Thomas Cecil Gray was born on the 11th of March 1913, in the top flat above the Clock Inn, a public house on London Road, Liverpool, opposite the Odeon cinema, the son of Thomas Gray, a publican, who ran the only Younger's pub in Liverpool at the time. His mother was Ethelreda née Unwin, the daughter of Samuel, who was a haberdasher. He only lived there for six months before the family moved to Birkenhead.
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| The Clock Inn ( later known as Paddy's Bar ) |
A devout Roman Catholic all his life, he was educated at the Convent of the Sacre Coeur in Bath and then at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire and at the age of 18 joined the order of monks at the Benedictine college of Ampleforth. After two months it became clear that this was not the vocation for him and he returned to Liverpool in 1931, to the quiet disappointment of his mother and the unmistakable joy of his father, to study medicine at Liverpool University and the United Liverpool Hospital. Here he achieved a distinction in anatomy and after graduating in 1937, and engaged to be married but not to his eventual wife, he became a trainee in general practice with a Dr Goodman Jones in Upper Parliament Street on three hundred pounds a year. In 1939, now married and with a baby due, he saw an advertisement for a lovely house in Liscard Road, with a nice practice, and purchased the house and the goodwill of the practice for about nine hundred pounds. He quickly became fascinated by anaesthesia which at that time was practiced predominately by General Practitioners on a part-time basis. He went over to see Dr Minnitt at the Northern Hospital and told him his position. Dr Minnitt said, "Of course, yes, certainly, you must come along. How much time can you give me?" Thomas said "Two afternoons a week, I can probably manage that." Under the tutelage of Robert Minnitt at the Royal Northern Hospital he rapidly collected the 1000 cases then required to sit the DA examination which he passed in 1941. Due to his lifelong asthma, he was rejected for service when the Second World War broke out but reapplied in 1942 and was posted to a neurosurgical unit in north Africa. While there he developed severe pneumonia which was cured by injections of a new drug, crystalline penicillin, from what he described as 'trial samples'. Invalided out of the service, he returned home to Liverpool in 1944 becoming a full-time anaesthetist covering several hospitals. In 1947 he was appointed full-time Reader in Anaesthesia in the University of Liverpool, and was given a Personal Chair in 1959, a post he held until retirement in 1976.
Developing an early interest in neuro-muscular blocking drugs, with John Halton, a consultant colleague, they conducted research on their use with light general anaesthesia, publishing a seminal paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1946. John Halton was on friendly terms with the officers at the American Air Force base at Burtonwood, a few miles outside Liverpool. Both he and Thomas had heard of the use of the muscle relaxant curare by Harold Griffiths and others in Canada and the United States, and he persuaded his American friends to procure some for them with which to experiment. Subsequently he pursued extensive studies of the effects of these drugs on the circulation and also showed that they were very safe if employed with intermittent positive pressure ventilation. Large doses could be used to provide excellent operating conditions, unconsciousness being ensured with nitrous oxide and freedom from the autonomic effects of surgical stimulation by intravenous analgesics. This combination enabled safe anaesthesia to be provided for long periods and was a major factor in the development of modern surgery. Thomas is considered as one of the great British pioneers of modern anaesthetics as the development of the use of muscle relaxant drugs had hardly been used in the UK before the Second World War. Previously, if the patient required major chest or abdominal surgery, the only way to obtain the necessary relaxation of the muscles was to cut through them, causing large unsightly scars and possible secondary hernias. His work was to make surgery far less hazardous and pave the way for huge advances in the field.
In addition to his research he built a successful Department of Anaesthesia, persuading both University and NHS colleagues to allow junior trainees to attend lectures in in the University Department until 11am on weekdays. This, the precursor of day release courses for junior hospital doctors, was a major advance in postgraduate medical education and, not surprisingly, he was the first (1966-70) Postgraduate Dean in Liverpool, and then went on to be Dean of the Faculty (1970-6). He published widely, and served as Editor, jointly with E Faulkner Hill, of the British Journal of Anaesthesia (1948-64) and by their efforts it gained an international reputation. He was also Editor of several editions of 'General Anaesthesia', which for many was the leading source of reference on the subject. All of this gained him an international reputation and he lectured in many countries world-wide and attracted many students, particularly from the Far East and Australia. His profound interest in medical education and his organisational ability was recognised by his nomination to the Foundation Board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists in 1948, and election as its Dean in 1964. He also served as President of the Section of Anaesthesis of the RSM (1955-6), the AAGBI (1956-9), the Liverpool Society of Anaesthetists (1962-4) and the Liverpool Medical Institution (1974-5). In addition, he was the first anaesthetist to receive a Sims Commonwealth travelling professorship (a joint RCP, RCSEng & RCOG award) and held several offices in the Medical Defence Union including Honorary Treasurer and Vice-President. Thomas retired in 1976, but continued to take a deep interest in medical affairs, contributing several papers on historical aspects of anaesthesia. Having attained the age of 90 years, and despite frailty, he continued to attend professional events. At some of these he was given yet further honours to add to the many he had been awarded in over half a century of uniquely distinguished service. Thomas was appointed CBE in 1976 by the Queen and in 1982 was honoured by Pope John Paul 11 with the membership of the Order of St. Gregory the Great as a Knight Commander.
He was an enthusiastic host and an entertaining guest, and had a passion for amateur dramatics being both a player and a producer with the Irish Players for over 20 years. An accomplished pianist and opera lover, he was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Liverpool Welsh Choral Society and the Verdi Society. Thomas married twice, in 1937, he married Margaret (Margot) Helen née Hely, whose father, Herbert William, was a dental surgeon and Margot a talented amateur actress and an artist. They had two children, David, a consultant anaesthetist in Liverpool, and Beverley. Margot died in 1978 and the following year he married Pamela Mary née Corning. When he died, Pamela survived him, together with their son, James Frederick, who was born in 1981, and the children from his first marriage. He also had four grandchildren. Thomas passed away on the 5th of January 2008 at Prinknash Abbey, Cranham, Gloucestershire and a requiem mass was held at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on the 26th of January 2008.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/07/a-liverpool-exemplar-ethel-singleton.html
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