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Herbert "Hugh" Pearson MBE MB BS was an Australian surgeon and urologist. He was instrumental in the foundation of the Australian Kidney Foundation (now Kidney Health Australia) and was an early proponent of kidney transplants in Sydney. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Pearson served as President of the Urological Society of Australasia.
Herbert Hilary "Hugh" Ingram Pearson was born on 5th May 1913 at Mosman, New South Wales, Australia. He was the eldest son of Reverend George Ingram Pearson, a Methodist minister, and his wife, Margaret Baynes.[1] He was educated at Newington College, in Sydney's inner western suburbs, and the University of Sydney, graduating as a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery with first-class honours in 1938.
He met, courted and, in 1940 at Westminster London, married Naomi Lund.[2] They adopted a son named Anthony. They were divorced in Sydney in 1955.[3]
Pearson was commissioned into the British Army, Royal Army Medical Corps as a Captain on 8th January 1940.[4] He later attained the rank of Major. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Military Division for front line duty in North West Europe (1944–45), having being deployed at Normandy. The award was announced in The London Gazette on 24th January 1946.
Research note: There also exists a record of Herbert Hilary Ingram Pearson attaining the rank of Pilot Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force; enlisted 10th December 1934, discharged 1st July 1947.[5]
Returning to Australia after the war, Pearson joined the Urology Department at Sydney Hospital in 1949 and took consulting rooms at 135 Macquarie Street, Sydney. Sydney Hospital was involved at that time in early kidney dialysis.
He married Peggy Castle Pearson in 1956 at Sydney, New South Wales.[6] They had one daughter, Helen Pearson.
A kidney unit was formed in 1962 at Sydney Hospital and the Sydney Institute of Urology, which became the Australian Kidney Foundation (AKF), was formed in 1964. Having become head of the Urology Department at Sydney, Pearson moved to Canberra in 1966 to run the AKF. In 1971 he retired from the Foundation and returned to private practice.
He married Dawn unknown and had another son.
He passed away on 20th January 1981 at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. He was survived by Dawn.
Sources
- ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #14947/1913
- ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage index Dec qtr 1940, vol 1a, page 1143
- ↑ NSW State Archives and Records
- ↑ The London Gazette 13th February 1940
- ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: 1420 Pilot Officer Herbert Hilary Ingram Pearson; accessed 8 Dec 2018
- ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #8015/1956