Dr Nicholas was a well known local general practitioner who started his training at the Middlesex Hospital in London at the time of the inception of the National Health Service in 1948.
He was always a passionate believer in the cradle to grave, free at the point of delivery ethos on which it was founded.
Peter was born in Folkestone in 1924, the younger son of Ivor and Gladys and as the Battle of Britain raged overhead in 1940 he was evacuated to his grandparents in Maesteg, South Wales.
On leaving school he joined the Meteorological Service and at the age of 18 he joined the RAF. The skies above Britain were dangerous for pilot training so he was sent to Terrell, Texas, USA where he qualified as a pilot just as the war was ending.
He entered medical school after demobilisation and following qualification he initially worked in The Middlesex Hospital, London and Margate General Hospital. He secured a partnership in the Almondbury Doctors Practice in 1954.
His early years in General Practice were vocational and hard by modern standards with long working hours, home deliveries and palliative care visits. A doctors' deputising service did not exist in those times.
He moved to Lepton in 1960 into a purpose built house with an integrated doctor’s surgery where he formed the Lepton Practice in 1966 with his wife Dr Ann Bradford.
In 1977 he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners serving as chairman of the Yorkshire faculty and on its London central council.
Peter was a long term member of the Huddersfield Medical Society and was President in 1979. He was instrumental in setting up the Medical Society Library, an integral part of lifelong learning, of which he was a great advocate.
His General Practice was one of the earliest to have training status.
Peter met Ann during medical training in London and they married in 1953 just as they both qualified. They have three children Ivor, Angela and Richard, the latter two following him into the medical profession. His close family includes nine grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
He was President of Kirkburton Probus in 1994. He was a proud, active member of the Worshipful Company of Coopers in London where he served on their Charitable donations committee. He was given the Freedom of the City of London.
He had a lifelong Christian commitment and was churchwarden at St John's Church, Lepton. Latterly, he was a member of All Hallows Church, Almondbury. His further Christian commitment was evident when in 1985 he worked in Jane Furse Mission Hospital, Lebowa, South Afirica. He was required to treat TB which he hadn’t seen in the UK since the early 1950’s. He had to perform many different operations and performed autopsies on so called “necklace killings”.
He led a varied and interesting life. Despite not being born in the county he very much considered himself to be of Yorkshire. He was made an honorary Texan in 1991. He loved gardening, snooker and bridge.
His passing is the end of an era for a true man of medicine. To summarise, 'he always tried to do his best for others'.
