Los Angeles County
Biographies
CECIL EDWARD REYNOLDS
REYNOLDS, CECIL EDWARD, M. R. C. S., L. R. C. P., Physician and Surgeon, Los Angeles, Cal., was born at Paxton Hall, the family place, in St. Neots, Hunts, England, Nov. 24, 1880. He is the son of Edward Reynolds and Alice (Fisher-Brown) Reynolds. On his paternal grandmother’s side the family traces in direct line to the year 1400, one of his ancestors at that time having been gentleman-usher to King Henry the Fourth. The Reynolds family has been prominent in England for more than three hundred years and in its history appear numerous men of note. Among these are Richard Reynolds, Bishop of Lincoln, and the builder of Paxton Hall, which has been the homestead of the Reynolds line since 1725. Another was the Bishop’s son, Dr. George Reynolds, Chancellor of Peterborough. Mary Reynolds, a first cousin, became the Baroness D’Arcy de Knayth and Conyers. Her daughters, Marcia Amelia and Violet, married respectively, the Fourth Earl of Yarborough and the Fourth Earl of Powls, Viscount Clive.
His primary education he received in various private institutions in England and Europe, these including Belvedere Belmont, at Brighton; Malvern College, at Worcester, and Villa Longchamps, at Lausanne, Switzerland, where he played in the championship football team of all Switzerland, and later in the inter-hospital cup team, London. From there he entered upon the study of medicine and surgery, withstanding all the tests of the unusually severe English standards. He entered the University College and Hospital, London, in 1898, and was graduated in 1904, receiving M. R. C. S. (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, of England), and L. R. C. P. (Licentiate Royal College of Physicians). He received the Fellowes Medal in the Senior Class of Clinical Medicine in University College (1902-03). Several years later (1910), after he had been in successful practice, he received from Cambridge University the Diploma in Public Health, the highest qualification in State Medicine.
After his graduation in 1904, Dr. Reynolds became a House Surgeon in University College Hospital, London, one of the large institutions of the metropolis, where, for the next two years he was engaged. For a time he was Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, the Obstetric Assistant, Clinical Assistant to the Out-Patients and Electrical Department, General House Surgeon and House Surgeon to the Throat and Ear Department.
In 1906, Dr. Reynolds served as Surgeon to the Orient Royal Mail Steamship Company, and later was Deputy Anaesthetist to the Central London Throat and Ear Hospital, and Honorary Anaesthetist to the Sussex County Hospital. He was in the latter position about a year and a half and also was engaged during that time in private practice in Sussex.
From Sussex, Dr. Reynolds went to Berkshire, where he served for more than a year as Assistant Medical Officer for Berkshire County. In 1910, he made application for the responsible post of School Medical Officer to the London County Council and received the appointment after many of the leading medical and surgical authorities of England had recommended him for it. One of his endorsers at that time was Sir Victor Horsley, F. R. S., F. R. C. S., who wrote of Dr. Reynolds, thus:
“Being for a very long time acquainted with the work
of Dr. Reynolds, I am very glad to offer my testimony in favour
of his appointment as Medical Inspector of School Children. His career at University College Hospital,
where I had the opportunity of observing his work, was a distinguished one, and
he gained a comprehensive general knowledge by taking up the various posts, and
availing himself to the fullest possible degree of the opportunities they
afforded. In all his work, Dr. Reynolds
has been indefatigable in perfecting his knowledge as a physician and surgeon,
with the result that, both in diagnosis and treatment, he is a highly skilled
practitioner.
“His knowledge of hospital duty is extensive, and he
has had a wide experience of responsibility, having held chief appointments in
University College Hospital. His
clinical experience has been very large, and therefore he is in every way
fitted to take the responsible position he now seeks. He takes the greatest interest in his
profession, is of a most kindly and courteous disposition, and as a colleague
would prove most helpful.”
Dr. Reynolds served as Medical Officer of Health to the London County Council for approximately a year and during that time made a splendid record because of his conscientious performance of the duty connected with the post and his unusual interest in the health of the hundreds of children who came under his jurisdiction. Having been so continuously an observer of child life and the afflictions to which children fall heir, he came to be regarded as an expert in this particular branch of his profession and wrote variously on the subjects connected with it. He devoted particular attention to hygiene in these papers and strove to instruct parents in this important phase of child care.
Upon the expiration of his term, Dr. Reynolds resigned his office as School Doctor and sailed for America. He landed in Los Angeles in September, 1911. He carried with him the finest kind of professional recommendations and was immediately welcomed by the medical fraternity of Southern California as a valuable addition to their ranks.
Since he began practice there, in association with Dr. F. M. Pottenger, the noted lung specialist, Dr. Reynolds has met with unusual success and is the head of an extensive practice in surgery and medicine.
Dr. Reynolds is a constant student and devotes practically all of his time to his profession.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 671,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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