Dedicated GP Edward Pringle dies aged 93
The last doctor in Wolverhampton to have been in general practice since before the introduction of the National Heath Service has died aged 93.
The last doctor in Wolverhampton to have been in general practice since before the introduction of the National Heath Service has died aged 93.
Edward Pringle was a GP in the city for 40 years and was also involved in many voluntary activities including St John Ambulance, Amnesty International and local politics where he regularly stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate.
He took over his mother's practice in Tettenhall Road, a surgery started in 1906 by the first woman doctor in Wolverhampton, Dr Ina McNeil.
Born in Ipswich, he came to Wolverhampton aged 10 in 1927 with his mother, a young widow with two sons.
She took over the Tettenhall Road surgery, attracted to the town by the spectacle of people skating on the lake in West Park.
Dr Eva Pringle passed on her enthusiasm for both Wolverhampton and medicine to Edward.
After a degree in medicine at Cambridge and training in London, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the war in India, Burma and Malaysia. After his discharge, he joined the Territorial Army, retiring with the rank of Major in 1957.
He took over his mother's practice in 1947, the year before the NHS was launched, and the surgery continued at the same address for 101 years until 2008 when it moved to Windmill Lane.
In 1948 he married Honor Childs and the couple had five children, including Jessica Pringle, who still lives in Wolverhampton.
The dedicated doctor was in St John Ambulance for 40 years, becoming the charity's county medical officer in Stafford. He retired from medicine in 1987 at the age of 70.
The grandfather-of-four, of McBean Road in Whitmore Reans, was also secretary of the Wolverhampton branch of Amnesty International.
He was a regular worshipper at the Church of St Chad and St Mark in Penn Fields, where a thanksgiving service will be held on January 31 at 1.15pm.
Rob Marris, former Wolverhampton South West Labour MP and a family friend, will speak at the service. He said today: "He was liberal, generous, caring and devoted to the community and to his city."
