Robert Hugh Cawley

Emeritus professor of psychological medicine Institute of Psychiatry and King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry (b 1924; q Birmingham 1955; FRCPsych, FRCP), d 21 April 1999. Bob was judged too frail to study medicine, but after obtaining a zoology degree and a PhD in medical statistics he worked his way triumphantly through medical school. He was a senior lecturer in Birmingham, consultant psychiatrist to the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley, and professor in 1975. He found time to take on his share of administrative work, served on the Medical Research Council, was consultant adviser to the Department of Health and Social Security and to the Royal Air Force, and was chief examiner for seven years for the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Throughout his life he suffered debilitating illnesses, including myocardial infarctions from his early 40s. He viewed himself first and foremost as a clinician, and must be rare among psychiatrists to have had his treatment of a patient enshrined in a book by Janet Frame, later made into the film, Angel at my Table. Bob was a staunch advocate equally of psychotherapy and of drug treatments, undertaking research into both. An MRC multicentre trial of drug treatments in depressive illness was followed by attempts at the comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of dynamically oriented psychotherapy. He wrote on the planning of district psychiatric services and on psychiatric education. He had great charm and a love of literature and music. He leaves a wife, Ann.

[W A Lishman]

John David Ebsworth

Consultant anaesthetist University College Hospital London, 1946-79 (b south Wales 1914; q Guy's 1937; DA, FFARCS), d 5 April 1999. David was a civilian medical officer at the RAF Hospital, Halton, and at the outbreak of the war he joined the Royal Air Force medical service and served in various base hospitals. …