Cyril Clarke

Sir Cyril Clarke
Born	(1907-08-22)22 August 1907 Leicester,England
Died	21 November 2000(2000-11-21)(aged 93) West Kirby,England
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius CollegeandGuy's Hospital
Occupation(s)	Professor of Medicine and consultant physician
Known for	Pioneering work on prevention ofRh disease, andgeneticsofLepidoptera
Spouse	Lady Frieda (or Féo) Clarke (m. 1935–1998)
Children	3 sons: Miles, Charles, John
Awards	Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research(1980) Buchanan Medal(1990)
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine andgenetics
Institutions	Liverpool University

Sir Cyril Astley Clarke,KBE,FRCP,FRCOG,(Hon)FRC Path,FRS(22 August 1907 – 21 November 2000) was a British physician,geneticistandlepidopterist.He was honoured for his pioneering work on prevention ofRh diseaseof the newborn, and also for his work on the genetics of theLepidoptera(butterfliesandmoths).

Biography

Cyril Clarke was born on 22 August 1907 in Leicester, England and received his school education atWyggeston Grammar School for Boys,Leicesterand at the independentOundle SchoolnearPeterborough.His interest in butterflies and moths began at school. His studied natural science atGonville and Caius College, Cambridge,graduating in 1929, and then medicine atGuy's Hospital,London, graduating in 1932.During theSecond World Warhe worked as a medical specialist in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve.After the war Clarke worked as a registrar at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and then as Consultant Physician at the United Liverpool Hospitals. In 1963 he was appointed Director of the Nuffield Unit of Medical Genetics based at the University of Liverpool and two years later was made Professor of Medicine. He held these posts until his retirement in 1972. In retirement he served as President of theRoyal College of Physicians(1972–1977)

Clarke helped to develop the technique of giving Rh-negative women inter-muscular injections of anti-RhDantibodiesduring pregnancy to prevent Rh disease in their newborn babies. This was one of the major advances inpreventive medicinein the second half of the 20th century.

Clarke answered an advert in the Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society forswallowtail butterflypupaethat had been placed byPhilip Sheppard.They met and began working together in their common interest of lepidoptery. From 1959 they started running a moth trap in Caldy Common nearWest Kirby,Wirral,England. They studied thepeppered moth,thescarlet tiger mothandswallowtail butterfly.They published papers on the genetics of Lepidoptera and also onRh disease.Clarke continued research in his retirement and in 1988 he rediscovered a scarlet tiger moth colony on the Wirral Way, West Kirby, that had been started in 1961 by Philip Sheppard. The colony was useful for study of the genetics of changes in populations.

He married Frieda (or Féo) in 1934. Lady Clarke died in 1998. Cyril Clarke died in 2000. They had three sons, one of whom is a consultant neurologist.

Career and awards

• Second World War– Medic inRoyal NavyVolunteer Reserve
• 1947 to 1958 – Part-time Clinical Lecturer at Liverpool University, England.
• 1958 to 1965 – Reader at Liverpool University, England.
• 1965 to 1972 – Professor of Medicine atLiverpool University,England. Later, Honorary Nuffield Research Fellow, Department of Genetics and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Liverpool. Director, Research Unit, Royal College of Physicians of London.
• 1967 –Lumleian lectureto Royal College of Physicians onPrevention of Rh-Haemolytic Disease

Awards and accolades

• 1969 –Order of the British Empire(CBE)
• 19 March 1970 –Fellow of the Royal Society(FRS)
• 1972 to 1977 – President of theRoyal College of Physicians of London.
• 1974 –Knighted
• 1977 –Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 1980 –Lasker Award– Prof Cyril Clarke, together with DrRonald Finn,Dr John Gorman, Dr Vincent Freda, and Dr William Pollack were jointly awarded theAlbert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Researchfor their pioneering work on therhesus blood group system,the role of rhesus Dantibodiesin the causation ofRh diseaseand the prevention of Rh disease.
• 1981 –Linnean Medalfrom theLinnean Society of London.
• 1990 –Buchanan Medalfrom theRoyal Societyof the United Kingdom for work onhaemolytic disease of the newborn.
• 1992 – Honorary Degree given by theCollege of William and Mary,Williamsburg,Virginia,United States.

Bibliography

• Professor Sir Cyril (A.) Clarke (1987),Human Genetics and Medicine(3rd ed.), London: Edward Arnold,ISBN0-7131-2944-1

See also

• Peppered moth evolution

Bibliography

• Obituary on Liverpool University website – includes a photograph
• [1]
• 1980 Lasker award to Prof Cyril Clarke
• RCP Presidents