Cover image for
Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E005613 - Alexander, George Lionel (1902 - 1970)
Title:
Alexander, George Lionel (1902 - 1970)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E005613
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2014-07-14
Description:
Obituary for Alexander, George Lionel (1902 - 1970), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Alexander, George Lionel
Date of Birth:
18 January 1902
Date of Death:
8 October 1970
Place of Death:
Painswick, Gloucestershire
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
FRCS 1933

MD Ed 1957

FRCS Ed 1931

MB, ChB Edin 1925

BSc 1927
Details:
Alexander was born on 18 January 1902 in a family long associated with the stage, but from an early age was determined to follow a medical career. He was educated at George Watson's Academy and the University of Edinburgh, and qualified in 1925. He then held resident posts at Edinburgh, London and Leicester, before taking the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1931. Before that he obtained a scholarship to the United States and came under the influence of Harvey Cushing whose teaching dominated all young neurosurgeons at that time. In 1933 he joined the department of neurosurgery at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, becoming one of the honorary staff three years later. In 1940 he was appointed neurological surgeon to Bangour Hospital, and during the war years worked with Professor Norman Dott in the Unit which at that time served civilians and service men throughout Scotland. After seventeen years in Scotland he was appointed director of the neurosurgical unit at Bristol, a post he held until his retirement. During this period he gave the Patterson Smythe Lecture at Montreal in 1956 and the Honeyman Gillespie Lecture at Edinburgh in 1957. He was president of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons 1964-66. Alexander travelled widely and was a member of the Portuguese, Spanish and French Neurosurgical Societies, and also belonged to the Surgical Travellers Club. At Bristol Alexander was responsible for a unit which entailed a considerable amount of organisation; his work was rewarded by the opening in 1953 of a first-class twin-theatre block with air-conditioning and ancillary services including a special neuro-X-ray department. Alexander was so absorbed in his work that he had little time for outside pursuits but his chief relaxation was to be found in his garden and in entertaining his many friends at his home in Painswick. Alexander met his wife on the way back from the States and they were married shortly after the commencement of the second world war; she and their four children all survived him. He died at his home in Painswick, Gloucestershire on 8 October 1970 at the age of 68. Publications: Clinical assessment in the acute stage after head injury. *Lancet*, 1962, 1, 171-3.
Sources:
*Brit med J* 1970, 4, 248

*Lancet*, 1970, 2, 883
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/E005000-E005999/E005600-E005699
Media Type:
Unknown