Anne Riches
BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7491.604-c (Published 10 March 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:604
Data supplement
Anne Rosemary Riches
Former general practitioner London and specialist in the care of the menopause (b 19 November 1929; q Middlesex Hospital 1956), died from breast cancer on 8 February 2005.Dr Anne Riches died on 8 February 2005 from carcinoma of the breast, which was diagnosed in July last year and which progressed with devastating fury.
Anne was the eldest daughter of Sir Eric Riches, urologist at the Middlesex Hospital and vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Qualifying at the Middlesex in 1956 she was house physician to Dr George Hadley, who expected her to carry his pipe and tobacco in her white coat at all times!
After a period in accident surgery at the Whittington she settled in general practice in Pimlico, eventually becoming principal, where she ministered to leading members of the church and state as well as the students at St Thomas’.
Anne developed a special interest in the care of women after the menopause and her expertise was greatly valued in the menopause clinic at the Westminster and later at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she was still an active member of Professor John Studd’s department. She was also an assistant in the menopause clinic at the Elizabeth Garret Anderson Hospital for Women, Soho, and a joint founder of the menopause clinic at St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy.
Anne was a dedicated sailor and a member of the Little Ship Club, the only yacht club in the city on the river, and she was elected commodore in 1997, a post that she filled for four years.
She was also an active liveryman of the Society of Apothecaries.
In 1988 she was invited to be the medical officer to the FANY, Princess Royal Volunteer Corps, and was commissioned as a captain. Each year she attended the camp, which enabled the members to engage in the rigours of the assault course.
Finally she was the current president of the Medical Society of London and gave her presidential address on 10 January, just a month before she died, on the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, First Anywhere. This was delivered with great panache and few knew she was mortally ill.
Her marriage to the late Dr John Miles Thomas was dissolved and there were no children. [Michael Pugh]