Peter Britton 1940-2023

Peter Britton had his early education at RGS Newcastle, where cross country running, the CCF and outward bound activity were his pursuits, as well as scouting in his home village of Burnopfield. He went on to study Physics and Psychology at St John's College, Durham. Psychology won out and, after a brief consideration of ordination, he enrolled for a PhD at Newcastle University. Joining a strong team there on a project to study cognition and personality in older people was to be a defining moment in a long and distinguished career focused on the clinical psychology of the elderly. After a first post as lecturer at Strathclyde University, Peter returned to Newcastle as lecturer and then senior lecturer in applied psychology.

In very nearly three decades at Newcastle he shaped a growing area of collaboration between the academic institutions educating clinical psychologists and the health service employing and nurturing them in their early careers. As course director for the MSc in Clinical Psychology he was also an honorary consultant clinical psychologist in the NHS. Seeking synergies between two large organisations, each with their own priorities and purpose, was challenging and rewarding work. An area of this professional development of his field he was especially proud of was the MSc programme being augmented and becoming a doctorate programme.

Peter shared this expertise widely, active in his local branch of the British Psychological Society in the 70's before chairing the national body representing University Clinical Psychology Courses in the 80's. He was elected a Fellow of the BPS in 1988 and was a Chartered Psychologist in the areas of Clinical and Health. He was an active University external examiner and a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology. Peter was an active clinician, perhaps most notably with the haemophilia centre at the Newcastle RVI at the time when several individuals were processing the impact of the blood transfusion scandal. Many medical students benefitted from his professional clinical work during their training. He also maintained a research profile, including intellectual changes associated with the treatment of childhood leukaemia and, most prominently, his first interest of the psychology of ageing. The 1985 textbook Clinical Psychology with the Elderly, co-written with Bob Woods, was the authoritative text in this area for some time.

After retirement from Newcastle Peter was made a visiting professor at Teeside University. Here his vast experience helped a fledgling course, and many current local practitioners openly acknowledge his coaching and support in their early careers.

Throughout his life those early interests formed in childhood of the outdoors, scouting and the church continued, and he was active across all three until the end, with cross country running replaced by long walks. He was also a family man, carefully developing strong relationships with each of his four grandchildren. In his professorial lecture he spoke of the importance of adding life to the years through understanding the psychology of ageing, and without doubt this is exactly what he did.

Peter Britton died on 8 May 2023 of pneumonia after a short illness.