Thoroughly trained for professional activity in the University of Virginia, with later experience In the Johns Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Malvern Bryan Clopton is now engaged in active practice in St. Louis, of which city he is a native. He was born October 8, 1875, his parents being William and Belle (Bryan) Clopton. The father was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and was a descendant of one of the old families of that state of English lineage. The first ancestor in America was Robert Clopton, who came to the new world in 1643 and originally settled in Virginia. Ancestors of Dr. Clopton in both the paternal and maternal lines served in the Revolutionary war. His father was a lawyer by profession and a graduate of the University of Virginia. After the close of the Civil war he came to St. Louis, where he continued in the practice of law to the time of his death. He served as United States district attorney of St. Louis under the Cleveland administration, from 1892 until 1896, and was always a stanch supporter of the democratic party, taking an active interest in state politics in early life. He was also a Civil war veteran, having served under General Forrest with rank as a lieutenant. He passed away in 1912, at the age of sixty-five years.
His wife, a native of St. Louis, was a daughter of Dr. John Gano and Evelyn (McIlvaine) Bryan. The Bryan family came to Missouri in 1803, a removal being made from Kentucky, and Potosi was chosen as the place of their settlement. The Mellvaines came from Virginia in the early part of the nineteenth century, both families residing in Potosi until 1843 and then removing to St. Louis, where the death of Dr. Bryan occurred in 1860, while his wife passed away in 1885. He had devoted his life to the practice of medicine and surgery and was a very prominent and highly honored resident of St. Louis. His daughter, Mrs. Clopton, was reared in St. Louis and educated in New York. In 1872 she became the wife of William Clopton and passed away in her native city in 1893, when but forty-three years of age. The family numbered two sons and a daughter: Malvern B., of this review; Colonel William H. Clopton, of the United States army, now connected with the finance department at Washington, D. C.; and Emily, the wife of Major Elkin L. Franklin of the United States cavalry.
Dr. Clopton was educated in the St. Louis public schools until he had completed the high school course and then entered the University of Virginia, in which he won his M. D. degree upon graduation with the class of 1897. He afterward served in the Johns Hopkins Hospital until the fall of 1899, when he returned to St. Louis and has since devoted his attention to surgical practice of a highly important character, numbering among his patients many of the leading citizens, who thus attest his skill and ability. He is an associate in clinical surgery in the Washington University Medical School and is well known as a contributor to the leading medical journals. He belongs to the St. Louis Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association and the American Medical Association and is a fellow of the College of Surgeons, a member of the American Surgical Association, the Society of Clinical Surgery, the Interurban Surgical Society, the Southern Surgical Society, the Western Surgical Society and the St. Louis Surgical Society. In addition to his private practice he is serving on the medical staff of St. Luke’s Hospital, of the Barnes Hospital and the Children’s Hospital, and he is the president of the Missouri Association for Occupational Therapy.
Dr. Clopton entered the service in the World war in May, 1917, and went overseas as major with Base Hospital No. 21, serving with the British from June, 1917, until July, 1918, at Rouen, France. On the 1st of July, 1918, he was made commanding officer of Mobile Hospital No. 4, and became connected with the First Army of the American Expeditionary Forces, attached to the Fourth Corps during the St. Mihiel defensive. He was with the First and Fifth Corps during the Meuse-Argonne drive and was honorably discharged as lieutenant colonel on the 1st of May, 1919.
On the 20th of October, 1909, Dr. Clopton was married to Miss Lillian Lambert, a native of St. Louis and a daughter of Jordan and Lilly (Winn) Lambert, both representatives of old and prominent families of this city. Mrs. Clopton passed away in November, 1911. Dr. Clopton resides at No. 5391 Waterman avenue. He finds rest and diversion in golf, hunting and fishing, to which he turns when leisure permits. In politics he is a democrat and his religious faith is indicated in his connection with St. George’s Episcopal church, while his social relations are with the University, Racquet, St., Louis Country and Round Table Clubs. His patriotic devotion to country was manifest in his quick and ready response to the call to the colors when America entered the World war. It has been equally manifest in his devotion to momentous interests in St. Louis. His professional ability and prominence are attested by his colleagues and contemporaries in medical and surgical practice in this city and his attractive social qualities are evidenced in his circle of friends, which is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.