Will Pickles

Biography

• Born on March 6, 1885 in Camp Road, Leeds
• 1914-1918 Surgeon-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve during WWI
• 1942 – Milroy lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians of London
• 1946 – Stewart prize of the British Medical Association, shared with epidemiologist Major Greenwood (1880-1849)
• 1948 – Cutter lecturer at Harvard University
• 1950 – Honorary Doctorate of Science from Leeds University
• 1953-1956 First president of the College of General Practitioners
• 1955 – Honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• 1957 – CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Died on March 2, 1969

Medical Eponyms

Key Medical Contributions

Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo

The great order of the ages is born afresh.
Major Greenwood, 1939

Major Publications

• Pickles WN. Vincent’s disease. J Roy Nav Med Serv 1919; 5: 87
• Pickles WN. Epidemic catarrhal jaundice: an outbreak in Yorkshire. Br Med J. 1930 May 24;1(3620):944-6
• Pickles WN. “Bornholm” disease: account of a Yorkshire outbreak. Br Med J. 1933; 2(3800): 817-8.
• Pickles WN. Epidemiology in Country Practice: (Section of Epidemiology and State Medicine). Proc R Soc Med. 1935 Aug;28(10):1337-42
• Pickles WN. Epidemiology in country practice. 1939
• Pickles WN, Burnet FM, McArthur N. Epidemic respiratory infection in a rural population with special reference to the influenza A epidemics of 1933, 1936-7 and 1943-4. J Hyg (Lond). 1947 Dec;45(4):469-73. 
• Pickles WN. The country doctor. Lancet. 1948 Feb 7;1(6493):201-3.
• Pickles WN. The country doctor and public health. Public Health 1944;58:2.
• Pickles WN. Research in general practice. Br Med J. 1948 Sep 4;2(4574):469-71.
• Pickles WN. Epidemiology in country practice. N Engl J Med. 1948 Sep 16;239(12):419-27.
• Pickles WN. Trends of general practice; a hundred years in a Yorkshire dale. Practitioner. 1951 Oct;167(1000):322-9
• Pickles WN. Sylvest’s disease (Bornholm disease). N Engl J Med. 1954 Jun 17;250(24):1033-6
• Pickles WN. Bornholm Disease. The Practitioner 1955; 174(1039-1044): 85-86
• Pickles WN. Epidemiology in the Yorkshire Dales. The Practitioner 1955; 17: 76–87.

Controversies

References

Biography

• Obituary: W. N. Pickles. Br Med J. 1969 Mar 15; 1(5645): 719–720
• Pemberton J. Will Pickles of Wensleydale. The Life of a Country Doctor. 1970
• Murrell TG. Nineteenth century masters of general practice. Med J Aust. 1991; 155(11-12): 785-7
• Moorhead R. Pickles of Wensleydale. J R Soc Med. 2001; 94(10): 536-40
• Metcalfe N. William Norman Pickles (1885–1969) In: 100 Notable Names from General Practice 2018: 105-107
• Made in North Yorkshire: Dr Pickles. North Yorkshire County Record Office, 2020
• Biography: William Norman Pickles. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Munk’s Roll: Volume VI: 379.
• Bibliography. Pickles, William Norman. WorldCat Identities

Eponymous terms