Professor John R Hobbs: archive

Boxfile 1 - Tributes and Academic references and some papers Boxfile 2 - How it all began 1970-1988 Boxfile 3 - The forced closure 1992-2001 List provided by donor: Box 1 WBMT - Tributes and Academic references and papers * Tribute to Prof JR Hobbs 2008 (when he was dying) * Wikipedia summary of Prof JR Hobbs and a list of just some of his many publications * Special Report: Bone marrow transplants using volunteer donors - recommendations and requirement for a standardised practice throughout the world; 1992 from Executive Committee of the World Marrow Donor Association * Correction of Genetic diseases by Transplantation IV, Nobel Symposium 1997; Olle Ringden, John R Hobbs, Colin G Steward * 21 years of Bone Marrow Transplants for MPS and related diseases 1980-2001; The Society for Mucopolysaccharide and related diseases: BMT Conference; The Report * Publications: 4x WBMT publications 1975-96; List of WMBT publications (00s), List of COGENT publications; List of Prof JR Hobbs' publications and notes about missing publication references * Selected publications 1972-1995 in full * Earlier publications and abstracts 1965-on * Correction of Certain Genetic diseases by Transplantation 1991; ed John R Hobbs, Pamela G Riches * Correction of Certain Genetic diseases by Transplantation 1989; ed John R Hobbs * Flyer - Protides of Biological Fluids; William Beaumont Hospital Series; XXXVI Annual Colloquium, London 3-5 Apr 1989 Box 2 WBMT - How it all began 1970-1988 * How it all began (summary from Prof's wife) * 1973 World's first Bone Marrow Transplant from an unrelated donor Simon Bostic 13-4-1973 carried out at Westminster Children's Hospital, under Prof Hobbs * Initial start of fundraising 1974 Andrew Bostic Fund - through to 1991 COGENT fund (see 1993 file) * History of Westminster BMT, generally pre 1983 and including Andrew Bostic Fund and 'Simon Bostic' Team photo undated * 1981-83 including 1981 question raised in Parliament about BMT delays because of lack of funding. List of BMT team, photos and article * Various case studies of children successfully treated by WBMT published in Woman's Own and others 1983 * Photo (with names) of the BMT Team August 1983 * Launch of the appeal for a BMT Unit supported by Woman's Own, Save the Children Fund and many others and launched by Princess Anne, various materials of the appeal * Photos 20-10-1983 Princess Anne visit and launch of the fundraising campaign * Woman's Own magazine 26-11-1983, see esp p18 and p40 * Press cuttings Nov and Dec 1983 * 5 June 1985 new BMT Unit at WCH opened by Princess Anne (articles, list of guests, letter, leaflet, Woman's Own magazine) * 1982-86 WBMT papers and correspondence, including minutes of the WBMT consultative committee * 1988 letter to The Times Box 3 WBMT - The forced closure 1992-2001 * Reasons for closure and counter arguments:- a summary by Prof 2/92; notification; list of children who could have had transplant Oct 92-Mar 93; NWRTHA consultation document dated Sep 1993; Oct 1993 letter from Prof to NWTRHA; * Press articles angry about the closure of WBMT (referred to in House of Lords questions) 1993 * July 1993 Discussion in the House of Lords * Photo on the occasion of Prof's 60th birthday 1989 * COGENT Trust established 1991 (formerly the Andrew & Elisabeth Bostic Fund) * Correspondence Dec 1991-Mar 1993 WBMT and Health Authorities and others related to realisation that WBMT not being transferred to new Chelsea & Westminster Hospital (as promised in 1984 before building it with charity funds):- 1992 summary by Prof; Dec 1991-Sep 1992 correspondence; Sep-Oct 1992 when Prof became aware of the possibility; Jan-Mar 1993 Prof fighting to save charity-funded equipment from being taken by the Riverside Health Authority; 1992 Millington case. * 1989-1993 financed concerns raised by WBMT with SCF about RHA which led to the establishment of COGENT charity in 1991. Charity funds eventually went to Bristol * Later papers of recognition by Nobel Institute 1997, and thanks in 2001 (also see box of WBMT achievement and publications) * "Best copies of recharges Riverside Health Authority to Save The Children Fund"

1970-2001

1 box

Acquired in 2022.

John Raymond Hobbs MRCS, FRCP, FRCPath, FRCPaed (17 April 1929 – 13 July 2008) was a professor at the forefront of clinical immunology, protein biochemistry and bone marrow transplantation, pioneering the development of bone marrow transplantation in the UK at Westminster Hospital in the 1970s and establishing the world's first unrelated bone marrow donor register.

Hobbs was born in Aldershot, and moved round considerably as a child due to his father's career in the British Army. John left school at the age of sixteen and worked as a pathology laboratory assistant, before doing National Service in Egypt with the British Army Medical Corps. After National Service, John used the money he had saved from his army sergeant's pay to fund his studies at Plymouth and Devonport Technical College, before gaining a scholarship to study medicine at Middlesex Hospital in London, specialising in Pathology.

Between 1959 and 1961, Hobbs was a registrar at the Westminster Children's Hospital, working with the haematologist Joe Humble, who was interested in the possibilities of marrow transplantation as a remedy for genetic diseases and cancers. Hobbs donated 500ml of his own bone marrow for research purposes.

In 1963, Hobbs was appointed Consultant at Hammersmith Hospital in London. By 1970 he was appointed at Westminster Medical School (later Chelsea and Westminster Hospital), where he ran the Department of Chemical Pathology and Immunology and Reference Laboratory, as well as lecturing at the London University. In addition to his main role at Westminster Hospital, Hobbs undertook early and pioneering work into bone marrow transplantation, founding the Westminster Bone Marrow Transplant team in 1971.

The focus of the Bone Marrow Transplant Team was genetic disorders in children, which were fatal if left untreated. Following successful stem cell transplants in 1970 and a bone marrow transplant from father to son in 1971, the WBMT carried out the first successful transplant from a matched but unrelated donor in 1973. Following the success of this transplant, Professor Hobbs's team went on to set up the world's first volunteer bone marrow donor register in 1978. The tissue typing specialist of the team, David James, was instrumental in the setting up and the administration of this register, later named after Anthony Nolan. It established the future use of unrelated donors to patients, forming the blueprint for volunteer donation registers.

The work of the Bone Marrow Transplant team was largely funded with charitable donations, with the Andrew Bostic Fund founded in 1973. Notably, in 1983 the Woman's Own magazine ran a campaign with SCF to raise money to build a new bone marrow transplant unit in the existing Westminster Children's Hospital. It was opened in 1985 by Princess Anne and described by Woman's Own as the biggest and most important appeal launched by a magazine to date.

The Westminster Bone Marrow Transplant Unit completed 285 transplants and grew to around 50 members of staff, before its unexpected, enforced closure in 1992. Following the amalgamation of Westminster Hospital and Children's Hospital with the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, it was planned for the Unit to join the new hospital. However, the Riverside Health Authority/Northwest Thames Regional Health Authority instead informed the Bone Marrow Transplant team that the unit would instead be transferred to Great Ormond Street, and not necessarily with the WBMT staff. Several parents of children on the bone marrow waiting list went to Court, with judges criticising the health authorities for closing the unit in August 1992.

In 1991, Hobbs founded the COGENT Trust (Correction of Genetic Diseases by Transplantation), which managed the charity funds passed over from SCF, with the focus clarified as in-born errors rather than leukaemia. COGENT had been a significant funder of the Westminster Bone Marrow Transplant Centre. Using these funds, with the assistance of the late Professor Anthony Oakhill, a new unit was established at the Bristol Children's Hospital, a hospital with existing expertise in bone marrow transplantation.

For two years after the closure of the Westminster Bone Transplant Unit, he worked as professor of immunology at the Chelsea and Westminster, retiring in 1994. He continued to raise funds for the Cogent Trust and to lecture, teaching internationally in medical schools, and acting as an advisor to health ministers in Russia, Poland, Uruguay, Peru, Hong Kong and China. From 1968-1996 Hobbs received 4 national prizes, 15 international awards and 4 honorary fellowships and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Science. Hobbs published over 600 scientific articles, with the last written just a year before he died in 2008 from lung cancer.

Transferred to Wellcome.

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