Carrick Hey Robertson

Sir Carrick Hey Robertson (1879–1963) was a New Zealand surgeon. He was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1879.

As surgeon in Waihi and Auckland hospitals, Robertson also served with the New Zealand Medical Corps in World War I. Educated at St Dunstan’s College, London, Guy’s Hospital and the University of London, he arrived New Zealand in 1906 via Natal, to serve as medical superintendent of Waihi Hospital. He served during the First World War as a temporary major in the New Zealand Medical Corps onboard hospital ship Marama from 1915 to 1916. A recognised expert in surgery for goitre (then common in New Zealand), he and Dr Casement Aickin performed the first heart operation in New Zealand in 1927 and was a national pioneer of brain surgery.^[1] A prominent surgeon, he was a founding fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and honorary fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. Sir Carrick Robertson was knighted in the 1929 New Year Honours and awarded the Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1938. Died Auckland 14 July 1963.

Honours

• 1924 honorary fellow of the American College of Surgeons
• 1929 knighted at an investiture in St James's Palace, London
• founding fellow of the College of Surgeons of Australasia
• 1938 he was made a chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
• 1947 honorary fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland

References