In Memoriam

Abstract

Obituaries were published in The Times, British Medical Journal, The Lancet and many orthopaedic journals, but the greatest personal tributes were paid at a thanksgiving service held in Manchester Cathedral on September 15, 1982. This was attended by a congregation of hundreds of Charnley’s friends and orthopaedic colleagues. His old teacher, Sir Harry Platt, concluded his address with the words:

And now, our own John Charnley has become part of surgical history, and has taken his place in the gallery of the great master surgeons who have gone before... The Charnley prosthesis is in essence a biological design by a man who was also an artist. It is something which a Leonardo da Vinci might have envisaged. But today we are thinking about the man, the human person we knew and held in affection. He had so much to give to the world of surgery, both in fundamental knowledge and to the relief of human suffering...³

The congregation was also addressed by Dr Mark Lazansky of New York and Henrietta, Charnley’s daughter. Professor Maurice Müller of Bern read the lesson.

If Sir Robert Jones is considered the father of modern orthopaedic sorcery, then Sir John Charnley is the heir apparent — who even surpassed the father as Plato did Socrates.

Dr F.E. Stinchfield,⁴ New York, 1982