The Dental Board

updated April 5, 2014.

Dental Board Appointments

The Dental Board was composed of five members. The Principal Civil Medical Officers was at all time the ex officio member who acted as Chairman of the Board; the remaining four (two dental and two medical practitioners^[1]) were appointees of the Governor of Hong Kong.

Year	Dental Practitioners	Medical Practitioners	Remarks
1914	Frederick Howard Kew Joseph Whittlefey Noble	George Ernest Aubrey Frederic Osmund Stedman	the first board was appointed on July 17
1915	ditto	ditto
1916	ditto	ditto	George William McKean (acting, vice Noble, aol, 7/21-)
1917	Frederick Howard Kew Joseph Whittlefey Noble	George Ernest Aubrey Oswald Marriott (new, vice Stedman, 7/17)	Oswald Marriott (acting, vice Stedman, aol, 4/27-) Edward Evans Jones (acting, vice Noble, aol, [n.d.])
1918	Irvin Whiteley Kew (new, vice F.H. Kew, 8/2) Joseph Whittlefey Noble	George Ernest Aubrey George Duncan Ralph Black (new, vice Marriott, 8/2)[2]	the Kews were related (probably close cousins) and practiced under the name of Kew Brothers
1919	ditto	ditto	Hermann Balean (acting, vice Black, aol, 8/15-)
1920	ditto	George Duncan Ralph Black Stuart Segein Strahan (new, vice Aubrey, resigned, 6/9)	Mehdy Edward Asger (vice Jones, 6/9)
1921	Frederick Howard Kew (new, vice I.W. Kew, 10/28) Joseph Whittlefey Noble	George Duncan Ralph Black Charles Forsyth (new, vice Strahan, resigned, 3/24)
1922	Joseph Whittlefey Noble George William McKean (new, vice F.H. Kew, resigned, 6/2)	ditto
1923	George William McKean Frederick Thompson (probably vice Noble who had been absent from the post since 1917 , 6/9)	ditto	Hermann Balean (vice Black, aol, 5/15-) Stuart Segein Strahan (vice Forsyth, aol, 5/15-)
1924	Ralph Ekin Gill (new, vice McKean, 6/13) Frederick Thompson	George Duncan Ralph Black James Cyril Dalmahoy Allan (new, probably vice Forsyth, 10/2)	Allan Wrigh Shovelton (vice Thompson, aol, 6/13-)
1925	ditto	ditto
1926	Ralph Ekin Gill Hilmar Florenz Sommers (new, probably vice Thompson, 6/21)	ditto
1927	ditto	George Duncan Ralph Black Stuart Segein Strahan (new, vice Allan, 1/6)	Hermann Balean (acting, vice Black, aol, 10/26-) Frederick Thompson (vice [s.n.], 12/23)
1928	James Stoble Dykes (new, probably vice Gill, 5/26) Hilmar Florenz Sommers	ditto
1929	ditto	ditto
1930	ditto	ditto
1931	ditto	ditto
1932	ditto	ditto	Hermann Balean (acting, vice Black, aol, 12/7-)
1933	ditto	ditto
1934	ditto	ditto	Edmond Cecil Humphreys (acting, vice Dykes, [n.d.])
1935	ditto	ditto
1936	ditto	ditto
1937	Cyril Herbert Burton (new, vice Dykes, [n.d.]) Hilmar Florenz Sommers	ditto	Hermann Balean (acting, vice Black, aol, [n.d.]) Jack Thomas (acting, vice Burton, [n.d.])
1938	ditto	ditto
1939	ditto	James William Anderson (new, vice Strahan, [n.d.]) George Duncan Ralph Black
1940	ditto	ditto	Russell Glover Shannon (acting, vice Burton, 4/19-; 7/1- )
1941	ditto	ditto

[1] My interpretation of the reason behind why a simple majority in the Dental Board was held in the hands of medical practitioners (since the Chairman was always a surgeon or physician) rather than dentists was that at the time of the Board's inception, there were no British dentists practicing in Hong Kong. They were mostly American or Chinese, factually, the first eight dental surgeons registered to practice in Hong Kong were American Edward Evan Jones, George William McKean and Noble; Chinese descent Kew brothers; Eurasian Mehdy Edward Asger; Hong Kong Chinese Chaun Moon-hung 周夢熊; and Portuguese Arthur De Carvalho. It was unthinkable to leave the control of the Board in the hands of non-Britons, I imagine. Still, I wonder why the composition remained unchanged at later years where British dentists were plentiful.

[2] George Duncan Ralph Black was the longest serving member of the Dental Board. He was appointed in 1918 and had been since then on the Board without interruption until 1941; he served a total of 24 years.

- TO BE COMPLETED -