Hector Clare Cameron

Last updated

Sir Hector Clare Cameron
Sir Hector Clare Cameron. Photograph. Wellcome V0028661.jpg
Portrait photograph of Hector Cameron at his desk, taken in 1870.
Born(1843-09-30)30 September 1843
Died22 November 1928(1928-11-22) (aged 86) [1]
Nationality Guyanese
Education University of St Andrews
Known forPromoting the ideas of James Lister
Awards CBE, FRFPSGlas
Scientific career
Institutions University of Glasgow
The grave of Hector Clare Cameron, Glasgow Necropolis The grave of Hector Clare Cameron, Glasgow Necropolis.jpg
The grave of Hector Clare Cameron, Glasgow Necropolis

Sir Hector Clare Cameron, CBE , FRFPSGlas , JP (born 30 September 1843 in Demerara, [1] British Guiana, died 22 November 1928 in Glasgow) was a surgeon who was most notable for being Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Glasgow and President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow between 1897 and 1900. [2] [3] Cameron was house-surgeon to Joseph Lister and by 1887 assisted him in private practice. They eventually became life-long friends. [4]

Contents

Life

Cameron was the second son of Donald Charles Cameron, who owned a Sugar plantation called Plantation Zeelugt in Uitvlugt, Demerara. [2] Sent home to start his education in Saint Andrews, Cameron took his early education at Madras College. Afterwards, Cameron became a student at the United College University of St Andrews. [2] Cameron moved to the University of Edinburgh to begin his medical training, but it was at the University of Glasgow where he undertook the majority of his training with Sir Joseph Lister, who was a professor of surgery. [3] In 1866 he achieved his Medicine (M.B.) and Surgery (C.M.) qualification and Doctor of Medicine (M.D) in 1868. [3]

He married Frances Stoddard MacDonald in 1872 but she died in 1879 at age 31. The marriage produced two daughters and two sons, the younger of whom was Hector Charles Cameron. [5] [6] On 22 November 1928, Sir Hector Clare Cameron died at his house at 18 Woodside Crescent, Glasgow. [7]

He is buried with his family at the Glasgow Necropolis. The grave lies at the south end of one of the rows at the east side of the upper plateau.

Career

At the University of Glasgow, Cameron studied under the supervision of Lister, to such an extent that he became Lister's house surgeon in 1868, [3] and ultimately his assistant. [1] When Lister moved to the University of Edinburgh in 1869 to take up the Chair of Clinical Surgery, Cameron was offered inducements to move east with Lister, but decided to stay in Glasgow. [2] Cameron by then was fully convinced of Lister's techniques, and became one its leading propagandist's of the young antiseptic school, continuing both its precept and practice of those techniques in Glasgow and the west of Scotland. [1] As Lister's techniques proved themselves, Cameron quickly became recognised as a factor in improved surgical recovery. [2]

Due to this, Cameron was rapidly promoted. In 1873, he became a visiting surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. In 1881, Cameron was promoted again, with a move to the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, as a senior visiting surgeon, relinquishing his previous position. [1] In 1900, Cameron was promoted to the Professor in Clinical Surgery at Glasgow University, by the University Court with the passing of Professor George Buchanan who held the first Chair in Clinical Surgery. [3] Cameron held the position until 1910, when he resigned both his professorship and surgical rounds. [2] Cameron held many other positions during his working life. He was a surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, consulting surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Asylum, surgeon to the Glasgow Eye Infirmary and the Glasgow Lock hospital. [8] For many years he was a member of the University of Glasgow court, as a representative of the Senate, representing the General Medical Council and the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Cameron was also an examiner at the University of Cambridge and the University of Aberdeen. [8]

In 1892 Cameron retired from hospital. The decision to leave surgery and the clinical chair in 1910 was one of the severest ordeals of his life. In a private letter, he contemplated the move:

In De Quincey Confessions quotes a passage from Dr Johnson and he says it is the only feeling that Dr Johnson ever made. It is this, 'No one does anything consciously for the last time, of those things which he has been long in the habit of doing without sadness of heart.' The sentiment is a feeling one, because it is so truly natural and human. When I, therefore, some day soon, realise that I am making my last hospital visit (I have been making for thirty-six years, since 1874) I know I shall feel very sad indeed. The mere anticipation weighs on my spirit' [8]

Glasgow University awarded Hector Cameron an LL.D both in appreciation of his career and recognition of the importance of his work. [2] At his sending off dinner, Cameron received a loving cup in the shape of a quaich with the inscription HCC Magistro carrissimo Discipuli MCMX [2]

During the period before World War I, Cameron continued in private practice, only occasionally operating, and has several civic positions. [2] From 1911, Cameron became a Justice of the peace for the County and City of Glasgow. [3] At the start of World War I, he became a commissioner for the Red Cross Society for the Western District of Scotland, [2] in charge of supervising auxiliary hospitals with almost 2000 beds. [3]

Society

In 1878, Cameron became a fellow of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. [2] From 1997 to 1900 Cameron was President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, [3] and for 15 years was the Faculty representative to General Medical Council, and whose service was recognised by Queen Victoria by a knighthood. [1]

Address to the Pathological and Clinical Society of Glasgow

On 15 February 1881, Cameron gave an introductory address on being elected President of the Pathological and Clinical Society of Glasgow at Faculty Hall, 242 St Vincents Street, Glasgow. [9]

James Watson Lectures

In February 1906, Cameron held the James Watson Lecture. [10]

Awards and honours

Cameron received several awards, and appreciated them, although he never sought them, they gave pleasure to his friends and patients. Cameron received a brief note that contained a poem from an old Scottish lady, who was a former patient and who wrote to him on the occasion of his Knighthood awarded by Queen Victoria in 1900. The old lady wrote: [2]

Some háe sought it, some háe bought it, you háe wrought it.

In 1918 Cameron's services as commissioner were recognised and he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by King George V. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lister</span> British surgeon and antiseptic pioneer (1827–1912)

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of surgery in the same manner that John Hunter revolutionised the science of surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Macewen</span> Scottish neurosurgeon (1848 - 1924)

Sir William Macewen, was a Scottish surgeon. He was a pioneer in modern brain surgery, considered the father of neurosurgery and contributed to the development of bone graft surgery, the surgical treatment of hernia and of pneumonectomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow Royal Infirmary</span> Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland

The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around 8 hectares, and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It was originally opened in 1794, with the present main building dating from 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hogarth Pringle</span> Australian-British surgeon

James Hogarth Pringle was an Australian-born British surgeon in Glasgow, who made a number of important contributions to surgical practice. He is most famous for the development of the Pringle manoeuvre, a technique still used in surgery today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Glasgow Medical School</span> Medical school of the University of Glasgow, Scotland

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Fraser, 1st Baronet, of Tain</span>

Sir John Fraser, 1st Baronet, was Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh University from 1925 to 1944 and served as principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1944 to 1947.

Edward McCombie McGirr (1916-2003) was Muirhead professor of medicine at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, a former President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and Dean of Faculties at the University of Glasgow.

Thomas Jones Mackie CBE FRSE LLD was a noted Scottish bacteriologist; Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Edinburgh; and author of medical research textbooks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Learmonth</span> Scottish surgeon

Sir James Rögnvald Learmonth (1895–1967) was a Scottish surgeon who made pioneering advances in nerve surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundee Royal Infirmary</span> Hospital in Scotland

Dundee Royal Infirmary, often shortened to DRI, was a major teaching hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Until the opening of Ninewells Hospital in 1974, Dundee Royal Infirmary was Dundee's main hospital. It was closed in 1998, after 200 years of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Illingworth</span>

Charles Frederick William Illingworth was a British surgeon who specialised in gastroenterology. Along with a range of teaching and research interests, he wrote several surgical textbooks, and played a leading role in university and medical administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas McCall Anderson</span> British physician and professor

Sir Thomas McCall Anderson was a physician and a professor of practice of medicine, at the University of Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Finlayson (surgeon)</span>

James Finlayson was a Scottish surgeon, physician, and prolific writer on medical and historical topics.

Prof George Henry Edington FRSE FRCS DL JP TD (1870-1943) was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist and medical author who served as President of both the Glasgow Medico-Chirurgical Society and the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow 1928 to 1940. He was Honorary Physician to King George V from 1922 to 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bruce (surgeon)</span> Scottish surgeon

Sir John Bruce, was a Scottish surgeon who was Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Edinburgh and President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Ian Scott</span>

George Ian Scott CBE, FRSE, FRCSEd was a 20th-century Scottish ophthalmic surgeon who in 1954, became the first holder of the Forbes Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh. He specialised in neuro-ophthalmology, studies of the visual fields and diabetic retinopathy. He was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1964 to 1967, Surgeon-Oculist to the Queen in Scotland from 1965 and president of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Henderson Nicoll</span> Scottish pediatric surgeon

James Henderson Nicoll FRCS(G), JP was a Scottish paediatric surgeon and professor of surgery at Anderson's University. He was a pioneer of pediatrics, particularly regarding the care of children both in the hospital and after discharge. Nicoll was most notable for developing a surgical cure for pyloric stenosis and outpatient care of children with spina bifida, and was known as the "father of day surgery".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Kennedy Dalziel</span> Scottish surgeon and pathologist

Thomas Kennedy Dalziel, known as T Kennedy Dalziel, was a Scottish surgeon and pathologist who specialised particularly in abdominal surgery. Dalziel was most notable for being considered the best technical surgeon at the time in western Scotland. He was also particularly notable for the discovery of a disease called chronic interstitial enteritis in 1913, that later became known as Crohn's disease.

Extramural medical education in Edinburgh began over 200 years before the university medical faculty was founded in 1726 and extramural teaching continued thereafter for a further 200 years. Extramural is academic education which is conducted outside a university. In the early 16th century it was under the auspices of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and continued after the Faculty of Medicine was established by the University of Edinburgh in 1726. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries the demand for extramural medical teaching increased as Edinburgh's reputation as a centre for medical education grew. Instruction was carried out by individual teachers, by groups of teachers and, by the end of the 19th century, by private medical schools in the city. Together these comprised the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine. From 1896 many of the schools were incorporated into the Medical School of the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh under the aegis of the RCSEd and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) and based at Surgeons' Hall. Extramural undergraduate medical education in Edinburgh stopped in 1948 with the closure of the Royal Colleges' Medical School following the Goodenough Report which recommended that all undergraduate medical education in the UK should be carried out by universities.

George Buchanan, LRCS was a Scottish surgeon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sir Hector Clare Cameron". Glasgow Medical Journal. 110 (6): 357–363. December 1928. PMC   5967538 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Sir Hector Clare Cameron, M.D., Ll.d., C.b.e". British Medical Journal. 2 (3543): 1015–1057. 1 December 1928. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3543.1015. PMC   2456727 . PMID   20774292.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Young, Daniel G. "Sir Hector Clare Cameron (1843-1928) KT, CBE, MD, LLD (St Andrews; Glasgow), PRFPS". Historic Hospital Admission Records Project. Kingston University . Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  4. Godlee, Sir Rickman John (7 April 2009). Lord Lister. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN   978-1-333-63431-5 . Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  5. "Frances Stoddard MacDonald, The Camerons of Fassifern". ancestryresearchservice.com.
  6. "Cameron, Sir Hector Clare, Kt., cr. 1900". Who's Who: 408. 1920.
  7. "Cameron, Hector Clare" (Form). Scottish Medical Service Emergency Committee - Royal College of Physicians. Registration Form: Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 J.F (1 December 1928). "Sir Hector Clare Cameron, M.D., Ll.D., C.B.E., Dean Of Faculties And Emeritus Professor Of Clinical Surgery In The University Of Glasgow". The British Medical Journal. 2 (3543): 1015–1017. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3543.1015. JSTOR   25330782. S2CID   33116308.
  9. Cameron, HC (February 1881). "On Some Medical Complications of Surgical Practice: Being His Introductory Address as President of the Pathological and Clinical Society of Glasgow". Glasgow Medical Journal. 15 (2): 89–106. PMC   5900229 . PMID   30433490.
  10. Cameron, HC (6 April 1907). "Lord Lister and the Evolution of Wound Treatment During the Last Forty Years: Being the James Watson Lectures Delivered at the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in February, 1906". British Medical Journal. 1 (2414): 789–803. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2414.789. PMC   2357148 . PMID   20763156.