Photograph of Dr George Bantock, c.1900

Mounted sepia photograph of Dr George Bantock in a horse and trap, possibly taken while on his rounds as a private gynaecologist in London. On the reverse is written: 'Dr Granville Bantock Sir Granville's father met at Broad Meadow about 1912'.

Dr George Bantock was born in Sutherland and studied at Edinburgh University, graduating with MD in 1861 after a period as surgeon to a whaler travelling to Arctic America. Having gained the LRCS and LMEdin, he practised in Chester until 1865, when he became elected surgeon to the London Surgical Home, and became known for his surgical skills, particularly in ovariotomy. He was elected physician for outpatients at the Samaritan Hospital in 1869, rising to assistant surgeon in 1877, and surgeon in 1878 on the retirement of Sir Spencer Wells. Bantock retired in 1896, having distinguished himself in advancing the surgery of uterine fibromyoma, and also in assisting in the foundation of the British Gynaecological Society, of which he became President in 1887. He continued to practise in London for several years following his retirement, and was well known for his professional appearance with long, pointed beard. His eldest son, Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (1868-1946) was an eminent composer and musician.

There is some contradiction on the date of the photograph: a note on the back written in 2007 by Antoth Bantock states: 'Dr George Granville Bantock died in 1913. He lived at Broadmeadow briefly on the death of his wife. This photograph must have been taken many years earlier c.1880 when he was in practice in London. In the 1940's I remember it hanging on the back of my father's study door at the Colmore Row College. Antoth Bantock, 2007'. Dr Bantock's obituary in the British Medical Journal states that he retired to King's Norton, Birmingham after his retirement, returning to London shortly before his death in 1913. This would make the date of the photograph more likely to be the early 1900s

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External donation to the Archive in January 2014

Copyright is vested in the estate of George Bantock.

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