The paediatrician Neville Butler, who has died aged 86, was professor of child health at Bristol University from 1965 until his retirement in 1985. He was particularly well known for pioneering longitudinal studies. This work started in the 1950s, when, with Dennis Bonham, through the National Birthday Trust, he set up the perinatal mortality survey, a study of all the 17,000 births in Britain during one week in March 1958, together with all the stillbirths and neo-natal deaths that occurred in the following three months.
In the early 1960s, the Plowden committee, which was studying primary education, decided to fund a follow-up of the perinatal mortality survey, when the children involved were aged seven. This study, located at the National Children's Bureau and jointly directed by Butler and Mia Kellmer Pringle, became known as the national child development study, and continues to this day at the Institute of Education, with the "children" being followed up into maturity. Together with Kellmer Pringle and that other pioneer James Douglas, who was responsible for initiating the 1946 birth cohort study, Neville achieved something quite unique in creating studies that could track the complete life course of children and families.
In 1970 he was the driving force behind the British cohort study, which also still continues to provide information, and in retirement he remained indefatigably active, giving immense support to the establishment of the Millennium cohort study, which was begun in 2000.
These projects have been emulated around the world and are generally accepted as unsurpassed providers of crucial data about the growth, education, employment and life histories of the general population. They are used by social and other researchers, and are much in demand by policymakers. Butler himself provided evidence for three royal commissions (Plowden, 1967; Court, 1976; and Warnock, 1978). For his achievements, he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and of the Royal College of Physicians.
To ensure the continuity of this work, in 1983 he founded a charity, the International Centre for Child Studies, of which he was director until his death. A major emphasis of the centre's work is to support multidisciplinary, longitudinal studies in Britain and worldwide, and in 1997 a sister organisation was established in the US. Most recently, Butler provided inspiration and support for a new think tank, Longview, directed by another of his long-term collaborators, John Bynner, and dedicated to carrying forward the development and use of life-course longitudinal studies.
Born in Harrow, the son of a GP, Butler was educated at Epsom college, before attending Charing Cross hospital medical school. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps (1942-44), and his career as a paediatrician began soon after the end of the war at University College hospital. He moved rapidly to Great Ormond Street hospital for sick children, and, after a spell in Oxford, returned to Great Ormond Street, where he began to consolidate his reputation before settling in Bristol.
My own collaboration with Neville, as a statistician, began in 1965 and continued up to his retirement; we remained friends until his death. He introduced me to his extensive international work and contacts, especially his wide-ranging studies for the World Health Organisation. One of the most important of his projects was in Cuba, where he inspired a highly successful birth cohort study in 1972. This was modelled on the national child development study and, meticulously implemented, it provided a textbook example of how to design such projects. We continued to work in Cuba throughout the 1970s, both on this study and on an equally impressive child growth study.
At home, one of Neville's most lasting achievements was his work on smoking in pregnancy, using the 1958 survey data. Despite initial reservations - and even opposition - from within the profession, his work was eventually instrumental in persuading the research community and, most importantly, the then Health Education Council, to institute smoking cessation campaigns aimed at pregnant women.
As a colleague, Neville was both charismatic and totally demanding - physically and mentally. He would happily spend 24 hours at a time engrossed in writing up or reviewing research, and emerge ready for more work or meetings. His charisma meant that it was difficult to say no, but the intellectual challenges and rewards made the sacrifices worthwhile. He was an inspiration to more than one generation and his passing will be mourned by many.
He is survived by his daughters Claire and Fiona.
· Neville Roy Butler, paediatrician, born July 6 1920; died February 22 2007
