Prof Harry Grant-Whyte

Personal Details

Prof Harry Grant-Whyte

Unknown to 1/12/1991

Place of birth: Either Upington or Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa

Nationality: South African

Professor, from 1964

CRN: 541798

Education and qualifications

General education

Muir College (where he was Dux), Uitenhage; University of Cape Town, serving as Chairman of the House Committee of University House and as a member of the Students’ Representative Council.

Primary medical qualification(s)

MBChB, University of Cape Town, 1927.

Initial Fellowship and type

Honorary FFARCS

Year of Fellowship

1948

Other qualification(s)

BA, University of Cape Town, 1927; DA, RCS & P, 1936; FFA, RCSI, 1964.

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

Settled in General Practice in Durban, Natal after graduation, but found that his interests turned to the need for the provision of better anaesthesia, becoming a full time practitioner in 1938 and earning the reputation of being an enthusiastic and stimulating teacher.

Professional interests and activities

Grant-Whyte made significant contributions to the organisations of both anaesthesia and the wider medical profession over many years. He was a founder member of the South African Society of Anaesthetists and its President in both 1946 and 1949, and in 1946 was Secretary to a group producing evidence to support a medical school in Durban. He served the Medical Association of South Africa in a number of ways, notably being President of the Natal Coastal branch in 1952, and President of the main Association in 1957, the organisation awarding him its Gold medal for distinguished service in 1970. He was also elected as Natal’s representative on the Medical and Dental Council in 1959, and appointed a member of the Drug Control Council in 1967, his interest in the subject having resulted in the award of a study fellowship by the World Health Organisation. He received the Pask Certificate of Honour from the AAGBI in 1984.

Other biographical information

A man of many he interests, he loved dancing and was a member of the Monocle Club. Grant-Whyte was also founder and life President of the South African Voluntary Euthanasia Society.

Author and sources

Author: Prof Tony Wildsmith

Sources and any other comments: I would like to thank Dr Peter Gordon for his help in finding information on Prof Grant-Whyte. The best source of information seems to be Nargin Parbhoo’s ‘Five Decades’, a history published by the South African Society (ISBN 0-620-17274-6).