Robertson, Robert Cecil (1939-d.1942, HK)

updated

Cheated Death Twice But Not Thrice

Soochow Watergate, by R.C. Robertson, oil on canvas

b. December 16, 1889 Kilmarnock - d. August 4, 1942 Hong Kong; son of a glass merchant; M.B., Ch.B., Glasgow University (1914); Captain (temporary commission), R.A.M.C. during WWI and gained a Military Cross; M.R.C.P., D.P.H. (1919), Edinburgh; F.R.F.P.S. (1920); M.D., Glasgow University (1921); Assistant Pathologist, Shanghai Health Department (1925); Henry Lester Research Institute, Shanghai (1929), Head of Division of Pathology; Commissioner, League of Nations anti-epidemic unit No.2 (1930s); President, Shanghai Medical Society;  Professor and head of Pathology Department, professor of bacteriology and pharmacology, University of Hong Kong (1939-1942), succeeding Professor L.J. Davies; held in internment by the Japanese army after the Battle of Hong Kong in the Bacteriological Institute; said to have took his life by jumping from the roof of the Institute on August 4, 1942; member, British Medical Association (1917-1942); gifted painter and photographer.

Dr. Robrtson cheated death twice in Shanghai. The second time was in August 1937, when KMT army attacked the Japanese flagship in Shanghai and bombs fell disastrously in the International Settlement. Dr. Robertson was officially reported among the 2,000 dead, but his families in Scotland later received a cablegram from him bearing the single word "unharmed". The first incident took place three year earlier and was reported in detail in the British Medical Journal dated March 17, 1934:

All in the Day's Work - Details have now reached this country, through the columns of the Shanghai Times, of the kidnapping and escape from death of Dr. R. Cecil Robertson, head of the division of pathology and bacteriology of the Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research, Shanghai, and a member of the British Medical Association. On January 31st Dr. Robertson left his home in his car for the institute with his chauffeur and the 8-year-old son of his Chinese cook, who was to be vaccinated

Dr. Robertson put up a fierce fight, during which he was twice shot at; appeals for help to Chinese police and bystanders were ignored. Dr. Robertson explained who he was, and his captors appeared surprised and disappointed, but the car continued its course. Resuming the struggle, one of the Chinese was wounded in the hand by his own revolver, the speed of the car slackened, and Dr. Robertson forced open the car door and jumped out, holding the boy. His captors made no further attack upon him, but drove off rapidly and escaped. Dr. Robertson, who is president of the Shanghai Medical Society, owed his life to the failure of a revolver to fire when in contact with his head. He ascribes the incident to an error on the part of the gangsters, who had presumably proposed – to carry off a wealthy Chinese, but mistook the car. He was twice wounded in the war in France, and was awarded the M.C. He went out to Shanghai in 1925, and was at first pathologist to the Shanghai Municipal Council, joining the Henry Lester Institute in 1929.

Rice, John Roche (1862)

updated August 29, 2013.

b.[n.d.], Tralee, Kerry, Ireland. MD (Glas.) 1843. P.&O. Co., ship's surgeon; served on board hospital ship in Crimea and Mediterranean for 10 years. Hong Kong nlt.1862. Hong Kong Government, Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (vice Charles M. Scott, resigned) October 1, 1862 - March 1864, resigned.

Selected bibliography: Dennys, N.B., King, Charles and Mayers, William Fred., The Treaty Ports of China and Japan: a complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hongkong and Macao, Hong Kong: A. Shortrede & Co., 1867. Gocities.com, Doctors List C 1860 [internet]. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, October 4, 1862, Notice #100. Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive. University of Glasgow [internet].

Pan Tsoh-chen 潘作琴 (1938-EOP)

updated August 12, 2013.

MBBS (Glas.) October 24, 1924. Registered to practice Hong Kong April 14, 1938 through EOP. Residence: #11 Tytam Village, Stanley 1938; #1 Cumberland Road, Kowloon Tong 1941.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, April 22, 1938, Notice #326; May 9, 1941, Notice #558.

Nicolson, Murdo (1925-EOP)

updated August 12, 2013

MBBS (Glas.) April 1924. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 8, 1925 through EOP. Private practitioner, Drs. Allan and Straham 1925, address: Alexander Building 1941.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 8, 1925, Notice #266; May 9, 1941, Notice #558.

McGregor, Agnes Brymner (1916)

updated

MBBS (Glas.) November 1, 1900. Registered to practice Hong Kong January 21, 1916. Residence: The Retreat, Peak 1916.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, January 21, 1916, Notice #25.

Glaister, Joseph (1910-11, 1915-17)

updated March 2, 2014.

HMS Kent, Hong Kong ca.1910. The armored cruiser was sold in Hong Kong on June 20, 1920 (and scrapped, presumably, here). Credit: Naval Ships of the Worlds Navies.

b.1884. MBBS (Glas.) July 19, 1905; DPH (Cantab). RN, Surgeon November 6, 1908; HMS Kent 1909; Hong Kong 1910-ca.1911; suffered from a stroke and withdrew from service with gratuity November 4, 1912. Straits Settlements 1912. Medical Officer In-charge, Federated Malay States rubber estates 1912. Hong Kong 1915-17. RAMC, Temporary Lieutenant March 6, 1917. Straits Settlements 1920. Malacca Agricultural Medical Board 1925. England [n.d.]. Green Hall, Llandovery, Wales August 1930 – May 1932, Kent Street, Cheddar, Somerset 1933. Brought to bankruptcy court in Carmarthen for a deficiency claim of £611 15s. 2d. 1933.

HONG KONG 1910. Surgeon, HMS Kent. Conducted research into “Big Head” in horses and other matters at Government Laboratory since October 4, 1910. Left Hong Kong when HMS Kent reassigned ca.1911. Hong Kong 1915. Registered to practice Hong Kong June 18, 1915. Residence: Hong Kong Hotel 1915. Left Hong Kong for Europe for active service 1917.

s/o John Glaister (MD, MB, FRPS (Glas.); DPH (Cantab.); FRSE; FCS; Professor, Forensic Medicine, Glasgow University 1898- ). Siblinhs: 1. John Glaister, Jr., (RAMC, Captain; Professor, Forensic Medicine, Glasgow University; m. Isobel Lindsay, Glasgow Cathedral May 25, 1918). Watch video of Wedding of John Glaister and Isobel Lindsay on the website of National Library of Scotland.
Had issue: 1. John Leslie Gerard “Gerry” Glaister, b. December 21, 1915, Hong Kong – d. February 5, 2005. Gerry Glaister was a television producer and director with the BBC. Read Gerry Glaister's obituary in the Telegraph.

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong Government, Medical and Sanitary Reports for the Year 1910. List of Men Who Left Hong Kong for Active Service, May 25, 1917, under the General Category, under Men Resident in Hong Kong. The London Gazette, November 17, 1908, p.8407; November 5, 1912, p.8121; June 13, 1917, p.5834. National Library of Scotland [internet]. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, December 12, 1912, p.384. The Straits Times, January 3, 1933, p.19, Doctor's Affairs, Dr. Glaister in Bankruptcy Court. The Telegraph › Obituary › Gerry Glaister [internet].

Gale, Daisy Annabella Murdoc (1905)

updated on July 14, 2013

b.1875-d.1930. MBBS July 1900, MD 1912 (Glas.). Hong Kong nlt.1905. Registered to practice Hong Kong October 18, 1905. Acting Secretary, Sanitary Board July 18, 1917. Hong Kong Government, Acting Medical Officer of Health (vice Wilfred William Pearse) October 1, 1917, 1918. Publication: Some Points in the Epidemiology of an Outbreak of Cerebro-Spinal Fever in Hong Kong, 1918, Journal of Hygiene, November 1921.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, October 20, 1905, Notice #700; July 20, 1917, Appt. #325; October 5, 1917, Appt. #445.

Dempster, James Carroll (1854-1857)

updated

d. February 25, 1881. MD (Glas.) 1840. Army staff surgeon. Hong Kong with his unit nlt.1854. Seconded to Hong Kong Government, Colonial Surgeon (vice William Morrison, deceased) May 1, 1854-57; received an extra salary of £200, p.a., in addition to Army pay; introduced the treadwheel to prison in Hong Kong 1854 [1]. Left Hong Kong for India with his unit 1857; Hazara, India 1857; Sebastopol, Crimea; Ferozepore, India 1859; New Zealand 1863-65; Deputy-Inspector-General; final rank Deputy-Surgeon-General

[1] Dempster was more keen in punishing than healing with respect to his responsibility in the Goal, so much so that he introduced the treadwheel to the prison in Hong Kong as a punishment in 1854. The treadwheel was purchased in England at the cost of GBP188; it remained in use until ca.1861. Treadwheel, nicknamed "everlasting staircase" was a punishment device invented by British engineer William Cubitt.

 The actual plan of the treadwheel introduced by Demster, 1851.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 6, 1854.

Davis, L.J. (1930)

updated

MD (Glas.); MRCP, FRCP (Edin.). Hong Kong nlt.1930. Professor of Pathology, HKU 1930-39. Glasgow [n.d.]. Muirhead Professor of Medicine, Glasgow Univ. 1954. Professor of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow 1960. Publications: Scarlatina Immunity in Hong Kong, 1935, co-authors, J.S. Guzdar and F.S. Fernando.

Cogan, John Edward (1930)

updated

MBBS (Glas.). October 20, 1928. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 9, 1930. Private practitioner, address: Union Building 1930.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 9, 1930, Notice #296.

Clark, Daisy Annabella Murdoch (1905)

updated

MBBS (Glas.) July 1900. Registered to practice Hong Kong October 18, 1905. Residence: Peak Hotel 1905.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, October 20, 1905, Notice #700.

Ho-Asjoe, Solomon (1925-EOP)

updated August 2, 2013

LRCP, LRCS (Edin.) 1922; LMS (Glas.) 1922. Registered to practice Hong Kong January 30, 1925 through EOP. Private practitioner, 1925-EOP, address: Bank of China Building 1925, 1941.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, January 30, 1925, Notice #55; May 9, 1941, Notice #558.

Anderson, John (1923-1930)

updated September 5, 2013

Founding Professor of the Department of Medicine, HKU.

b.1879, Glasgow - d. March 28, 1931, Shanghai. MA 1901, MBChB 1907, MD 1920 (Glas.); DTMH (Lond.) MRCP. Private practitioner, Wallasey, near Liverpool, 1907-14. The Great War, Medical Officer, Gallipoli; medical and surgical specialist; pathologist, Egypt, Sudan. England 1920. London School of Tropical Medicine, student; demonstrator; Wandsworth Scholarship 1920. Filariasis Commission, British Guiana 1921, under the direction of helminthologist Robert Thomson Leiper. Hong Kong 1923. HKU, Founding Professor, Department of Medicine 1923-28 [1]; Dean, Faculty of Medicine 1927. Honorary Visiting Physician, Government Civil Hospital August 24, 1923. Left Hong Kong for Shanghai 1930. Director, Henry Lester Institute for Medical Research 雷士徳醫學院 1930. Died 1931, Shanghai; bequeathed £250 to HKU to establish a gold medal - the John Anderson Gold Medal.

[1] The establishment of the Medicine Department in the Medical Faculty, HKU as well as the appointment of Anderson was made possible by a Rockefeller Foundation donation in 1923.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, April 11, 1931, p.647, Obituary. Evans, Dafydd Emrys (Ed.) Constancy of Purpose, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1987. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, August 24, 1923, Appt. #369. The Official Website of the Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong [internet]. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, July 29, 1931, p.10.

Bankier, Robert Austin (1842-d.1853, HK)

updated November 6, 2013

d. June 22, 1853, Hong Kong; bur. Hong Kong Cemetery, Happy Valley. MD (Glas.) 1843. RN, Assistant Surgeon 1836; Surgeon 1843; Blane Medal [1] 1843; HMS. Herald May 29, 1838; HMS Pelorus 1839; HMS Bentinck 1841; HMS Winchester; Hong Kong May 1942.

HONG KONG, May 1842. RN Surgeon, HMS Blenheim; Surgeon In-Charge, HMS Alligator (hospital ship), later HMS Minden (hospital ship). Founding Member, China Medico-Chirurgical Society 1845 [2]

Siblings: 1. James Bankier, b.[n.d.]-d.1871; MD (Glas.) 1831; Royal Navy, Surgeon [3].

Neopomacentrus bankieri. Credit: Fish Album

[Bankier was a noted naturist. He collected a specimen of tropical fish in Hong Kong, which was described as a new species. Neopomacentrus bankieri, commonly known as Chinese Demoiselle, was named after him.]  

[I am in debt to Andrew Marsh for sharing valuable information about Dr. Bankier. I knew neither about the Blane Medal nor Dr. James Bankier until Andrew wrote me on August 5, 2013. Andrew's grandmother, Dr. Edyth Marsh MBChB BSC (nee Bankier) was the granddaughter of Dr. James Bankier.]

The Blane Medal. Credit: Stack's Bowers

[1] The Blane Medal, also known as the Gilbert Blane Gold Medal, was founded by Gilbert Blane in 1830. Two gold medals were to be conferred once in every two years on two Royal Navy medical officers who produced the most outstanding journals “evincing the most distinguished prrofs of skill, diligence, humanity, and learning in the exercises of their professional duties.” The panel of judges were the Presidents of the Royal Colleges of Physicians (London), and Surgeons (England), and the Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy. The first medals were given in 1832. The co-awardee with Bankier in 1843 was William Lindsay. Gilbert Blane, b.1749-d.1834, 1st Baronet of Blanefield, was a naval surgeon (and later private practitioner) who received his MD degree from the University of Glasgow in 1778.

[2] The China Medico-Chirurgical Society was founded at a meeting held on May 13, 1845 at the Hong Kong residence of Francis Dill. There were11 Founding Members, and they were: Alfred Green G. Tucker (President), Benjamin Hobson (Secretary), James Hume Young (Treasurer), Robert Austin Bankier, George K. Barton, Francis Dill, William Aurelius Harland, Henry Holgate, Kenneth McKenzie Kennedy, Samuel Marjoribanks, and Peter Young. By the design of Harland and Bankier, the society was renamed Philosophical Society, and in January 1847, it was reconstituted as the Asiatic Society of China.

[3] Assistant Surgeon 1827; Surgeon 1834; Staff Surgeon 1859; publications: Essay on the Origin, Progress, and Treatment of Cholera; with Remarks on Beriberi and Diet, 1835; had issue: 1. son [s.n.] 1859.

Selected bibliography: Calendar of the Royal College of Surgeon of England, London: Taylor and Francis, 1918. Find A Grave [internet]. Haultain, Charles (Ed.), The New Naval List, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1840. Naval Chronicle for 1941, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1841. The Navy List 1834, 1841. Rydings, H.A., Transactions of the China Medico-Chirurgical Society, 1845-6. William Loney RN › Naval Surgeons [internet].

Bowie, Donald Cameron (1939-1945)

updated March 20, 2014.

b. January 31, 1897, Old Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland - d. September 7, 1983, London. MB, ChB (Glas.) 1914; FRCS (Edin.); FRCGP. RAMC, promotions: Lieutenant August 29, 1918; Temporary Captain October 1, 1919; Captain February 28, 1922; Major August 28, 1930; Lieutenant-Colonel [n.d.]; Colonel 1948; service: the Great War, France and Belgium 1914-21; employed with the Egyptian Army July 23, 1923 - January 16, 1925; attached to the Sudan Defense Force January 17, 1925 - August 28, 1925; Adjutant, Territorial Army February 1, 1925 - January 5, 1930; Hong Kong 1939-45. Regional Postgraduate Dean, the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, London Univ. Honor: OBE June 6 1946; Sir Arthur Keith Medal, Royal College of Surgeons, England March 1969.

HONG KONG April 1, 1939. British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital), Surgeon 1939-EOP; Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital, Surgeon 1941- July 1942, Medical Office In-Charge August 1942-45; repatriation, England 1945.

Publications: Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Hong Kong: Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, 1977; Traumatic False Aneurysm Simulating Bone Sarcoma, British Medical Journal, Vol. #36, Issue #143, January 1949, co-author: A.W. Kay, Major, RAMC.

Selected bibliography: Banham, Tony, We Shall Suffer There: Hong Kong's Defenders Imprisoned, 1942-45, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009. Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975. The British Medical Journal, October 31, 1914, p.775. The half-yearly Army List for the Period Ending 31st December 1938, Gradation List of Officers of the British Army, p.399. Supplement to the British Medical Journal, August 21, 1948, p.92. Supplement to the London Gazette, September 19, 1919, p.11742; June 6, 1946, p.2735. The Official Website of  the University of Glasgow [internet]. Wellcome Library › Papers of Sir Matthew Fell (1872-1959).

Bourke, John Berchmans (1924)

updated

LRCP, LRCS (Edin.) 1918; LMS (Glas.) 1918. Registered to practice Hong Kong February 14, 1924. Private practitioner,  Drs. Dalmaboy Allan, Strahan & Thomas 1924.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, February 14, 1924, Notice #79.

Blackburn, Herbert (1890-1894)

updated August 26, 2013

LRCP (Edin.) 1889; LMS (Glas.) 1889; LM July 13, 1889. Hong Kong 1890. Nagasaki, Japan 1892. Director, Nagasaki Hospital (vice C. Edward Anuat, deceased) June 1892. Acting U.S. Vice Consul, Nagasaki (vice U.S. Consul William Abercrombie, whenever absent from office) March 1894 [2]. Left Japan for England with family October 1895 [3].

HONG KONG 1890. Registered to practice December 9, 1890 through 1894 [1]. Lecturer in Physiology, HKCMC 1890-1892. Residence: Rosa Villa West, Bonham Road 1890.

m. Emily May Sutton, b.1865, Norwich, England – d. March 3, 1895, Nagasaki., bur. Sakamoto International Cemetery. Had issues: 1. Enid Marjorie Blackburn (b. January 18, 1893); 2. Stanley Napier Blackburn (b. September 5, 1894).

[1] Time conflict between departure from Hong Kong and arrival in Nagasaki.

[2] It is quite odd that a Briton was asked to stand in for a US foreign service officer, but then Abercrombie was no professional diplomat himself. As in the case of Blackburn, he was a physician, trained and practiced in New York before President Benjamin Harrison made him US Consul for Nagasaki. Abercrombie took his own life in his Washington D.C. Apartment on September 5, 1907, by asphyxiation. He was 65 years old.

[3] Enid Marjorie Blackburn attended the Uplands Girls' School, St. Leonard-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex in ca.1910.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, December 13, 1890; May 4, 1895, Notice #193. Nagasaki: People, Places and Scenes of the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement 1859-1941 [internet]. The New York Times, September 6, 1907, W.H. Abercrombie A Suicide.

Adams, William Stanley (1864-1892)

updated August 20, 2013

The Forefather of Drs. Anderson & Partners.

Name variations: William Stanley Stanley-Adams [1]. b.1842, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire - d. January 10, 1898, Brentford, Middlesex. MD, CM (Glas.) April 15, 1862. Hong Kong nlt.1864. RS, Seamen's Hospital 1864-73. Hong Kong Government, Health Officer of the Port (vice James Orr Henderson, resigned) April 21, 1868; Medical Inspector of Emigrants April 21, 1868. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 3, 1884 through 1892. Private practitioner 1887-92; founder, Drs. Adams and Jordan 1885 [or 1887], address: Pedder Street 1887-89; the practice would evolve into Drs. Anderson & Partners. Hon. Assistant Surgeon, HKVDC July 23, 1864. Trustee, St. John's Cathedral May 4, 1885 and May 3, 1886. JP (unofficial) February 21, 1885. Residence: Forest Lodge, #11 Caine Road 1884. Retired, Edmonton, Middlesex 1892. General Council, Glasgow Univ.[n.d.].

s/o John Adams, b.ca.1815-d.1891.
m. Sussy Blanche Mary Hugo [2].

[Adams was one of the first nine doctors who registered as medical practitioners in Hong Kong immediately following the enactment of the "Medical Registration Ordinance, 1884" that required all doctors to be licensed before they could treat patients for monetary reward. The nine were: William Stanley Adams, Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres, Johann Gerhard Heinrich Gerlach, Antonio Simplieio Gomes, William M. Hartigan, John H. Lockhead, Patrick Manson, James Stockwell, and Richard Young.]

[Adams was said to have held the position of Colonial Surgeon, but I found no other references to confirm this. The only thing I could find that linked him to the top medical office in Hong Kong was that he lived next door to Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres, Hong Kong's last Colonial Surgeon (1873-1897, the position was renamed Principal Civil Medical Officer following Ayres' retirement). Ayres lived in a house called Dinder, #13 Caine Road.]

[1] Adams had his named changed to William Stanley Stanley-Adams while sojourning in Hong Kong, for unknown reason(s).

[2] Adams married Susan (Sussy) Blanche Mary Hugo (b. April 11, 1848, Jersey, Channel Islands - d. Jan 28, 1940, Heston, Middlesex) at St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong in 1867. Hugo was the daughter of Harper Richard Hugo and Blanche Leggatt. Adams and Hugo had eight children: Hilda Agneta Bertha Stanley-Adams, Blanche J. Adams, Maude Beatrice Stanley-Adams, Stanley Hugo Stanley-Adams, Mabel Gertrude Adams, Percy Hugo Adams, Ethel Constance Adams, and Herbert Hugo St. Leger Stanley-Adams. They were all born in Hong Kong where the family lived in a house named Forest Lodge at #11 Caine Road. Julia Hugo, Susan's sister, lived with the family in 1885. Her husband, William Kaye, worked for the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in London.

Selected bibliography: Chronicle Directory for China, Japan, & The Philippines (1872) Hong Kong: Daily Press. Family Tree of Edna Killick and Terry Smith [internet]. Dennys, Nicholas Belfield (Ed.) The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, a Complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hongkong and Macao, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1867. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, April 9, 1864, Notice #63; July 23, 1864, Notice #119; April 25, 1868, Notice #47; February 27, 1869, Notice #20; May 3, 1884, Notice; February 21, 1885, Notice #73; May 9, 1885, Notice #188; May 8, 1886, Notice #159; May 7, 1892, Notice #206. Hugo, F.H.M. (Ed.) A Pedigree of The Family of Hugo of St. Feock, Co. Cornwall, Guernsey: Frederick Clarke, 1932. Private Residences of the Principal Government Officials, the Leading Merchants, the Consuls, Professional Men, and Justices of the Peace (1884), Hong Kong: Daily Press, pp.398-399. University of Glasgow › Biography of William Stanley Adams [internet].