Claude Witherington Stump

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(28 October 1891 – 23 December 1971) was an Australian embryologist who served in two wars.

Life

He was born at Austral Terrace in Malvern near

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

on 28 October 1891, the second child of Alfred Augustus Stump a well-known

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

n photographer, by his second wife, Rosa Ada Potter. He was educated at the Kyre College (now

Scotch College, Adelaide Scotch College is an Independent school, independent, Uniting Church of Australia, Uniting Church, co-educational, Day school, day and boarding school, located on two adjacent campuses in Torrens Park, South Australia, Torrens Park and Mitcham, ...

) in Unley and the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

.Read, Peter, and Alex Pouw-Bray, "Ninety Years at Torrens Park: the Scotch College Story, Wakefield Press, 2010. He went to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to study medicine in 1910. He joined the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society () is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with 1 ...

prior to the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

to provide medical aid to the

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n Army in the

Balkan War The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the ...

1912–1913. In 1914 at the onset of the

he joined the 8th (Service) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was promoted to lieutenant in January 1915. He fought at Loos and on the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

, then in 1916 he returned to Edinburgh to complete his degree, graduating with an MB ChB in 1917. He returned to Australia in December 1917 and joined the

Australian Army Medical Corps The Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC) is the branch of the Australian Army responsible for providing medical care to Army personnel. The AAMC was formed in 1902 through the amalgamation of medical units of the various Australian colon ...

(AAMC) as a captain, embarking from Adelaide in 1918 on HMAT "Borda" and returning to France to serve with the 11th Field Ambulance. He was demobbed in November 1919 at the rank of captain. He received a Crichton Scholarship in 1920 and began lecturing in anatomy at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He also worked as a surgeon in the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Comi ...

. In 1922 he was appointed a Carnegie Research Fellow. In the same year he won the Gunning Victoria jubilee prize for his MD thesis "Histogenesis of the Bone". In 1924 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and

Histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

at the University of Bangkok (partly funded by the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

. In 1926 he returned to Australia as associate professor of anatomy at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. Two years later the university made him the first Bosch Professor of Embryology and Histology and he remained in that role until retiral in 1956. His position as Bosch Professor was filled by Kenneth Wollaston Cleland. In 1930 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Arthur Robinson, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, James Lorrain Smith and Charles George Lambie. From 1935 to 1938 he lived in

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. He then moved to Bradfield. He retired to

Palm Beach, New South Wales Palm Beach is a suburb in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), Northern Beaches region of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Palm Beach is located north of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Aus ...

. He died at Mona Vale on 23 December 1971. He was cremated with no religious service.

Family

In 1920 he married Christina Margaret Calder Urquhart (1893–1965) from Eskbank near

. They married at the North British Hotel in

. They had one son and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stump, Claude Witherington 1891 births 1971 deaths Academics from Adelaide Military personnel from Adelaide Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Royal Australian Army Medical Corps officers Embryologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh King's Own Scottish Borderers officers Military personnel from South Australia British Army personnel of World War I Australian military personnel of World War I