| Description | Bramwell was the eldest son of Sir Byrom Bramwell (President of the College 1910-1912) and was born in North Shields, England in 1873. He qualified in medicine in 1896 from the University of Edinburgh. He then became resident physician to Professor Grainger Stewart at the Royal Infirmary and was elected president of the Royal Medical Society.
In 1899 he became Resident Medical Officer at the Queen Square Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London. The following year he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in both Edinburgh and London. On his return to Edinburgh, Scotland he became the Assistant Physician to the Royal Infirmary in 1907.
He helped arranged and supervise post-graduate courses in medicine and eventually became chairman of the joint committee appointed by the University and the Royal Colleges to administer further education in medicine.
During the First World War he worked at the Scottish General Hospital at Craigleith and the Royal Victoria Hospital. He acted as physician and neurologist and was in charge of shell shock victims. He also served on the War Office committee to inquire into shell shock.
In 1919 he was promoted to full charge of medical wards in the Royal Infirmary. He soon attracted a large clinic for nervous cases and the university appointed him lecturer in Clinical Neurology. His lecture-demonstrations were popular as he was an excellent teacher.
In 1922 he was appointed to the Moncrieff Arnott Chair of Clinical Medicine which included the chairmanship of the Clinical Medicine Board. After fifteen years in charge of wards he resigned in 1934 and became a consulting physician.
Amongst the honours he was given he was president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 1934-1935 and at various times president of the Association of British Neurologists. He died in Edinburgh on 21st March 1952.
[Source: obituary Edinburgh Medical Journal]
Contents: Diaries, 1934-1952; memoirs, 1945; correspondence, some addressed to Sir Byrom Bramwell, 1875-1948; writings of Edwin Bramwell, 1896-c1945; papers of Sir Byrom Bramwell, c1868-1923; papers of the Bramwell family, 1922-1953; glass slides of cases, 1920s |