John Milson Rhodes

Dr John Milson Rhodes (1847- 25 September 1909) was a general practitioner in Didsbury and a pioneer of social reform.

A Wetherspoons public house in Didsbury was named after him, and there is a bronze bass relief of his face on the clock tower in the centre of the village.

He was born at Broughton, Salford in 1847 and studied medicine in Glasgow and at Owen's College, Manchester. He was a member of the Chorlton Board of Guardians from 1882 and involved with the workhouse which later became Withington Hospital. He helped to set up the Styal Cottage Homes. He established the Northern Workhouse Nursing Association and the Chorlton workhouse became a pioneer of trained nursing, held out by Florence Nightingale as an example.

He established the Langho Colony for Epileptics in 1904 and was involved with the David Lewis Epileptics Colony.

He died from the effects of strychnine which he administered to himself.

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