biographies

Godfrey, Graham George (c. 1905 - 1960)

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

Born
c. 1905
Died
10 January 1960
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Gynaecologist, Medical Practitioner and Obstetrician

Details

Transcription of item believed to have been written by Dr Colin Macdonald. Published in "The Book of Remembrance", The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, 1960.


GRAHAM GEORGE GODFREY
(1946 - 1960)

Probably few men have done as much to advance in Australia, in so short a time, the surgical treatment of uterine cancer as Graham George Godfrey, who died at the age of 55, in Melbourne, on January 10, 1960. Though at the time of his death he possessed a local rather than an international reputation, there are those who believe that, had he been spared for a few more years, his fame would have spread afar.

Graham’s roots lay deep in the professional and legislative life of Victoria. His maternal grandfather was Sir Graham Berry, at one time Premier of Victoria, and its Agent-General in London. His paternal grandfather was the Honourable George Godfrey, treasurer of the Melbourne Hospital and a well known solicitor. His mother and his aunt were the first women to qualify as dentists in Victoria. Two uncles practised law, and another uncle medicine, as did his father, Dr. Clarence Godfrey, onetime lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, who first introduced to Australia treatment of psychoneurotica by hypnotism, who was one of the first in this country to recognise the significance of Freudian psychology. So it is not surprising that Graham inherited from both mother and father an intellectuality much above the average.

Graham Godfrey, born in 1904, gained an open scholarship at Melbourne Grammar School in 1919, and later won an open University Exhibition with first class honours in Latin and Greek. Graduating in medicine in 1928, he held resident positions at the Alfred Hospital and the Women’s Hospital, after which he practised in the small Gippsland town of Packenham and the Melbourne suburb of Elwood. In 1936 he took the D.G.O. and three years later, still in general practice, he gained the coveted M.S. (Melbourne) degree. Around this period he was a university demonstrator in anatomy and in pathology, as well as holding tutorships at Trinity College, one of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne. After four years in the Army - he saw service in the Wewak area - he gained the F.R.A.C.S. at the age of 44. He had been appointed to the staff of the Women’s Hospital in 1946, and in 1951 was selected by Professor Lance Townsend as first assistant in gynaecology. In 1950 the Radio-Surgical Unit at the Women’s Hospital was established with Arthur Hill in charge and Godfrey as his colleague. Hill and Godfrey were an ideal working pair, whose clear purpose appeared to further inspire their group of able colleagues; a uniquely effective team quickly developed.

Thus began the real work of his life - the fight to subdue gynaecological cancer and relieve its pain and suffering. Malignancy had certainly met an able and resolute opponent, one who scorned discouragement and who eventually gave his life to the winning of many rounds. He had the advantage of working "geographically fulltime" at the hospital, and an important feature of Godfrey’s work was the meticulous keeping of all records. No one better understood the imperfections of medical statistics, but it afforded him great encouragement that in a recent paper G.R. Kurrie showed that the Radio-Surgical Unit’s results in cervical carcinoma compared with the best n other parts of the world in Stage I cases and probably stood alone in Stage II cases.

At the outset the Unit found the intravenous pyelogram of great value in the management and prognosis of its patients. Godfrey stressed that it was important to know through the intravenous pyelogram and condition of the urinary tract both before and after treatment, whether radiation or surgery or both, were employed. Intravenous pyelograms were made as a routine measure at intervals of three to six months, to determine renal function and to demonstrate the presence or absence of ureteric obstruction. It was learnt that hydronephrosis developing in those cases was almost invariably silent and classical loin pain being absent and the patient frequently looking and feeling well. Godfrey’s surgery was radical, more extensive that the Wertheim operation or the later developments of Victor Bonney, so it was inevitable that in a percentage of cases a ureter would be traumatized, with possibly a vascular necrosis and fistula formation; when a fistula developed, intravenous pyelography formed an essential investigation in determining its site and size. Godfrey taught that the so-called spontaneous closing of these fistulae usually indicated that the kidney on that side had ceased to function. The intravenous pyelographic evidence gave him an opportunity to present - by ureteral anastomosis - the autonephrectomy. With the ever-present possibility of recurrent growth and the uncertain late effects of post-operative and post-irradiational scarring of the opposite ureter, it was Godfrey’s contention that "every effort should be made to preserve salvageable tissue, because the poorer kidney of today may be the better - indeed the only - kidney of tomorrow". So his aim was to avoid nephrectomy wherever possible, in cases of progressing ureteral obstruction or ureteric fistula. As the management of Godfrey’s cases was largely governed by the intravenous pyelographic appearances, his association with the hospital X-ray department became very close; it was found that the essential post-operative information could usually be obtained by a single film taken 20 minutes after injection and without any abdominal compression, which is frequently distressing.

Godfrey possessed a unique combination of personal qualities. Few men were more exempt from the taints of vanity, malevolence or falsehood; he was generous to a fault, with little sense of money values. Evincing almost a blind faith in his friends and great loyalty to his colleagues, if on occasions their reports or opinions were at variance with the clinical or pathological probabilities, he required much weighty evidence before acknowledging that they were temporarily "off the beam". His appointment on the professorial unit carried the right of private practice, but of this he availed himself little.

He spoke and wrote very well, an elegant handwriting reflecting the clarity of his thought, and was acknowledged a good surgical teacher; younger men always were anxious to assist Godfrey, a first-class demonstrator of anatomy and pathology. He exemplified the advantages of a classical training, which made him appreciative of that curiosa felicitas of which Horace wrote; he also admired the terse imagery of language of the top-line American sporting journalists, and could accurately recount incisive phrases and sentences read many years before. And almost invariably he chose at the first attempt the right word to express the exact shade of intended meaning.

In physical appearance Godfrey was of average height and strongly built, with a characteristically brisk walk, an almost hairless head, and twinkling eyes in a round face constantly lit by a happy smile. No company was dull which included him as a member; he dearly loved the thrust and parry of conversation at the Women’s Hospital luncheon table, where over twelve months surely every subject under the sun comes under friendly and spirited discussion.

Associated with his love of thoroughbreds was an enthusiasm for the re-establishment of the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne, which was created in 1908, but lapsed in 1928. Owing to the efforts of Godfrey and others, the omens for the reopening shortly of the Melbourne Veterinary School are distinctly encouraging.

Godfrey appeared in good health when the coronary occlusion first struck; recovery looked probable, but seven days later the quick end came. He was survived by a widow (formerly Miss Jean Campbell), and son Michael, and a daughter Mrs. John Walker.

Archival/Heritage Resources

Royal Women's Hospital Archives

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

Prepared by: Robyn Waymouth

Created: 22 September 2006, Last modified: 26 November 2006