Article  from Guy's, King's & St.Thomas's Hospitals Medical & Dental Schools Gazette,   April 2001

Lord Nuffield, Sir Robert Macintosh and Nuffield Place, an Invitation

"William Morris, as he then was, saw a great deal of Robert Macintosh and many other doctors from Guy’s at the Huntercombe Golf Club, high on the western scarp of the Chilterns. Morris joined the Club in 1920. By 1925 the great leap in sales of his cars meant he could well afford to buy the course and Clubhouse, where he and his wife lived from 1928-33, and the surrounding estate.

When the adjoining house and grounds came on the market the Nuffields bought it, renamed it Nuffield Place, and lived there until Lord Nuffield died in 1963. Nuffield College, Oxford, inherited it. Robert Macintosh and his first wife stayed in the double guest bedroom, which visitors to the house can see today, with its original furnishings. Most of the other original contents remain, in accordance with Lord Nuffield’s wishes, and form a remarkable 1930s period piece.

There is a special link with Sir Robert, the second ever professor of anaesthesia in the World, whose Oxford chair was fought for and financed by Lord Nuffield, in the shape of the silver plaque given him in gratitude by the International Anaesthesia Research Society and the International College of Anaesthetists. There is also a vintage Oxford vaporizer developed by Sir Robert in the early 1940s, which made accurate control of the concentrations of anaesthetic received by patients possible. Lord Nuffield saw its value, and set up a production line at his Cowley factory, so that a large number could be distributed to hospitals at home and overseas. With the College’s permission, the Friends of Nuffield Place are opening the house to the public on 11 Sunday afternoons this summer, from 2 - 5 p.m. Signposted off the A4130 Henley to Wallingford road, nearly opposite the Crown Inn, Nuffield, there is free parking, Morris cars are often on display, and home made teas round off a really interesting visit- dates are: 23rd April, l3th May, 27th, May, l0th June, 24th June, 8th July, 22nd July, l2th August, 26th August, 9th September, 23rd September.

A warm welcome awaits you at Lord Nuffield's former home.

Dorothy Silberston"