Dashper James Arkle

Former chief medical officer and medical director Fairmile Mental Hospital, Oxfordshire (b 1920; q Oxford/Liverpool 1943; FRCP, FRCPsych; JP), died while watching television on 3 April 2000. After house jobs he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a surgeon lieutenant and served in HMS Bentinck and HMS Victory. After the war his interests turned to psychiatry and after registrar posts in Liverpool he was appointed a consultant to Fairmile where he spent the rest of his professional career. Towards the end of his career he was appointed a member of the Medical Health Review Tribunal. In Streatley he and his wife became a part of the social scene, and James served on the Bradfield and Sonning bench as a JP for many years. He was calm and unflappable, even a little set in his ways—he always had to take …