John Frankland started caving in his mid teens in the Yorkshire Dales and joined the Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club in 1952. He qualified as a doctor at Manchester University in 1964 and later entered practice as a GP in Lancaster in 1967. Once there he became involved as an underground doctor with the Yorkshire Dales based Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO).
In subsequent years John became very well known and highly respected locally, nationally and internationally as a specialist cave rescue doctor taking a particular interest in the treatment of hypothermia and the problems of long term underground pre-hospital medical care. He wrote many well received papers and was co-author with Jim Eyre of the 1988 book Race Against Time which recounts the history of Cave Rescue in the Yorkshire Dales up to that date. He was a much sought after and frequent speaker at conferences and training events.
In 1981 John was elected BCRC’s first Medical Officer, a post he held with distinction for seventeen years before retiring in 1998. He also retired from underground rescue work the same year due to ill health but he remained connected to CRO as a life member until his death in July 2026.
John’s funeral is at 13.30 on Tuesday 4th August at Lancaster & Morecambe Crematorium, Powder House Lane, Lancaster.
Bill Whitehouse
BCRC President