One of the things I enjoy about family history research is discovering stories that bring relatives to life.

One of the people whose story I discovered several years ago is my first cousin three times removed, James Williamson, known as Jimmy. Jimmy’s mother Jessie Reid and my 2x great-grandmother Margaret Reid were sisters.

Jimmy studied medicine at Glasgow University and had a distinguished career in two quite different fields, chest medicine and geriatric medicine. He has quite a legacy.

Combatting tuberculosis

Working in chest medicine in the early years of his career, just after World War II, Jimmy treated author George Orwell for tuberculosis. As a junior registrar he was part of a team of doctors and scientists whose task was to combat tuberculosis.

Professor Jimmy Williamson … was the last surviving member of the Edinburgh group which found the first 100% cure for tuberculosis.

In 1954 he was the last consultant to join Sir John Crofton’s team in Edinburgh. As a junior doctor he saw his wages double with the advent of the NHS …. By that time three drugs were available – streptomycin, isoniazid and PAS. Many people were cured but thousands also developed resistance to individual drugs, relapsed and died. The Edinburgh group’s approach was revolutionary using all three available TB drugs from the outset.

Rising TB notifications in Edinburgh were halved between 1954 and 1957, a feat not achieved anywhere before or since. Waiting lists disappeared and the epidemic was halted in its tracks.  Jimmy was technical director of a mass x-ray campaign in 1958 which with enormous support from newspapers and broadcasters rooted out residual TB in the city….

Many did not believe the Edinburgh group’s results. When Jimmy presented a paper at a conference in Istanbul, all the American delegates walked out. An international trial was arranged which used the Edinburgh model as a protocol. It became the gold standard for TB treatment in the developed world. Landmark trials by the Medical Research Council offered affordable treatments for developing countries.

—The History Company, ‘How the chest was won’, https://historycompany.co.uk/2013/08/04/how-the-chest-was-won/, accessed 1 June 2024.

Geriatric medicine

In 1959, the year after the death of his father, Jimmy moved into geriatric medicine. It was a change in speciality which apparently shocked his colleagues. He was an early advocate for ageing at home and research into the medical needs of older people remaining in their homes. He led this field and was “described by one colleague as the founding father of British geriatric medicine, revolutionising the care of older people”.

Jimmy held the position of Chair of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Liverpool, and was appointed the first Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he was later Professor Emeritus. He was also Chairman of Age Concern Scotland and President of the British Geriatrics Society.

As someone involved with significant medical innovation and research, an oral history interview (almost two and a half hours in length) was recorded with Jimmy in 1997 for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. It gives wonderful insight into his life and career, as well as British medical history, complete with unique anecdotes and a little sense of his personality. A perfect goldmine for a family historian!

Selected references

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, ‘James Williamson’,
https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/james-williamson,
accessed 27 May 2024.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, ‘Professor James Williamson FRCP Edin’, https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/membership/obituary/professor-james-williamson-frcp-edin, accessed 27 May 2024.

‘James Williamson interview’, The Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, https://youtu.be/9IafmeL1Zh4, accessed 27 May 2024.

The Scotsman, ‘George Orwell was administered ‘miracle new drug’ by Scots doctor’, https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/george-orwell-was-administered-miracle-new-drug-by-scots-doctor-1648315, accessed 1 June 2024.

The History Company, ‘How the chest was won’, https://historycompany.co.uk/2013/08/04/how-the-chest-was-won/, accessed 1 June 2024.

BBC, ‘TB treatment pioneer Prof Jimmy Williamson dies aged 92’, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23275792, accessed 7 July 2019.

The Herald, ‘Scot who helped find TB cure dies’, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13113473.scot-helped-find-tb-cure-dies/, accessed 7 July 2019.

The Herald, ‘James Williamson’, https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13115561.james-williamson/, accessed 7 July 2019.

60 Years of NHS in Scotland, ‘Tuberculosis’, https://60yearsofnhsscotland.co.uk/history/public-health-challenges/health-improvement/tuberculosis/index.html, accessed 1 June 2024.

60 Years of NHS in Scotland, ‘Professor Jimmy Williamson George Orwell as a patient’, https://60yearsofnhsscotland.co.uk/history/public-health-challenges/health-improvement/tuberculosis/index.html, accessed 1 June 2024.