Inventor of the pill deserves recognition
WITH regards to your vote on Plymouth's greatest Janner. Were my wife and I the only people to vote for Dr Herchel Smith, who, with his partner, invented the birth pill.
He was a genuine born and bred Plymothian. He would return to Plymouth each year and always paid a visit to my wife's family who were bought up with him.
He loved Plymouth so much that when he died some years ago, he had his ashes scattered in Plymouth Sound.
When he returned to Plymouth each year, my wife acted as his driver so I was lucky enough to meet him, a more modest, nicer man you couldn't wish to meet.
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I would also like to point out he gave millions of pounds to Oxford University which he attended. Was he ever given any honours by Plymouth, or for that matter by the British Government, of course not.
I don't suppose he could sing like Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Cliff Richard or Sir Tom Jones and I don't suppose he could swim or dive like your other famous Plymothians. To let your readers know, when he was working on the birth pill, he asked for funding and he told my wife and I he was gutted when he was turned down and he had to go to America to attain the finance.
God knows how much money this country lost out on, if it was up to me I would have erected a statue to him or at least named a building after him, but my wife and I must be in a minority of two.
TONY POPLE
Laira
Comments
by alleycat
Tuesday, March 19 2013, 6:08PM
“How good it was to read this letter Dr Herchel Smith is a second cousin to me , he was indeed born in Plymouth and spent much of his time with my family and in particular my father his cousin .
Hershel was educated at University College Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences Tripos , matriculating in 1942 with distinction , he went on to study Organic Chemistry as a graduate student under Professor Alexander Todd and was awarded his PhD at Cambridge in 1952 .
He became a Postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University and then a lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Manchester University before moving to the USA to work for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals .
His as far as i know ,is that during his lifetime and after his death his has been the largest ever individual bequest to a British University . he alone has endowed many Proffessorships , joint postgraduate scholarships at Emmanuael and Harvard the list of what he bequested is endless . and will continue into the future .
My father Bill Caston always told the tale of how at the Sutton Harbour Regetta Herchel fell into the Barbican and he had to jump in to save him , that action probably gave the world the Pill .
Nathan Smith his father was a well known bookmaker on all the regional racecourses , his mother Florance or Auntie Florry to me as a small boy , moved to Exeter and lived opposite the old St James Football Stadium .
I was aware of Herchels death but learnt of it some time afterwards , from a relative .
As Tony Pople says a really great son of Plymouth , who with his work in contraception turned the knowledge of contraception using extracts from yams and mexican fruit and a very expensive process that could not be replicated , into the first viable syntheticly produced hormone , his work led to the Wyeth's Ovral Birth Pill which was first introduced into the USA in 1968 .
This generous man who lost his wife Sheila to cancer in 1977 is as far as I know survived by his son Marcus who I believe is a very successful Historical Author in his own right .
I would like to speak to you Tony to fill gaps in on my family tree , i can be contacted via HeartSWell South West " Your Local Heart Charity " see our website
thank you for your letter best wishes A C”