Kennedy, Robert, 1865-1924, St Mungo Professor of Surgery

Robert Kennedy was born on the 20th December 1865 in the East End of Glasgow. He was educated at the High School of Glasgow, and went on to study at Glasgow University . He graduated in 1887 as Bsc, and obtained a MA with honours in Natural Science a year later. He completed his medical course two years after that and graduated BMchB with commendation in 1890. He obtained a MD with honours in 1896, and a Dsc in 1899 . He continued to study as a post graduate at Edinburgh University and the University of Berlin.

In 1892 Robert Kennedy became the surgeon to the out-door department of Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary , and then of Glasgow's Western Infirmary in 1896. In 1900 , he became the Assistant Surgeon of the Western Infirmary, a position he held until 1910. In 1906 , he accepted an appointment as lecturer in Applied Anatomy at Glasgow University. In 1910 , Robert Kennedy widened his responsibilities and became Surgeon and lecturer of Clinical Surgery at the Western Infirmary. Then in 1911 , he was appointed St Mungo Professor of Surgery in the University of Glasgow, a post he held until 1924 . In the same year, he became the ex-officio Surgeon in Glasgow's Royal Infirmary. Three years later he was appointed as Senior and Consulting Surgeon in charge of the Orthopaedic Department of the Scottish National Red Cross Hospital, Bellahouston. In 1918 , he became Director and Consulting Surgeon at the Shakespeare Hospital in Glasgow, leaving a year later to become the Surgeon in Chief at Glasgow's, Bellahouston Hospital, a post he held for three years.

Kennedy's publications include: On the Regeneration of the Nerves, (1897); On the restoration of co-ordinated Movements after Nerve Crossing with Interchange of function of the Cerebral Cortical Centres , (1901); Experiments on the Restoration of paralysed Muscles by means of Nerve Anastomosis parts I, II & III, (1911,1914 & 1915); Suture et Anastomses des Nerfs in Chipault's Nerveuse , VOL I, II & III, (1903); and numerous articles and papers in medical journals. Robert Kennedy died on the 3 June 1924 .

Source: Who Was Who 1916-1928 , (1929, London); Glasgow Medical Journal , Vol. CII, (1924, Glasgow)

From the guide to the Papers of Robert Kennedy, 1865-1924, St Mungo Professor of Surgery, 1911-1924, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1884-1922, (Glasgow University Archive Services)