Obituary - Leonard Stidwill

Mr Stidwill and his wife Kathleen were contact lens pioneers and founder members of the Contact Lens Society, formerly the British Contact Lens Association. In addition to private practice in Lichfield, Staffordshire, they provided contact lens services to hospitals in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Mr Stidwill also had an extensive orthoptic practice soon after the formation of the National Health Service when hospital services were only available in large cities. He introduced a scleral preformed fitting technique in 1951 at the International Optical Congress in London, which utilised an in-practice contact lens press with a range of positive and negative moulds in glass and stainless steel. He later exported this equipment to practices in Belgium, South America and South Africa. A former major with headquarters staff South East Asia Command in Burma, Mr Stidwill was also an enthusiastic composer, conductor and church organist. He leaves two sons, Howard and David.