John Milson Rhodes

Plaque commemorating Dr.J.Milson Rhodes

Dr John Milson Rhodes (1847- 25 September 1909) was a general practitioner in the suburb of Didsbury, Manchester, UK. He was noted as a pioneer of social reform.

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

Death and memorials[]

The Rhodes memorial clock in Didsbury

He died from the effects of strychnine which he administered to himself.^[3]

After his death, a 8-metre (26 ft) clock tower was erected in his memory in the forecourt of Didsbury railway station. The Edwardian Baroque Portland stone clock incorporates a pair of drinking fountains and bears a bronze plaque which displays a relief medallion portrait of Rhodes. The inscription reads "In memory of Dr.J.Milson Rhodes JP.CA. 1847-1909. A Friend to Humanity". Although the station was demolished in 1982, the clock still stands as a local landmark and is Grade II listed.^[4]

In 2017 a Wetherspoons public house in Didsbury, the Milson Rhodes, was named after him.^[5]

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