Prof William Gillespie, professor emeritus of clinical bacteriology at Bristol University, was a medical microbiologist with an international reputation in the field of hospital infections. He was one of the first to use penicillin in the prophylaxis of streptococcal infection in children.
He spent the bulk of his professional life at the department of bacteriology at the University of Bristol, first as lecturer and then as professor following his appointment to a personal chair in 1960. He was also consultant pathologist to the United Bristol Hospitals.
The author of over 130 scientific publications, he also contributed chapters to classical medical texts such as Bailey and Love's Short Practice of Surgery. A 1952 article in the Lancet, "Hospital cross infection with staphylococci resistant to several antibiotics", was the first of many dealing with the then growing problem of hospital-acquired infection. He published extensively on the topic of urinary infection and especially its prevention in men following prostate surgery.
William Alexander Gillepsie was born in Dublin in 1912, the eldest son of Thomas and Jessie Gillespie, and elder brother of Edgar, Eileen, and Elsbeth. The family business was Strahans, a furniture and antique business on Stephen's Green. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin, and entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a medical student in 1930. An indication of his subsequent career came when he took an extra year during his studies to complete a moderatorship in physiology.
After graduating he worked as house officer in the Adelaide Hospital - his old teaching hospital - and at the Royal Infirmary, Preston.
He then returned to Dublin to work as senior assistant to Prof Biggar, the then professor of bacteriology and preventive medicine in Trinity. Marjorie Booth, his future wife, also worked in the same department and it is said their eyes met while checking the Wassermann reactions or WRs - tests routinely carried out on all hospital patients in an era when syphilis was common.
He then worked for a while as a family doctor, sharing consulting rooms with Dr Bob Collis at 26 Fitzwilliam Square. However, in common with many fellow graduates, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940. He became a major (special pathologist) and served in Britain, France and Italy.
The work was diverse; as well as running hospital laboratories, he gave much of his service to casualty-clearing stations. Here he specialised in surveillance for biological (germ) agents as well as investigating wound infections as part of a Medical Research Council team. He kept meticulous records of this research into gas gangrene; not long before his death he updated his notes with an explanation as to why there was such a low incidence of the problem in Normandy. In his opinion this was due to a combination of prompt transport of casualties from the front line to field hospitals, rapid surgery, and the availability of penicillin.
He was delighted to receive a call from the Adelaide, following his retirement from Bristol in 1977, to see if he was available to fill a locum consultant post at the hospital. William and Marjorie spent a pleasant three years in a small flat in Pearse Street, renewing medical friendships and enjoying being close to Trinity College.
He worked closely with consultant urologists at the Meath hospital and was responsible for introducing a system of pre-operative urine cultures which helped to define the best antibiotics to use in the event of post surgery urinary tract infection. He is remembered as an affable colleague with firm but informed views.
Gillespie used his time here to study at the Italian Cultural Institute and gained a diploma in the language and culture of Italy in 1979 at 67. He had become fluent in Italian some years earlier, teaching himself the language while recovering from a duodenal ulcer. Following his second retirement from the Adelaide, he took up a seasonal post at the British Institute in Florence teaching English.
William Gillespie had a lifelong love of gardening. He was interested in church architecture and was a member of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. He gave regular lectures to the Medical History Society of Bristol on Edward Jenner, who first described smallpox, and on Joseph Lister, who championed the cause of antisepsis in surgery.
A charming man with a great sense of humour, he loved creating rhymes and puns, especially while sharing seaside holidays with his grandchildren. William was a determined man, who knew what he wanted to do and where he wished to go. He continued to read medical and historical journals until just before he died.
He is survived by his wife Marjorie, daughter Geraldine and son John.
William Gillespie: born March 9th, 1912; died August 13th, 2003.