Frank Maudsley Parsons Archive
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Frank Maudsley Parsons Archive
Classmark: LUA FMP
Original reference: LUA/PER/053
Creator(s): Parsons, Frank Maudsley (1918-1989)()
Date(s): 1942-1987
Language: English
Size and medium: 11 boxes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/4010
Collection group(s): University Archive | Medical Collections
Description
Contains papers and correspondence spanning the course of Frank Maudsley Parsons' career in renal medicine, and his work with the artificial kidney, at the Leeds General Infirmary.
Includes: folders of papers relating to lectures delivered at various conferences, events and courses (c.1952-1979); papers relating to the Artificial Kidney Unit at the Leeds General Infirmary; on the opening and later extension of the Wellcome Wing; and offprints of publications written solely or jointly by Parsons.
Biography or history
Frank Maudsley Parsons (1918-1989) was a nephrologist and pioneer of dialysis for acute renal failure. He was born on 17 September 1918, and was educated at Kingswood School. Parsons went on to study at the University of Leeds and graduated with a B.Sc. in Physiology in 1941. He went on to gain an M.B., Ch.B. (Hons.) in 1943 and an M.D. with Distinction in 1961.
As a surgical trainee he worked with Leslie Norman Pyrah (1899-1995) in the Medical Research Council Metabolic Disturbances in Surgery Unit at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). Parsons worked as a Research Fellow in Urological Surgery at the University between 1951/2-1956/7, and was appointed Assistant Director of the MRC Unit in 1956, where he remained until the session 1961/2.
A visit to the USA in 1955 was to become momentous for Parsons’ career. During the trip he spent three months at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, observing dialysis treatments there. On his return to Leeds, alongside Leslie Pyrah he persuaded the LGI Board of Governors to purchase a Kolff-Brigham dialysis machine – establishing the first artificial kidney unit in the UK. Parsons performed the first dialysis outside of London at the LGI on 30 September 1956.
From 1962/3-1970/1, Parsons was Hon. Demonstrator in Urological Surgery, then Hon. Senior Lecturer in Renal Medicine (1971/2-1973/4), before becoming Senior Clinical Lecturer in 1974/5. Parsons was appointed the Director of the Renal Research Unit based at the LGI when it was established in 1967 and from 1961 onwards he was Consultant in Clinical Renal Medicine. He was also editor of the quarterly magazine Outlook, which was distributed to patients with renal failure in Britain between January 1983 and 1984 (8 editions in total). Parsons retired in 1983.
He married Marjorie in 1949, they had three daughters. He died on 17 August 1989.
Sources:
The Renal Association website, Obituary: Frank Maudsley Parsons: http://www.renal.org/about-us/obituaries/obituary/frank-maudsley-parsons#sthash.zKsmKfxT.dpbs [accessed 07/04/2017];
University of Leeds, School of Medicine website, ‘People of Achievement: Frank Maudsley Parsons (1918-1989): http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/info/299/history_of_the_school/365/people_of_achievement/8 [accessed 07/04/2017];
British Medical Journal, Obituary ‘F M Parsons’, Vol 299, (2 Dec 1989), p.1396.
System of arrangement
The archive has been arranged into three series:
LUA FMP/1: Correspondence and papers
LUA FMP/2: Lectures
LUA FMP/3: Publications
Access and usage
Reproduction
Access
This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.
Material in this collection may remain in copyright but further details are unknown. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available for tracing copyright status and ownership.
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