As you enter the main concourse of Lister Hospital on the left you observe a plaque commemorating the opening of the hospital and above it a bas relief of a well dressed Victorian gentleman. It is the celebrated nineteenth century medical research scienti

As you enter the main concourse of Lister Hospital on the left you observe a plaque commemorating the opening of the hospital and above it a bas relief of a well dressed Victorian gentleman. It is the celebrated nineteenth century medical research scientist Joseph Lister afterwards Lord Lister, who is today acknowledged to be the discoverer of modern day antiseptics. This great gentleman lived in Hitchin, went to school at Isaac Brown's Academy, now the Lord Lister Hotel, and was related to the Lucas and other well-known Hitchin Quaker families.

I recently had cause to have an extended stay in Lister Hospital. Out of interest I enquired of the nurses, doctors, and just about anyone else I came across if they knew who it was on the bas relief, not one person did. Please would some kind individual or group have a plate affixed to the wall nearby so that everyone entering the hospital might know after whom the statue is named.

BRIAN LIMBRICK, The British Schools Museum