MB ChB Manch 1903, MD 1906.
John de Ville Mather was a general practitioner in Todmorden for over 50 years. He was born at Rawtenstall on 16 October 1881, and was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College Manchester, where he gained a medal for pathology. Mather held house appointments at MRI, St Mary's Hospital Manchester and Cheadle Royal Hospital before entering general practice in Todmorden, where he remained until his retirement in 1960. After the first world war, Mather was appointed honorary physician at the Manchester Northern Hospital, a position he held until the advent of the NHS in 1948. Mather was on the boards of a number of hospitals, including the Fielden Hospital, Stansfield View and the Royal Albert Hospital, Lancaster, and was chairman of the Todmorden Division of the BMA from 1939 to 1949. Mather's second wife was Dr Stella Brown, who was his partner in the practice. Both his children practised medicine. John de Ville Mather died on 7 January 1969.