'COLUMBUS OF THE BRAIN'

Edward Hitchcock moved to Rugeley as a boy .His father worked at Brereton Colliery and Edward entered into a correspondence course and won a place at Birmingham University studying neurology. He became highly respected in the medical field, especially in his chosen area.

Before his death in 1994 he worked as a lecturer in surgical neurology at Edinburgh. During his life he devised new operating procedures which won him the nickname 'Columbus Of The Brain'.

Professor Hitchcock performed 55 brain tissue transplant procedures on patients with Parkinson's disease whilst at the Midland Centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology prior to its amalgamation into the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust early in 1996.