Dr Frances Hamilton, paediatrician; born August 7, 1925, died August 3, 1999

For about 16 years Dr Frances Hamilton used a large number of sources of information and a not inconsiderable amount of persuasion to identify every child in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area who was born with a congenital malformation. She then scrutinised case notes and other sources to try to find possible causes. This ''register of congenital malformations'' was initiated as part of a European Economic Community collaborative enterprise after the thalidomide epidemic in the late 1960s.

It took several years to discover that the drug thalidomide, taken as an anti-emetic during pregnancy, was responsible for the births of a number of severely malformed children. There is always the danger that a similar epidemic of severe congenital malformations could result from another drug taken during pregnancy, or from some other material which gains entry to the foodchain or from an environmental pollutant.

In order to try to ensure that any such toxic agent is identified as soon as possible - and very much earlier than was the case with thalidomide - one centre in almost every country of the EEC was selected to monitor carefully every congenital anomaly detected at birth or in childhood. Thankfully, no subsequent epidemic has yet taken place. Dr Hamilton's register has, however, played an important role in interpreting maternal and geographical variations in the incidence of congenital malformations, and in explaining changes in the incidence of particular types of malformations over time.

Dr Hamilton and her register acquired considerable notoriety among her colleagues in the other European centres. This was partly because her register was probably the best - because of the meticulous way in which she searched out her cases and because we had precise definitions of the population from which these originated and of its characteristics. However, it was her personality which made such a lasting impact on her colleagues. Distinguished professors from Italy, Germany, or Greece, on meeting anyone from Glasgow or Scotland, would always ask after Dr Hamilton.

She was born in August 1925, the daughter of a Glasgow general practitioner. She qualified in medicine at Glasgow University in 1950, after which she worked for a brief period in the United States, then as an anaesthetist in this country. She then became a community paediatrician in Glasgow Corporation Department of Health, working in Drumchapel. Subsequently she joined the Social Paediatric and Obstetric Research Unit in Glasgow where, in 1972, she took responsibility for establishing registers of congenital abnormality and of children with ''physical handicap''.

Frances's work with the register required her to take regular trips to the various other European centres - which, as an inveterate traveller, was a delight to her. She loved singing - both as a member of a choir, and also quite spontaneously and sometimes in rather unusual settings. After a day's work in Brussels and a rather splendid dinner she asked a colleague to stand up and introduce her because she wanted to treat her fellow conference participants to a selection of Scottish songs as a token of appreciation. On another occasion, at the theatre of Epidaurus, where unruly tourists were ''raising Cain'' over the ruins, it was suggested that she might walk out to the central spot on the stage and sing. She did so without a moment's hesitation and, in a few seconds, the hubbub was transferred to absolute silence as this small woman held her ''audience'' spellbound.

Frances was an elder of her church in Hurlford, near Kilmarnock, for just more than 20 years, her duties being carried out with much enthusiasm, love, and generosity. The numbers attending her funeral were testament to the warmth and affection in which she was held by her church and community. She was unmarried, her only surviving relative being her cousin, Ann.