John Prince Bull (Jan 1917 – Aug 2008)

C.B.E / M.A / M.D / F.R.C.P / F.I.O.M

  • Educated at Burton-on-Trent Grammar School, he proceeded to Cambridge University and graduated BA in the natural science tripos in 1938. His medical studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War
  • 1939 he married Irmgard – they had 4 daughters 
  • 1941 he joined the Emergency Medical Service, doing house appointments in London
  • He then became casualty research officer for the newly created Ministry of Home Security.
  • 1942 he joined the RAMC
  • 1944 he was posted to West Africa followed by India and South-East Asia Command, gaining the rank of temporary major the next year
  • 1946 he was in the Military Expeditionary Force
  • Then he was demobilised to complete his qualifications at Cambridge and Guy’s
  • 1947 he joined the staff of the Medical Research Council (MRC) industrial injuries and burns unit at Birmingham Accident Hospital. John Squire was director of the unit at the time – he became director of the unit 5 years later
  • With the MRC he was particularly involved in:
    • Road and vehicle safety
    • Burns Unit Research – from Barrier Cream in the wartime 1940s to pioneering Skim Culture in the 1980s 
  •  “During late 1950s, Everett Evans, director of the burns unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, visited our unit in Birmingham. During his visit he noticed my thesis on the history of the clinical trial lying on my desk. In his capacity as editor of the Journal of Chronic Diseases, he invited me to prepare an article based on the thesis, and this was published not long after”
  • 1960 he formed the Road Injuries Research Group at the Acci, together with Prof Gissane, he was honorary director 
  • Wrote many papers on accidents and injuries – he also contributed a chapter on ‘Accidents and their prevention’ to W Hobson (ed) The theory and practice of public health (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1961).
  • 1952 directed the burns unit
  • 1971-75 was a council member of the MRC
  • Chairman of the MRC army personnel research committee and of the working party on microwaves of the MRC non-ionising radiation committee
  • Became an honorary lecturer at Birmingham university and member of the regional hospital board
  • Chairman of the committee on road safety of the Medical Commission on Accident Prevention, he was also chair of a laboratory trials group of the Ministry of Health.
  • The Department of Health appointed him as their representative and Co-ordinator of the UK/USSR co-operative Programme on Traumatology
  • 1973 awarded an MBE 
  • 1988 British Medical Journal (Vol 296, 23rd April 1988) Wrote an article about cycle helmets
  • He retired in September 1982

Landmark events

  • Chairman of the MRC army personnel research committee
  • Microwaves of the MRC non-ionising radiation committee
  • Chairman of the committee on road safety of the Medical Commission on Accident Prevention
  • Honorary lecturer at Birmingham University
  • Chair of a laboratory trials group of the Ministry of Health.