James Gordon Robson Kt CBE MB ChB FRCS FFARCS

Gordon Robson, who died on 23rd February 2007, a few days short of his 86th birthday, was one of the foremost members of the medical profession in the 1970s and 1980s. He had returned from Canada in 1964 to take up the post of Professor of Anaesthetics at The Royal Postgraduate Medical School and Honorary Consultant Anaesthetist to Hammersmith Hospital. He became an examiner for the FFARCS in 1967 and the following year was elected to the Board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, on which he served for 16 years. From 1973 to 1976 he was Dean, and from 1977 to 1979 was a Vice-President, of The Royal College of Surgeons, a singular honour for an anaesthetist. It was during his time as Dean that his local and national commitments began to snowball so that he no longer had enough time for his beloved neurophysiological laboratory. A full list of his national commitments can be found in Who's Who and there would be few people who could manage such a workload yet remain approachable, calm and a gentleman at all times. Amongst his more prestigious appointments were Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Distinction and Meritorious Service Awards; Consultant Advisor in Anaesthetics to the Department of Health and Social Security; Master of the Hunterian Institute of the Royal College of Surgeons; Member of the Chief Scientist's Research Committee and Panel on the Medical Research Council. He was President of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1986 to 1988, and was particularly proud to serve as President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists from 1985 to 1986. Outside medicine he was on the committee of the Automobile Association and held several appointments on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, being elected life Vice-President in 1996. He was appointed CBE in 1977 and received the award of Knight Bachelor in 1982. During his time on the Board of the Faculty, the question of a separate College of Anaesthetists was raised and generated much and, it must be said, at times acrimonious debate. Gordon firmly believed that the best interests of the speciality lay by remaining within the Royal College of Surgeons, albeit as a separate College. (He did admit privately in later years that separate College premises were probably the right course.) Gordon Robson qualified in medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1944 and took a post as house surgeon in obstetrics and gynaecology, being immediately registered with the General Medical Council as there was no preregistration year. (An article he published in the College Bulletin in May 2005 vividly describes the practice of medicine at that time.) The following year he was called up into the Royal Army Medical Corps and spent 3 years in East Africa. He had administered anaesthetics as a medical student and a house surgeon (in a manner little different from the 1840 s) and whilst in Kenya decided to become an anaesthetist as it was intellectually more stimulating than obstetrics and gynaecology. He left the army in 1948 and spent four years in the anaesthetic department in Glasgow before becoming first assistant in Professor Pask's department in the University of Durham. In 1954 he became a consultant anaesthetist in Edinburgh, before moving to Montreal in 1956 as the Wellcome Research Professor of Anaesthetics in McGill University. Many anaesthetists would probably only know of Gordon's medico-political achievements. It is easy to forget that in his early career he was one of the leading academic anaesthetists. He was measuring blood levels of volatile anaesthetic agents in the 1950s and also carried out research into neurophysiology, pain and the central nervous system mechanisms of respiration. There can be but few anaesthetists who have published in Nature. He was also involved in drawing up guidelines for the diagnosis of brain stem death. He gave many eponymous lectures at home and in the USA and Canada, and held visiting professorships in both these countries. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Anaesthetists, of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, of the Irish Faculty of Anaesthetists, of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and of the Royal College of Surgeons. He also received the DSc from McGill University. In retirement, he became extremely adept in the use of computers, being entirely self-taught, and was a skilled carpenter. His last few years were dogged by ill health, such that he had to give up his favourite pastime of playing golf. He was essentially a quiet man, but very determined with a sharp perceptive mind. He guided the career of many trainees, particularly with regard to academic anaesthesia. He was always loyal to his trainees, staff and friends; I was privileged to have been one of them.

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