| Description | Ian Dugald Campbell was born in 1916 Dornie, Rosshire. His father was a bank agent as well as a factor for estates. His childhood was spent in Dornie, Beauly and Dingwall, where he attended Dingwall Academy. He began attending the University of Edinburgh in 1933. During his first year he did pure science, before transferring to the medical course. During his time at the university, he was captain of the Edinburgh University shinty team.
He graduated in 1939 and became a GP as a locum in Cromarty the day after graduation. He then worked at St Luke’s Hospital in Bradford with the aim of helping with the war effort. During this time, he treated wounded soldiers from Dunkirk and was ill with diphtheria. He was called up in January 1941 and first went to Beckett Park in Leeds, then to Northern Ireland to train. He was posted to France in 1944 followed by Belgium and travelled to occupied Germany where his unit treated former inmates of Belsen. After VE day he worked in other areas around Germany following which his unit was to be posted to the United States to train for an operation in Japan however VJ day happened first. His demob was initially to be in late 1945 however he was posted to Palestine following which he was demobbed in Aldershot in April 1946.
He returned to Edinburgh to look for work. He took a temporary short-term job as medical superintendent in Bradford, following which he took the post permanently. He was still working in Bradford at the beginning of the National Health Service when medical superintendents were abolished, so he was transferred to the Leeds Regional Hospital Board. During his time on the board, he became involved in hospital planning and travelled abroad to visit other hospitals. He returned to Edinburgh in 1957 where he was the deputy senior administrative health officer of the Southeastern Regional Hospital Board. He was involved in the planning of the Western General Hospital and the Royal Infirmary. He became the senior administrative medical officer in 1972 and chief administrative medical officer at Lothian Health Board from 1973 to 1980.
He became involved in the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh during the 1970s. He was the representative of the Faculty of Community Medicine on the College Council and Representative of the College on the Faculty of Community Medicine London 1974-1980. From 1978 to1981 he was the coordinator of the Tercentenary Congress of the college. In 1980 he became the acting treasurer of the college, and in 1981 this became permanent, a position he held until 1985. He arranged a survey of the building where dry rot was found as well as coordinating rewiring and the replacement of water tanks. He was involved in the development of the conference centre and the associated fundraising. He was also a trustee during the 1980s and 90s.
In 1977 he became honorary physician to the Queen, a term which ended in 1980. He married Joan Carnegie in 1943 and had three children. His wife predeceased him, and he died in Edinburgh in 2008.
Contents: Conference centre funding project file, 1991-2008. |