Douglas Robb (surgeon)

Sir George Douglas Robb CMG (1899–1974) was a New Zealand surgeon, medical reformer, writer, and university chancellor.

Career

He was born at Auckland on 29 April 1899[1] and educated at the Auckland Grammar School and at the University of Otago (MB ChB). Robb had a reputation as something of a maverick and a rebel against the conventional medical establishment, as is discussed in a chapter in Brian Easton's book The Nationbuilders.[2]

Robb was influential in the formation of the Auckland Medical School as part of the University of Auckland. From 1961 to 1962, he held the year-long position of President of the British Medical Association.[3]

A series of annual lectures at the University of Auckland has been named after Doug Robb.[4]

In the 1956 New Year Honours, Robb was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.[5] He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours.[6]

Personal life
Old Government House, Auckland

Robb was a close friend of the New Zealand poet and writer A. R. D. Fairburn, whose "To a Friend in the Wilderness"[7] was dedicated to Robb. On 6 November 1935, Robb married Helen Seabrook of Auckland.[8] His autobiography, Medical Odyssey was published in 1967 by Collins Bros. & Co. Ltd., Auckland. Appendix 1 (4 pp.) contains a bibliography of Robb's surgical and medical articles and other writings. W. B. Sutch wrote of Robb: "Robb, unhappy with the politicians, became a foremost thoracic surgeon, and a leader in medical education and research."--The Quest for Security in New Zealand, 1840–1966; Oxford, 1966; p. 248.[9]

There is a bronze head (1956) and portrait (1961) of Sir Douglas Robb by John Francis Kavanagh in the University of Auckland Art Collection.

Douglas Robb died in his sleep on the morning of his 74th birthday. His widow, Lady Robb, died in the 1979 Mount Erebus disaster.

References
  1. Robb, Douglas (1967). Medical Odyssey. Collins Bros & Co., Ltd. p. 1.
  2. The Nationbuilders
  3. Robb, Douglas (1967). Medical Odyssey. Collins Bros & Co., Ltd.
  4. Robb Lectures; University of Auckland Archived 6 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "No. 40671". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 1956. p. 43.
  6. "No. 42053". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 June 1960. p. 4015.
  7. To a Friend in the Wilderness
  8. Robb, Douglas (1967). Medical Odyssey. Collins Bros & Co., Ltd. p. 57.
  9. Robb, Douglas (1967). Medical Odyssey. Collins Bros & Co., Ltd. p. appendix 2.

Further reading

Obituary. Sir Douglas Robb. (1974) New Zealand Medical Journal. Vol. 80, no. 521: 128–132.

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