Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter One Early Days (1903–1918)
- Chapter Two The Medical Student (1922–1927)
- Chapter Three Postgraduate Training (1927–1934)
- Chapter Four Consultancies: at Home and Away (1935–1939)
- Chapter Five The War Years (1939–1945)
- Chapter Six The Obstetric Unit in Nixon's Time (1946–1966)
- Chapter Seven Research in the Obstetric Unit (1946–1956)
- Chapter Eight Teaching at UCH (1946–1966)
- Chapter Nine Nixon the Man (1928–1965)
- Chapter Ten Last Days
- APPENDICES
- SOURCES
- INDEX
Chapter One - Early Days (1903–1918)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter One Early Days (1903–1918)
- Chapter Two The Medical Student (1922–1927)
- Chapter Three Postgraduate Training (1927–1934)
- Chapter Four Consultancies: at Home and Away (1935–1939)
- Chapter Five The War Years (1939–1945)
- Chapter Six The Obstetric Unit in Nixon's Time (1946–1966)
- Chapter Seven Research in the Obstetric Unit (1946–1956)
- Chapter Eight Teaching at UCH (1946–1966)
- Chapter Nine Nixon the Man (1928–1965)
- Chapter Ten Last Days
- APPENDICES
- SOURCES
- INDEX
Summary
“You waves, though you dance by my feet like children at play,
Though you blow and you glance, though you purr and you dart;
In the Junes that were warmer than these are, the waves were more gay
When I was a boy with never a crack in my heart”
The Meditation of an Old Fisherman (1886) WB YeatsMalta was a comfortable island for British expatriates to reside in the 1900s. Britain had ruled for a century since helping to expel the French. Having been the shuttlecock of warring nations for long before that, Malta became an important dockyard facility for the Royal Navy, first for its sailing ships and later as a coaling station. Trade flourished during the Crimean War and particularly benefited from the opening of the Suez Canal twenty years later. The long sea routes round Africa were cut so that communications between Britain, India and Australia were reduced by many days. The island offered one of the best natural harbours in the Mediterranean and the Royal Navy soon appreciated this. Five dry docks were opened there. The Royal Navy was the largest industry on the island, with up to a third of the population employed either directly or indirectly by the British Armed Services. Any British civilians, such as the Nixons, lived in the reflected glory of this.
At dawn on Sunday, 22nd November 1903, after a long night, William Nixon was born at his parents' home at 22 Strada Leone in Floriana in Malta.
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- Special DeliveryThe Life of the Celebrated British Obstetrician, William Nixon, pp. 1 - 7Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004