Alan Ralph Norton

My task on this sad occasion is to try to convey something of the 

respect and affection that Alan Norton enjoyed at Bexley Hospital and to say something of

the qualities of the man.

Alan was one of that group of psychiatrists who helped Bexley hospital to move

from the custodial role it played in the '40's and 50's to the more dynamic treatment and 

rehabilitation function that it fulfils today.  He was a forerunner of today's community 

psychiatry and opened up the psychiatric out-patient department in Lewisham Hospital.

We could not have had a better ambassador to forge these new links with our medical and

surgical colleagues for Alan had all the old-fashioned virtues.   He was considerate, meticulous,

expert in his subject, utterly dependable and he preferred to do things for himself rather than have 

others do them for him.   He was thus respected by all.

One could tell a lot about Alan from his handwriting for it was clear and unambiguous, and

like the man himself it was without fuss or flourish yet utterly distinctive.   No one ever complained that 

they could not read Alan's writing.   By the same token, what he wrote was equally lucid. 

His opinions were couched in plain, simple English and if he did not know what was wrong

he said so, for Alan never sought refuge in obfuscation or jargon.

Alan was a scholar who delighted in learning.   He was not however a lover of the grand

round and taught by example and by discussion.   Since he was widely knowledgeable and did

not neglect his own subject both his juniors and his consultant colleagues profited.

He was not a prolific writer of professional papers but those papers which he did write

were invariably of high quality and bore the characteristic stamp of his balance and his knowledge.

His book the "New Dimensions of Medicine" gives ample evidence of the breadth of his knowledge

on medical topics.

As a young consultant I had the good fortune to work in double harness with Alan and

for many years we had an entirely harmonious relationship.   In retrospect, I wondered how we had 

managed to work so long together without ever exchanging a cross word.   It was really quite simple 

however, for Alan was a true gentleman and whereas I had always regarded him as my senior colleague

he had always treated me as his equal.   It was this special quality of respect and consideration for others

which so endeared him to patients and staff at Bexley.   His nursing colleagues particularly loved him

for he never failed to take them into his confidence and to be considerate of the problems they might

have to face.

If I have made him sound rather solemn, all of you who knew him will realise that the truth

was quite different.   He had a mischievous sense of fun and a lively wit.   At times, he rather enjoyed

shocking the more staid of his colleagues with some of the more outrageous sayings of his patients

and he was not without entirely amiable eccentricity.

It is a measure of the affection in which he was held that, although it is more than 10 years

since he retired, I doubt that a day passes in Bexley Hospital without someone retelling some of his

doings or his sayings.   Incidentally, I have never heard anyone pass a derogatory comment about

Alan and, by the same token, he seldom, if ever, spoke ill of anyone.   If Alan could say nothing

good of someone in my experience, he said nothing.

It is a measure of the respect we had for him that long after his retirement he was much in

demand to assist in research enterprises of all different kinds and to contribute editorials to the 

British Medical Journal.

Alan Norton is no longer with us.  All at Bexley would wish me to offer our heartfelt 

sympathies and sincere condolences to his wife, his family and his friends.   He will be sorely missed

by the profession to which throughout his long career he brought nothing but credit but it will be

a very long time indeed before he is forgotten.

                                                                                                                    

GK Shaw July 1985