Bryan Waldron (1951)

Obituary by Keith Waldron

Bryan was born in 1933 in St Albans, to Arthur and Gladys Waldron. Arthur Waldron was a tailor from Ramsgate who had survived fighting throughout WW1. Gladys came from the Channel Islands. Bryan lived in St Albans throughout WW2 and recounted helping his father to dig an air raid shelter in the back garden, and the sounds of a noisy anti-aircraft battery at the end of the street. He attended St Albans school where he enjoyed cricket and rugby. The famous Abbey probably stimulated a lifelong interest in church architecture. 

In 1951 Bryan went up to Cambridge where he studied medicine. With a fine mind and exceptional memory, he excelled at academic studies as well as spending much of his time in the University rowing club.

Subsequently, he trained at many of the famous London hospitals, including Barts, St Thomas’s and Great Ormond Street, and became an expert in obstetric anaesthetics. Bryan was a proud founding member of the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association. After junior positions at hospitals in Bristol, Colchester, and Birmingham, and at the young age of 32, Bryan was appointed as a consultant anaesthetist to the Plymouth hospitals where he worked until retirement.

Although dedicated to his career, Bryan became interested in sailing and over the next fifteen years, owned two small yachts in which he took the family on numerous holidays along the South Coast.

During his retirement years and in a second marriage, Bryan moved near to Exeter where he continued to keep very fit by cycling and moorland walking. He is survived by both his wives and two sons.