Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Diplomat

First Title value, for Searching Darné, Francois Xavier ( - 2003)

2024-05-06T02:16:32Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2005-09-23 2012-03-22
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000000-E000099
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/372233372233
Occupation Diplomat General surgeon
Details Francois Darné was an eminent surgeon in Mauritius and, as a former ambassador to France, a renowned diplomat. During the war he served in the Emergency Medical Service in London and also gave lectures in anatomy at the University of Cambridge and at UCL, where he was the first Mauritian to be appointed as a registrar. In 1947, he returned to Mauritius and founded a clinic in 1953, where he practiced surgery. In 1970, two years after Mauritius became independent, he set up the Franco-Mauritian Association, under the impetus of Michel Debré, the prime minister of General de Gaulle. In 1972 he was appointed ambassador of Mauritius to France and stayed in that office until 1982. He represented Mauritius at several international conferences and was the most senior member of the Commonwealth group of ambassadors in Paris In Mauritius he was viewed as a key figure in the field of medicine and his surgical expertise commanded respect. He became the accredited doctor of Air France. In his spare time he was interested in horse racing. He was married to Denise, who died in 1997. He died in September 2003.
Resource Identifier RCS: E000046
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Sebastian, Sir Cuthbert Montraville (1921 - 2017)

2024-05-06T02:16:32Z

by Desmond Fosbery
Publication Date 2017-04-21 2017-07-12
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009300-E009399
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/381524381524
Occupation Diplomat General surgeon Medical Officer Obstetrician and gynaecologist Politician
Details Sir Cuthbert Montraville Sebastian was governor general of Saint Christopher and Nevis. He was born in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts (as the island of Saint Christopher is commonly known), on 22 October 1921. His father, Joseph Matthew Sebastian, founded the labour movement on Saint Kitts and also established the first national newspaper. His mother was Inez Veronica Sebastian née Hodge. On completing his secondary schooling, young Cuthbert, affectionately known as 'Cutie' to his family and friends, was apprenticed to the Cunningham Hospital on Saint Kitts as a learner-dispenser. Under the tutelage of variously appointed British Colonial Administration surgeons and physicians during the 1930's, he completed his early years at that institution, becoming a trained dispenser and surgeon's assistant. His duties also included being mortuary attendant and autopsy assistant. At times he was instructed by the surgeon to 'just carry-on' for a case of 'simple appendicitis' and so on, for which the chloroform anaesthetic would be administered by the matron. During the Second World War, Sebastian enlisted in the Royal Air Force and was undergoing training in Canada as a rear-gunner at the time of the cessation of hostilities in 1945. Upon returning home, he continued his studies and won an entrance scholarship to Mount Allison University in Canada, where he obtained a BSc degree in 1953. This achievement led to his gaining a place at Dalhousie University Medical School in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in 1958 he gained his Canadian medical degree. After his pre-registration year, he returned home to work in the Government Health Service as a medical officer, and was appointed variously to each of the islands of Saint Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla in turn. During this period, there would usually be only one doctor on an island with a population of under 10,000. In 1962, he went to Britain and spent the next four years training in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology at Dundee Royal Infirmary. His colleagues there included Malcolm 'Callum' Macnaughton and Narendra 'Naren' Patel, both of whom became presidents of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Returning to St Kitts in 1966, Sebastian was appointed as medical superintendent and obstetrician gynaecologist to the Cunningham Hospital, the same institution where some 30 years earlier he had started his apprenticeship at 'a shilling per day in lieu of rations'. When the Cunningham Hospital was closed in 1967, he took the same positions at the newly commissioned 164-bed Joseph N France General Hospital. Between 1970 and 1980 he served whenever necessary as surgeon and also as chief medical officer, in addition to his other hospital duties. It was in 1973 that I first met and worked with Sebastian when I was appointed as a surgeon specialist. Being the only two surgeons in the country, and with no junior staff, we worked closely together, often conferring over major cases and joining each other across the table in the only operating theatre at the hospital. In 1978, he was instrumental in obtaining the necessary funding and authorisation to establish and construct a twin operating theatre suite at the hospital, a project which moved swiftly to completion with his invaluable support and enthusiasm. This was aided no doubt in part by our joint appointment as attending surgeon to the then premier, Robert L Bradshaw. In December 1995 Sebastian retired from medical practice and, on 1 January 1996, was appointed governor general of the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Her Majesty's representative. In the same New Year's honours, Her Majesty conferred upon him the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George. Also in his retirement, Sir Cuthbert became instrumental in organising the Caribbean's first established telemedicine service, between Saint Kitts and the Dalhousie Medical School in Nova Scotia, such was his continuing enthusiasm for technological advances in his chosen profession. In March 2001 Sir Cuthbert was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons at a joint meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons and the University of the West Indies in Barbados, and in 2002 received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. I held Sir Cuthbert Sebastian's professional and personal achievements in the highest regard. It was my pleasure to have him as a colleague and friend for over 40 years - one of the worthy 'old school surgeons'. Sir Cuthbert Sebastian died on 25 March 2017. He was 95. He was survived by his three sons and three daughters.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009341
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset

First Title value, for Searching Clifford, Sir Geoffrey Miles (1897 - 1986)

2024-05-06T02:16:32Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2015-05-08
Unknown
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E007000-E007999/E007100-E007199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/379374379374
Occupation Administrator Diplomat
Details Sir Miles Clifford was born in 1897 and, after a private education and military service in France and Flanders during the first world war, entered the Colonial Service and was appointed to the administration service in Nigeria. In the early years of the second world war he commanded the Nigerian European Defence Force and from 1942 to 1944 he served as Colonial Secretary in Gibraltar. In 1944 he returned to Nigeria as senior resident and from 1946 to 1954 served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Falkland Islands. After retiring from the Colonial Service he devoted his life to civilian administration, serving as a member of the London County Council from 1955 to 1958 and also on many charitable trusts including the Leverhulme Trust from 1956. He was a life governor of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, a trustee of the East Grinstead Research Trust and a member of the management committee of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. He was honorary treasurer of the Society of Health Education and a member of the Porritt Working Party on Medical Aid to Developing Countries. He also served as chairman of the planning committee of the Chelsea group of postgraduate hospitals and as vice-chairman of the Royal College of Surgeons' appeal committee. His devoted work was recognised by the award of an Honorary Fellowship on 11 February 1965, when the formal citation was delivered by Sir Edward Muir, then Dean of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. He died on 21 February 1986 aged 88.
Resource Identifier RCS: E007191
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
Format Asset