imported>Citation bot: Altered title. Add: authors 1-1. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Use New Zealand English from May 2025 | #UCB_Category 165/259

2025-06-13T05:04:07Z

Altered title. Add: authors 1-1. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Use New Zealand English from May 2025 | #UCB_Category 165/259

New page

{{Short description|New Zealand anaesthetist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Eric Anson
|image = Eric Anson.jpg
|image_size = 150px
|caption = Eric Anson
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1892|11|22}}
|birth_place = [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|6|5|1892|11|22}}
|death_place =
|citizenship =
|nationality = [[New Zealand]]
|ethnicity =
|field = [[Medicine]]
|work_institutions =
|alma_mater =
|doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[Anaesthesia]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes =
|religion = |footnotes = |signature =
}}
'''George Frederick Vernon Anson''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|size=85%}} (22 November 1892 – 5 June 1969), known as Eric, was [[New Zealand]]'s first specialist [[anaesthetist]]. He was the first President of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA) and a member of the NZ Committee of the Faculty of Anaesthetists.

==Early life and education==
Anson was the son of ship's surgeon Dr George Anson. He was educated at [[Whanganui Collegiate School|Wanganui Collegiate School]].<ref name=":2" /> He went to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], and then to [[St Thomas's Hospital Medical School]] (now part of [[King's College London]]), from which he graduated in January 1916.<ref name=":2" />

==Career==
He served in the [[Royal Navy]] in [[World War I]] first as temporary surgeon and then in active naval service. In May 1917 he was wounded in action.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Roche |first1=E.H. |title=Green Lane saga : a record of Green Lane Hospital, Auckland, in the development of cardiology and cardiothoracic and vascular surgery |last2=Roche |first2=A.H.G. |publisher=Ray Richards Publisher |year=1983 |isbn=0908596189 |pages=205–206 |oclc=11218575}}</ref> After the war, he returned to New Zealand to get his medical registration before going back to Britain where he worked as an anaesthetist at Birmingham Hospital and [[Birmingham Children's Hospital]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Returning to New Zealand in 1922 he began to practise anaesthetics as a specialty – the first New Zealander qualified to do so.<ref name=":3" /> He was Senior Visiting Anaesthetist at [[Wellington Hospital, New Zealand|Wellington Hospital]] as well as having a private practice.<ref name=":2" />

In the 1930s, Anson was a key figure in the New Zealand Branch of the [[British Medical Association]] serving on the Council, as Honorary Secretary and as Chairman.<ref name=":2" />

During [[World War II]], he served in the New Zealand Army Medical Corps. He was stationed in the Middle East as Medical Officer and Anaesthetist from 1940 to 1943. From 1943 to 1945 he was Commanding Officer on the hospital ship [[MS Oranje|Oranje]].<ref name=":2" /> He received an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] for his war service.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

He was the first Director of Anaesthetics for the Auckland Hospital Board, a position he held from late 1945 to 1957; there he worked across several hospitals.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Beasley |first=A. Wyn |date=2008-11-28 |title=The rise and rise of anaesthesia in New Zealand |url=https://assets-global.website-files.com/5e332a62c703f653182faf47/5f14d36c59889c752e1c1d34_content.pdf |journal=The New Zealand Medical Journal |volume=121 |issue=1286 |pages=12–13 |issn=1175-8716 |pmid=19098943}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Hutchinson |first=Basil R. |date=2008-11-28 |title=Eric Anson, anaesthetist |url=https://assets-global.website-files.com/5e332a62c703f653182faf47/5f14d36c59889c752e1c1d34_content.pdf |journal=The New Zealand Medical Journal |volume=121 |issue=1286 |pages=125–129 |issn=1175-8716 |pmid=19098957}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> He introduced new techniques and drugs to replace chloroform.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> At [[Green Lane Hospital, Auckland|Green Lane Hospital]] he was a pioneer in [[cardiothoracic anesthesiology|cardiothoracic anaesthesia]].<ref name=":2" /> He was especially well regarded by Sir [[George Douglas Robb|Douglas Robb]] for his ability to have his patients wake up promptly enough to say "Thank you, Mr. Robb" before leaving theatre.<ref name=":1" />

In 1948, he became the first president of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists.<ref name=":2" /> In 1969 he received the R.H. Orton Medal from the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was the first New Zealander to receive the medal.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr George Frederick Vernon Anson {{!}} The Royal College of Anaesthetists |url=https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/dr-george-frederick-vernon-anson |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=www.rcoa.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 1970 the Anson Memorial Foundation was set up in his memory to assist postgraduate education.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://anaesthesia.nz/history/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=The New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=George Frederick Vernon Anson |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C130306 |access-date=10 July 2023 |website=Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph}}</ref> Prizes are awarded by the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists.<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anson, Eric}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:New Zealand anaesthetists]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Wellington City]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:20th-century New Zealand medical doctors]]
[[Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Wellington City]]
[[Category:New Zealand military doctors]]
[[Category:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire]]

Eric Anson - Revision history

imported>Citation bot: Altered title. Add: authors 1-1. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Use New Zealand English from May 2025 | #UCB_Category 165/259