James Learmonth

Sir James Rögnvald Learmonth KCVO CBE FRSE FRCSE (1895–1967)^[1] was a Scottish surgeon who made pioneering advances in nerve surgery.^[2]

James Rögnvald Learmonth was born on 23 March 1895 in Gatehouse of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.^[3] He first studied at Girthon School where his father, William Learmonth, was headmaster, later moving to Kilmarnock Academy.^[4][5] From there, he went to the University of Glasgow to study medicine, starting in the autumn of 1913.^[2] He completed his first year, but further study was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.^[2] He served in France on the Western Front as a commissioned officer with the King's Own Scottish Borderers.^[3] By the end of the war, he had attained the rank of captain.^[2]

After the war, Learmonth returned to the University of Glasgow and added to the honours he had received in his first year, graduating in 1921.^[2] He was considered the "outstanding medical student of his year",^[5] being awarded the university's Brunton Medal.^[2] He then continued his medical training at Glasgow's Western Infirmary during 1921 and 1922.^[5] This was followed by a period of research that led to a Rockefeller Scholarship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, for the year 1924–5.^[5]

Following his research work in the US, he returned to Scotland and resumed his work at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow.^[5] He also continued to study and in 1927 he obtained his Masters in Surgery (Ch.M.) and in 1928 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.^[1] His research work led to him being invited back to the Mayo Clinic for a second time, and he worked there for the next four years.^[5]

In 1932, Learmonth chose to give up his practice in the US and returned to Scotland to take up the position of Regius Professor of Surgery at the University of Aberdeen, a position he would hold for the next six years until 1938.^[5] He then held professorships in surgery at the University of Edinburgh from 1939 until his retirement in 1956.^[1] The first was the Chair of Surgery (1939), which he then held jointly with the Regius Chair of Clinical Surgery (1946).^[1] One of his students at Edinburgh during this period was Sheila Sherlock, who became a pioneering hepatologist.^[6]

In 1949, Learmonth performed a lumbar sympathectomy on King George VI to treat the king's vascular disease (thromboangiitis obliterans).^[1][7] For this service, Learmonth was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO), being "knighted in the king's bedroom".^[5] He was also appointed as a surgeon to the King in Scotland, and following his death as a surgeon to the new Queen in Scotland from 1952 to 1960.^[3]

Learmonth's awards and honours include being appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1944),^[2] Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1945),^[3] honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1949),^[1] and chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (1951).^[1] He was elected to the Harveian Society of Edinburgh^[8] and the Aesculapian Club in 1949.^[9] He was also awarded the 1951 Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science.^[10] The corresponding Lister Oration, given at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, was delivered on 4 April 1952, and was titled 'After Fifty-Six Years'.^[11]

Learmonth was also recognised with honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degrees from the University of Glasgow (1949),^[2] the University of Strasbourg,^[2] the University of Paris,^[2] the University of St Andrews,^[1] the University of Edinburgh,^[1] the University of Oslo,^[3] and the University of Sydney.^[3] He was also made honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (1950),^[3] the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (1954),^[3] and the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (1954).^[3]

Learmonth retired in 1956 at the age of 61.^[5] He moved to Broughton with his wife, Charlotte Newell Bundy, whom he had met and married in 1925 during his first period working at the Mayo Clinic.^[1] Charlotte was the daughter of F. G. and Nellie Bundy, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, USA.^[4] They had two children, a son and a daughter.^[3] In his retirement, Learmonth worked as an assessor for the University of Glasgow.^[5] Early in 1967, Learmonth, who was a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died at his home in Broughton later that year on 27 September 1967.^[1][5]

Obituaries were published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England,^[1] The British Medical Journal,^[3] The Lancet,^[12] and the Glasgow University Gazette.^[2] One of the tributes in the British Medical Journal stated that Learmonth "ranks with William Mayo, Harvey Cushing and Geoffrey Jefferson as one of the surgical giants of our time".^[3]

• Thoughtful Surgeon: James Rognvald Learmonth (1969, edited by Donald Macleod Douglas)
• Dellon, A. Lee; Amadio, Peter C. (2000). "James R. Learmonth: The First Peripheral Nerve Surgeon". Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery. 16 (3): 213–7. doi:10.1055/s-2000-7555. PMID 10803626.