Kerley, Sir Peter James (1900–79), radiologist, was born 27 October 1900 at Park Street, Dundalk, Co. Louth, the fourth son and thirteenth child of Michael Kerley, grocer and egg exporter, and Matilda Kerley (née Henry). His maternal uncle Augustine Henry (qv) was a distinguished plant collector and medical man who helped to finance his nephew's education. Kerley attended St Mary's College, Dundalk, then entered UCD, where he qualified MB, B.Ch., BAO (1923), proceeding MD in 1932. In 1924 he travelled to Vienna to study ear, nose, and throat surgery, but was so impressed by the work of the Holzknecht School of Radiology – at the time a centre of expertise for this emerging discipline – that he decided to pursue a career in radiology instead. Having obtained a diploma from the University of Vienna (1924), he returned to England, where he studied at Cambridge and gained a Diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology (1925).
Kerley was appointed radiologist at the Royal Chest Hospital, London (1925–9), and then joined the consultant staff at Westminster Hospital, where he remained until his retirement. He combined his work at the hospital with a busy private practice, in which his patients included Winston Churchill and other well-known figures. At the outbreak of the second world war he volunteered for the RAMC; rising to the rank of major, he served as a specialist radiologist in India and Singapore until he contracted dysentery and was invalided home. The ministry of health requested his demobilisation in 1944 and appointed him to establish a national radiography service for the detection of tuberculosis. This achievement was a major contribution to public health in the post-war years for which he was made CBE in 1951. He continued as an adviser to the Ministries of Health and Aviation until his retirement in 1970. During his career he also served as consultant radiologist to the International Refugee Organisation (1947), the National Heart Hospital, and the King Edward VII Sanatorium, Midhurst.
A pioneer in radiology, Kerley ranked with Sir Ivan Magill (qv) among the top medical men in London in the middle of the twentieth century. Together with his contributions to the radiological literature, one of his lasting contributions to his profession was the observation and description of lines – now known as ‘Kerley lines’ – that appeared in chest x-rays of patients suffering from cardiac failure and raised venous pressure. Working with James Deeny (qv), chief medical adviser in the Department of Local Government and Public Health in the late 1940s, he advised the Irish government on setting up a mass radiographic service in Ireland. When George VI (1895–1952) was taken ill at Balmoral in 1951, Kerley was called in by the attending physician and together they diagnosed cancer of the lung. This began a long association with the royal family and as a result of his service to the royal household he was made CVO (1952) and knighted in 1972.
Actively involved in the organisation and advancement of his profession, he was a founder member (1939), then fellow, of the Faculty of Radiologists. He was also honorary medical editor of the British Journal of Radiology (1936–40) and editor of the Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists (now Clinical Radiology) between 1949 and 1952. He held many distinguished offices and his achievements were recognised with honorary fellowships of international radiology colleges – he was one of the first honorary fellows of the Irish College of Radiologists (1962). He was elected president of the radiology section of the Royal Society of Medicine (1939–40) and later president and fellow of the Faculty of Radiologists (1952–5); the Faculty awarded him its gold medal in 1976 and inaugurated a biennial lecture in his honour (1977–98; later replaced by a travelling professorship).
Kerley's contribution to the literature was substantial. He wrote and co-wrote several textbooks of note and published many original papers, of which the series of lectures he delivered to the Faculty of Radiologists as the St Cyre's lecturer for 1962 were the best known. In 1931 he published Recent advances in radiology, the first textbook on radiology in English for general physicians. Two years later he was invited to co-author the work that became the world-famous Textbook of X-ray diagnosis (3 vols, 1938–9), which earned him fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (1946) and, at the time of his death, was in its fourth edition. The British Institute of Radiology awarded him the Roentgen prize in 1943 for his contributions to the British Journal of Radiology.
A charming man, Kerley was regarded by his colleagues as a character for his sense of fun and wry wit, but also for his time-keeping, which was not of the best. He was a great teacher and his reporting sessions at the National Heart Hospital always attracted a wide audience, as much for his asides as for his medical judgments. His opinion on malignant disease was widely sought and his capacity for intuitive diagnoses was impressive. He loved food and wine and was an avid sportsman, enjoying golf (at one point he was a scratch golfer), shooting, and in particular fishing with groups of friends in Britain, Ireland, and Norway. Among his fishing circle his home-made ‘Kerley special’ dry fly was famous. In memory of King George VI, he sent the first salmon he caught every year to Queen Elizabeth (d. 2002), the queen mother. He married Olivia MacNamee (1929), a native of Enniskillen, and they had two daughters, both of whom became doctors. He died at home in south-west London on 15 March 1979.