‘Tell Brother Regius…’ Clifford Allbutt's correspondence with Archibald Malloch during Osler's final illness

Abstract

A very close friendship developed between Sir Clifford Allbutt (1836–1925) and Sir William Osler (1849–1919) after they became regius professors at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, respectively In 1919, Osler contracted influenza during the 1918–19 pandemic. The disease developed into serious pneumonia and empyema and was the cause of his death. One of his attending physicians in his final illness was Dr T Archibald Malloch (1887–1953) with whom Allbutt began to correspond. Allbutt's letters to Malloch are presented here. Allbutt was an exemplary physician. His handwriting, however, left much to be desired. Transcription of these letters was no mean feat.