The important Distinguished Cardiologists 1963 Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Great War and Second World War Mention in Despatches group awarded to Brigadier G.E. “Old Top” Bedford, C.B.E., Royal Army Medical Corps, formerly a Surgeon Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Bedford became one of the great cardiologists of the 20th Century, and twice operated on Sir Winston Churchill. He became President of the British Cardiac Society, and of the European Society of Cardiology, and was also Chairman of the Council of the British Heart Foundation, Vice - President of the International Society of Cardiology, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In December 1943, the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill while staying at General Eisenhower’s villa at Carthage, became ill with pneumonia and cardiac complications. His personal physician, Lord Moran requested a consultation by Bedford, and between them decided that a course of the drug known as M&B 693 (Sulfadiazine) produced by May and Baker Pharmaceuticals, would be appropriate, and it worked. Churchill took great delight in referring to his doctors as M&B, often taking the drug with large glasses of whisky or brandy, commenting to his nurse,”Remember, that man cannot live by M&B alone”. Bedford was honoured by the President and Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians in January 1972 with a miniature silver replica of the college caduceus, this accompanies his group.
Group of 7: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander, C.B.E., 2nd type, Civil Division, housed in its Garrard & Co fitted presentation case; British War Medal and Victory Medal; (SURG. S. LT. G.E. BEDFORD. R.N.V.R.); 1939-1945 Star; Africa Star; Defence Medal; War Medal with Mention in Despatches Oakleaf. Last six mounted swing style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Together with the following:
Together with the recipients group of matching miniature medals mounted swing style as worn.
A miniature silver replica of the college caduceus from the Royal College of Physicians in gratitude from the President and Fellows to Davis Evan Bedford C.B.E., F.R.C.P. in January 1972, silver hallmarked plaque and college caduceus, the plaque inscribed to Bedford, and housed in its case.
Prize Medal for the 3rd World Congress of Cardiologists, for the event held at Brussels in 1958, silver, duel French and English language, reverse engraved: ‘E. Bedford’, housed in its fitted case by Monnaie Munt.
Prize Medal for the 4th World Congress of Cardiologists, for the event held in Mexico in 1962, gilt bronze.
Alpine Garden Society Reginald Farrer Memorial Medal, silver, hallmarks for Birmingham with date letter ‘K’ for 1934, reverse engraved as awarded to: ‘Messrs Casburn & Bedford’, housed in its fitted presentation case.
Medal from the General Board of Directors of the Civil Hospices of Lyon in France, silvered metal, as instituted in 1845, housed in its fitted presentation case.
Davis Evan Bedford, one of the great names in British Cardiology, was born on the 21st August 1898 in Boston Lincolnshire, the son of William and Lilian Bedford, where his grandfather was the mayor, and his father a flour miller. He was initially educated at Ipswich School, which has a Tudor past dating back to 1399, with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey one of its former pupils.
From here he entered Epsom College, Surrey, originally founded in 1855 as a charitable institution for poor members of the medical profession, by 1860 the school was opened up to children of non-medical parents. As well as his medical studies, Davis excelled in golf, hockey and cricket, no doubt also learning the rudiments of billiards! It was from this game that he developed his nickname of “Old Top”.
It’s funny how one acquires a nickname, usually, through your line of work, or being in the
services. In Davis Bedfords case it was his love and expertise in the game of billiards in which he excelled, often giving his opponents friendly advice when they found the balls on the table not lining up. Davis would lean over towards them and be heard to say,”You need a bit of the old top on that one”.
Davis’s expertise on the billiard table also extended to his expertise on the operating table, where he would perform heart surgery, later becoming an eminent 20th century British cardiologist, and regarded as an international authority on the post war advances in cardiology, attending to Sir Winston Churchill on two occasions. Blunt and honest, with deadpan humour, he was basically a shy man, concealed behind a frosty and forbidding exterior. He could be regarded as brusque on occasions, and his junior staff were careful to handle him with great tact. A highly literate man, who wore tortoiseshell glasses, and often spoke with a cigarette stub dangling from his lower lip, he was always ready to offer his encyclopaedic knowledge freely.
In 1916 he graduated to the second Middlesex Hospital Medical School in Mortimer Street, London, but this training was interrupted at the age of 20 when he signed up to serve in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and was commissioned as Surgeon Sub Lieutenant (Probationer) on the 2nd May 1918. Because of the U-Boat threat in WW1, the Admiralty needed more destroyers and sloops, and therefore medical staff for the crews. Medical students who had passed the second medical examination in anatomy and physiology were often recruited into this rank. Surgeon Sub Lieutenant Bedford was posted to the steam turbine R Class destroyer HMS Telamachus from the 1st July 1918. The ship was part of the 20th Flotilla engaged in mine-laying duties, mainly on the approaches to the Belgium ports.
On the night of 2-3rd August 1918 the 20th flotilla were carrying out mine laying in the Channel, when another British destroyer, HMS Vehement struck a mine, blowing off its bow, injuring some of the crew. Proving impossible to salvage, HMS Telamachus scuttled it, using gunfire and their depth charges. In total, during WW1, HMS Telamachus was involved in laying 1,898 mines.
With the war over Bedford returned to his medical school to complete his studies, qualifying as a doctor in 1921, working at the Middlesex Hospital. Here, he was kept busy acting as house physician, casualty medical officer, medical registrar, and resident anaesthetist. There followed a spell at The Ministry of Pensions Hospital at Orpington,Kent, acting as medical officer in charge of the cardiac wards, which was to lay the foundations for his future career as a cardiologist, working alongside the influence of John (later Sir John) Parkinson, a recognised authority on heart disease.
Two years later, he was appointed as registrar to the firm of Sir Robert Arthur Young and Dr GE Beaumont, developing his interest in heart disease. In 1926 he was appointed to the staff at Middlesex hospital, having acquired the degree of MD a year earlier. There followed a period of study in 1926 with the great cardiologists Charles Lauby in Paris and Louis Gallavard in in Lyon, making him a devotee of the French school. Davis Bedford was recalled from France a year later to become Paterson Research Scholar at the London Hospital, where he was re-united with Parkinson, the two of them publishing papers in 1928 on electrocardiograms showing cardiac infraction. In 1929 he spent a month in Vienna to study cardiac radiology, and was elected FRCP in 1931. By 1933 he was physician to outpatients at The National Heart Hospital.
His practise was once described as the largest and distinguished in his speciality. His fee for a patient was
established on their first visit and never varied thereafter.This was at a time when cardiology was
regarded part of general medicine, and not as a specialty.
In 1935 he married Audrey Selina, daughter of Milton Ely (Chair of Board of Governors National Heart Hospital), and during their marriage they had two sons, John and William.
Everyones way of life was interrupted in 1939, by the advent of the Second World War, Davis having no hesitation in signing up with the Royal Army Medical Corps, receiving an emergency commission as a War Substantive Major on the 9th June 1940, and within a month made a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel. Whilst attending to medical matters in the RAMC he still had time to research, and in 1941 he delivered a paper on atrial septal defects, which helped the understanding of that disorder. On the 12th August 1942, he was promoted Acting Colonel, taking on the role of Local Brigadier, Consulting Physician Southern Command. By 1943 he was serving in the Middle East, as Consulting Physician Middle East Command, also keeping a very detailed day to day diary. He became known as an efficient, if demanding officer amongst the RAMC, serving in hospitals along the Turkish Frontier, to the hospitals behind the 8th Army in Cyprus, Malta, and Khartoum.
In December 1943, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill while staying at General Eisenhower’s villa at Carthage, became ill with pneumonia and cardiac complications. His personal physician, Lord Moran requested a consultation by Bedford, and between them decided that a course of the drug known as M&B 693 (Sulfadiazine) produced by May and Baker Pharmaceuticals, would be appropriate, and it worked. Churchill took great delight in referring to his doctors as M&B, often taking the drug with large glasses of whisky or brandy, commenting to his nurse,”Remember, that man cannot live by M&B alone” For his distinguished service in the Middle East, Brigadier Bedford received a Mention in
Despatches in 1944.
The war over, Bedford returned to his duties at the Middlesex and National Heart Hospitals, as well as a private practice, which soon became the largest and most distinguished in the field of heart problems. In 1946 he provided the first description of endomyocardial fibrosis (heart failure) in Africans, based on his wartime observations. He would spend hours in the operating theatre, alongside surgeons Thomas Holmes Sellors and Russell Brock, with many post-operative discussions about an unusual valve, or heart defect.
He retained his dark sense of humour recounted on one occasion by a fellow doctor who informed him that one of his patients had died during the night. “I know” replied Bedford, adding, “I know, I have his heart in my bag”.
Davis Bedford was now in his prime, and was recognised as an international authority on the new cardiology. He was soon honoured with National and foreign awards. He was elected President of the British Cardiac Society, and of the European Society of Cardiology, Chairman of the Council of the British Heart Foundation, and Vice - President of the International Society of Cardiology, later becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
He became consultant cardiologist to the Royal Air Force, the Army and many other public bodies, along with his duties as original joint Editor of The British Heart Journal. He was a member of numerous foreign cardiological societies, including the French, Swiss, Belgium, Italian, Egyptian, Brazilian, Indian and Australian.
Davis Bedford would attend to Sir Winston Churchill on one more occasion.
On June 26th 1962, aged 87, Churchill flew to the South of France for a fortnight’s holiday in an eighth-floor suite at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. He was accompanied by his grand- daughter, Celia Sandys, Anthony Montague Brown, his Private Secretary, two nurses and his detective, Sergeant Edmund Murray. Shortly before 6am on the 28th June, nurse Powell was sitting outside his bedroom reading a book when she heard a crash, followed by a thud. On entering she found Sir Winston lying on the floor obviously in pain, immediately calling her colleague, Nurse Howells who in turn called his GP in Monte Carlo, Dr Roberts who quickly ascertained Churchill had broken his leg. Following a call to Lord Moran, Churchill was firstly taken to the Princess Grace Hospital for treatment, and then flown home to the Middlesex Hospital three days later for an operation. ( “Remember, I want to die in England” was the instruction that Churchill gave to Lord Moran).
On July 5th, with his leg in plaster, Lord Moran examined Churchill and found him to have an irregular pulse, combined with an irregular heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation), prescribing him digitalis, (dried leaves of the Common Foxglove), calling on Bedford for a second opinion. An electrocardiogram showed a partial heart block, so the digitalis was stopped. Following other complications, Churchill stayed in hospital until the 21st August, after which he returned to his home in Kent.
Throughout his life Davis Bedford generated affection and admiration amongst a succession of house physicians, he thrived on his reputation for irascibility and intolerance to traffic congestion and noise around Middlesex Hospital (at one time actually berating the road workers nearby to desist in their drilling!)
For his achievements in the medical profession he was honoured in 1963 by becoming a Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
He had a wide variety of interests, including art, history, French culture, travel, food, wine, and
collecting rare books. Throughout his life Bedford gave many distinguished named lectures including,:- the Harveian Oration, Bradshaw, Lumleian, Strickland Goodall, St Cyres, and Carey Coombs. He held an extensive library of over 1,000 books on cardiology, hunted out in far-flung locations, including Cairo, Beirut, Paris, Lyons, and all cities in the UK, not forgetting the 2nd hand bookshops in the Charing Cross Road, London! This collection included almost every book on cardiology, as well as original offprints, bound volumes of journals, biographies and other materiel which will remain as his legacy in the field he loved and practised.
In 1971, after extensive cataloguing and annotating, he donated these along with his personal papers to The Royal College of Physicians Library. It is kept separately as, ‘The Evan Bedford Library of Cardiology’. Reading these supplementary comments one can only assume that Bedford had read everything, which was demonstrated also by his memory, a remarkable achievement for a busy practising clinician.
The Royal College of Physicians honoured him in 1972 for this generous gift, by giving him a miniature silver replica of the college caduceus ( a staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology depicting 4 serpents entwining the staff top, symbolising the President ruling with clemency). Davis Evan Bedford died on the 24th January 1978 aged 80.
