Ronald Parfitt


Ronald Parfitt was a British fencer and radiotherapist. He competed in the individual and team épée events at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Parfitt was born in a dentist family in Reading. He attended Guy's Hospital to become a dentist, but qualified as general doctor in 1939. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II in North Africa and Europe.
In 1946 he joined the radiation therapy department at Lambeth Hospital, where he worked among others with Theodore Stephanides.
Parfitt won the United Kingdom national épée championships in 1948 and 1950.
He invented first electric fencing box in England.
In 1949 Parfitt married hospitlal nurse Margaret. His wife died in 2008; they had 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.