A. J. Cronin
| A. J. Cronin, MD | |
|---|---|
A. J. Cronin in 1931
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| Born | Archibald Joseph Cronin 19 July 1896 Cardross, Scotland |
| Died | 6 January 1981 (aged 84) Montreux, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Physician, novelist |
Archibald Joseph Cronin, MBChB, MD, DPH, MRCP (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish novelist and physician.
His best-known novel was The Citadel, about a doctor in a Welsh mining village who quickly moves up the career ladder in London. Cronin had observed this scene closely as a Medical Inspector of Mines and later as a doctor in Harley Street. This book promoted controversial new ideas about medical ethics which largely inspired the launch of the National Health Service. Another popular mining novel, set in the North East of England, was The Stars Look Down. Both these novels were adapted for film, as were Hatter's Castle, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years. His novella Country Doctor was adapted for a long-running BBC radio and TV series Dr Finlay's Casebook, revived many years later.
Cronin was born at Rosebank Cottage in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, the only child of a Protestant mother, Jessie Cronin (née Montgomerie), and a Catholic father, Patrick Cronin, and would later write of young men from similarly mixed backgrounds. His paternal grandparents emigrated from County Armagh, Ireland and were glass and china merchants in Alexandria. Owen Cronin, his grandfather, had his surname changed from Cronague in 1870. His maternal grandfather, Archibald Montgomerie, was a hatter who owned a shop in Dumbarton. After their marriage, Cronin's parents moved to Helensburgh, where he attended Grant Street School. When he was seven years old, his father, an insurance agent and commercial traveller, died from tuberculosis. He and his mother moved to her parents' home in Dumbarton, and she soon became a public health inspector in Glasgow
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