biographies

Green, Hubert Sydney (1892 - 1950)

M.D. (Melb.), F.R.C.S. (Edin.), F.R.A.C.S., F.R.C.O.G.

Born
29 October 1892
Died
31 July 1950
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Gynaecologist, Medical Practitioner 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.


HUBERT SYDNEY JACOBS
(1924 - 1928)

Glancing through the records of the Honorary Staff of the Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, one learns with pride of the many who volunteered to serve their country in time of war with the Army Medical Corps. There are others also, notably the two Fetherstons, George Horne, Arthur Sherwin and Robert Fowler, who were actively interested in military affairs during times of peace; to some this was apparently a hobby, to others it may have appealed as a public duty, to one at least, Richard Fetherston, it was a preparation for the inevitable war that he forecast. It is not known which of these actuated Hubert Jacobs, but his career was unique; he served as a combatant officer with the renowned 7th Battalion, 1st A.I.F. and was present with that unit on Gallipoli in 1915.

In 1910, while still a schoolboy of 18, Hubert was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Australia Infantry Regiment; three years later he transferred to the 56th Battalion, Citizen Forces, A.M.F. with promotion to Captain, and he was also appointed Honorary Aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, then Sir John Madden. Soon after the outbreak of the 1914 war he enlisted and served with the rank of Captain in the 7th Battalion in Egypt and Gallipoli, but was returned to Australia in 1915 to resume his medical studies. These he completed in 1917, and after a short stint as House Surgeon at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, he re-enlisted, this time in the A.A.M.C., and served in France with the 2nd Field Ambulance. He also saw service in the 2nd World War being O.C. Medical Board, Royal Park, in 1940, and in 1942-43 he was D.A.D.M.S. Lines of Communication, Northern Territory. In 1930 he was awarded the V.D. on completion of 20 years commissioned service.

Hubert Jacobs received his early education at Wesley College during the Headmastership of L.A. Adamson, and apart from a little junior cricket he was not active in sport. He began his medical course at the University of Melbourne in 1912, which after interruption by his war-time service, he completed successfully at the special early examinations held in 1917. While awaiting repatriation in 1919 he was House Physician at the Seamen’s Hospital, Greenwich, and on his return home he was appointed R.M.O. at the Women’s Hospital and the following year, 1920-21, Medical Superintendent. At this time and due to his recommendation an Obstetric Demonstration Theatre was build and used for this purpose for many years - it was in this theatre, the present (1960) Labour Ward Annex, that Victor Bonney, the eminent London surgeon, assisted by Lennox Spiers demonstrated his Wertheim operation in 1928. By this time Hubert had decided to concentrate on Obstetrics and Gynaecology and to further this he was granted in 1921 the Melbourne University Exhibition to Trinity College, Dublin, to follow in the steps of Roy Chambers, John Green and Ivon Hayes. The year spent at the Rotunda Hospital and Trinity College qualified him for the D.G.O. Dublin, in 1922 and the following year he obtained the F.R.C.S., Edinburgh. He then returned to Australia, and in 1924 he was appointed Honorary Obstetric Surgeon at the Women’s Hospital where his colleagues were Wilson, Green and Hayes. For the first time, owing to the influence of Arthur Wilson, the four obstetric surgeons met regularly, exchanged problems, discussed failures, and standardized methods and teaching. When differences of opinion arose, for example, the use of massive doses of morphia in eclampsia - up to two grains or until the respirations fell to six per minute - or the best method of inducing premature labour, either Tweedy’s original, Irish, sudden method or Watson’s prolonged and canny, Edinburgh "technique", then two would adopt one procedure and two the alternative in order to discover the better treatment.

But Jacobs was still studying hard and this resulted in his gaining the M.D. Melb., in 1925 by a thesis on "The causes and prevention of maternal morbidity and mortality". In 1928 he resigned from the Women’s Hospital on being appointed Honorary Gynaecological Surgeon to Outpatients at St. Vincent’s Hospital; in 1944 he was promoted to the Inpatient Department, and he became the Senior Gynaecological Surgeon in 1937. During those years he won further medical qualifications: F.R.A.C.S. (1928), M.R.C.O.G. (1935), F.R.C.O.G. (1947). He retired from all medical practice through ill-health in 1948 and died two years later at the comparatively early age of 58 years.

Hubert Jacobs was of over average height and weight and his facial features were strongly Semitic. He was serious-minded, hard-working, conscientious, loyal, and patriotic, though unfortunately, he was sensitive and introspective and this he sometimes tried to hide by an assumed aggressiveness, which did not enhance his personal popularity. But his record is a convincing one; he was an efficient combatant soldier, he served his country in the Army Medical Corps during two world wars, he was a capable doctor with high medical qualifications, he was punctilious in his attendance and duties as an Honorary at two great hospitals, and apart from his professional activities he gave generous service to Legacy and was prominent in Freemasonry.

Hubert Sydney Jacobs, the son of Sydney Montague and Alia Susan Jacobs, was born on 29th October, 1892, and died at Melbourne on 31st July, 1950. He married Leah Solomon, and there were no children.

PUBLISHED WORKS:

1. "The causes and prevention of maternal morbidity and
mortality", M.J.A., May 29 and June 5, 1926.

2. "A contribution to the problem of masculinization"
(with H.F. Bettinger), M.J.A. Jan 5, 1946.

3. "The investigation and treatment of vaginal discharges".
M.J.A., July 27, 1935.

4. "A very large ovarian cyst successfully removed in a
woman of 71 years", St. Vincent’s Hospital medical
reports, 1944.

Archival/Heritage Resources

Royal Women's Hospital Archives

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

Prepared by: Robyn Waymouth

Created: 20 September 2006, Last modified: 26 November 2006