Dr Reginald William Ironside

Dr Reginald William Ironside BA MBBCh FFARCS MRCS LRCP DA

06/07/1881 to 21/09/1959

Place of birth: Hampstead, London

Nationality: British

CRN: 715470

Also known as: Reggie

Education and qualifications

General education

Educated privately in London; Pembroke College, Cambridge; Westminster Hospital Medical School where he was University Scholar in Anatomy & Physiology in 1904.

Primary medical qualification(s)

MBBCh, Cambridge, 1906

Initial Fellowship and type

FFARCS by Election

Year of Fellowship

1948

Other qualification(s)

BA, 1901; BCh, 1914; MB, 1935 (awarded by thesis: ‘An explosion in anaesthetic apparatus’; all from Cambridge

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

First appointment was senior house surgeon at the Westminster followed by assistant casualty medical officer at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He then combined GP in South Kensington with being physician to Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End, also being appointed clinical assistant, usually a short term appointment, at Great Ormond Street. Pre-WW1 Medical Directories record an appointment as anaesthetist at the Samaritan Hospital although his BMJ obituary states that he did not develop his interst in anaesthetics until after the war. During that conflict he served in France, first as medical officer with the 10th Hussars, later in command of a Casualty Clearing Station outside Boulogne. His involvement in anaesthesia certainly increased after WW1 with appointments at West London and Samaritan Hospitals. About 1930 he dropped the latter and replaced it with the Freemasons (later Royal Masonic) Hospital, this situation continuing until after WW2. On the inception of the NHS he became consultant & lecturer in anaesthetics at the West London Hospital.

Professional interests and activities

Particualrly interested in anaesthesia for abdominal & gynaecological cases, and much in demand as an anaesthetist for children. Awarded the DA(RCP&S) in 1935 without examination, and was one the last to continue working (successfully it is said) in both GP and anaesthesia. No retirement date has been identified.

Other biographical information

Son of a GP in London, his studies were interrupted by service with the Royal Fusiliers, and he received the South African War Medal in 1902.

Author and Sources

Author: Dr Robert Palmer & Prof Tony Wildsmith

Sources and any other comments: Obituaries: Anaesthesia 1960; 15: 196. & BMJ 1960; 1: 64