Worcester, Reginald George (1903 - 1972)
by
 
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Asset Name
E006268 - Worcester, Reginald George (1903 - 1972)

Title
Worcester, Reginald George (1903 - 1972)

Author
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Identifier
RCS: E006268

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2014-10-31

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Worcester, Reginald George (1903 - 1972), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Worcester, Reginald George

Date of Birth
13 September 1903

Place of Birth
Omeo, Victoria, Australia

Date of Death
1 March 1972

Occupation
Obstetrician and gynaecologist

Titles/Qualifications
ED Australia 1945
 
MRCS and FRCS 1937
 
MB BS Melbourne 1927
 
MD 1930
 
DGO 1932
 
MRCOG 1934
 
FRCOG 1949
 
FRACS 1938

Details
Born on 13 September 1903 at Omeo, Victoria, Australia, son of R J Worcester, he was educated at Melbourne High School, where he won two leaving scholarships and was a leading lacrosse player and the best rifle-shot, and at the University of Melbourne where he won his lacrosse blue and graduated, with first-class honours in gynaecology and obstetrics, in 1927. After holding resident posts at the Melbourne Hospital and the Women's Hospital he came to England in 1934, worked at St Charles's Hospital and the Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, and gained the MRCOG in 1934 and the Surgical Fellowship in 1937. On his return to Melbourne he was appointed to the staff of the Women's Hospital, and was elected FRACS in 1938. His ten years' service in his hospital was interrupted by the second world war, throughout which he was actively engaged in the Australian Army Medical Services, in casualty clearing stations and in command of field ambulances in Borneo and Morotai, then as Assistant Director of Medical Services for the Northern Territory at Darwin, and finally as Colonel in command of 2/9 Army General Hospital; he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration for his war work. Unfortunately he fell victim to persistent amoebiasis and disabling allergies, in spite of which he maintained a busy and useful career for more than twenty years after his return to civil practice. He was gynaecologist to Prince Henry's Hospital 1946-63, and tutor in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Melbourne for eleven years. He represented Victoria on the Australian Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists between 1948 and 1958 and was elected a Fellow of that College in 1949. His favourite recreation was golf. Worcester married, while in England in 1934, Jean, daughter of C Kerville, who survived him with a son and two daughters. He died on 1 March 1972, aged sixty-eight, after five years illness following a severe cerebral stroke, the ultimate result of his wartime disabilities.

Sources
*Med J Aust* 1973, 1, 770 by Arthur Machen Hill, with portrait
 
Information from Mrs Worcester and Professor K F Russell FRACS
 
Machen Hill's memoir quotes from the Melbourne High School journal *The Old Unicornian*, June 1972, and acknowledges the help of ten named colleagues

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/E006000-E006999/E006200-E006299

URL for File
378451

Media Type
Unknown