W. Roger Williams

W. Roger Williams
FRCS
Born
William Roger Williams

(1854-01-06)6 January 1854
Died30 May 1948(1948-05-30) (aged 94)
Walton, Somerset, England
Occupation(s)Pathologist, surgeon

William Roger Williams FRCS (6 January 1854 – 30 May 1948) was an English pathologist, surgeon, cancer researcher and medical writer. He was an early researcher to suggest that excessive red meat consumption is a cause of cancer.[1]

Education

Williams was educated at Bristol Medical School and University College London.[2]

Career

In 1876, he was exhibitioner and gold medallist in clinical medicine and surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary.[2] He was house surgeon at Wigan Royal Infirmary, Western General Dispensary and St Peter's Hospital in London. He was clinical assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital and surgical registrar at the Middlesex Hospital (1882–1889).[2]

He established medical practice in Preston, Lancashire and London. From 1908 he lived at Walton, Somerset for forty years. Williams was a cancer researcher and wrote several books and many scientific papers on the subject.[2] His book The Natural History of Cancer was positively reviewed in medical journals as a valuable reference work.[3][4][5][6]

Williams noted that overeating and "gluttonous consumption of meat" in modern industrial cities as well as lack of exercise and fresh vegetable food were factors causing the increased rates of cancer.[7][8]

Death

Williams died on 30 May 1948, aged 94.[9]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ Cantor, David. (2014). Confused Messages: Meat, Civilization, and Cancer Education in the Early Twentieth Century. In D. Cantor, C. Bonah, & M. Dörries. Meat, Medicine and Human Health in the Twentieth Century. Pickering & Chatto. pp. 111-126. ISBN 978-1848931046
  2. ^ a b c d "Williams, William Roger (1854 - 1948)". The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
  3. ^ "Reviewed Work: The Natural History Of Cancer, With Special Reference To Its Causation And Prevention by W. Roger Williams". The British Medical Journal. 2 (2485): 410. 1908.
  4. ^ "The Natural History of Cancer". Indiana Medical Journal. 27 (2): 84. 1908.
  5. ^ "The Natural History of Cancer". The New England Journal of Medicine. 159 (11): 349. 1908.
  6. ^ E. F. B. (1909). "(1) The Natural History of Cancer, with Special Reference to its Causation and Prevention (2) Lectures on the Pathology of Cancer" (PDF). Nature. 79 (2049): 391–392. doi:10.1038/079391a0. S2CID 4060699.
  7. ^ "Increase of Cancer in England". Canada Lancet. 31: 921. 1898.
  8. ^ "Increased Mortality from Cancer". Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. 61 (3): 560–564. 1898.
  9. ^ "Medical News". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4562): 1164–1165. 1948. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4562.1164. S2CID 4744350.