Richard Cruise

One source gives Cruise's birth year as 1877,[1] others as 1876.[2][3] He was born in Purneah in the British Raj,[4] to Francis Cruise (died 1879) and his wife Frideswide, daughter of Edward Kellet of Waterstown in county Meath.[5] The baptism record of Richard Robert Cruise (christened in Purneah in December 1876) records a date of birth as 27 October 1876.[6] He was educated at Harrow School.[7]

Cruise trained at St Mary's Hospital and qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1900.[1] He became an ophthalmologist and worked as a senior clinical assistant in that specialism at St Mary's. He was also the Chief Clinical Assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. In 1903, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He worked as a surgeon at the Bristol Eye Hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital. In 1909, he was appointed to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, where he became a consulting surgeon.[1] He was also appointed to that position at King Edward VII's Hospital in London. During the First World War, he was an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and invented a chain mail visor for soldiers (to protect them from being blinded by shrapnel)[7] which was put into use in late 1917. Though they improved safety, the helmets were unpopular with soldiers, who found them distracting; Cruise developed a second model to address some of the complaints, though it is not clear that it was distributed during the war.[8]

Cruise was ophthalmic surgeon to George V (reigned 1910–36);[1] he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1917[9] and in 1918 he was appointed Surgeon-Oculist Extraordinary to the King.[10] In 1922, he was promoted to Knight Commander.[7] On the king's death in 1936, Cruise was appointed Surgeon-Oculist to Queen Mary, in which office he served till he died.[1] He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1936.[7]

Twice married, Cruise's first wife was Margery Woolcombe-Boyce and his second was Eileen Greenlees; he had three children.[7] Cruise died on 24 December 1946.[4]

The National Portrait Gallery, London houses eight portraits of Cruise in its collections.[3]

• Cruise, Richard R. (18 May 1940). "Visor for the Prevention of War Blindness". British Medical Journal. 1 (4141): 53–58. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2177268. PMID 2177268.