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From the archives Frederic Wood Jones – an anatomist, teacher, and anthropologist
Born in England in 1879, one of Frederic Wood Jones’ most enduring qualities was his extraordinary ability to teach anatomy. Helen Ingleby, one of his students at the London School of Medicine for Women, noted: “His lectures were brilliant. The class hung on his words; you could literally hear a pin drop. In other schools anatomy was considered a dull subject but not with us. To me it was fascinating …” Wood Jones graduated in MBBS in 1904 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1910. However, he was not destined for a career in medicine, which he found ‘cramped and small when compared to biology’ and influenced by the anatomist, (Sir) Arthur Keith, he chose a career in anatomy.
Wood Jones did not confine himself to anatomy. He was interested in the natural world and after a stint as medical officer to the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company in the Cocos-Keeling Islands (1905-1906), he published his doctorate in 1910 on corals and atolls. Anthropology was another interest and in 1907, he joined (Sir) Grafton Elliot Smith in the archaeological survey of Nubia in Egypt.1 When he returned from Egypt, Wood Jones had teaching posts at the Royal Free Hospitals (London School of Medicine for Women) where he became Professor of Anatomy in 1915, and the University of Manchester. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1918 and in 1919, sponsored by Henry Newland and Arthur Keith, he succeeded Archibald Watson as Elder Professor of Anatomy at the University of Adelaide. During his time in Adelaide, Wood Jones not only rearranged and improved the anatomy department at the university, but he also studied the local flora and fauna and kept a range of Australian marsupials for observation. Like his predecessor Archibald Watson, he was concerned for the welfare and living conditions of the Aboriginal people. Wood Jones left Adelaide in 1927 to take up the Rockefeller Chair of Physical Anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Somewhat disillusioned by his experiences there he returned to Australia in 1930 to take up the Chair of Anatomy at The University of Melbourne.
Wood Jones was already known in Melbourne—the surgical fraternity in Australia was small and he had given lectures in Melbourne in the 1920s. During the 1930s, his links with the College were formalised. In 1935 he attended the opening of the Spring Street building and was appointed an Honorary FRACS and during the 1930s, he served as examiner for the Fellowship examinations that were held under the auspices of the English College. Significantly, he began to influence a generation of important Australian surgeons and anatomists. R.J. Last was impressed by him and commented: “… He was a superb teacher, full of trenchant phrases, a splendid blackboard artist and he made his subject a living and fascinating reality …” Another student, Sydney Sunderland succeeded Wood Jones as Professor of Anatomy at The University of Melbourne. James Guest and Kenneth Russell were also his appreciative students and were recipients of Wood Jones’ practice (inspired by Arthur Keith) of having students visit him at home. Wood Jones returned to the United Kingdom in 1937 to become Professor of Anatomy at the University of Manchester and in 1945, he secured the position of Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy and conservator of the anatomy museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. The Hunterian collection had been damaged by bombs in 1941, so restoration of the collection was a challenging task. Frederic Wood Jones’ career ended with his death in 1954 but as a man ‘possessed of a restless curiosity’, it is important to reflect on his life and especially, his extraordinary teaching abilities. Elizabeth Milford, RACS Archivist 1 The survey was necessary because raising the height of the Aswan Dam would affect archaeological sites in the valley below.
