British Homoeopathic Journal O c t o b e r 1990, Vol. 79, pp. 247-249

Obituary

DR V. S. S H U T T L E W O R T H

Dr V. Stuart Shuttleworth was born in Yorkshire on 16 November 1915. Having lived in Rugby he moved with his parents to the Portsmouth area where he spent most of his childhood, often returning there later in his life. He attended Dorchester Grammar School from where he gained a scholarship to St Paul's School, London. His interest in medicine and the sciences stemmed from his father who was a scientist with the Royal Navy and his uncle who was a dentist.

On leaving St Paul's he joined St Bartholo- mew's Hospital and gained his MB BS in 1939. He worked as House Doctor for a year at Bart's before joining the Royal Navy at the onset of war as a Surgeon Lieutenant.

His first ship was HMS Eglinton at Harwich in 1940. He spent the summer of 1941 in Yar-

mouth, Isle of Wight, where he met his wife Nora. He transferred to HMS Birmingham in 1942 and left Yarmouth in 1943 to go to Kilm- acolm in Scotland to set up a VD hospital. In November 1944 he was sent to Sydney, Australia, arriving at Christmas and staying until April 1946, apart from a break of three months from July until October 1945 when he was sent to Stanley Camp, Hong Kong, to evacuate the Pris- oners of War. He mentions a few experiences of Hong Kong in his article called 'Parts per mil- lion' in vol. 73 of The British Hom~eopathic Journal, Jan 84.

Everything in which Dr Shuttleworth became involved was followed up with enormous energy and interest. He and his wife were both keen sports people and enjoyed fly fishing for salmon and trout. He had a keen interest in shooting and photography. They were both very involved in dog breeding and showing, through which many friends were made. Caravanning was another great hobby and there was hardly a road in the British Isles with which he was unfamiliar. He also kept a lovely garden and grew many veg- etables. After Nora died in 1986 he set about learning to cook and took the subject seriously-- attending several courses, the last of which was on the preparation of sauces at the 'Horn of Plenty' just ten days before he died.

First and foremost, though, Dr Shuttleworth was a doctor who gained the reputation of never being too busy to deal with a problem a patient might have. He was a great believer in watching and a very good listener. He discovered that many patients never finished the courses of tablets he dispensed, putting the remainder behind the clock on the kitchen mantelpiece (the driest place in old farmhouses!) and quickly became a 'half-dose man'. Hom0eopathy took his interest in 1970 and he slowly introduced it into his practice until he retired from the NHS in 1978, continuing with his homoeopathic practice.

Living in a farming community he regularly noted not only the health of his human patients but also that of their animals. He was greatly

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interested in trace element deficiencies and wrote a paper on a child that he discovered was suffering from cobalt deficiency. Once the child's health had improved he turned his atten- tion to the cattle on the farm and discovered that they had the same problem. He has been known to treat homeeopathically sheep, cattle, horses, cats, goats and even seals! His study on orf in both animals and humans over the last four years was very successful. At the very beginning of the reports coming out on BSE he suspected the problem was a major one and communicated with every authority regularly on the subject.

Dr Shuttleworth was a highly valued, loyal and caring friend to many.

L Y N N P R I C E

DR V. S. S H U T T L E W O R T H - - A n appreciation I always looked forward to meeting Stuart Shuttleworth, although that can only have hap- pened a dozen times at the most. Apart from one occasion when I visited him at Grosmont, the only times we ever met were at the courses at the Royal London Hom0eopathic Hospital, the Bristol Homceopathic Hospital, or those I organized at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

His description of his first course in London in about 1971 was interesting. I don't remember what induced him to attend, but in those early days Dr Margery Blackie organized them, and the introductory course ran from Monday to Friday. He explained that by lunch time on the first day he was so perplexed and confused by what he was hearing, which seemed incredible in any case, that he decided he was going to return home after lunch and forget all about hom0eo- pathy. During the lunch interval he looked around to see if he could find a doctor who appeared to be sensible and down-to-earth, and not likely to be swayed by fantastic claims or theories. He finally chose Dr D. Wilson of Pershore.

I went up to him and asked him 'Do these blank pills work?' He took his pipe out of his mouth, looked me straight in the face and said 'Yes, they do'. I decided to stay for the rest of the week and am very glad I did.

He took up hom~eopathy avidly; he used it extensively in his widely scattered practice. He told me that when the county and local average prescription costs per item were about s the pricing bureau consistently gave his figures as about 80p.

I always imagined he lived the life of a country

squire as he enjoyed shooting, fishing and was highly respected among the local farmers and his patients. On the day that I visited him he had just been given a brace of pheasants which adorned his kitchen table. He and his wife bred pedigree King Charles Spaniels which they showed suc- cessfully at various shows around the country.

Distance precluded him from coming to our meetings at Selly Oak Hospital more often. He came altogether on eight occasions and on four of these came by invitation to present a paper. He usually managed to call for lunch en route and it was on these visits that I was able to get to know him better. The result is that I found it hard to believe that we had seen so little of each other since our first meeting, until I checked my diaries and the attendance registers. Norah, his wife, accompanied him to three of the early annual symposia, and helped to entertain Dr Margery Blackie. After 1979 his wife's illness made it very difficult for him to leave her for an afternoon, so from 1980 until his wife's death I lost touch with him apart from an occasional phone call. After her death he was able to expand his private practice and to further his research into the therapeutic effects of hom~eo- pathic Thuja in controlling orf. His results were so dramatic that the Farmers Weekly reported his successes and farmers from all over the British Isles telephoned for advice, some even coming great distances to enquire about his treatment and to obtain Thuja 30c. I have a cut- ting from the Farmers Weekly entitled

Are you there, Doc? Off virus is still afflicting a great number of people each year and as lambing time comes to an end, the seasonal rise in off cases in sheep farmers and their families is taking place.

Some years ago a Dr Shuttleworth of Aber- gavenny came up with a marvellous homceo- pathic remedy when Jeremy Hunt, Farmers Weekly NW regional reporter, contracted a bout of off. Calls for help from fellow suf- ferers occur in increasing numbers but Dr Shuttleworth has moved.

So, Dr Shuttleworth, are you out there7 If you read this, or if any reader knows of his whereabouts, please contact Jeremy Hunt on 0253-893821 and tell him.

Dr Shuttleworth had not in fact moved, he had had lunch with me at my home the previous Sat- urday before reading a paper to our group at Selly Oak Hospital entitled 'Systemic contagious pustular dermatitis or orf '1, which he illustrated with most convincing slides. His paper describes