Alan Ralph Norton

Formerly Consultant Psychiatrist, Bexley and Lewisham Hospitals

 

Dr.Alan Ralph Norton died at the age of 75 on 12th June 1985 after a short illness. He was formerly ConsultantPsychiatrist to Bexley and Lewisham Hospitals.  

Alan Norton was a Londoner, his father being a GP in Kennington, where

the family lived.   He came from a medical family, grandfather, father and a sister having all been doctors.

He was educated at Rossall School and Queen's College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1934 with a first in physiology.  Subsequently he went to St Thomas' Hospital for his clinical training and qualified BM, BCh in 1937.   For a time he assisted his father and sister in the family practice; but his interest was already in psychiatry, and he secured a post at the Bethlem Royal Hospital.   He had a fund of stories of the gentlemanly status of doctors and of the eccentric upper class chronic patients at that august institution as it then was.

From 1941 to 1946 he served in the RAF, most of the time as a neuropsychiatrist.  

After demobilization he attended the National Hospital, Queen Square, to complete his DPM preparation, and after a short term at St Thomas' he was appointed to the London Hospital where he worked under Dr Henry Wilson for whom he had a lasting affection and regard.   He obtained his DM in 1947 with a thesis assessing the commonly accepted causes of mental abnormality.   In 1951 he was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist to Bexley Hospital and Lewisham Hospital, where he served until his retirement in 1973.   He was a foundation Fellow of the College.

Alan was a most kind, humane, considerate and patient psychiatrist.   He loved the science and art of psychiatry, and his patients loved him.   His colleagues, hospital and GP admired his balance, knowledge and common sense, and enjoyed his 

keen sense of humour.   He was the author of a number of papers on psychiatry and mental health policy, of BMJ "leaders" until recently , and of a well reviewed book for the layman, The New Dimensions of Medicine (1969). 

Alan enjoyed a happy family life, was something of a gourmet and oenophile, a keen traveller and talented photographer.   He loved the company of 

friends and was a lively host.

He is survived by his wife, three daughters and eight grandchildren.

 

                                                                     DML - British Medical Journal 1985

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