biographies

Moore, William Harold James (1893 - 1975)

Born
31 December 1893
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
22 August 1975
Occupation
Medical Practitioner and Urologist

Details

This account appeared in the Medical Journal of Australia, 3rd/10th January, 1976 and in "A Book of Rembrance", Royal Women's Hospital, 1976. Author unknown


WILLIAM HAROLD JAMES MOORE
(1937 - 1953)

Harold Moore died on 22nd August 1975 in his 83rd year.

In 1937 the appointment of Harold Moore as Honorary Urologist to the Women’s Hospital constituted a landmark in the evolution of obstetrics and gynaecology in Victoria, because if represented the first clinical splitting-off of a subspecialty within those disciplines, a process begun with the Hospital’s appointing Vera Krieger, DSc and the late Hildred Butler, DSc as biochemist and bacteriologist and continued with the engagement of the late Hans Bettinger as pathologist and the establishment of the medical reference clinic of WMcI Rose and MJ Etheridge.

The weekly urological clinic, conducted under the control of the late Colin Macdonald’s nurse-radiographer, Miss Mathilde Blythe, was the first systematic use by the Hospital of one of its consultants. With the development of infertility work under JW Johnstone, soon an additional clinic became necessary for testicular biopsy. A soft-voiced diffident man with a pleasant smile and an alert eye, Harold Moore served the Hospital for 16 years. His successor was Douglas B Duffy, himself succeeded in 1966 by David Kennedy.

William Harold James Moore was the only son of Dr. William and Grace Emily Moore; he had four sisters Margaret, Mildred, Enid and Dorothy. He was born on 31st December 1893 at Alcaston House - a substantial predecessor of the present handsome building - on the corner of Collins and Spring Streets, Melbourne, where were his surgeon-father’s consulting rooms and where the family was to continue to live until Harold was 20.

After some initial schooling he attended Scotch College between 1905 and 1912, entered the University of Melbourne medical school in 1913 and graduated Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1917. At the (Royal) Melbourne Hospital, where he had been a student, he served first as Resident and Registrar, then as Honorary Surgical Clinical Assistant 1920-28, as Honorary Clinical Assistant to the Urologist (John Thompson Tait) 1928-33, as Honorary (First) Assistant to the Urologist from 1933 and, upon the retirement of Tait, as Honorary Urologist from 1947 to 1953.

Upon his retirement in 1953 the Royal Women’s Hospital appointed him as Honorary Consulting Surgeon.

He worked in general practice from 1922 to 1934 at his home in Kew, serving a double term as Beaney Scholar in the University Pathology School (1922-4), gaining the degree of Master of Surgery (Melb.) in 1927 and being elected to the fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1930.

After eight months of postgraduate work in the United Kingdom he commenced private consultant practice in Collins Street in 1935 and continued until ill-health compelled his retirement in 1972. He was a member of the Urological Society of Australasia and a late member of the International Society of Urologists.

He had married in 1924 Miss Vera Rosenblum, a tutor in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, and they had three children, Bill, Anne and Barbara; Dr William Mitchell Moore, FRACP, now practices at Mount Gambier.

Harold Moore had numerous outside interests. As grandson of a Baptist Minister and son of the president of the Baptist Theological College he was a member of the Council of Carey Grammar School from 1929, (its President 1939-52 and an Honorary Member thereafter; his father had been the Foundation President) and a member of the Council of Whitley College in Melbourne University. He was a keen amateur photographer, greatly enjoyed friendship and companionship, played tennis all his life and only gave up membership of the Kew Gold Club at the age of 81 because he could no longer play. His membership of the Melbourne Cricket Club exceeded 50 years and he was Honorary Secretary of the Wallaby Club for 13 years and its President 1957-8.

Harold Moore is survived by his widow, his children and three sisters.

Archival/Heritage Resources

Royal Women's Hospital Archives

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

Prepared by: Robyn Waymouth

Created: 28 September 2006, Last modified: 26 November 2006