biographies

Horne, George (1860 - 1927)

Born
16 August 1860
Brunswick, Victoria, Australia
Died
August 1927
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Medical practitioner, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician

Details

Transcription of item written by Dr Colin Macdonald and published in "The Book of Remembrance", The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, 1956.


GEORGE HORNE
(1895 - 1920)

George Horne, born on 16th August, 1860, was a son of a banker in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. His two brothers were also doctors, Alec who practised at Broken Hill, NSW, and Herbert at Rosedale, Victoria. A sister, Amy, became the wife of the late Dr. Arthur Syme of Lilydale, Victoria. He was educated at the Carlton College and Hawthorn Grammar School, being Dux of both. Graduating with honours in the University of Melbourne in 1884, he began practice in partnership with Dr. C.J. Daniel at Clifton Hill; some years later he practised there on his own account. During his school and University days, he was a noted athlete, excelling in running.

Elected Honorary O.P. Infirmary Surgeon at the Women’s Hospital in 1895, he nine years later became Inpatients’ Infirmary Surgeon. His membership of the Honorary staff of the Women’s Hospital extended over 25 years, with a break of three years during the first world war, when he served in France as second in charge, with the rank of Lt. Colonel, of the Australian Voluntary Hospital which he had joined when on a visit to England in 1914.

Horne returned to Melbourne in 1916, and thereafter specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology. He was Lecturer in this specialty at the University of Melbourne until 1921, when he retired from the Women’s Hospital. He was the author of a prescribed text book "Practical Gynaecology", the first class illustrations of which were drawn by Dr. Norman Albiston, then a student.

Horne should also be remembered for his association with the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, of which he was the founder in Victoria. For this work he was in 1924 invested by Lord Stradbroke (then Governor of Victoria) with the insignia of the Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

Dr. Horne’s greatest interest outside medicine was ethnology, for which he was world renowned. In 1923 he made an expedition into Central Australia to study the life and habits of the aborigines. The results were recorded in a book, published with the title "Savage Life in Central Australia". Over the years he made a large collection of aboriginal stone implements which was presented to the Australian Museum of Natural History in 1926. He was also well known as an ornithologist.

He died in August 1927, aged 67 in his flat in Collins Street. Though married twice, he left no family. His second wife was Helen Bowie, daughter of Dr. Bowie, a Scot who arrived in Melbourne in 1854 in an immigrant ship, started the Lunacy Asylum at Yarra Bend, and later practised at Clifton Hill.

Horne was one of the eight doctors who built Lister House at the S.E. corner of Collins and Exhibition Streets; among the others were J.H. Nattrass, Hobill Cole, Allen Robertson, Ramsay Webb and J.M. Baxter.

George Horne was a man of first class quality and ability, who made a distinct contribution to the teaching of Gynaecology in Melbourne.

Archival/Heritage Resources

Royal Women's Hospital Archives

  • Book of Remembrance, 1956 - 1975; Royal Women's Hospital Archives [ Details... ].

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Horne, George
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Prepared by: Robyn Waymouth

Created: 1 August 2006, Last modified: 26 November 2006