Gilson, John Cary (1912-1989)

Correspondence, notes, papers, reports, lectures and articles, re work of the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, 1952-1976; RAF Physiology Laboratory during the Second World War; asbestosis and pulmonary cancers.

1940s-1989

9 boxes

A. RAF Physiology Laboratory

B. Pneumoconiosis Research Unit
B.1 Work on standards to classify the radiographic appearances of pneumoconioses
B.2 International investigations
B.3 Other asbestos and pneumoconiosis files
B.4 Asbestos reference materials

C. Lectures and correspondence relating to publications
C.1 Lectures
C.2 Correspondence relating to publications
C.3 Notes

D. Correspondence: Post-retirement
D.1 Pneumoconiosis Unit, Penarth, and Department of Occupational Health and Hygiene, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
D.2 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Clinical Research Centre
D.3 MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton
D.4 General correspondence: family, friends, colleagues

These papers were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in November 1997 byt Mrs M E Gilson, J C Gilson's widow.

JCG was a leading figure in the study of occupational lung diseases. During the Second World War, he was employed at the RAF Physiology Laboratory (later known as the Institute of Aviation Medicine), Farnborough. He helped to develop improved oxygen equipment for pilots and, by inventing a simple spring-loaded tape measure (measurements could be taken at the same tension so that they matched each other), he mastered the problem of measuring pilots to their uniforms.

In 1946, JCG joined the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Pneumoconiosis Research Unit (PRU) as deputy to Charles Fletcher. The unit had been established in Cardiff in 1945 to examine coal workers' pneumoconiosis: it discovered that pneumoconiosis was preventable if dust levels were monitored, and coal workers x-rayed regularly. It also ascertained that the disease was not disabling until a second complicating condition began to affect the lungs. A simple breathing test was designed to measure the degree of disability caused. JCG himself was responsible for equipping a mobile x-ray van for use in the field. He was an expert in film reading and worked with the International Labour Office (ILO) to standardise the classification of radiographs of pneumonconioses. During the 1950s the Unit also began to study the effects of asbestos and of organic dusts such as those produced by cotton, flax and hemp, which cause occupational diseases such as byssinosis.

See 'Occupational Health/Medicine' sources leaflet. Charles Fletcher's papers are also held by the CMAC, although as yet uncatalogued. Other collections on occupational health issues include the papers of Donald Hunter (PP/HUN), Frederick Parkes Weber (PP/FPW), and the archives of the Society of Medical Officers of Health (SA/SMO). Sir Richard Doll's papers (PP/DOL), include material on asbestosis.

Abbreviations used:
AAF American Air Force
BOHS British Occupational Hygiene Society
DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
EMAS Employment Medical Advisory Service
ESD Environmental Sciences Division
FFOM Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine
IAM Institute of Aviation Medicine
ILO International Labour Office
MPNI Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance
MRC Medical Research Council
PMF Progressive massive fibrosis (coal worker's pneumoconiosis)
PRU Pneumoconiosis Research Unit
RAF Royal Air Force
RSM Royal Society of Medicine
S/L Squadron-Leader
U/C UICC/Cincinnati [Classification of Pneumocoioses]
UICC International Union Against Cancer
W/C Wing-Commander

A list of JCG's publications is contained in MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit publications by members of staff, 1949-1979 prepared by the PRU's librarian, Margaret Gregory. The PRU library is located in Llandough Hospital. Researchers interested in the archives of Professor Archibald Cochrane (1909-1988), who also worked at the PRU, and other PRU archives,should write to Dr Hugh Thomas, Honorary Archivist, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Llandough Hospital, Penarth, Cardiff, CF64 2XW.