Norman McAlister Gregg MC FRACS (1892-1966)

Sir Norman McAlister Gregg MC FRACS

Born 7 Mar 1892 in Burwood, New South Wales, Australia

Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

Husband of Margaret Haidee (Carson) Gregg — married 10 Oct 1923 (to about 1966) in St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Phillip Street, Sydney, New South Wales

[children unknown]

Died 27 Jul 1966 at age 74 in Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia

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Profile last modified 8 Mar 2024 | Created 7 Mar 2024

This page has been accessed 45 times.

1 Biography
2 Military
3 Post War Career
4 Death & Burial
5 Honours and Awards
6 Sources
7 See also
8 Further Reading

Biography

Norman Gregg MC FRACS was born in the Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)

Norman McAlister Gregg was born in March 1892 at or about Burwood, Colony of New South Wales, in what would later become Australia. He was the youngest of six children of James Gregg an auctioneer, and his wife Mary (née Miller).

Sir Norman McAlister Gregg MC KB was the Australian Ophthalmologist who discovered that rubella suffered by a pregnant woman could cause birth defects in her child, known as Congenital Rubella Syndrome.

Norman Gregg was educated at Homebush Grammar School and later Sydney Grammar School. Completing his Medical studies at the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and first-class honours in 1915.
During his time at University he represented New South Wales in cricket three times, and once in tennis. Had it not been for the outbreak of World War I, Gregg would have qualified for the Australian Davis Cup team.

Military

After completing his medical degree, Dr. Norman Gregg travelled to England, where he was commissioned as a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps of the British Army on 23 March 1915.
He saw service on the Western Front during World War I attached to the East Yorkshire Regiment's 17th Battalion, and later with the 52nd Field Ambulance. Promoted to temporary captain on the 23rd of March 1916.
He then served as acting major for just over a month in 1919.
He was wounded in the field, and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for gallantry on 24 September 1918. He retired from the British Army on 7th of March 1920, retaining the rank of captain.

The citation for his Military Cross read:

T./Capt. Norman McAlister Gregg, M.B., R.A.M.C. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a raid. He untiringly attended to the wounded under heavy enemy fire until the last man was cleared, and showed great coolness and devotion to duty. He worked persistently throughout the raid in the open, and searched for any wounded that might have been overlooked. He behaved splendidly.

Post War Career

On returning to Australia, Captain Norman Gregg Gregg was appointed resident medical officer at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA). Returning briefly to England to complete his specialist studies returning with a Diploma of Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery. He promptly set up in private practice in 1923. That same year he was appointed ophthalmic surgeon at the RPA, and the same post at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children from 1925. In 1950 he was made a consultant at the Royal Alexandra, and the same in 1952 at the RPA.

On the 15th of October 1941, Dr Gregg delivered a paper, Congenital Cataract following German Measles in the Mother, to the Ophthalmological Society of Australia in Melbourne which published it in its journal, Transactions.

Then following the press coverage his paper received, Gregg was contacted by two mothers who had contracted rubella, and whose children suffered from deafness. He subsequently issued a further paper detailing Further Observations on Congenital Defects in Infants following Maternal Rubella.

Norman Gregg MC FRACS is Notable.

At St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Phillip Street, Sydney ssms.org.au on the 10th of October 1923 he married. Margaret Haidée was a daughter of the pastoralist Duncan Carson adb.anu.edu.au.
Their two daughters both became physiotherapists.

Death & Burial

Sir Norman Gregg died the 27th of July 1966 at his Woollahra home and was cremated. His wife and both daughters listed below survived him.

Shelia Margaret McAlister Oliver (nee Gregg) (1925 – 2004)
Alison Deirdre McAlister Gregg (1927 – 1994)

Honours and Awards

Dr Gregg was a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS).
In 1951, he was awarded the James Cook Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales. For outstanding contribution to science and human welfare in the Southern Hemisphere.
On 29 August 1952, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Sydney.
In 1952 he was also made a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London.
On 1 January 1953, he was made a Knight Bachelor for services to medical science in the New Year Honours. Receiving the accolade from the Governor-General of Australia at Government House, Canberra on the 28th of January 1953.
In 1962, Sir Norman was given the Australian Father of the Year award.
1964 Gregg shared a Britannica-Australia award for medicine with Dame Kate Campbell, the Melbourne paediatrician.
A lecture theatre at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, and a suite of operating theatres at the Children's Hospital at Westmead are named after him

Sources

KNIGHTHOOD A REAL SURPRISE SAYS PHYSICIAN from The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) of Thursday 1 January 1953, Page 2. first accessed on TROVE on the 8th of March 2024 at:^[9]
From the ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES as archived on the WAYBACK MACHINE. first accessed online on the 8th of March 2024.^[10]
Sir Norman McAllister Gregg] PDF copy of an Interview with Dr. Margaret A. Burgess Physician in Preventive Medicine (Communicable Disease) at The Children’s Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia. copyright: Simone Manteuil-Brutlag. as archived on the WAYBACK MACHINE. first accessed online on the 8th of March 2024.^[11]
NEW YEAR HONORS: Wives of new Knights from The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954) of Thursday 1 January 1953, Page 9. first accessed on TROVE on the 8th of March 2024 at:^[12]
People, parties... from The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) of Thursday 7 January 1965, Page 15. first accessed on TROVE on the 8th of March 2024 at: ^[13]
Sir Norman McAlister Gregg - Male - 7 March 1892 – 27 July 1966 • L55R-Z5S his profile on FAMILY SEARCH. first accessed online on the 8th of March 2024. ^[14]

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Norman McAlister Gregg MC FRACS (1892 - 1966)

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