- Joanna Lyall
- London, UK
- joannalyall50{at}gmail.com
“As sharp as a needle and as kind as a saint,” said Debo Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, to her friend, the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, describing their GP, Christian Carritt. “A selfless, funny, and charming London GP, loved and relied on by all her patients, many of whom become great friends,” she said.
Carritt, who has died aged 96, practised as a private GP from her home in South Kensington, London, well into her 80s, and her patients included the playwright Peter Shaffer, poet John Betjeman, and authors Rosamond Lehmann and JB Priestley.
Illustrious patients
“Writers, critics, actors, musicians, and intellectuals flocked to be her patients, and many became personal friends,” her godson, Luke Hughes, told her packed funeral in Chelsea on 2 August. “Everyone relied on her, day and night—not only the glamorous but also the young, vulnerable, or lonely, her modest fees adjusted accordingly,” he said.
Harvey White, former consultant surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital and King Edward VII …