Date of death: 24 July 1971
Year James Spence Medal awarded: 1960
Sir Alan Moncrieff KBE received the first James Calvert Spence Medal of the British Paediatric Association.
He trained at Middlesex Hospital and remained as house-officer and registrar, as well as working at the Hospital for Sick Children, Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital Paris, Germany, and with the Red Cross. It was at the British Postgraduate Hospital, Hammersmith, where he developed the premature-baby unit, and became a consultant for newborns at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Willesden.
He wrote many articles and books, and was The Times’ medical correspondent for a number of years. He became first chair in child health at the University of London and Great Ormond Street, chairman of the Central Midwives Board, director of the Institute of Child Health, chairman of the Medical Research Council, and President of the British Paediatric Society, as well as numerous other boards and committees.
He greatly impacted the field of paediatrics, especially social areas, and was appointed CBE and knighted.