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Think of pioneers of Scottish medicine and the names Sir Alexander Fleming and Sir Joseph Lister come readily to mind. But one man, Sir William Macewen, a genuine surgical pioneer and committed campaigner, tends to be forgotten.
In the autumn of 1915, a year after the outbreak of the Great War, over 2000 Scottish soldiers, sailors and airmen who had lost limbs in this most brutal of conflicts, were unable to be accommodated – let alone treated and supported – back home.
Sir William Macewen, one of the leading surgeons of his generation, was so outraged that he led a Faculty of Surgeons deputation and lobbied the Provost of Glasgow, Sir Thomas Dunlop, to propose a special hospital for war veterans.
On October 10th 1916, The Princess Louise Hospital for Limbless Soldiers was opened. Sir William, vice- chairman of the executive committee, had seen his hopes and aspirations realised at last, thanks not only to businessman John Reid, who bought and bequeathed Erskine House and its 460-acre estate, but also to the generosity of the Scottish public. Their £100,000
Do you think the buildings now being constructed in Scotland are of a lesser quality than those of an earlier era
