The Right Honourable The Lord Walton of Detchant |
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President of the Royal Society of Medicine | |
In office 1984–1986 |
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Preceded by | Sir James Watt |
Succeeded by | Sir Gordon Robson |
Warden of Green College, Oxford | |
In office 1983–1989 |
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President of the General Medical Council | |
In office 1982–1989 |
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President of the British Medical Association | |
In office 1980–1982 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
John Nicholas Walton 16 September 1922 |
Died | 21 April 2016 | (aged 93)
Citizenship | United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Political party | None (crossbencher) |
Alma mater | University of Durham |
Awards |
Knight Bachelor (1979) Life Peer (1989) Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters |
John Nicholas Walton, Baron Walton of Detchant (16 September 1922 – 21 April 2016) was a British neuroscientist, academic, and life peer who sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Lord Walton qualified from Newcastle Medical School (then part of the University of Durham). Walton was President of the British Medical Association (BMA) from 1980-82, President of the General Medical Council (GMC) 1982-89 and President of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1984-86. He was also appointed second Warden of Green College, Oxford in 1983, where he stayed until 1989. Green College merged with Templeton College, Oxford in 2008 to become Green Templeton College, located on the site that was previously Green College.
Having been knighted in 1979, Walton was created a life peer on 24 July 1989 as Baron Walton of Detchant, of Detchant in the County of Northumberland and sat as a crossbencher. In 1992 he became a member of the Science and Technology Committee, leaving in 1996, returning in 1997 and leaving again in 2001. From 1993-94 he was Chair of the Medical Ethics committee. He was Secretary of the Rare Diseases Group from 2009 until his death.
He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was Patron of The Little Foundation, Honorary Life President of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Vice President of Parkinson's UK and Honorary Chairman of the United Kingdom Medical Students' Association (UKMSA).