Fred Stratton D.Sc. (1913-2001)

Section A, Biographical, is very slight. It presents obituaries of Stratton, his curriculum vitae and list of publications.

Section B, Research, is not extensive. There is some general and miscellaneous material, including schemes for Medical Research Council trials from 1978, a little documentation of research work of colleagues C.M. Giles and A.H. Merry, and material relating to a proposed private/public cooperation on blood preservation. There are subsections relating to Stratton's interest in the rare condition Angioneurotic Oedema, and to the Working Party on the Standardisation of Antiglobulin Reagents, a joint working party of the International Society of Blood Transfusion and the International Centre for Standardization in Haematology. There is a short sequence of correspondence, chiefly relating to haematology, and non-textual material, principally slides but also including a photograph, marked 'Very valuable' of 'Haemolysing anti P'.

Section C, Lectures and publications, is the largest in the collection. It comprises principally a sequence of drafts 1959-1986, mostly relating to public and invitation lectures delivered worldwide - Stratton travelled widely - on blood transfusion topics. The bulk of the drafts date from the 1970s and 1980s. In preparing a lecture or paper Stratton corrected and revised his drafts extensively and the material bears witness to the care he took. The section includes some illustrative material, chiefly for slides for lectures, and offprints of some of Stratton's publications.

Section D, British Blood Transfusion Society, covers the period 1981-1991. It offers significant documentation of the conception and establishment of the BBTS - membership, constitution, funding, relations with other bodies - and its early days during Stratton's inaugural Presidency, including administrative papers, organisation of meetings, speeches given by Stratton at BBTS occasions and awards made.

Section E, Visits and conferences, is a presentation of a little material relating to visits made and conferences attended. The range and frequency of Stratton's travel is better evidenced in section C; many of his lectures are noted as being delivered to overseas audiences or at international conferences.

There is also an index of correspondents.

1959-2003

9 boxes

Deposited at the library at Wellcome Collection from the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, December 2003.

Stratton was born in Manchester on 8 October 1913. He was educated at Central Manchester High School before winning scholarships to the University of Manchester in 1931. He graduated B.Sc. in 1934 and went on to study as a medical doctor, qualifying MB, ChB in 1937. He became MD in 1945. Stratton began work as a doctor in General Practice but in 1940, following the outbreak of war, he joined the Manchester Blood Depot. Initially he served as Medical Officer but was quickly appointed Deputy Regional Transfusion Officer.

The post-war health service reforms saw the creation of twelve regional blood transfusion centres. Stratton was appointed Regional Blood Transfusion Officer and in 1949, when the Manchester Centre came under the Regional Hospital Board, Director of the North West Regional Blood Transfusion Centre (later the Manchester Blood Centre), a post he held to retirement in 1980. He combined administrative, fund-raising and clinical responsibilities with active research in the area of blood group serology, making a particular contribution to the detection of blood group antibodies. In retirement he worked on antiglobulin reagents and haemagglutination, in association with D. Voak.

In 1947 Stratton was appointed Special Lecturer in Human Serology at the University of Manchester. He was made Reader in 1967 and in 1977 was appointed to a Personal Chair. Stratton received a D.Sc. in 1957. Stratton was a Founder Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In the early 1980s he was a founder member and first President of the British Blood Transfusion Society.

In recognition of his services in the field of blood transfusion Stratton was awarded the 1963 Oliver Memorial Award, the 1978 Karl Landsteiner Award of the American Association of Blood Banks and in 1987 received the British Blood Transfusion Society's highest honour, the James Blundell Award. Stratton died on 2 April 2001. He was survived by his wife Louisa and two sons.

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.

The papers were received through the good offices of Peter Howell, Stratton's longstanding colleague at the Manchester Blood Centre and co-founder of the British Blood Transfusion Society, in July 2003.