Francis Champneys

Sir Francis Henry Champneys, 1st Baronet, FRCP (25 March 1848, London – 30 July 1930, Nutley, Sussex, England)[1][2] was an eminent obstetrician known for raising the status of midwives in the early twentieth century, by his campaigning for their training and certification and for supporting the founding of the History of Medicine Society in 1912.[3][4]

Sir Francis Henry Champneys FRCP
Born	25 March 1848 Whitechapel, London, England
Died	30 July 1930 Nutley, Sussex, England
Education	Brasenose College St Bartholomew's Hospital
Known for	Raising the status of midwives Founding the History of Medicine Society at Royal Society of Medicine Crown nominee of GMC 1911–1926
Scientific career
Fields	physician, obstetrician and historian
Influences	Robert Bridges

Francis Champneys with family in 1862

Early years

Champneys was born in the rectory of St Mary's, Whitechapel on 25 March 1848. His father was William Champneys, then rector of St Mary's, later Canon of St Paul's Cathedral and later Dean of Lichfield from 1868 to 1875, and his mother, Mary Anne, was daughter of the goldsmith and silversmith Paul Storr (his cousins thus including Rev. Vernon Storr, Archdeacon of Westminster from 1931 to 1936, Rev. Frank Utterton, Archdeacon of Surrey from 1906 to 1908, the artists Rex Whistler and Laurence Whistler, and the academic Michael Lindsay, 2nd Baron Lindsay of Birker).[5][1][6][7] Amongst his six siblings were the architect and author Basil Champneys and the rowing clergyman Weldon Champneys.[8] As a child and before the invention of perforation, Champneys would spend Sunday afternoons cutting sheets of stamps. He was awarded a scholarship to be educated at Winchester College, one of the ancient public schools of England, and later Brasenose College, Oxford. He then, in 1871, became a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying in 1888.[9][10]

Career

Champneys was a fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society and was elected president of its successor organisation, the Royal Society of Medicine, in 1912. He supported Sir William Osler in the founding of The History of Medicine Society at The Royal Society of Medicine, London in the same year.[4]

Legacy

Champneys particularly championed raising the status of midwives and was the main driving force of the Midwives Act 1902, which he did by being the first chairman of the Central Midwives’ Board from 1902 until his death in 1930. The act required midwives to be trained and examined in a maternity hospital. They then had to be on the register of the central midwives board.[1][10]

He was the crown nominee from 1911 to 1926 of the General Medical Council. Champneys was created a baronet in 1910.[1]

Music

Champneys was an amateur musician, studying under Charles Wesley at Winchester. Whilst at Brasenose, Champneys composed a number of glees and madrigals, founding at the same time, a glees club. Later, he was to study music under John Goss (composer) and held various musical positions between 1880 and 1913.[1][10]

Personal life and death

Champneys married Virginia Julian Dalrymple (1850-1922), daughter of Sir John Warrender Dalrymple, on 12 September 1876.

He died on 31 July 1930 at age 83 years at his Nutley home and was succeeded by his son, Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys, who also became a physician. Weldon never had children and the baronetcy therefore ended.[7]

References

1. Francis Henry Champneys. hymntime.com
2. Sir Francis Henry Champneys (1848–1930), Bt, DM, FRCP. BBC
3. J. S. Fairbairn, ‘Champneys, Sir Francis Henry, first baronet (1848–1930)’, rev. June Hannam, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 26 June 2012
4. Hunting, Penelope (2002). The History of The Royal Society of Medicine. Royal Society of Medicine Press. pp. 331–333. ISBN 978-1853154973.
5. Paul Storr 1771-1844, Silversmith and Goldsmith, N. M. Penzer, Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1971, pp. 16-17
6. William Weldon Champneys. NPG. Retrieved on 5 June 2014.
7. Dalrymple-Champneys, Weldon (1963). "Sir Francis Champneys". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. Royal Society of Medicine. 56 (Suppl 1): 26–27. doi:10.1177/00359157630560S108. PMC 1896747. PMID 14044494.
8. ‘CHAMPNEYS, Sir Francis (Henry)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 26 June 2012
9. Stanford. Stanford.edu. Retrieved on 5 June 2014.
10. Shaw, W. Fletcher (17 January 1953). "The Central Midwives Board and Sir Francis Champneys". Br Med J. 1 (4802): 158. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4802.158. ISSN 0007-1447.

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Littlemeads in the County of Sussex) 1910–1930	Succeeded by Weldon Dalrymple-Champneys