Dr Cleghorn
13/07/2009Blenheim's Cleghorn Memorial Band Rotunda completed in July 1903
A curiosity in the heart of Blenheim's Market Place, the rotunda has a plaque which reads:
Dr George Cleghorn held a medical practice in Blenheim and was a surgeon at Wairau Hospital between 1877 and 1900. He was one of New Zealand's leading surgeons at that time. Among his many achievements were the first successful appendicectomy and neurosurgical operations performed in New Zealand. He also imported the first X-Ray machine into New Zealand for use at Wairau Hospital.*
When Blenheim was known as the Beaver, Market Street was laid out running north and south, by the surveyor, Alfred Dobson. The site of the rotunda was once an open well with hand pumps, to help fight fires. Horse-drawn vehicles damaged the fire hydrant subsequently built there, and a low concrete wall was built around it. In 1889, a band rotunda was established around the hydrant, a gas lamp was to be put at the top of it. It wasn't completed until July1903, as a memorial to the great Marlburian.
Cleghorn, born in India, and trained in London, arrived in New Zealand in 1876. In 1897, he presented a report on the erection of a fever ward to isolate, and treat patients. He, and his wife, were key figures in fund raising for the fever ward throughout the Marlborough region. His civic leadership included the development of horse racing, swimming, cycling, and gymnastics, in Marlborough. His work notably included a successful appendicectomy on Caleb Higgs of Renwicktown.
In 1899, there was a small outbreak of typhoid fever at Wairau Pa. He treated those who needed treatment at the fever ward, despite being annoyed by "severe", and "discourteous" criticism from the Blenheim Hospital Board chairman. His treatment of patients from Picton, outside the "approved zone", was also a source of conflict.
An elaborate souvenir, of the farewell function for Dr and Mrs Cleghorn, before they left for England, in 1900, included the following account:
Dr. and Mrs. Cleghorn drove to the Pah yesterday afternoon for the purpose of bidding farewell to the Maoris, all of whom were glad of the opportunity to express their warm appreciation of the many kindnesses and attention shown to them in the past by the good doctor and his wife. Just before the worthy pair left the pah, Mrs. H. Stafford presented them with some native work and curiosities, and Mrs. H. Rore with fancy native work ... a green- stone pounamu, formerly in the possession of the late Rore Pokekohatu, chief of the pah, and given to his eldest son - the present Mr. H. Rore, hereditary chief. At the parting the Maoris evinced much emotion ...**
A cloak, given by local Māori to Dr Cleghorn, was deposited at Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, in 1913.
From the beginning, Dr Cleghorn was especially keen to work with a hospital matron who followed the theories of controlling surgical infection developed by Dr Joseph Lister. It was an important part in Cleghorn's decision to work in Marlborough. In 1865, Louis Pasteur had suggested the decay of tissue was caused by germs. Lister applied this theory to managing wounds, and used carbolic acid to sterilize dressings. It was only in 1886, that heat was found to be better than chemicals at sterilising instruments. Dr Cleghorn's early success was due to employing good science. Successful sterilisation techniques were crucial before the use of widely available antibiotics after WWII.
It was at Blenheim that Dr Cleghorn made his colonial fame as a surgeon. This fame was not made, as the writer can testify, without untiring energy, close study, devotion to duty, and a rare capacity for taking pains and mastering details. Dr Cleghorn was one of the very first surgeons ... to perform serious and complicated abdominal operations - operations which fifteen years ago few colonial surgeons cared to undertake.***
Notes:
* This plaque was added in 1995.
** Farewell Souvenir to commemorate the departure from Blenheim of Dr
and Mrs Cleghorn.
*** "Obituary, George Cleghorn, MD, New Zealand", The British Medical Journal, 6 September 1902. Cleghorn was the first President of the NZ Branch of the British Medical Society (1897).
[700]
About Steve
Steve joined the Museum in 2006 to lead the Museum into its next phase of development. Steve graduated in Art History, Music and History. He has a first class honors degree in History.
After lecturing at Christchurch College of Education for ten years, Steve worked in Wellington at the City Gallery before moving to The Dowse, and later the Nelson Provincial Museum.
Steve is currently working on two books. The first is on early Chinese settlers in New Zealand. His other project is on New Zealand photographer Thelma Kent, who was active in the 1930s.