Arthur Max Horsnell

Max Horsnell was born in 1912 and qualified in dentistry at the London Hospital Medical College in 1934 and in medicine in 1939. He gained the FDS RCS [ENG] in 1949. I was told that, as a medical student, he set up a surgery near the London with second hand dental equipment to treat the many 'meths drinkers' to be found in Whitechapel at the time. He joined the RAF, becoming a squadron leader and a lecturer at the RAF Staff College.

During the war years the intake of students to the London Hospital Dental School was much reduced. In 1946 Max was among the returning ex-service men who joined the staff; first as a registrar and then as as part time senior demonstrator in conservative dentistry. He also practised with Dr Gerald Leatherman of FDI fame in his innovative practice. Max brought to us senior students a succession of new ideas, explaining them with characteristic clarity.

In 1949 he was appointed director of conservative dentistry, but a crisis arose. The school remained too small to survive and the Medical College wanted to close it. Max Horsnell, the dean Dr Clark-Kennedy, Dr Harry May and Hugh Laird, the college secretary, proposed instead that the school should be doubled in size and Max was appointed dental sub-dean.

When I returned to the London in 1952 the transformation was underway. New accommodation was designed and equipped on the second floor of Outpatients and a new extension built on the roof.

Max realised that for the school to develop further it had to take 50 students a year and for this number a new building was necessary. He was the consummate committee man with the gift of persuasion and by 1956 he had the promise of a new school, although it was to be another decade and during Neil Ward's deanship that it was built.

Max became the first chairman of the London Study Group in Children's Dentistry. This evolved into the British Paedodontic Society and Max became its first Honorary Member.

By 1958 the London Hospital Dental School was on course for success and Max left to become Professor of Dental Science in Adelaide and to work a similar miracle as Dean 'Down Under'. In 1984 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

He leaves a beloved wife Babs, four daughters, 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

G.R.S.

Peggie Denise Cartwright

Peggie Cartwright died on Saturday, 17th July 1999, just after lunch, a cup of coffee half finished by her side, as she watched the semi-finals of the British Open Golf from Carnoustie. She was a great sportswoman, a passionate follower of the arts and a most dedicated member of our profession.

Peggie was born in Blaenavon, South Wales in 1916. She showed early promise at sports and her father, a keen golfer, encouraged her golfing talents. Eventually she would play to a handicap of four.

Peggie qualified from Birmingham in 1941 and soon joined the practice of wellknown Rugby dental surgeon, Sydney Brown. He had been President of the Central Counties Branch in 1933. She took over the practice when he retired and was later joined by Ken White and Tony Collingham. She was a regular supporter of section and branch meetings of the BDA and of the Odontological section of the Birmingham Medical Institute. Membership of the Rugby Medical Society gave her much pleasure. In 1962 she was elected President of the Central Counties Branch, the first woman to hold the office.

Peggie followed all kinds of sport and she keenly followed South Wales rugby. Her greatest sporting passion was golf. She was a member of both Rugby and Coventry Finham Clubs and her golfing record includes: Member of the Warwickshire Ladies County Team that reached the English Finals in 1949; Member of the county team that won the English finals in 1954; Member of the Finham Team that won two Country Cups in both 1961 and 1962; Warwickshire County Captain — 1974-1976; County President — 1979-1984; Honorary Life Member of the county from 1988. At Rugby Club she was a member for 50 years. She won the Ladies Open 15 times and the Ladies Handicap 11 times. She was a county player for 15 years.

Peggie had a deep interest in the arts. She was a long serving guide at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. She had fond memories of her university days and she left in her will and endowment for a student prize at the dental hospital.

Peggie Cartwright was a very special person to everyone who knew her. Peggie's departure has left a very large gap in the lives of her many friends. Her end came suddenly but quietly at a time when she was still in full charge of her life.

She told me more than once during the past year that when her time came, she wished that the end would be quiet and that it should cause the minimum of upset to other people. Her wish was granted.

M.S.J.