John Dixon Mann was born at Kendal, the son of John Mann, borough treasurer. He was educated there, at the Friends’ School, and then apprenticed to a local doctor. He continued his medical studies at the Manchester Royal School of Medicine and, after qualifying in 1862, went into general practice in Manchester. Some twenty years elapsed before he set himself up as a consultant. In 1882 he was appointed physician to Salford Royal Hospital, an office that he held until his death, and in 1885 lecturer on forensic medicine and toxicology at Owens College — a post that was given the status of a chair in 1892. Although a sound clinician, he was known chiefly for his work on forensic medicine and toxicology. He spent many hours in private research, and his book entitled Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (1893) went into four editions. He was not regarded as a first-class expert witness in court cases, on account of his impatience under cross-examination; and he was reluctant himself to appear in the courts. He acted as examiner for the Universities of Oxford, London and Sheffield and was Manchester’s representative on the General Medical Council at the time of his death. The Royal College of Physicians awarded him the Swiney Prize in 1899 and had chosen him to deliver the Croonian Lectures of 1914. Dixon Mann was an accomplished church organist and the composer of several anthems. He was also a fine judge of art and architecture. He married Charlotte Augusta, the widow of Antony Taylor Preston, surgeon, of Manchester, and the daughter of Rev. Richard Bassnett, rector of Gorton, Manchester. He died at Manchester.

G H Brown

[Lancet, 1912; B.M.J., 1912; Medical Chronicle, 1912-13, lvi, 125]