John Richard Carr Gardham

John Richard Carr Gardham was the first child of medical parents. His father, John Gardham, was a consultant surgeon at University College Hospital, and his mother, Audrey, was a general practitioner. His father was away for much of the war, working as a consulting surgeon to the 14th Army and Eastern Command, mainly in Burma. His mother moved out of London to work in a general practice in Surrey, taking Richard and his sister with her. If the intention was to avoid the Blitz it was not entirely successful, as they lived beside a main railway that was a target for German bombs. After the war the family lived in St John’s Wood, and generations of UCH students were entertained at the house in Acacia Road, as, later, were Richard’s student friends from the Middlesex Hospital.

Richard was educated at Winchester College and then went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read medicine. His clinical training was at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, where he won the introductory course prize, and he qualified in 1961. Richard was always going to be a surgeon; surgery was in his DNA, and his personality and character were entirely suited to it. He was serious and deliberate by nature and did not rush into anything. He was thorough in planning and preparation, be it for a committee meeting or a complex surgical procedure. He was a meticulous operator, and his surgical skill was based on an encyclopaedic knowledge of anatomy. Added to these attributes were singleminded application, perseverance, stamina, and a degree of stubbornness, which all contributed to his success as a surgeon.

He trained as a general surgeon at a time when general surgery included a multitude of specialties, including urology, and when he was appointed to his consultant post at Chase Farm Hospital, his practice covered an enormous range. Over the next 24 years, increasing specialisation and the increase in the number of surgical consultants from two to eight meant that he devoted much of his time to vascular surgery and, with his widening reputation, enabled the appointment of a second vascular surgeon and the establishment of a department that was popular with vascular trainees. Richard was an excellent trainer, and his attention to detail and delicate technique set a great example to those who assisted at his operations and those he supervised through complex procedures.

During his training he came under the tutelage of four surgeons, who were a great influence on him. The first was Bill Richardson, who at Chase Farm provided his introduction, as senior house officer, to “hands on” surgery; during that appointment Richard gained the FRCS. The second was Frank Cockett at St Thomas’, who introduced him to vascular surgery. It was while he was at St Thomas’ that he met his wife, Mary, and they were married in 1968. The third was Alan Birt in Norwich, a surgeon well known for the extent of his surgical repertoire, where Richard developed into a truly general surgeon. In 1973 he returned to the Middlesex Hospital to work for Adrian Marston and hone his vascular skills, before he was appointed as consultant general surgeon at Chase Farm Hospital in 1975.

After gaining his FRCS in 1964 he achieved his MChir in 1966, which at that time was a degree by examination similar to the fellowship. In 1967 he was appointed lecturer in the department of surgical studies at the Middlesex Hospital with Leslie LeQuesne and Michael Hobsley. This was time largely devoted to full time research. Richard’s research provided the material for a doctorate thesis entitled “Pyloric Stenosis and Paradoxical Acid Urine,” for which he gained his Cambridge MD and was awarded the Sir Lionel Whitby medal and prize. He published regularly throughout his career, initially in relation to his research and, latterly, in relation to clinical studies based on his personal experience.

His consultant appointment saw him return to Chase Farm Hospital for the third time. He had worked there as both a house physician and a surgical senior house officer, before returning as a consultant, working alongside his early surgical mentor, Bill Richardson. These two surgeons managed the whole range of general surgery and urology for a population of quarter of a million. They each looked after 56 beds, which was the total complement of beds for eight surgeons at the time of Richard’s retirement in 1999. He was a loyal and supportive colleague and was respected for his excellent clinical opinion, which was frequently sought by colleagues, and he was much admired by his patients. His influence on the development and expansion of the hospital was enormous. He enjoyed committee work, where his stubborn streak often worked to great advantage. He acted as chairman of the consultants’ committee; he chaired the surgical division and was latterly the first medical director. At the time the consultant body expanded substantially, and Richard was directly involved in all the appointments. However, with changes in specialisation and funding in the 1990s, the traditional district general hospital became vulnerable, and Chase Farm Hospital with its particularly poor building stock (a Victorian orphanage cum workhouse) and its position on the very edge of its population base, particularly so. Richard retired immediately before a merger took place and was sad to see all he had achieved subsumed in a geographically less than ideal merger.

The family had a long association with Exmoor, and Richard’s parents bought a cottage in Oare in 1951, which has remained in the family since. In 1953 Richard and his sister were alone in the cottage on the night of the devastating Lynmouth floods, when the river rose to the level of the first floor and they were evacuated to the neighbouring farm. When his father retired to Exmoor, he became a church warden at St Mary’s in Oare—a role Richard later took on—and was secretary of the Devon and Somerset Stag Hounds. In his own retirement, Richard was able to indulge his love of horses and riding, something denied him during his busy career. He became a devoted follower of the hunt, keeping a traditional hunting diary and riding out with the hunt up to twice a week, the last time a few days before he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. At the end of his memorial service, held in St. Mary’s Church, Oare, Donald Summersgill, huntsman for the DSSH, blew the tune “Gone Away” on the hunting horn. At the Staghunters Inn at Brendon afterwards, mourners swapped stories of hunting alongside Richard—more than one involving Richard coming to the rescue of fallen riders—and spoke of the dedication and generosity of spirit by which he is remembered by many. Richard’s love of Exmoor was reflected in the work he did in Hollowcombe, behind his cottage, where he launched a campaign to rid the woodland of rhododendron and make it friendlier for wildlife. He grew his own food in his vegetable garden, loved walking in the woods behind the cottage and riding across the moors on his favourite horse, Puzzle, with the occasional visit to London to watch cricket at Lord’s.

Richard never had any illusions about his final illness. He knew the prognosis was poor, but in agreeing to undergoing six months of intensive and debilitating chemotherapy he hoped for a usable remission. Sadly this was cruelly denied. Nevertheless he was full of praise for the treatment he received at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple and for its research and knowledge. When told that his bone marrow immediately after treatment showed complete remission, he reported he felt awful and a repeat showed early relapse. He died at home a few weeks later surrounded by his family. He leaves his wife, Mary; children Clare, Duncan, and Aidan; and three grandchildren.