Biographical entry Ramsay, John (1872 - 1944)

Summary

John Ramsay was surgeon-superintendent at Launceston General Hospital from 1898 to 1912. He also designed and built St Margaret's Hospital from which he commenced private practice. In 1906 he performed the first successful resuscitation of the heart by massage in Australia, opening the thorax of a patient who had clinically died during an operation.

Details

During World War I he was Major in charge of surgery at Hornsey Military Hospital in Launceston. Ramsay was President of the Tasmanian branch of the British Medical Association (1925); Foundation Fellow of the (Royal) Australasian College of Surgeons (1927); Chairman of the Northern Tasmanian division of St John Ambulance Association for 17 years (commander brother of the Order of St John of Jerusalem 1937); President of the Launceston Club; first chairman of the Equity Trustees Co. of Tasmania and the Goliath Portland Cement Co.; Director of the board of Kiwi Polish Co.; and a member of the executive of the Medical Council of Tasmania, Crippled Children's Association, Anti-Cancer Campaign, and Red Cross Society. The Sir John Ramsay Memorial Library at the Launceston General Hospital was established in his memory in 1944.

Events

1889 - 1912

Career position - Surgeon-Superintendent at the Launceston General Hospital

1893

Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS) completed at the University of Melbourne

1894

Career position - Resident medical officer at the Melbourne Hospital

1895

Career position - Resident Medical Officer in Auckland, New Zealand

1895 - 1898

Career position - House Surgeon at the Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania

1902

Education - Master of Surgery (MS) completed at the University of Melbourne

1912 -

Career position - Private practice at St Margaret's Hospital in Launceston

1912 - 1917

Career position - Honorary Consulting Surgeon at Launceston Hospital

1924

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1925

Career position - President of the British Medical Association, Tasmanian branch

1925 - 1944

Career position - Honorary Consulting Surgeon at Launceston Hospital

1927

Award - Foundation Fellow of the Australasian College of Surgeons (FCS/FRCS)

1929 -

Career position - Member of the board of management of the Launceston Hospital

1933 -

Career position - Chairman of the Launceston Hospital

1939

Award - Knighted

Published resources

Book Sections

• Birchall, Ida, 'Ramsay, Sir John (1872-1944), Surgeon', in Geoffrey Serle (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 11, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 327-328. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110339b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Ramsay, John', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476150. Details