Henry Prescott Fairlie

Biography
Summary
University Connections
Images

Biography of Henry Prescott Fairlie

Henry (Harry) Prescott Fairlie (1884-1937) was the son of Henry Carlyle Fairlie. He was awarded an MB (1905) and a MD (1912) from the University of Glasgow. He presented his MD Thesis, entitled 'A comparison of the relative values of chloroform and ether in general anaesthesia', to the University of Glasgow in 1912. During the Great War he served in France in the Army Medical Service, finally relinquishing his commission on 3rd December 1919 while retaining the rank of Captain.

Following the Great War he was in general practice in Glasgow, but also became established as a respected anaesthetist giving his services at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and Glasgow Western Infirmary. He worked with the Edinburgh surgeon Norman Dott in advancing brain surgery. He collaborated with John Stewart Ross (b.1874) in writing the Second Edition of his Handbook of Anaesthetics (1923, first published 1919) and he wrote the third (1929) and fourth (1934) editions. In 1923, he became a Founder Member of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Anaesthetics.

In 1925, he served as President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists having been a Founder Member in 1914. In 1931, he was President of the Anaesthetics Section of the British Medical Association, and in 1933 he was President of the Anaesthetics Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Married to Elizabeth Boyd, they had one son, Henry Fairlie (b.1916), also an anaesthetist, and three daughters, Helen (b.1915), Jane (b.1918), and Elizabeth (Betty) (b.1921). Henry Prescott Fairlie succumbed to cancer at the age of 53.

Summary

Henry Prescott Fairlie
Born 20 November 1884.
Died March 1937.
University Link: Graduate
GU Degrees: MB, 1905; MD, 1912;
Additional Information: R3/1/1 (vol 2). Biography submitted by Iain Hutchison, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Glasgow. Photograph reproduced by kind permission of the family.
Record last updated: 18th Dec 2014