Papers of A. Kirkpatrick Maxwell
TitlePapers of A. Kirkpatrick Maxwell
ReferenceMS0023
Level of descriptionfonds
Date1914-1919
Admin./ biographical historyA. Kirkpatrick Maxwell was born in 1884 in Annan, Scotland, and studied drawing at evening classes run by Glasgow City Art School. He was asked to contribute some articles by a natural history lecturer at Glasgow University and built up a reputation as an illustrator.
In 1915 he was asked by Sir George Makens to go to Boulogne to make some surgical illustrations. He arrived in France just before the second battle of Ypres at which the Germans used poison gas for the first time.
His drawings came to the attention of Colonel T. R. Elliot who suggested to the newly formed Medical Research Council that Maxwell should be enlisted in the army as a medical illustrator for the duration of the war. He was given the rank of Sergeant in the RAMC and a room in the Medical Research Council's laboratory in the 13th General Hospital in the Casino at Boulogne.
Maxwell made over 1000 surgical illustrations of the results of gas attacks, war injuries and post-mortem specimens, many of which were published in the British Journal of Surgery. The original illustrations were kept at the Royal College of Surgeons of England but were destroyed during the Blitz.
After the war, Maxwell worked as an illustrator for the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at University College Hospital and for the Cancer Research Institute, publishing his own articles on cancer. He was responsible for a number of the illustrations in early twentieth-century editions of Gray's Anatomy. He also wrote papers on cancer.
At the outbreak of the Second World War he was in New Zealand, and joined up. During the war he was asked by Sir Cecil Wakeley to again sketch battle and air raid casulaties.
After the war, he moved to Cambridge and worked on the illustrations for Hamilton, Boyd and Mossman's "Human Embryology" and "The Placenta". He regarded these as some of the best work he'd produced.
In 1915 he was asked by Sir George Makens to go to Boulogne to make some surgical illustrations. He arrived in France just before the second battle of Ypres at which the Germans used poison gas for the first time.
His drawings came to the attention of Colonel T. R. Elliot who suggested to the newly formed Medical Research Council that Maxwell should be enlisted in the army as a medical illustrator for the duration of the war. He was given the rank of Sergeant in the RAMC and a room in the Medical Research Council's laboratory in the 13th General Hospital in the Casino at Boulogne.
Maxwell made over 1000 surgical illustrations of the results of gas attacks, war injuries and post-mortem specimens, many of which were published in the British Journal of Surgery. The original illustrations were kept at the Royal College of Surgeons of England but were destroyed during the Blitz.
After the war, Maxwell worked as an illustrator for the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at University College Hospital and for the Cancer Research Institute, publishing his own articles on cancer. He was responsible for a number of the illustrations in early twentieth-century editions of Gray's Anatomy. He also wrote papers on cancer.
At the outbreak of the Second World War he was in New Zealand, and joined up. During the war he was asked by Sir Cecil Wakeley to again sketch battle and air raid casulaties.
After the war, he moved to Cambridge and worked on the illustrations for Hamilton, Boyd and Mossman's "Human Embryology" and "The Placenta". He regarded these as some of the best work he'd produced.
Scope and ContentThis collection comprises re-bound pages from Maxwell's original notebook of First World War sketches and watercolours, mainly depicting the wounds suffered by soldiers on the front line, plus a fragment of rib, and drawing of an experiment to observe the effect of gas gangrene in a rabbit thigh.
Extent1 box
LanguageEnglish
Conditions governing accessThis collection is available to everyone for research. It can be consulted in our Research Room at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 38-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE. It is essential to book in advance so we can ensure material is available. Please email archives@rcseng.ac.uk to book a Research Room appointment.
Conditions governing reproductionCopying and publication of files in this collection is restricted. We will grant permission for a limited number of files to be reproduced in an academic or medical context. We will not authorise reproduction for commercial purposes such as advertising. We do not allow photographs from the case notes to be shared on social media or published on websites where they can be downloaded and republished by third parties. To request images for publication please email archives@rcseng.ac.uk.
NotesConserved in 2006 by Preservation Solutions as part of the 'Research Resources in Medical History' Wellcome Trust funded conservation project
Persons keyword A Kirkpatrick Maxwell, 1884-1975, medical artist
SubjectWorld War I, Armed forces, Drawings, Illustrations, Injuries, War victims
