AF Stanley Kent
Albert Frank Stanley Kent (1863-1958) was an English physiologist
Kent is best remembered eponymously for the “bundle of Kent,” an accessory pathway implicated in atrioventricular conduction and pre-excitation syndromes. His early anatomical studies of the mammalian heart laid groundwork for understanding Wolff–Parkinson–White (WPW) syndrome—though later interpretation and histological refinements challenged aspects of his original theory.
Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, Kent began his academic career as a physiology demonstrator at Manchester, Oxford, and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where he also helped pioneer early radiographic investigations. In 1893, he described alternative myocardial connections between the atria and ventricles—structures now considered embryological remnants but once posited as normal conduction routes. His name endures in the literature of cardiac electrophysiology.
Kent’s career later transitioned to industrial physiology, especially during and after World War I. He became a national authority on workplace fatigue and efficiency, editing the Journal of Industrial Hygiene and translating Jules Amar’s seminal treatise. Even in retirement, he continued cardiac research from a home laboratory, maintaining scholarly output into his nineties.
Biography
- Born on March 26, 1863 in Stratford Tony, Wiltshire, England
- 1886 – Graduated with BA and MA in Natural Sciences (Physiology), Magdalen College, Oxford.
- 1887 – Elected member of the Physiological Society.
- 1887–1889 Demonstrator of Physiology, Owen’s College and Victoria University, Manchester.
- 1889–1891 Demonstrator of Physiology, University of Oxford.
- 1891–1895 Lecturer in Physiology, St. Thomas’ Hospital, London; helped establish X-ray department.
- 1893 – Published key research on accessory atrioventricular connections; described what later became known as the “bundle of Kent”.
- 1899–1909 – Professor of Physiology, University College, Bristol.
- 1909–1918 First Professor of Physiology at University College, Bristol (now University of Bristol)
- 1918 – Resigned academic post to become Director, Department of Industrial Administration, Manchester Municipal College of Technology.
- 1919 – Introduced Jules Amar’s Physiology of Industrial Organisation; delivered Rowntree Lecture on industrial fatigue.
- 1920–1922 – Editor in Great Britain for the Journal of Industrial Hygiene.
- 1939–1945 – Quartermaster and musketry instructor, Home Guard, WWII.
- Died March 30, 1958 at St. Martin’s Hospital, Bath; aged 95
Medical Eponyms
Bundle of Kent (1893, 1913)
An accessory pathway consisting of conductive tissue that dissects the atrioventricular fibrous skeleton providing a direct connection between the atria and the ventricles bypassing the AV node.
In 1893, Kent demonstrated that in the newborn rat there are muscular connections between atria and ventricles, not only in the septum, but in the right and left lateral walls of the heart. In the young rabbit, such communications are found in the right lateral wall and the medial part of the left A-V ring, in addition to the septum. Similar connections are also found in the guinea pig and hedgehog. In the monkey, however, only here and there do muscular fibres pass from atria to ventricles.
At about the same time, Wilhelm His Jr. (1863–1934) described the atrioventricular bundle (bundle of His), and believed this to be the only communication between atria and ventricles.
In 1913, Kent described, in the human heart, a communication between the right atrium and ventricle, in the lateral aspect.
The muscular connection between auricle and ventricle in the heart of man is not single and confined to the A.V. bundle, but it is multiple. One point at which a muscular connection between auricle and ventricle exists is situated at the right margin of the heart. The coordinated action of the chambers of the heart is to some extent dependent upon the integrity of muscular connections other than that which exists in the A.V. bundle. It is proposed, for purposes of identification, to refer to the connection described as the “right lateral auriculo-ventricular” connection.
Kent AFS 1913
In 1914, in this region, he described a right lateral atrioventricular node of specialized tissue which communicated with both atrium and ventricle.
…the only tissue connecting the auricle to the ventricle is the strip at the right side of the heart, and the histological part of the inquiry has already shown that an anatomical connexion exists in this situation, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that in this right lateral auriculo-ventricular junction there exists a muscular path capable of transmitting impulses and of co-ordinating the action of the chambers of the heart.
AFS Kent, BMJ 1914
Although it is widely accepted that the atrioventricular bundle was discovered by Wilhelm His Jr. in 1893 (Bundle of His) some argue it was first described by Kent at a meeting in 1892.
Controversies
New research on ‘industrial fatigue’; Nature and The Lancet report on research by Professor A. F. Stanley Kent, Chair of Physiology, into the new field of ‘industrial fatigue’ in munitions and other industrial workers, which is caused by ‘muscular and mental fatigue, worry, bad atmosphere, ill health and starvation’. Professor Kent also reports on the ‘Monday effect’ that affects ‘men and women who misuse their leisure by excessive drinking or other dissipation’.
We all know how greatly the mental condition affects digestion. Pain, and grief, and worry – more particularly worry – may lead to acute and lasting indigestion, with consequent fatigue and loss of vigour. Unfriendly supervisors have been quoted as a cause of serious loss of output. Dazzling lights, improperly arranged, by straining and irritating the workers’ eyes, may lead to a mental condition incompatible with good digestion
AFS Kent in ‘Industrial Fatigue’, 1919
Major Publications
- Kent AFS. Researches on the Structure and Function of the Mammalian Heart. Journal of Physiology. 1893; 14: 233-254.
- Kent AFS. Observations on the auriculo-ventricular junction of the mammalian heart. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology. 1913; 7: 193–195.
- Kent AFS. The structure of the cardiac tissues at the auriculo-ventricular junction. Journal of Physiology 1913; 47(supp): 17- 18
- Kent AFS. The right lateral auriculo-ventricular junction of the heart. In: Proceedings of the physiological society on March 14, 1914. Journal of Physiology 1914; 48(supp): 22-24.
- Kent AFS. A conducting path between the right auricle and the external wall of the right ventricle in the heart of the mammal. In: Proceedings of the physiological society on June 27, 1914. Journal of Physiology 1914; 48(supp): 57
- Kent AFS. Illustrations of the right lateral auriculo-ventricular junction in the heart. Journal of Physiology 1914; 48(supp): 63–4.
- Kent AF. A Lecture on some problems in cardiac physiology: Delivered before the University of London, June 18th, 1914. Br Med J. 1914; 2(2794): 105-106
- Kent AFS. Second interim report on an investigation of industrial fatigue by physiological methods. 1916
- Kent AFS. Fatigue and Alcohol. British Journal of Inebriety. 1917: 15(2): 49-68
- Amar J, Kent AFS. The physiology of industrial organisation and the re-employment of the disabled. 1918
References
Biography
- O’Connor WJ. Albert Frank Stanley Kent (1863 – 1958) In: British physiologists 1885-1914: a biographical dictionary. Manchester Univ 1991: 330-331
- Brocklehurst RJ. Kent, Albert Frank Stanley Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Bibliography. Kent, A. F. Stanley (Albert Frank Stanley) 1863-1958. WorldCat Identities
- The Black Bag. Professor AFS Kent. Journal of the Medical Faculty of Bristol University. Vol IX(2). Spring Term 1953
- Photograph of Rowing Four, Winners, 1882. Magdalen College School Archive Catalogue
Eponymous term
- Lev M, Lerner R. The theory of Kent; a histologic study of the normal atrioventricular communications of the human heart. Circulation. 1955;12(2):176-184.
- Anderson RH, Becker AE. Stanley Kent and accessory atrioventricular connections. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 1981; 81: 649–658.
- Boukens BJ and Janse MJ. Brief history of arrhythmia in the WPW syndrome – the contribution of George Ralph Mines. J Physiol. 2013; 591: 4067–407.
- Anderson RH. Arthur Stanley Kent and accessory muscular atrioventricular connections. Cardiovascular Pathology, 2019; 40: 1
Eponym
the person behind the name
