Reginald Laidlaw Davies

A boarder in School House and a member of the 1st XI for the 1892-93 season, Reginald graduated MBBS from Sydney University in 1901. Attending Edinburgh University in 1912 Reginald sat for and passed the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons and returned to Sydney where he worked as Honorary Gynaecological Surgeon at St Vincent’s Outpatients.In 1929 he was appointed a Foundation Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons.

With the outbreak of War in 1914, Reginald tried to enlist but was refused on health grounds. Not to be deterred, Reginald donated an Ambulance to the French Government and was deployed to the French hospital at Aisne. As a result of his service to the French Army he was awarded the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur Chevalier for services rendered to the French Red Cross. Now a Captain, Reginald returned to England and was appointed senior assistant surgeon at the Special Military Hospital, Shepherd’s Bush and was later in charge of the orthopaedic unit at the Red Cross Hospital for Officers in Brighton. His work in the rehabilitation of soldiers resulted in Reginald receiving an Order of the British Empire (Military Division).

On his return to Australia, Reginald resumed his pre war appointment at St Vincent’s and in 1923 was appointed Senior Gynaecologist a position he held until 1926. Reginald held similar roles at Crown St Women’s Hospital, Prince Henry Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before lecturing at Sydney University in Gynaecology until 1933.

A severe motor car accident in 1939 curtailed his medical career and persistent illness plagued his later life before, aged 66, he passed away in 1943.