Brief Early History of Liverpool Radiology
Written by Professor Graham Whitehouse
Thurstan Holland : Born in Bridgewater, Somerset in 1863, educated in Bristol and at University College, London. Entered general practice in Princes Park in 1889.
Sir Robert Jones, the pioneering orthopaedic surgeon, saw the possibilities of x rays in orthopaedic surgery.
Thurstan Holland was assistant to Robert Jones at his free Sunday clinics, and also had an interest in photography.
Sir Oliver Lodge, eminent Professor of Physics in Liverpool, played a major role in the introduction of x rays in Liverpool and Britain. At the request of Jones, he showed a shotgun pellet in the hand of a boy.
Jones obtained a primitive x ray tube from Germany and persuaded Holland to become honorary radiologist at the Royal Southern Hospital.
In 1904, Holland moved to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. Professor Wilberforce, Professor of Physics, lent Holland an x ray set which was installed under the main staircase.
Holland did more than anyone else to further the medical speciality of Radiology. He put Radiology in a clinical setting. The department at LRI which he built up between the wars was regarded as the most advanced in the country. He was concerned to establish high standards of training in Radiology and that candidates had good clinical experience.
The Establishment of Radiology Training in the UK
The British Association for the Advancement of Radiology and Physiology had been set up in 1917 with the object of promoting the advancement of Radiology (and Physiology) on scientific lines under the direct control of the medical profession.
The Association searched for a university to undertake a diploma course in Radiology. London University was not interested but Cambridge University was. The first course started in Cambridge in 1919. Originally 6 months long, with 3 months devoted to Physics and the rest of the time to lectures in Radiology and clinical experience in hospital x ray departments. The Cambridge course was later extended to 9 months. Candidates were not required to be resident in Cambridge. In London, the lecture course was run at 32 Welbeck Street, in the former chapel of the Imperial Russian Embassy. 32 Welbeck Street later became the headquarters of the BIR. In Liverpool, Thurstan Holland conducted tutorials in his rooms in Rodney Street.The Diploma was granted to established radiologists on presentation of a thesis. The DMRE (Cambridge) was necessary to become a qualified specialist in Radiology. The Cambridge DMRE lasted until 1942.
The Edinburgh DMRE started in 1926, the London University and Conjoint Board DMRE in 1933.
