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Auction: 23112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 943

The mounted group of nine miniature Dress medals worn by Professor J. A. Dudgeon, C.B.E., M.C., O. St. J., T.D., Rifle Brigade, who rose to prominence as a Professor in medical research and became internationally renowned as a leading specialist on rubella and varicella vaccines

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.), Civil Division, 2nd type; Military Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross engraved, 'Feb. 1942'; The Order of St. John (O.St.J.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., with Second and Third Award Bars, mounted as worn, minor enamel damage, generally good very fine (9)

Provenance:
Spink December 2017, when sold with the recipient's full-sized awards by order of a Direct Descendant.

C.B.E. London Gazette 11 June 1977.

M.C. London Gazette 28 January 1943.

Bar to M.C. London Gazette 1 June 1943.

John Alastair Dudgeon, who took his second forename, was born on 9 November 1916, the son Professor Leonard Stanley Dudgeon, and his wife Nora.

After Repton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he arrived at St. Thomas's Medical School in 1937, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Having joined the 7th Battalion, Rifle Brigade of the Territorial Army in 1936, he decided to put his finals on hold and instead serve as a combatant officer.

Combatant

Embarked for the Middle East, he was appointed to the command of 'C' Company at the battle of El Alamein, and won his first M.C. for knocking out 14 enemy tanks, in addition to bringing his medical skills to use under heavy fire.

After a period of retraining, the 7th Rifle Brigade arrived in the Medenine area and subsequently, after the indecisive assault on the Matmara Hills, joined the New Zealand Corps now opposite El Hammah, and outflanking the enemy. Dudgeon's unit attempted to 'bounce' the Wadi Akarit position, but the attack proved abortive and he was severely wounded. According to Robin Hastings, author of An Undergraduate's War, it 'was one of the few occasions when a single battalion could influence the course of a campaign.' Dudgeon was invalided home and was awarded a Bar to his M.C.

On leaving hospital, he took his finals and transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps. He subsequently participated in the top-secret Operation "Tyburn", namely the crash production of vaccine against scrub typhus, one of the most serious medical problems in the jungles of South-East Asia.

Professor

With the war over, Dudgeon's commitment to virology in civilian life began with a posting to the Virus Research Laboratory at Entebbe in Uganda, but in 1949 he, and his new wife, Patricia, returned to St. Thomas's where he became Assistant Pathologist. A year later, he was appointed Assistant Pathologist and Honorary Consultant Virologist to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, where he served on the Board of Governors from 1962 to 1981. He then spent four years as Director of Virus Research at the Glaxo Laboratories and returned to Great Ormond Street as Consultant Microbiologist.

It was about this time that he began to make his most important contributions to the development of the rubella vaccine. Rubella, more commonly known today as German measles, is a viral infection, now rare in the United Kingdom, which produces rashes, swollen glands and flu-like symptoms such as coughs, a runny nose and aching or painful joints. It becomes a serious concern when women catch the virus during the first twenty weeks of pregnancy; birth defects such as brain damage, heart abnormalities, deafness and cataracts, caused by the rubella virus are known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).

During the early field trials of the vaccine, it was necessary to select young women unlikely to be in the earliest stages of pregnancy; Dudgeon made the ingenious suggestion of asking for the co-operation of nuns, and they proved to be 'most collaborative in the research project which was designed to prevent congenital abnormality resulting from maternal German measles.' This highly original idea to conduct preliminary trials in closed religious communities required the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsay, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Heenan. With their support, Dudgeon was able to show that the vaccine virus did not pass from person to person, was safe, and that immunity lasted for many years: it laid the foundations for the routine use of vaccine and what we understand today as the MMR vaccine.

In the early 1960s he began to design the programme of immunisations for children and travellers. At the Institute of Child Health, his programme covered infective gastroenteritis, encephalitis in childhood, and intrauterine infections, with special reference to congenital rubella and cytomegalovirus infections. He was awarded the Harding Medal and the Bissett Hawkins Medal. Dudgeon's remarkable work attracted many young research workers to his Department from Australasia, Europe and the U.S.A., and he enjoyed a Research Fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

As his career reached its latter stages, he began to take on a more administrative role; he was advisor to the Ministry of Health and a member of the Committee on Safety of Medicines. He was also a consultant advisor on infectious diseases to the World Health Organisation. Appointed C.B.E. in 1977, Dudgeon became Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in the following year; he had earlier been appointed Officer of St. John (O. St. J.) in 1958. Following his retirement in 1982, he kept himself busy as a member of the Council of the British Heart Foundation and as Chairman of its Research Funds Committee. He was also appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Apothecaries in 1986.

According to his obituary notice in The Times on 16 October 1989, Dudgeon was 'known for being clear headed, far-seeing and industrious, qualities which were matched by his courteous and kindly manner.' And according to his 1985 entry in Who's Who, aside from his vast achievements in Microbiology, the Professor also enjoyed sailing at the Aldeburgh Yacht Club. In his address given at Dudgeon's funeral, the Reverend Canon David Hutchinson, the Vicar of Aldeburgh, alluded to this interest:

'Alastair's hobby was sailing; and no doubt, with some of his family as crew, battled together against the elements, using the tide and wind for their advantage. This spirit is seen in his battle against ignorance and disease.'

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Sold for
£550

Starting price
£80