Arthur Joseph Wrigley

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

MD FRCS FRCOG (5 May 1902 – 18 December 1983), known as Joe, was an English obstetrician and gynaecologist after whom the Wrigley forceps are named.Wrigley, Arthur Joseph (1902-1983)
, ''

Plarr's Lives of the Fellows ''Plarr's Lives of the Fellows'' is a biographical register of the fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promo ...

'' (identifier: RCS: E007750).A. J. Wrigley CBE, MD, FRCS, FRCOG
, ''British Medical Journal'', vol. 288 (14 January 1984), p. 156.Wrigley, Arthur Joseph (1902-1983)
, ''Eponyms and Names in Obstetrics and Gynaecology'' (Cambridge University Press, 2019), pp. 459-460.

Family and education

Born in

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, Wrigley was the elder son of the Rev. Canon Joseph Henry Wrigley, Vicar of Clitheroe, and Alice Hyde Bartlett. He was educated at

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School Clitheroe Royal Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school in the town of Clitheroe in Lancashire, England, formerly an all-boys school. It was founded in 1554 as "The Free Grammar School of Philip II of Spain, King Philip and Mary I of ...

and

Rossall School Rossall School is a private Day school, day and boarding school, boarding school in the United Kingdom for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey, St Vincent Beechey as a ...

before attending

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of GKT School of Medical Education. History It was part of one of the oldest hospitals in ...

in London. In 1930 he married Ann Slater (d 1976), with whom he had one son and one daughter.

Career

Wrigley joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospit ...

in 1933 and rose to become head of the department in 1946. He also worked at the

General Lying-In Hospital The General Lying-In Hospital was one of the first maternity hospitals in Great Britain. It opened in 1767 on Westminster Bridge Road, London and closed in 1971. Lying-in is an archaic term for childbirth (referring to the month-long bed rest ...

. He was an examiner in midwifery and women's diseases for several universities and served on the Council of the

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is a professional association based in London, United Kingdom. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that is ...

. As an adviser to the Ministry of Health from 1953 to 1965, he contributed to the first four '' Reports on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in England and Wales'', which helped to improve maternity care and reduce rates of maternal and perinatal mortality.

Wrigley's forceps

In the 1930s a pair of obstetric forceps was discovered in the basement of St Thomas's that were similar to those used by the 18th-century

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

William Smellie. Wrigley asked the instrument-maker

Allen & Hanburys Allen and Hanburys Ltd was a British pharmaceutical manufacturer, absorbed by GlaxoSmithKline, Glaxo Laboratories in 1958. GlaxoSmithKline, its successor company, used the Allen and Hanburys name for the specialist respiratory division until b ...

to adapt them by shortening the handle and adding a pelvic curve. He advocated the use of shortened forceps and published his findings in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

''.A. Joseph Wrigley, "The forceps operation", ''The Lancet'', vol. 226, issue 5848 (28 September 1935), pp. 702-705.

Recognition

Wrigley was a Fellow of both the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgery, surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wa ...

and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as well as a liveryman of the

Worshipful Society of Apothecaries The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London is one of the livery companies of the City of London. It is one of the largest livery companies (with over 1,600 members in 2012) and ranks 58th in their order of precedence. The society is a me ...

. He was made a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, shortly before he retired.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrigley, Arthur Joseph 1902 births 1983 deaths English obstetricians English gynaecologists People educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School People educated at Rossall School Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School Physicians of St Thomas' Hospital Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Commanders of the Order of the British Empire