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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E000424 - Pinker, Sir George Douglas (1924 - 2007)
Title:
Pinker, Sir George Douglas (1924 - 2007)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E000424
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2007-11-08
Description:
Obituary for Pinker, Sir George Douglas (1924 - 2007), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Pinker, Sir George Douglas
Date of Birth:
6 December 1924
Place of Birth:
Calcutta, India
Date of Death:
29 April 2007
Titles/Qualifications:
KCVO 1990

CVO 1983

MRCS and FRCS 1989

MB BS London 1947

DObst 1949

MRCOG 1954

FRCS Edin 1957

FRCOG 1964

Hon FRCSI 1987

Hon FRACOG 1989

LRCP 1989

Hon FACOG 1990

Hon FCMSA 1991
Details:
George Pinker, Surgeon-Gynaecologist to the Queen from 1973 to 1990, was born in Calcutta on 6 December 1924, the son of Ronald Douglas Pinker and Queenie Elizabeth née Dix. Like so many English children in those days, he went to England at the age of four, and was educated at Reading School. He went on to St Mary’s Hospital in 1942 to study medicine. He had a fine baritone voice and, having played Pish-Tush in a school production of *The Mikado*, he was offered a contract with the D’Oyly Carte Company, but decided to continue in medicine. After junior posts he did National Service in the RAMC, serving in Singapore, and returned to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Mary’s and the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. He was appointed consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at St Mary’s in 1958, and this was followed by appointments at King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, the Middlesex Hospital, and Queen Charlotte’s and Bolingbroke hospitals. He succeeded Sir John Peel as Surgeon-Gynaecologist to the Queen and attended nine royal births, insisting on each occasion that the deliveries would take place in St Mary’s Hospital rather than at home, on grounds of safety. He received many honours, was president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 1987 to 1990, and president of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1992 to 1995. His many publications included contributions to Gynaecology by ten teachers, *Obstetrics by ten teachers* (both London, Edward Arnold, 1980 and 1985) and *A short textbook of gynaecology and obstetrics* (London, English Universities Press, 1967). George Pinker was a man of unusual charm. He had many interests, most notably music (he was vice-president of the London Choral Society in 1988), skiing, gardening and sailing. He married Dorothy Emma Russell, who predeceased him after a long illness, when he cared for her. They had three sons and one daughter. His last days were marred by the development of Parkinsonism, which he suffered with great stoicism. He died on 29 April 2007.
Sources:
*The Times* 7 May 2007

*The Independent* 29 August 2007

*BMJ* 2007 334 1378
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000400-E000499
Media Type:
Unknown