Gerald Townsley Trust Archive
UK Philanthropy Archive
Gerald Townsley Trust Archive
About the collection
The collection contains various publications and writings related to the work of Gerald Townsley, plus cuttings and correspondence. This includes a copy of the inaugral Gerald Townsley lecture, given by Townsley in 1972.
About Gerald Townsley
Gerald Townsley was born in Belfast in 27th December 1907. After studying at Queens University and qualifying in 1931 he went to Salford Royal Infirmary and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1935. In 1939 he was appointed as Radiotherapeutic Surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in Rochester. Townsley had an extensive practice in gastric and breast surgery with a specific interest in the management of malignancy. It is estimated that he performed more than 70,000 operations during his career.
In 1972 he established the Gerald Townsley Trust to provide money for young surgeons in the Medway hospitals to travel to centres of excellence at home and abroad to help maintain the tradition of high quality surgical care that he had established in Kent. Since 1972 the trust sponsored an annual lecture held at Medway Hospital, and gives scholarships to surgical trainees enabling them to visit UK and overseas hospitals. Gerald Townsley gave the inaugural lecture in November 1972 shortly before his retirement in 1973
Townsley died on 9th April 1975. His funeral service was at Rochester Cathedral on 16th April 1975.
In July 2023 the Townsley Lecture Theatre in the Pears Building on the University of Kent Canterbury Campus was officially named after Gerald Townsley.