Franklin Bicknell

Franklin Bicknell
Born(1906-03-20)20 March 1906
Great Amwell
Died1964(1964-00-00) (aged 57–58)
OccupationsPhysician, writer

Franklin Ethrayne Bicknell (20 March 1906 – 1 December 1964) M.D, M.R.C.P was a British physician, nutritionist and writer.[1]

Biography

Bicknell was born at Great Amwell, the son of Ethrayne Adrimar Bicknell, a solicitor, and his wife Ethel Elizabeth Richards, daughter of Franklin Thomas Richards and sister of Grant Richards.[2][3] He was educated at Marlborough College, and read medicine at New College, Oxford.[4] He qualified as D.M.(Oxon) and M.B.[1]

Bicknell was the consulting physician for the French Hospital, London.[5] He practised medicine at 14 Wimpole Street.[1][6] In a paper published in 1934 he was a registrar at St Thomas's Hospital.[7] He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1935.[8]

The Nutrition Society of London was formed in 1941.[9] Bicknell is recorded in its Proceedings in 1943 with a comment about vitamins, at 79 Wimpole Street.[10] In 1948 Bicknell became a Fellow of the Hunterian Society.[11] In 1949 he was physician dealing with nutrition at London's Margaret Street Hospital, in the National Health Service and treating mainly tuberculosis patients.[12][13]

Nutrition

Bicknell argued for more fats and meat in diet.[14] He advocated low-carbohydrate dieting, and wrote the introduction for Eat Fat and Grow Slim (1958) by Richard Mackarness.[15]

By 1961, Bicknell had a reputation. It was said of him that he was "well known for his antagonism to almost anything done by the food manufacturer" and as an opponent of "artificially coloured food such as jams, iced cakes, sweets, ices, canned peas, margarine, custard powder, etc."[16]

The Vitamins in Medicine

The Vitamins in Medicine was a reference work written by Bicknell and Frederick Prescott, which ran to three editions. The first edition (1942) had 662 pages, the second edition (1946), an "admirable compendium" according to The Lancet's reviewer, went over 900 pages.[17] The British Medical Journal called the 1946 edition a "very fine work".[18] The third British edition appeared in 1953.[19] The 1956 Grune & Stratton (New York) edition was positively reviewed by physician Paul S. Rhoads in AMA Archives of Internal Medicine.[20] There had been a US third edition in 1953 published by the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research.[21] Bicknell's co-author Frederick Prescott (1904–1989) was director of clinical research at the Wellcome Foundation from 1941 to 1960. He is noted for his self-administration of curare in 1945.[22][23][24]

In 1940, both Bicknell and in the United States Israel Spanier Wechsler made announcements that Vitamin E could be used as an effective treatment for amyotrophy.[25][26][27] By 1943 the early results in this area were being considered deceptive.[28] In February of that year, in discussion at the Nutrition Society with Hugh Macdonald Sinclair and Thomas Moore (1900–1999), Bicknell resisted the idea that the vitamin E cure had been thrown into question.[29]

"Dying England"

In May 1947, Bicknell wrote a controversial article "Dying England" in The Medical Press supporting Albert Howard's idea that English people are malnourished.[5][6][30] The Medical Press editorial presented it as a response to an article in April of that year in the British Medical Journal, "Rations and nutritional needs", which it called misleading. It was written by Ernest Roy Bransby and Hugh Edward Magee, physicians working in the Ministry of Health.[31] The article was sensationalist and attracted newspaper headlines. The Sun News-Pictorial of Melbourne, Australia mentioned Bicknell in an editorial on 8 May,[32] and the original article was reprinted later that month in the South African Medical Journal.[33] There were also some reservations about the work of Bransby and Magee expressed in the British Medical Journal.[31]

Bicknell stated that "England is dying from starvation" and that the average person was only getting 2,100 calories a day when they needed 3,000.[30] He believed the British population were suffering from prolonged chronic malnutrition. Bicknell ended his polemic with "once we were a great, a prosperous, a happy nation: once we were well fed."[30] John Strachey commented that Bicknell had failed to take into account important factors such as the amount of food consumed in canteens and restaurants.[34]

Lord Woolton, a former Minister of Food, brought up the article in a House of Lords debate on the "Food Situation", on 7 May 1947, and supported Bicknell's view on the need for dietary fat.[35] At the end of the debate, he was rebuked by Lord Addison, who described Bicknell's claim as a "monstrous falsehood". He had checked with the Ministry of Food and contradicted Bicknell's claim that the average person was getting 2,100 calories a day. The actual figure, he stated, was 2,900.[30] Lord Cherwell brought up the issue again on 22 May.[36] The Economist wrote

What emerges from the blast and counterblast of calorie estimates is the existence, concealed under the apparent equality of the rationing scheme, of a new "submerged tenth" in matters of diet. Their plight is not now wholly or even mainly due to poverty, but depends on family circumstance and the accidents of restaurant and canteen convenience.[37]

The Conservatives Lady Grant and James Reid also raised concerns about the national diet.[38] From the scientific side, later in the year, Sir Jack Drummond criticised Bicknell's assertions.[39] Drummond had been Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Food, from 1939 to 1946, and was a founder of the Nutrition Society.[40][41] In November, at a formal debate at the Hunterian Society, chaired by Alexander Ernest Roche FRCS, Bicknell and Drummond spoke on "Our Present Diet".[42]

In the aftermath, a defensive attitude towards attacks such as Bicknell's had an impact on a 1949 report on nutrition, after Drummond, Lord Horder and Harriette Chick failed to agree on recommendations of proportions of animal protein and plant protein in diet.[43]

The English Complaint (1952)

The Vitamins in Medicine had reported a finding from volunteers in vitamin deficiency trials, namely that, independent of the vitamin excluded from diet, the common symptom first reported was tiredness.[44] The English Complaint or Your Fatigue and its Cure (1952) made broad claims about inferior nutrition as implicated in fatigue. The book warned about chemical residues, and broached food safety and antimicrobial resistance topics on which Bicknell expanded later in Chemicals in Food and in Farm Produce.[45]

A House of Lords debate on "Processed Food" in June 1953 saw The English Complaint cited. Lord Hankey drew attention to its mention of agene as a preservative for flour, and generally to its querying of food additives, such as emulsifiers. Lord Douglas of Barloch illustrated Bicknell's advocacy of nutrition facts labelling with an example from Egypt.[46]

Food Education Society

Bicknell was for a period in the 1950s Chairman of the Food Education Society, at a time when Lord Horder was President.[47][48][49] It was originally the National Food Reform Association, set up in 1908 by Eustace Miles.[50][51] The society's purpose was defined in 1955 as "promoting knowledge in the choice and preparation of food and in the vital relationship between soil fertility, food quality and human health."[52]

In 1960, Bicknell gave up his position as Chairman, and was succeeded by Leslie Harry Hardern (1903–1974). Hardern was a public relations professional, and BBC television broadcaster for the programme "Inventor's Club".[53][54][55][56] The Society was registered as a charitable company in 1962.[57]

Chemicals in Food and in Farm Produce (1960)

Bicknell in this book argued that birth defects both mental and physical are caused by alien substances added to foods. It was negatively reviewed in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine as scientifically misleading.[58] A review in The Quarterly Review of Biology suggested that "while all will agree that we are against poisons in our foods, this volume contributes little to understanding how difficult it is at times to determine what is a poison."[59]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b c St. Thomas's Hospital Gazette. 1965. p. 54.
  2. ^ Crisp, Frederick Arthur, ed. (1911). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 17. London: Privately printed. p. 43.
  3. ^ Brockman, William S. "Richards, (Franklin Thomas) Grant (1872–1948)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47450. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ The Best British Short Stories of ... New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. 1927. p. 384.
  5. ^ a b Barton, Gregory A. (2018). The Global History of Organic Farming. Oxford University Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-19-964253-3
  6. ^ a b Crofts, William. (1989). Coercion Or Persuasion?: Propaganda in Britain After 1945. Routledge. pp. 102-103
  7. ^ Bicknell, F. (4 August 1934). "Addison's Disease due to Malignant Involvement of the Solar Plexus". BMJ. 2 (3839): 206–207. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3839.206. PMC 2445310.
  8. ^ "Universities And Colleges". The British Medical Journal. 2 (3905): 930. 1935. ISSN 0007-1447.
  9. ^ "About The Nutrition Society: The Nutrition Society". www.nutritionsociety.org.
  10. ^ Horder, Lord (September 1944). "Post-War Nutritional Relief" (PDF). Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2 (3–4): 213. doi:10.1079/PNS19440011.
  11. ^ "Transactions of the Hunterian Society" (PDF). hunteriansociety.org.uk. Hunterian Society. 1949. p. 129.
  12. ^ Nutrition and Child Welfare. Vol. 4–5. 1949. p. 31.
  13. ^ "Lost Hospitals of London: St Pancras Chest Clinic 26 Margaret Street, W1W 8NB". ezitis.myzen.co.uk.
  14. ^ Must Have Meat. Aberdeen Press and Journal (January 16, 1946). p. 4
  15. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1963: January–June. The Library of Congress. Washington: 1964. p. 522
  16. ^ Food Processing and Marketing. Vol. 30. IPC Consumer Industries Press. 1961. p. 203.
  17. ^ The Lancet. J. Onwhyn. 1946. p. 348.
  18. ^ "Reviewed Work: The Vitamins In Medicine by Franklin Bicknell, Frederick Prescott". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4446): 435. 1946.
  19. ^ "The vitamins in medicine / by Franklin Bicknell and Frederick Prescott". Wellcome Collection.
  20. ^ Rhoads, Paul S. (1956). "The Vitamins in Internal Medicine". AMA Arch Intern Med. 97 (4): 501–502. doi:10.1001/archinte.1956.00250220121012.
  21. ^ "Vitamin E - Selene River Press". Selene River Press.
  22. ^ Grant, John (1971). Who's Who of British Scientists. 1971/72. Longman. p. 682. ISBN 978-0-582-11464-7.
  23. ^ Anderson, Rebecca (1 October 2010). "A Tortured Path: Curare's Journey from Poison Darts to Paralysis by Design". Molecular Interventions. 10 (5): 252–258. doi:10.1124/mi.10.5.1.
  24. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  25. ^ Bicknell, Franklin (July 1940). "VITAMIN E IN THE TREATMENT OF MUSCULAR DYSTROPHIES AND NERVOUS DISEASES". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (1): 95.
  26. ^ Wechsler, I. S. (16 March 1940). "RECOVERY IN AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS: TREATED WITH TOCOPHEROLS (VITAMIN E): PRELIMINARY REPORT". Journal of the American Medical Association. 114 (11): 948–950. doi:10.1001/jama.1940.02810110014007.
  27. ^ Colby, Frank Moore; Churchill, Allen Leon; Wade, Herbert Treadwell; Vizetelly, Frank H. (1940). The New International Year Book: A Compendium of the World's Progress ... Dodd, Mead. p. 73.
  28. ^ Zech, Vern Lauer (1 August 1943). "NEGATIVE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF MASSIVE DOSES OF VITAMIN E ON AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS". Archives of Neurology And Psychiatry. 50 (2): 190. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1943.02290200090008. ISSN 0096-6754.
  29. ^ The Lancet. J. Onwhyn. 1943. p. 278.
  30. ^ a b c d Smith, David F; Bufton, Mark W. (2004). "A Case of "Parturiunt Montes, Nascetur Ridiculus Mus?" The BMA Nutrition Committee 1947–1950 and the Political Disengagement of Nutrition Science". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 59 (2): 240–272. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrh068. PMID 15109155.
  31. ^ a b Bufton, Mark W; Smith, David F; Berridge, Virginia (October 2003). "Professional Ambitions, Political Inclinations, and Protein Problems: Conflict and Compromise in the BMA Nutrition Committee 1947–1950" (PDF). Medical History. 47 (4): 475. doi:10.1017/S0025727300057355.
  32. ^ "The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956)". Trove. National Library of Australia. 8 May 1947. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  33. ^ Bicknell, Franklin (24 May 1947). "Dying England". South African Medical Journal: 365–367.
  34. ^ Doctor's Declaration "England Dying of Starvation". Ministries' Replies. The Scotsman (May 7, 1947). p. 6
  35. ^ "Food Situation - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk.
  36. ^ The Lancet. J. Onwhyn. 1947. p. 769.
  37. ^ The Economist. Vol. 152. Economist Newspaper Limited. 1947. p. 842.
  38. ^ Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina (4 May 2000). Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption, 1939-1955. OUP Oxford. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-19-154224-4.
  39. ^ Bufton, Mark W; Smith, David F; Berridge, Virginia (October 2003). "Professional Ambitions, Political Inclinations, and Protein Problems: Conflict and Compromise in the BMA Nutrition Committee 1947–1950" (PDF). Medical History. 47 (4): 477. doi:10.1017/S0025727300057355.
  40. ^ "Drummond, Sir Jack Cecil". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  41. ^ Widdowson, Elsie May (15 October 1992). The Contribution of Nutrition to Human and Animal Health. Cambridge University Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-521-42064-8.
  42. ^ The Lancet. J. Onwhyn. 1947. pp. 768–769.
  43. ^ Berridge, Virginia, ed. (29 August 2016). Making Health Policy: Networks in Research and Policy after 1945. BRILL. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-90-04-33310-9.
  44. ^ Burford-Mason, Aileen (18 December 2013). Eat Well, Age Better: How to use diet and supplements to guard the lifelong health of your eyes, your heart, your brain, and your bones. Dundurn. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-77102-364-1.
  45. ^ Kirchhelle, Claas (17 January 2020). Pyrrhic Progress: The History of Antibiotics in Anglo-American Food Production. Rutgers University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8135-9149-0.
  46. ^ "Processed Foods 10 June 1953 - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk.
  47. ^ "Britain Dying of Starvation, Expert on Nutrition States". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  48. ^ "Food And Drugs Amendment Bill 24 November 1953". hansard.parliament.uk.
  49. ^ "Horder , Thomas Jeeves , 1871-1955 , 1st Baron Horder , physician - AIM25 - AtoM 2.8.2". atom.aim25.com.
  50. ^ "Food Education Society, late National Food Reform Association : founded 1908 : incorporated 1919... 29 Gordon Square, London, W.C.1". Wellcome Collection.
  51. ^ National Food Reform Association (1908). Reasons for Food Reform: An Account of a Private Meeting Held at 54 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, February 26th, 1908, to Hear Proposals for a New Departure in the Movement Towards a More Rational and Humane Diet ... National Food Reform Association. p. 38.
  52. ^ The Hospitals Year Book. Vol. 22. Institute of Hospital Administrators. 1955. p. 502.
  53. ^ Gas World. Vol. 152. Benn Bros. 1960. p. 358.
  54. ^ "Hardern". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  55. ^ Who's who in Europe (in French). Editions Servi-Tech. p. 1119.
  56. ^ "... and for my friend, a case of Scotch". Worthing Herald. 15 November 1974. p. 25.
  57. ^ "The Food Education Society - Charity 212735". prd-ds-register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk.
  58. ^ Barnes, J. M. (1961). "Reviewed Work: Chemicals in Food and in Farm Produce: Their Harmful Effects by Franklin Bicknell". British Journal of Industrial Medicine. 18 (2): 161.
  59. ^ Van Reen, Robert (1963). "Reviewed Work: Chemicals in Your Food and in Farm Produce: Their Harmful Effects by Franklin Bicknell". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 38 (2): 209. doi:10.1086/403839.
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