George Whyte Watson, FRCS(Ed) (1908–1974) was a surgeon, and was born on the 9 August 1908 in Lisburn Co Antrim He graduated in medicine from Edinburgh in 1931. After an appointment as house surgeon at

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

, he went to Bradford in 1932. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1936 and was appointed consultant surgeon to

St Luke's Hospital St. Luke's Hospital may refer to: Australia * St Lukes Private Hospital, Launceston, Tasmania * St Luke's Private Hospital, , Sydney, New South Wales Canada * Hôpital Saint-Luc, Montreal, Quebec China * Shanghai Chest Hospital, formerly St. Luke ...

and

Bradford Royal Infirmary Bradford Royal Infirmary is a large teaching hospital in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and is operated by the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The infirmary is affiliated with the Leeds School of Medicine. History The ho ...

in 1946. Whyte-Watson was also surgeon to Bingley Hospital and Westwood Hospital. Throughout the region he had a high reputation for his surgical skill, and was known for his kindly handling of patients. Whyte Watson was perhaps best known for his pioneer work in collaboration with his pathologist colleague Professor

Robert Lowry Turner Robert Lowry Turner (1923–1990) was a British scientist known for his pioneering work in cancer research and chemotherapy. Turner came to Bradford from Belfast before being made Consultant Pathologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1956. ...

, in the treatment of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

after their researches in the use of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

, and he wrote a number of papers on the subject. Whyte Watson was instrumental in getting self-examination included as part of the procedure for detecting breast cancer. George Whyte Watson died at his Shipley home in June 1974 and is commemorated along with Professor Robert Lowry Turner with a plaque which can be found in

Bradford Cathedral Bradford Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter, is an Anglican cathedral in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, one of three co-equal cathedrals in the Diocese of Leeds alongside Ripon and Wakefield. Its site has been used for Ch ...

References

External links

Obituary in the BMJ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whyte-Watson, George 1908 births 1974 deaths People from Lisburn British surgeons 20th-century British medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century surgeons