Person:Robert McGowan (14)

Census Place: Park Lane House, Norwich, Norfolk Occupation: Doctor

Degree Cert 6 Nov 1894 CB CM Bank House Coleford

In 1899 was in practice at 1 Thomas St, Cheetham Hill, Manchester

In 1910 lived at Elmfield, Anson Rd, Victoria Park, Manchester

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2068462/pdf/brmedj03535-0052.pdf

Obituary R. G. McGOWAN, M.D., D.P.H.
Dr. R. G. McGowan, who was in practice in Manchester for over 50 years, died at his home in Cheetham Hill on February 18, aged 77. Robert George McGowan was born at Norwich in 1873 and was educated at Aberdeen University, where he graduated M.B., C.M. in 1894 before he was 21. He proceeded M.D. in 1901 and took the D.P.H. in 1899.
His first five years in practice were spent as assistant to Dr. Buchanan, of Coleford, with an interval as house surgeon at the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Infirmary. In 1899 he went to Manchester, where he remained in practice until his death. In 1902 he began his long and very varied connexion with the B.M.A., at the famous meeting of the Association at which the new Articles of Association and By-laws were confirmed. Manchester was then divided into five divisions, and he became honorary secretary of the North Division, retaining that position on the amalgamation of the five into the Manchester Division until 1943, a continuous period of 42 years. During this time he was chairman of the Division in 1936 and again from 1943 to 1946, and president of the. Lancashire and Cheshire Branch in 1931 and from 1944 to 1946. He persistently refused to attend representative meetings or to become a member of Council, but was an efficient member of special committees, serving in 1921 on the Parliamentary Elections Committee, the Protection of Practices Committee (1936-48), and the Conference on Foods and Drugs in 1928, but his favourite was the Insurance Acts Committee, of which he was a member in 1923 and again from 1932 to 1939. He was elected a vice-president of the B.M.A. in 1944, a well-earned honour which gave great satisfaction to his colleagues in Manchester. In addition he devoted much time and energy to the Manchester Medical and Panel Committee, of which he was honorary secretary or chairman almost to his death, and to the Local Assurance Committee. In 1927 he was presented with a gold cigarette-case and a cheque for £1,000 by his fellow doctors in Manchester, particularly the panel doctors, in recognition of his great efforts on their behalf; at the same time his wife was given a pearl and platinum necklace in appreciation of her assistance. In 1929 he accepted the onerous position of secretary for the meeting of the Association held in Manchester under the presidency of thy late Professor A. H. Burgess. When the Manchester panel doctors adopted the attendance system of payment, an office with clerks became necessary. This developed into a department offering clerical, advisory, and accountancy facilities to the profession, which on the formation of the British Medical Bureau became an efficient and lucrative branch of it. Dr. McGowan was active in its management as a director, and ultimately became a director on the board of the Bureau itself. He held this office until the Bureau was dissolved. When the Association met in Winnipeg in 1930 he attended the meeting as vice-president of the Section of Medical Sociology and History of Medicine. In his earlier days he developed an aptitude for photography, particularly of his dogs, one of which always accompanied him on his rounds. He was also a keen tennis and golf player, at both of which he exhibited considerable skill. As a chairman of conimittees he was in his element. His flair for seizing upon the essentials of a memorandum and detecting any fallacies made for efficiency, and he had little sympathy with those inclined to magnify details or lack precision in their grasp of a subject. He was a tower of strength to the profession in struggles with local bureaucracy or insurance committees, but his kindly, if autocratic, help to a colleague in trouble or distress is known only to those whom he assisted. He was second to none in his regard for the high standards and welfare of the profession.-J. D. E.

1. ↑ (see notes).