Wilfrid Le Gros Clark

Sir Wilfrid Edward Le Gros Clark (1895–1971) was a British anatomist surgeon, primatologist and palaeoanthropologist, today best remembered for his contribution to the study of human evolution.

Le Gros Clark was educated at Blundell's School and subsequently admitted as a medical student to St Thomas' Hospital Medical School in Lambeth. After qualification he immediately joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a medical officer and was sent to France early in 1918. He caught diphtheria and was sent back to England to recover, following which he spent the remainder of the war as a medical officer at ‘‘No. 8 Stationary Hospital’’ at Wimereux in northern France.

Following a period in the Department of Anatomy at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School he was appointed as Principal Medical Officer to the Sarawak Government. He was subsequently appointed as Professor of Anatomy at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, followed by a period as Professor of Anatomy at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School and finally,in 1934, he was invited to take over as the Dr. Lee’s Professor of Anatomy (and effectively the Chair of the Anatomy Department) at Oxford University.

In 1953, Le Gros Clark was one of three men (the others being Joseph Weiner and Kenneth Oakley) who proved that the Piltdown Man was a forgery.

Papers relating to Le Gros Clark, his grandfather Dr. Frederick Le...
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