Zachary Cope

Sir Vincent Zachary Cope MD MS FRCS (14 February 1881 – 28 December 1974) was an English physician, surgeon, author, historian and poet perhaps best known for authoring the book Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen from 1921 until 1971.[1][2] The work remains a respected and standard text of general surgery, and new editions continue being published by editors long after his death,[2][3] the most recent one being the 22nd edition, published in 2010.[4] Cope also wrote widely on the history of medicine and of public dispensaries.[5][6][7]

Sir

Vincent Zachary Cope

MD MS FRCS
February – December
Born(1881-02-14)14 February 1881
Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England
Died28 December 1974(1974-12-28) (aged 93)
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
NationalityBritish
EducationWestminster City School
Alma materUniversity of London
Occupation(s)Surgeon, medical historian
Employers
Notable work
  • Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen
  • The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme
Title
Spouse(s)Agnes Dora Newth (1909–1922, her death)
Alice May Watts (1923–1944, her death)
ChildrenOne daughter
Parent(s)Thomas John Gilbert Cope
Celia Ann Cope née Truscott

Early life

Cope was the youngest of ten children of a minister, Thomas John Cope and his wife Celia Anne Crowle. He was head boy at Westminster City School where he was awarded a gold medal in 1899 and then a scholarship to go to St Mary's Hospital Medical School. He passed surgery and forensic medicine with distinction in 1905 and became house physician to David Lees, author of The Abdominal Inflammations. Lees influenced Cope in his lifelong interest, the acute abdomen.[1][2]

Surgical career

In 1906, Cope began work at Bolingbroke Hospital before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914. In 1916 he went to Baghdad, Mesopotamia. It was here that he wrote his first book Surgical aspects of dysentery published in 1921. Cope was considered an "eminent authority" on acute abdominal disorders. Influenced by Augustus D Waller and Almroth Wright, he published many books including Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen also in 1921.[1]

Cope is quoted to have said that "the good surgeon must feel for his patients, but never let this sympathy disturb his judgement or treatment".[1]

Cope is recorded to have been a small man who stood on a stool, named 'Cope's stool' when operating.[2]

Ministry of Health

Involved in surveying hospital facilities, medical staffing levels and auxiliary training, Cope was active in chairing committees for the Ministry of Health and in editing their reports between 1949 and 1952. He received a knighthood for the work he completed on medicine and surgery in the official medical history of the Second World War.[1]

Sir Henry Hallett Dale (left) and Sir Zachary Cope, 1962.

Notable works

1921 - Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen

1939 - Pioneers in Acute Abdominal Surgery - Oxford

1947 - The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme (under the pseudonym Zeta)

1954 - The History of St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Paddington

1955 - A Hundred Years of Nursing at St. Mary's Hospital , Paddington [8]

1957 - Sidelights on the History of Medicine

1959 - The Royal College of Surgeons of England, a history

1961 - Some Famous General practitioners and other Medical Historical Essays.[1]

1965 - A History of the Acute Abdomen

Between the ages of 75 years and 85 years, Cope wrote seven biographies including William Cheselden, Florence Nightingale, Almroth Wright and Sir John Tomes.[1]

Personal life
The cast of a play produced at St. Mary's Hospital in 1905

Described as "modest and friendly", Cope was also "devoted to his family and loved by his friends". He outlived two wives, the first, Dora Newth, dying very young. He married Alice Mary Watts in 1923 and had a daughter.[1][2]

Cope lived near Hampstead Heath until the death of Alice in 1944 after which he moved to Chiltern Court, Baker Street. He is remembered to spend much time in the library of the RSM after retirement.[2] Between 1950 and 1952, he was president of the Osler Club of London.[9]

Legacy

St Mary's Hospital, London has a ward named after Cope.[10]

The Royal college of surgeons pays tribute to Cope with the Zachary Cope Memorial Lecture in abdominal surgical disease.[2]

References
  1. "Obituary: Vincent Zachary Cope, Kt., M.D., M.S., F.R.C.S". Medical History. 19 (3): 307–308. July 1975. doi:10.1017/s0025727300020317. ISSN 0025-7273. PMC 1081645. PMID 1095868.
  2. "Obituary: Vincent Zachary Cope 1881–1974". British Journal of Surgery. 62 (8): 668–669. 1975. doi:10.1002/bjs.1800620820. ISSN 0007-1323. PMID 1100161.
  3. Balfour, Tom (2006). "Review: Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 99 (1): 42. doi:10.1177/014107680609900117. PMC 1325083.
  4. Cope, Zachary; Silen, William (January 2010). Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen (22nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973045-2. LCCN 2009013093. OCLC 317664268.
  5. Cope, Zachary (16 August 2012). "The Influence of the Free Dispensaries upon Medical Education in Britain". Medical History. 13 (1): 29–36. doi:10.1017/S0025727300013922. ISSN 2048-8343. PMC 1033892. PMID 4890038.
  6. Sir Zachary Cope, ed. (1954). "Surgery: History of the Second World War". British Journal of Surgery. Wiley. 41 (169): 560. doi:10.1002/bjs.18004116943. ISSN 0007-1323.
  7. Cope, Zachary (1963). "Contributions to the History of Surgery from 1912 to 1962". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. SAGE Publications. 56 (1_suppl): 37–39. doi:10.1177/00359157630560s112. ISSN 0035-9157.
  8. Cope, Zachary (1955). A Hundred Years of Nursing. London: Heinemann Medical Books Ltd.
  9. "Presidents – The Osler Club of London". Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  10. "St Mary's Hospital wards- Zachary Cope Ward". www.imperial.nhs.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2017.

Further reading
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