Charles Symonds
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Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...
Sir Charles Putnam Symonds (11 April 1890 – 7 December 1978) was an English
neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...
and a senior medical officer in the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
. His initial medical training was at
Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...
, followed by specialised training at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Contributions to neurology by Symonds include a highly accurate description of
subarachnoid haemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Symptoms may include a severe headache of rapid onset, vomiting, decreased level of c ...
in 1924, and
idiopathic intracranial hypertension Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), previously known as pseudotumor cerebri and benign intracranial hypertension, is a condition characterized by increased intracranial pressure (pressure around the brain) without a detectable cause. The m ...
(which he termed "otitic hydrocephalus") in 1931. He served in both the
First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
and
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
s, initially in the ranks as a motorcycle
despatch rider A despatch rider (or dispatch) is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle (and occasionally in Egypt during World War I, on camels). In the UK 'despatch rider' is also a term used for a motorcycle courier. Despatch riders were use ...
on the Western Front. After being wounded and invalided back to the United Kingdom, he completed his basic medical training and served as a medical officer, both on the front lines and attached to the
Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
at Farnborough. In the mid-1930s he became a civilian
consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...
to the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
and on the outbreak of the Second World War was commissioned as a
group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...
. By the end of the war he held the acting rank of
air vice marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...
and had been
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
ed.


Early life

Symonds was born in London on 11 April 1890 to the Canadian-born Sir Charters Symonds, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, and his wife, Fanny Marie (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Shaw). Symonds was educated at
Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
and then proceeded to New College,
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
on a
classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
scholarship. He soon changed his degree course to medicine, and took a
second class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...
degree in
physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
in 1912. He then continued his medical training at Guy's on a scholarship.


First World War

On the outbreak of the First World War, Symonds left his medical studies and joined the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
, serving as a despatch rider in the motorcycle section of the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
. Attached to the 1st Division (sources are unclear if this was 1st Division or 1st Cavalry Division), he saw action at the
Retreat from Mons The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...
, then in the battles of Marne and
Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...
. He was wounded at the start of the
Race to the Sea The Race to the Sea (; , ) took place from 17 September to 19 October 1914 during the First World War, after the Battle of the Frontiers () and the German Empire, German advance into France. The invasion had been stopped at the First Battle of ...
in September 1914, and was awarded the
Médaille militaire The ''Médaille militaire'' (, "Military Medal") is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, ...
, and then returned to his medical studies at Guy's. He qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) early in 1915, and was then commissioned into the
Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...
. He was initially attached to the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough, gaining his first experience of
aviation medicine Aviation medicine, also called flight medicine or aerospace medicine, is a preventive or occupational medicine in which the patients/subjects are pilots, aircrews, or astronauts. The specialty strives to treat or prevent conditions to which air ...
. In this role he also regularly visited
Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...
where he worked with
Edgar Adrian Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (30 November 1889 – 4 August 1977) was an English electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neuron ...
, a neurologist, and this was when he decided to specialise in neurology himself. He married Janet (née Palmer), daughter of
Edward Bagnall Poulton Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS HFRSE FLS (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist, a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its ...
in 1915, they were to have two sons, one of whom was the political satirist Richard Symonds. After his MRCP in 1916 he returned to France with 101 Field Ambulance and medical officer to 1st
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
, the
Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...
, and was promoted temporary
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
on 8 May 1916, He resigned his commission on the grounds of ill-health contracted on active service on 2 February 1919.


Inter-war years

Symonds completed his medical studies in 1919, gaining his
MB BCh A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...
and also his Oxford
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
and
Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...
. He was then appointed to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and in 1920 to Guy's as assistant physician for nervous diseases. His first wife died in 1919. In 1920 he received a Radcliffe travelling fellowship, which he used to travel to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, studying
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
with Adolf Meyer at
Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...
,
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
and
neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...
with
Harvey Cushing Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgery, neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cush ...
at the
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...
,
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. In America he met and married his second wife Edythe Eva (née Dorton), with whom he had two sons. He contributed the neurological section to ''Practice of Medicine'' (12th edn, 1922 ed. Sir Frederick Taylor). In Boston, he described
subarachnoid haemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Symptoms may include a severe headache of rapid onset, vomiting, decreased level of c ...
in 1924, in which year he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...
(FRCP). He returned to the National Hospital in London in 1926, and was also appointed consultant in neurology to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. From his observations of patients in these hospitals he published his description of what he named "otitic hydrocephalus" in 1931. The condition is now known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension.


Second World War

Having been appointed a civilian consultant in neurology to the RAF in 1934, he was commissioned as a group captain on 11 September 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War. He initially worked on the RAF medical boards at the RAF's Central Medical Establishment,
RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...
, and organised the establishment of the Military Hospital for Head Injuries at
St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...
in partnership with Hugh Cairns. As the war progressed, much of his work centred on a condition called "flying stress", with Denis Williams he analysed over 3000 case studies leading to the report ''Clinical and Statistical Study of Neurosis Precipitated by Flying Duties'' for which Symonds was awarded the 1949 Raymond F. Longacre award, administered by the U.S.
Aerospace Medical Association The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is the largest professional organization in the fields of aviation, space, and environmental medicine. The AsMA membership includes aerospace and hyperbaric medical specialists, scientists, flight nurses ...
(AsMA), for scientific contribution to aviation medicine. He was appointed
Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...
(CB) in the 1944
New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
, by which time he was an acting
air commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...
and on 16 January he was promoted acting air vice marshal. He retired from the RAF in 1945, and was appointed
Knight 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 ...
(KBE) in the
1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginn ...
.


Later life

Symonds then returned to hospital practice, publishing more important papers, and becoming a highly regarded teacher. In 1952, he was appointed Sir Arthur Sims
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
travelling professor for 1953, visiting Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This was followed by appointments as visiting professor in San Francisco, and at the
Montreal Neurological Institute The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospital system i ...
. He was visiting neurologist at Johns Hopkins; an honorary member of both the
American Neurological Association The American Neurological Association (ANA) is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic ...
and the New York Neurological Association; corresponding member of the Société de Neurologie de Paris; president of both the neurological and psychiatric sections of the
Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...
(RSM); and an honorary fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...
. In 1954, he gave the Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians on 18 October and, in 1956, was elected president on the Association of British Neurologists. He retired from practice in 1963, moving to Ham, Wiltshire and was elected an honorary fellow of the RSM in 1964. In retirement, he enjoyed bird-watching and fly-fishing. He continued to publish, in particular a 1970 edition of his own papers entitled ''Studies in Neurology''. He died in
Totteridge Totteridge is a residential area and former village in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a mixture of suburban development and open land (including some farmland) situated 8 miles (13 km) north north-west of Charing Cross. It ...
, north London on 7 December 1978.


References


External links


Entry at Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

National Register of Archives entry
from
The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, Charles Putnam 1890 births 1978 deaths People educated at Rugby School Military personnel from London British neurologists Alumni of New College, Oxford Royal Army Medical Corps officers Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II British Army personnel of World War I Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Charters Symonds family Royal Air Force Medical Service officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Poulton family