GB 0120 PP/HAD - Haddow, Professor Sir Alexander (1907-1976)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0120 PP/HAD

Title

Haddow, Professor Sir Alexander (1907-1976)

Date(s)

  • 1920s-1970s (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

33 boxes

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Professor Sir Alexander Haddow FRCP, FRS (1907-1976) was an experimental pathologist specialising in cancer research.

He was born at Leven, Fife, the son of a miner, and grew up in Broxburn, West Lothian. In 1924-1929 he studied at Edinburgh University, graduating MB ChB; following this, he served as house physician and Carnegie Research Student at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and worked in general practice in Hull, before becoming an assistant lecturer in bacteriology at Edinburgh University. He became a full lecturer and Davidson Reserch Fellow in 1932, his research leading to the qualifications of PhD and MD in 1937 and DSc in 1938.

By 1936 he joined Ernest Kennaway's team at the Royal Cancer Hospital (now the Marsden Hospital) in London, and in 1946 became Director of the Chester Beatty Research Institute, succeeding Kennaway. During these years his work built on Kennaway's achievement of extracting chemicals from coal tar that proved carcinogenic to animals. Haddow reasoned that if these carcinogens were compared to other closely related but non-carcinogenic chemicals the differences between them would prove significant in explaining the genesis of cancer. He also discovered what is known as the Haddow Effect, in which a carcinogenic chemical can be used to arrest a cancer caused by some other carcinogenic chemical (provided that the two chemicals are not closely related). Clinical trials at the Royal Cancer Hospital led to the adoption of the platinum compound cisplatin as a treatment for cancer of the ovary, and other compounds such as chlorambucil, melphalan and busulphan are used for treatment of breast and ovarian cancer, and malignant blood diseases.

Haddow was elected FRS in 1958 and knighted in 1966, receiving many other honours such as the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. He was president of the International Union Against Cancer 1962-1966. His other activities included work with the BBC, service on the Press Council, and work with the Pugwash Conferences of scientists opposed to nuclear weapons.

He was married twice, to Dr Lucia Lindsay Crosby Black (d.1968), with whom he had one son, William George Haddow (b.1934), and after her death to Feo Standing née Garner, scientific photographer, who survived him.

He died in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in 1976, and was cremated there.

Archival history

GB 0120 PP/HAD 1920s-1970s Collection (fonds) 33 boxes Haddow , Sir , Alexander , 1907-1976 , Knight , pathologist

Professor Sir Alexander Haddow FRCP, FRS (1907-1976) was an experimental pathologist specialising in cancer research.

He was born at Leven, Fife, the son of a miner, and grew up in Broxburn, West Lothian. In 1924-1929 he studied at Edinburgh University, graduating MB ChB; following this, he served as house physician and Carnegie Research Student at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and worked in general practice in Hull, before becoming an assistant lecturer in bacteriology at Edinburgh University. He became a full lecturer and Davidson Reserch Fellow in 1932, his research leading to the qualifications of PhD and MD in 1937 and DSc in 1938.

By 1936 he joined Ernest Kennaway's team at the Royal Cancer Hospital (now the Marsden Hospital) in London, and in 1946 became Director of the Chester Beatty Research Institute, succeeding Kennaway. During these years his work built on Kennaway's achievement of extracting chemicals from coal tar that proved carcinogenic to animals. Haddow reasoned that if these carcinogens were compared to other closely related but non-carcinogenic chemicals the differences between them would prove significant in explaining the genesis of cancer. He also discovered what is known as the Haddow Effect, in which a carcinogenic chemical can be used to arrest a cancer caused by some other carcinogenic chemical (provided that the two chemicals are not closely related). Clinical trials at the Royal Cancer Hospital led to the adoption of the platinum compound cisplatin as a treatment for cancer of the ovary, and other compounds such as chlorambucil, melphalan and busulphan are used for treatment of breast and ovarian cancer, and malignant blood diseases.

Haddow was elected FRS in 1958 and knighted in 1966, receiving many other honours such as the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. He was president of the International Union Against Cancer 1962-1966. His other activities included work with the BBC, service on the Press Council, and work with the Pugwash Conferences of scientists opposed to nuclear weapons.

He was married twice, to Dr Lucia Lindsay Crosby Black (d.1968), with whom he had one son, William George Haddow (b.1934), and after her death to Feo Standing née Garner, scientific photographer, who survived him.

He died in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in 1976, and was cremated there.

These papers were received by the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in April 1984 from the store of the Library of the Institute of Cancer Research, Fulham Road, London SW3.

Papers of Professor Sir Alexander Haddow including correspondence, diaries, autobiographical notes, photographs; scientific notes, 1920s-1970s.

A. Personal and Biographical; B. Scientific.

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

English

The catalogue is available on microfiche via the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS).

In the Wellcome Library:

See also the papers of Sir Ernest Kennaway, (1881-1958) (PP/ELK); for general information on cancer issues see the sources leaflet 'Cancer'.

Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Jan 2009 Plant products Tobacco Biology Radiobiology Chemicals Organic chemicals Alcohols Alcohol Energy resources Nonrenewable energy sources Nuclear energy Medical sciences Therapy Radiotherapy Pathological conditions, signs and symptoms Pathologic processes Agricultural products Radiology Neoplasms Neoplastic processes Diseases Pathology Cancer Carcinogens Pharmaceutical preparations Ethics Haddow , Sir , Alexander , 1907-1976 , Knight , pathologist

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

These papers were received by the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in April 1984 from the store of the Library of the Institute of Cancer Research, Fulham Road, London SW3.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Professor Sir Alexander Haddow including correspondence, diaries, autobiographical notes, photographs; scientific notes, 1920s-1970s.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

A. Personal and Biographical; B. Scientific.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

In the Wellcome Library:

See also the papers of Sir Ernest Kennaway, (1881-1958) (PP/ELK); for general information on cancer issues see the sources leaflet 'Cancer'.

Finding aids

The catalogue is available on microfiche via the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS).

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Wellcome Library

Rules and/or conventions used

In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area