Ernest Runting 1861-1954
Co-founder of the National Society of Chiropodists
Ernest Runting
Born in London, Ernest Runting was the son of William Runting (a dentist) and Fanny Maria Potter, a chiropodist who regularly treated the Royal Family. At fifteen, Runting was apprenticed as a naval cadet, serving for five years. On the death of his father, in 1881, his mother bought him out of the service and trained him in chiropody.
In 1884, Runting set up his first practice in South Kensington but harboured ambitions to elevate chiropody into a respected profession in line with developments in the United States.
Together with a former patient (Dr Arnold Whitaker Oxford,) Runting formed the National Society of Chiropodists in 1912. Further plans saw the Silver Street Pedic Clinic opened in 1913 with clinical training established. Ideas for a school of chiropody had to be shelved due to the advent of the First World War. However, Runting was instrumental in providing the War Office with advice on the treatment of soldiers’ feet and consequently wrote Battalion Chiropody: Training and Practice in 1918.Runting and Oxford were regarded as founders of the London Foot Hospital.
Runting published the classic chiropodial text Practical Chiropody in 1925 and wrote many papers and articles on the subject. Extracts from his regular column in the journal “The Chiropodist” were published in the 1932 book Chiropody Jottings.
In 1884, Runting set up his first practice in South Kensington but harboured ambitions to elevate chiropody into a respected profession in line with developments in the United States.
Together with a former patient (Dr Arnold Whitaker Oxford,) Runting formed the National Society of Chiropodists in 1912. Further plans saw the Silver Street Pedic Clinic opened in 1913 with clinical training established. Ideas for a school of chiropody had to be shelved due to the advent of the First World War. However, Runting was instrumental in providing the War Office with advice on the treatment of soldiers’ feet and consequently wrote Battalion Chiropody: Training and Practice in 1918.Runting and Oxford were regarded as founders of the London Foot Hospital.
Runting published the classic chiropodial text Practical Chiropody in 1925 and wrote many papers and articles on the subject. Extracts from his regular column in the journal “The Chiropodist” were published in the 1932 book Chiropody Jottings.