Wilkinson Peter Edward Darrell Sheldon

born: 7.8. 1919, died 17.8. 2009.

Wilkinson was born on 7.8. 1919 in Gillingham, Kent into a family of doctors. He received a classical education before studying medicine in London. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy, after which he pursued a medical career in London and later in High Wycombe. Wilkinson wrote some of the earliest dermatological descriptions of skin diseases, including perioral dermatitis, photocontact dermatitis and Sneddon-Wilkinson disease, named after him and Sneddon. He became President of the British Association of Dermatologists in 1979 and was awarded the Sir Archibald Grey Medal in 1984.

Wilkinson initially attended Epsom College, where he studied Classics and achieved prefect status. At this time his father died and Wilkinson found himself in the care of his grandparents. He later attended St. Thomas' Hospital on a scholarship. After completing his training, Wilkinson enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve (RNVR) and was subsequently posted by the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) to Alexandria, Egypt. After a parachute jump in Northern Greece, he spent most of his three years during the Second World War in the Greek mountains and islands behind enemy lines. After World War II, he returned to St. Thomas's Hospital to train in dermatology under Geoffrey Dowling and Hugh Wallace. Together with Arthur Rook and Eric Waddington, he founded the Dowling Club, a journal club that later established itself in the training of young British dermatologists. In 1947, Wilkinson became a consultant dermatologist at Hitchin Hospital and at the hospitals of Epsom, Farnham and Guildford. Until his retirement from the NHS in 1981, he worked as a consultant dermatologist at St. Peter's Hospital in Chertsey and at Aylesbury and High Wycombe Hospitals.

Many early dermatological descriptions of Wilkinson have survived, including subcorneal pustular dermatosis (which became known as "Sneddon-Wilkinson disease"), perioral dermatitis, glucagonoma syndrome, dequalinium balanitis, forefoot eczema. In 1968, Wilkinson contributed 14 chapters to the first comprehensive English-language textbook of dermatology, Rook's Textbook of Dermatology, also known as the "Rook book". Together with Arthur Rook and John Ebling, he edited three further editions].

Wilkinson was president of the St John's Dermatology Society from 1966 to 1967. In 1981 he became President of the Dermatology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and in 1979 President of the British Association of Dermatologists. In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and was an honorary member of 16 other international dermatological associations. Wilkinson received the British Association of Dermatologists' highest award, the Sir Archibald Gray Medal, in 1984. Wilkinson died on August 19, 2009.

1. Sneddon IB, Wilkinson DS (1956). "Subcorneal pustular dermatosis". British Journal of Dermatology. 68: 385-394.

2. Watts PJ et al. (2016) Subcorneal Pustular Dermatosis: A Review of 30 Years of Progress. Am J Clin Dermatol 17:653-671.S