Robert Fortescue Fox

Robert Fortescue Fox FRCP (1858–1940) was a British physician, surgeon, and one of the founders of physical medicine and rehabilitation.[1]

Robert Fortescue Fox
Born(1858-12-24)24 December 1858
Stoke Newington
Died15 June 1940(1940-06-15) (aged 81)
London
NationalityUnited Kingdom
OccupationPhysician and medical editor
Known forPrinciples and Practice of Medical Hydrology (1913)

Biography

R. Fortescue Fox qualified MRCS in 1882 at the London Hospital in 1882 and was house physician to Sir Andrew Clark.[1] However, Fox developed tuberculosis, and went on a voyage to China as a ship's surgeon. Upon his return he went to Strathpeffer Spa in Ross-shire, where he recovered his health, practised medicine, and gained knowledge of balneology.[2] In 1905 he returned to London and in 1913 published Principles and Practice of Medical Hydrology, adding to his reputation as an authority on British and foreign spas.[1]

During the 1914-1918 War his specialised practice vanished and he concentrated on the care of the disabled. He insisted on the value of various forms of baths and exercise for the restoration of injured limbs; he wrote Physical Remedies for Disabled Soldiers (1917), worked with Sir Robert Jones at the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, Shepherd’s Bush, and introduced the "whirlpool " arm and leg baths.[1]

Robert Fortescue Fox, the most prominent British figure in twentieth-century spa medicine, promoted the use of the term, 'medical hydrology', which he defined as 'the science of waters, vapours, and mineral deposits in connection with waters, as used in medicine, both by internal administration and in the form of baths and applications ...[3]

He was a strong advocate of treatment and training of the disabled war veterans, and became the first medical director of the Enham Village Centre,[1] which opened in 1919.[4] He continued as director for a year. Fox was instrumental in the creation of the British Red Cross Clinic for Rheumatism. He was one of the founders of the British Health Resorts Association. He was mainly responsible for the creation of the International Society of Medical Hydrology in 1921 and edited the Archives of Medical Hydrology for several years from 1922. He was elected FRCP in 1925.[1]

R. Fortescue Fox's father was the seventh son of Quaker surgeon Joseph John Fox,[1] who came from an unbroken line of Quaker doctors for five generations. All of the seven sons became doctors.[2] The third son was Richard Hingston Fox, FRCP.[1] Robert Fortescue Fox married Katherine Stewart MacDougall (1860–1937) and was the father of three daughters and three sons. The three daughters were Constance Mary (1886–1965), Hilda Angell (1887–1966), and Charlotte Iris (1890–1926). The three sons were William Fortescue (1892–1897), Andrew Stewart (1893–1915), and Theodore Fortescue (1899–1989). Andrew Stewart Fox was killed in action in WWI.

Selected publications

References
  1. "Robert Fortescue Fox". Munk's Roll, Volume IV, Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Physicians.
  2. Hinsdale, Guy (1940). "Obituary. Dr. R. Fortescue Fox, F.R.C.P". Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 56: xlii–xliii. PMC 2242207.
  3. Berridge, Virginia; Gorsky, Martin, eds. (2011). ""Healthy Places and Healthy Regimens: British Spas 1918–1950" by Jane M. Adams". Environment, Health and History. pp. 113–132. (quote from p. 117)
  4. "The opening of Enham Village Centre". Br Med J. 2 (3071): 610. 8 November 1919. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3071.610. PMC 2343851. PMID 20769695.
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