1936-2023

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Mr Lamb, a former Consultant in Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at Addenbrookes and Peterborough District Hospitals (APDH) for 28 years, fully retired in September 2003, spending his retirement in the hamlet of Brooke, Rutland. Borne in Charlton, London he went to The King's School, Canterbury which formed the backbone of his moral compass and his drive for excellence in all that he undertook. Bill, as he was known from an early age, qualified in dentistry and then medicine and surgery at Guy's Hospital, and after junior appointments including a stint as a Casualty Officer, was appointed rotating Senior Registrar at the ‘Plastic and Jaw Injuries Centre' at The Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead and at Guy's.

In 1969 he was seconded, for six months, to Kaduna, Nigeria during the Biafran Civil War to develop and run that country's only maxillofacial surgery unit, attached to the Armed Forces Base Hospital. In 1971, he was appointed Consultant at APDH and took on the task of establishing a maxillofacial surgery unit at Peterborough, with satellite units in Stamford, Wisbech, King's Lynn, Papworth and Doddington. During the 1970s, he advised on the design and later oversaw the commissioning of a new Maxillofacial Surgery Department at Peterborough which incorporated, for the first time, a fully equipped Day Surgery Unit, including a recovery ward within the Maxillofacial Surgery Outpatient Clinic Suite.

Bill was a member of several Regional Committees, including those for manpower and postgraduate education, and in 1974 he was appointed Regional Postgraduate Dean for the Dental Specialties, a post he held until 1980. He was very keen on the establishment of a Clinical Medical School at Addenbrookes, and he worked with many others to bring this about. Throughout his 32 years as a consultant, he provided an on-call emergency service for patients, who had sustained facial and jaw injuries across Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire. Bill was elected President of the Eastern Counties Branch of the BDA in 1982, a position he was very proud to hold.

Upon retirement, he undertook a master's degree in medical law at Hertfordshire University where he graduated in 2001 with much pride. His relaxed and friendly manner, communication skills, wide experience and expertise will be greatly missed, especially by his head and neck cancer patients, with whom he developed a special relationship. He will be sadly missed by his wife Margaret, his sons Henry and Edward, and his four grandchildren.

Henry Lamb