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Clifford Morson

Pioneered radiotherapy for cancer of the urinary tract

Albert Clifford Morson (1881 - 1975) was educated at Haileybury College. He became a student at The Middlesex Hospital in 1901, qualifying in 1906.


On 1 January 1907, he was appointed House Surgeon to Bland-Sutton and Sampson Handley. In 1910, he became Junior House Surgeon at St Peter’s Hospital and, in 1911, he returned to the Middlesex as Research Scholar and Cancer Registrar.

He was an original member of the RNVR (London Division), which he joined in 1903, and, at the outbreak of war in 1914, he took on full naval duties. He saw service in Gallipoli and, on 19 August 1919, Surgeon Lieutenant Albert Clifford Morson FRCS, RN was awarded the OBE for valuable services in several of HM Ships and Hospital Ships during the War and at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar.

After the War, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to St Peter’s Hospital with Swift JolyPeter FreyerThomson Walker, and Swinford Edwards. He became full surgeon to St Peter’s in 1923.

His early observations with radium, whilst Cancer Registrar at The Middlesex, made him a pioneer in the development of radiotherapy for malignant disease of the urinary tract.

In 1933, he was President of the Section of Urology of the Royal Society of Medicine and, in 1947, the second President of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He became the first Director of Studies at the Institute of Urology and was Chairman of the Academic Board.

He was the driving force in linking the "three P’s”; St Peter'sSt Paul's and St Phillip's Hospitals. During his retirement he wrote the definitive history of St Peter's.

He died on 5 January 1975, aged 93.

Papers and articles about Clifford Morson

Reference Letter
Written by Sir Peter Freyer in 1917 after Morson's post as a House Officer
Click here to read the letter

Biographical Article
Eric Riches biography from the British Journal of Urology in 1954
Click here to read the article

Obituary
Clifford Morson's obituary from The Lancet in 1975
Click here to read the obituary

Papers and articles by Clifford Morson

"Memories of Lord Lister" (with Basil Morson)
An article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1971
Click here to read the article

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Tags

Morson    radiotherapy    RSM    Three P's    urinary    world war