Cheverton, Reginald Leslie

The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in future:

The majority of the material concerns Cheverton's History of Community Medicine and Health in British West Africa: background research, including Colonial Office reports of West Africa and annual medical reports from various West African countries; collated publications and press cuttings; handwritten notes; and the typescript of the book.

There is also a small amount of material concerning the Anopheles (Malaria) Eradication Scheme, Cyprus, in the 1940s, comprising letters, photographs, and texts of papers.

The reprints and collated papers date from c.1820-1970s. Cheverton's own papers date from 1940s-1980s.

c.1820s-1980s

Uncatalogued: 21 oversize archive boxes

These papers were presented by Dr Cheverton to the Wellcome Tropical Institute in 1985. On that organisation's winding-up in 1989, they were transferred to the library at Wellcome Collection.

Reginald Leslie "Rex" Cheverton was born 27 August 1901 in Woolwich, London, one of four children; his father was in the Army and later joined the Church.

He was educated at St. John's School, Leatherhead (1913-1919) and the University of Birmingham (1921-1927). He passed MRCS (Eng) and LRCP (London) in 1927. On qualification he worked as House Surgeon then House Physician at the Birmingham General Hospital, and House Surgeon at the Birmingham Maternity Hospital, before entering the Colonial Medical Service in 1928.

In the Colonial Medical Service, he worked as:

District Medical Officer, Cyprus - 1928-1935

Senior Medical Officer, the Falkland Islands - 1935-1937

Senior Medical Officer, British Honduras - 1937-1943

Director of Medical Service, Cyprus - 1943-1946. Here he initiated the Anopheles Eradication Scheme, brought to fruition under a successor.

Assistant Director of Medical Service, Nigeria - 1946-1947

Deputy Director of Medical Service, Nigeria - 1947-1949

Director of Medical Service, Gold Coast - 1949-1952

He married in 1933; he and his wife Joan had two daughters and two grandchildren.

On leaving the Colonial Service, he worked s Assistant Senior Medical Officer for the South West Regional Hospital Board, in Bristol; he was responsible for mental health services, civil defence and some clinical services.

In 1966 he retired to Malta, where among other activities he researched and wrote The Medical History of British West Africa, a project funded by the Wellcome Trust.

At other repositories:

Dr. Cheverton's papers relating to the cultural aspects of places he travelled to and worked in, as opposed to the medical aspects, are held by Rhodes House Library, Oxford.

No transfer of copyright took place when the papers were presented to the Wellcome Trust, and as a result copyright in this material remains with Dr. Cheverton's heirs and assigns.

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.