Dr Richard Caton CBE(1920) MB CM Edin(1867) MD Hon LLD Liverp Edin Hon Doctor Padua FRCP(1888) | |
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| Born | 26 July 1842 Bradford, England |
| Died | January 2, 1926(1926-01-02) (aged 83) Haslemere, England |
| Education | Scarborough Grammar School Edinburgh University |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, professor of physiology, Lord Mayor of Liverpool (1907–08), Pro-vice-chancellor of University of Liverpool |
| Known for | Research into electrophysiology, medical education |
| Spouse | Annie Ivory (1855–1912) |
| Children | Anne Rose, Mildred Robina |
| Parent(s) | Richard Caton, M.D (1809–1852), Mary Fawcett (1811–1873) |
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Richard Caton (1842,Bradford – 1926), ofLiverpool, England, was a British physician,physiologist andLord Mayor of Liverpool who was crucial in discovering the electrical nature of the brain and laid the groundwork forHans Berger to discoveralpha wave activity in the human brain.[1][2]
Richard Caton was born inBradford, son of Richard Caton M.D. and Mary Fawcett. He had a younger sister, Sarah (1846–1872). His father gave up his medical practice through ill health and moved toScarborough where he died. Following this, the family returned to his mother's former home of Halifax. Caton became a boarder atScarborough Grammar School where he developed a life-long love of the classics, reflected in later life when he wrote a number of papers onAncient Greek medicine. Leaving school at sixteen, he worked in the Halifax and Huddersfield Bank but had to leave due to ill health. The medical treatment he received sparked an interest in practising medicine himself. In 1863 after receiving a small legacy from an aunt, he and his mother were able to move to Scotland where he attendedEdinburgh Medical School qualifying MB in 1867, FRCP in 1868, and MD in 1870.[1][2]
After graduating, Caton was resident at theEdinburgh Royal Infirmary and theRoyal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. He moved to Liverpool in 1868 and became assistant physician toThe Liverpool Infirmary for Children. He was physician to theNorthern Hospital, Liverpool from 1876 to 1886, and physician to theLiverpool Royal Infirmary from 1886 to 1902, where he became consulting physician upon his retirement. He was Vice-Chairman of theLiverpool School of Tropical Medicine from its foundation in 1899.[1][2]
In 1869 Dr Richard Caton was Demonstrator in Comparative Anatomy at theLiverpool Royal Infirmary School of Medicine which at the time allowed degrees to be taken atUniversity of London. He became part-time Demonstrator in Physiology in 1871. He played a crucial part in the expansion of the medical school, which included a physiology laboratory opened in 1873. At an introductory address to medical students that year he reported that "it may now fairly be said that for its size there is no school in the country more fully equipped for the work of medical teaching, in all its scientific and practical departments."[1][3]
Dr Richard Caton played a key role in establishing higher education in Liverpool. In November 1877, a joint meeting was held between theLiverpool Association for the Promotion of Higher Education and the Council of the School of Medicine to look to establishing a University in Liverpool. That same year,Experimental physics was included in the syllabus for London University degrees, which Liverpool could not provide. Thus,University College Liverpool was established byRoyal charter in 1881. The Royal Infirmary School of Medicine initially kept its independence, but in 1884 became theFaculty of medicine when University College was affiliated toVictoria University, along withOwen's College, Manchester andYorkshire College, Leeds. Victoria University had the power to award medical degrees with its own syllabus requirements.
Caton worked as part-time Professor of Physiology from 1882 to 1891. WhenGeorge Holt, the shipping line owner, endowed the Chair of Physiology at University College Liverpool in 1891 as a full-time appointment, Caton resigned in favour ofFrancis Gotch (1853–1913) who was succeeded in 1895 byCharles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952). An appeal for funds in 1887, which included £50 from Caton, allowed the construction of theVictoria Building in 1892 on the site of the former lunatic asylum on Brownlow Hill.[2][4]
Dr Richard Caton was on the Court of Governors of the University from the start. He and others lobbied hard for an independentUniversity of Liverpool which was achieved in 1903. Manchester and Leeds followed in 1904. In 1903, women were also granted the opportunity to be awarded degrees.
Caton was the first representative of Liverpool University on theGeneral Medical Council— an office that he occupied until his death. He was aPro-vice-chancellor of the University from 1921 to 1924, and served for a time asDean of the Faculty of Medicine.[1][2]
On 4 August 1875 Caton reported to theBritish Medical Association in Edinburgh (Caton 1875) that he had used agalvanometer to observe electrical impulses from the surfaces of living brains in the rabbit and monkey.(Smith 1970)(Finger 1994). After Caton died,Hans Berger was one of few to recognise his importance and cited him in his 1929 report on the discovery of Alpha waves. He wrote:
Caton had already (1874) published experiments on the brains of dogs and apes in which bare unipolar electrodes were placed either on the surface of both hemispheres or one electrode on the cerebral cortex and the other on the surface of the skull. The currents were measured by a sensitive galvanometer. There were found distinct variations in current, which increased during sleep and with the onset of death strengthened, and after death became weaker and then completely disappeared. Caton could show that strong current variations resulted in brain from light shone into the eyes, and he speaks already of the conjecture that under the circumstances these cortical currents could be applied to localization within the cortex of the brain — (Berger 1929).
Caton wrote a number of clinical papers for theBritish Medical Association, which arose from observations during his clinical practice. He wrote on such diverse topics as intestinal antisepsis,acromegaly,rheumaticendocarditis,cardiac dilatation and hypertrophy. He also developed his interest in the classics, giving a lecture to theRoyal Institution, London, in 1898 on the topic of theexcavations carried out by European and Americanarchaeologists who deciphered inscriptions and restored buildings such as theTemple of Asklepios at Epidauros. In 1904, he gave his firstHarveian lecture to theRoyal College of Physicians on the topic ofearly Egyptian medicine.[2]
Dr Richard Caton was also President of theLiverpool Medical Institution (1896) where his portrait by G. Chowne hangs. He was President of theLiverpool Athenaeum Club. Caton was a founder-member of the Physiological Society (31 March 1876, London). In 1885 he was elected to the Clinical Society of London. He was Lord Mayor of Liverpool in 1907-8 and marked his term in office by presenting theUniversity of Liverpool with a ceremonial mace. He was awarded an honorary LL.D degree from Edinburgh in 1908, from Liverpool in 1909 and from Padua in 1922. Padua was also where he represented Liverpool at the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the University. A committed Anglican, he served on the York House of Laymen. He was also on the building committee for the newAnglican Cathedral in Liverpool. He was alive to see the first stone laid in 1904. By his death in 1926, the altar, chancel and transepts were in place; the building was finally completed in 1978.[2]
TheLiverpool Royal Infirmary School of Medicine Debating Society (M.S.D.S.) was founded by staff and students at the medical school on 20 October 1874. This led to the formation of theMedical Students Society (M.S.S.) when its name was changed in 1943. Caton was elected its inaugural president, chairing the society's debates and taking detailed minutes. On Saturday 21 November 1874 Caton opened the proceedings with an address in which he expressed the prophetic opinion that "the Debating Society was destined to be one of the permanent institutions in the School of Medicine."[5][6]
Educational activities included the presenting of both cases and specimens on a variety of medical and surgical subjects. Students presented papers on a range of topics includingwomen in medicine, the medicinal benefits ofcorsets,germ theory and the theories ofLister's anti-sepsis,miasma theory,Spiritualism,galvanism andgrammar school education.[7]
Caton's enthusiasm for his students' education is demonstrated in 1875 when he describes what "excellent exercise it was to place their thoughts on paper and thoroughly to investigate any subject for the benefit of their fellow Student."[8]
In 1869, Dr Richard Caton moved from Edinburgh to Liverpool, where he lived for the rest of his life. His mother died at his house in Abercromby Square in 1873. In 1885 he married Annie Ivory (1855–1912), daughter of an Edinburgh Solicitor. They had two daughters, Anne Rose and Mildred Robina, the former of whom became her father's companion in later years. Mildred married Henry Arderne Ormerod (1886–1964), Professor of Ancient History at Liverpool University. Their son W.E. Omerod preserved Caton's papers for posterity; these can be seen in the University of Liverpool Special Collections and Archives.
Caton lived at a number of addresses including Livingstone Drive Sefton Park, Balmoral Road Fairfield, Lea Hall Gateacre, and Sunnyside Princes Park. For his practice he had consulting rooms at 36 and 78Rodney Street, Liverpool. His health worsening, with increasing sciatica, Caton moved toSurrey for warmer climes. He died inHaslemere on 2 January 1926. He was buried atAll Saints' Church, Childwall, Liverpool, on 6 January 1926. His gravestone commemorates both him and his wife.[2]
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