Tyrrell, David (1925-2005)

The majority of the papers are from the 1940s - 1990s, although the collection also contains copies of papers and journals dating back to 1914, as well as WHO publications from the 1990s - 2000, after Tyrrell's retirement.

Also includes publications, correspondence, minutes and meeting papers of WHO meetings; correspondence with scientists and organisations relating to research in virology; materials relating to research into interferon; and correspondence, meeting papers and evidence for the BSE Inquiry.

Some abbreviations used in the catalogue:

ACMR: Advisory Committee on Medical Research

ARC: American Red Cross

ARI: Acute Respiratory Infections

BMJ: British Medical Journal

BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

CCU: Common Cold Unit

CRC: Clinical Research Centre

CJD: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

ICRF: Imperial Cancer Research Fund

IMCI: Integrated Management of Childhood Illness

MRC: Medical Research Council

NIAID: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

NIBSC: National Institute for Biological Standards and Control

NIMR: National Institute for Medical Research

PAHO: Pan American Health Organisation

RCP: Royal College of Physicians

SEAC: Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee

TSE: Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathy

A: Common Cold Unit

B: WHO

C: Correspondence

D: BSE

David Arthur John Tyrrell, CBE, FRCP, FRCPath, was born in Middlesex on 19 June 1925. He graduated with distinction in Medicine from Sheffield University in 1948, before undertaking a research fellowship at the Virology Laboratory, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York. Between 1954 and 1957, he returned to Sheffield, where he worked in the Virus Research Laboratory until 1957.

In 1957, Tyrrell started work at the Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, appointed to the role by Sir Harold Himsworth, Head of the Medical Research Council. At the CCU, Tyrrell ran the unit's research programme until his retirement and the CCU's closure in 1990.

In 1967, Tyrrell was appointed Head of the Division of Communicable Diseases at the MRC's new Clinical Research Centre (CRC), built in association with Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow. Alongside this new post, Tyrrell continued to oversee research at the CCU. In 1970, Tyrrell was made Deputy Director of the Clinical Research Centre.

Tyrrell was also involved with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Tyrrell was head of the CCU WHO Reference Laboratory for Respiratory Infections, where he managed the distribution of strains for cultivation. He also participated in a number of WHO advisory meetings for communicable diseases, and visited developing countries with high death rates from ARIs as part of a global WHO survey.

After the CRC closed in 1984, Tyrrell returned to work full time at the CCU, until his retirement in 1990. Following his retirement and the closure of the CCU, Tyrrell began research for a history of the unit. David Tyrrell, Michael Fielder, Cold Wars: The Fight against the Common Cold (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

During his retirement, Tyrrell continued to be actively involved in the study of virology, working on a number of research projects on respiratory infections, as well as chairing two committees in the 1990s on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

David Tyrrell died of prostate cancer on 2 May 2005, in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Timeline:

19 June 1925: Born

1946: CCU established

1948: Graduated from Sheffield University

1951-1954: Worked as an Assistant at the Rockefeller Institute, NYC

1954-1957: Worked at the Virus Research Laboratory, Sheffield

1957: Tyrrell began work at the CCU

1960: Tyrrell made head of the CCU WHO Reference Laboratory for Respiratory Infections

1967: Tyrrell made head of the Division of Communicable Diseases at the MRC's Clinical Research Centre

1970: Dr Tyrrell appointed Deputy Director of the CRC

1979: Honorary Degree awarded by Sheffield University

1980: Awarded CBE

1984: Clinical Research Centre closes

1985: Tyrrell returned to full time work at the CCU, following the closure of the CRC

1990: Honorary degree awarded by Southampton University

1990: Retired and began work on CCU history book

2002: Cold Wars: The Fight against the Common Cold (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) published

2 May 2005: Died in Salisbury

An oral history of the history of the common cold unit is available at the British Library Sound Archive.

The following is an interim description of material that has been acquired since this collection was catalogued. This description may change when cataloguing takes place in future:

11 transfer boxes (acc 2048) of records relating to Tyrrell's relationships with third parties and pharmaceutical companies, mostly from 1970s and 1980s. Includes correspondence between various scientists at the MRC CCU and third parties, mostly pharmaceutical companies, concerning the development of molecules. The records also include details of clinical trials organised by pharmaceutical companies, including protocols, papers, confidentiality agreements, Ethical Committee submissions and approvals, and related correspondence.