HONORARY SURGEON, RVI

Situated in the Consecrated/West Section of Jesmond Old Cemetery.

Hamilton Drummond was just 43 years of age when he died tragically as a result of a car accident. He was the son of Sir David Drummond CBE, MD, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Durham University, and brother of Dr. Horsley Drummond, one of the honorary physicians to the Newcastle upon Tyne Infirmary. He received his early education at Charterhouse and was a student of medicine in the Newcastle school and at the London Hospital. He graduated M.B., B.S. Durham in 1906 and took the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1912.

A lovely image, taken outside of Peacock Hall, the main entrance to the R.V.I. Hamilton is sitting on the extreme left and his brother, Horsley, is sitting on the extreme right.

After obtaining his degree, he acted as a house surgeon and house physician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. After holding these appointments, he went to London where he worked in St Mark’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. On returning to Newcastle, he was appointed Surgical Registrar and worked under the direction of Professor Rutherford Morison.

After the war, he was appointed assistant surgeon to the RVI and only three weeks before his death, he was unanimously appointed full surgeon. At the time of his death, he was also consulting surgeon to the War Memorial Hospital at Haltwhistle, to the Tynemouth Victoria Jubilee Infirmary at North Shields, to the Princess Mary Maternity Hospital, to the Poor Law hospital at Gateshead and was also surgeon to the Cripple’s Home at Gosforth.
Following his death, his mentor Sir Rutherford Morison said of him, “in the operating theatre he was an original and thoughtful surgeon, enthusiastic in all his work, a skilfull, unhurried operator, and a distinguished pathologist”.