a leading authority on childbirth fever and maternal mortality - Obituaries - News . Independent.co.uk . 2015-04-23 . 2015-05-06.
3. Limb . Matt . 2015-03-02 . Irvine Loudon . BMJ . en . 350 . h1085 . 10.1136/bmj.h1085 . 1756-1833.
4. Obituary, Oxford Mail, http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11724293.IRVINE_LOUDON__Medical_history_and_art_were_passions_of_practical_joker_GP/ (access date 04/09/17)
5. Medical Care and the General Practitioner, Loudon, Irvine, Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. (1986),
6. Death in Childbirth: An International Study of Maternal Care and Maternal Mortality 1800-1950, Irvine Loudon,, Published by Clarendon Press, Oxford England (1993),,
7. Childbed Fever: A Documented History (Garland Reference Library of Social Science) Loudon, Irvine, Published by Routledge (1995),
8. Western Medicine: An Illustrated History, Loudon, Irvine, Published by Routledge (1995),
9. General Practice Under the National Health Service 1948-1997, Irvine Loudon, John Horder & Charles Webster (editors),Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford (1998), Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford (1998),,
10. The Tragedy of Childbed Fever. Loudon, Irvine. Published by Oxford University Press (2000)
11. Web site: 2015-04-22 . Irvine Loudon: Physician and graphic artist who became a leading . 2023-06-23 . The Independent . en.
12. Richard Swain, The Work of Irvine Loudon, in The Guardian Angel, p 17-18, 2016 .