Edward Angas Johnson (1873 – 19 June 1951), known as Angas or E. Angas Johnson, was City Health Officer of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. His name has very frequently been misspelled as "Angus" Johnson.
History
![Angas Johnson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Angas_Johnson.png)
Johnson was born in
Angaston, South Australia
Angaston is a town on the eastern side of the Barossa Valley in South Australia, 77 km northeast of Adelaide. Its elevation is 347 m, one of the highest points in the valley, and has an average rainfall of 561
mm. Angaston was origi ...
to
James Angas Johnson (1841 – 19 May 1902) and his wife Catharine Johnson, née Williams (1841–1909), who married in 1866.
James Angas Johnson's mother, Rosetta French Johnson (25 April 1813 – 23 August 1898), later Hannay, was the eldest daughter of
George Fife Angas
George Fife Angas (1 May 1789 – 15 May 1879) was an English businessman and banker who, while residing in England, played a significant part in the formation and establishment of the Province of South Australia. He established the South Aus ...
.
The Johnsons owned a magnificent property, "St Catharine's" in
Prospect, later the administration centre of
Blackfriars Priory School
Blackfriars Priory School is a private Roman Catholic school for boys situated in Prospect, an inner-northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is conducted by the Dominican Friars of the Province of the Assumption.
History
The school op ...
.
He was educated at
Whinham College
North Adelaide Grammar School, later Whinham College was a private school operated in North Adelaide, South Australia by John Whinham (3 August 1803 – 13 March 1886) and his family.
History
John Whinham
The founder of the school was born at Sh ...
in
North Adelaide
North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands.
History
Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...
,
St Peter's College, and the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
, but (with many others) was unable to complete the requirements of the Bachelor of Medicine degree in Adelaide because of the "Hospital Row", a toxic standoff between the
Adelaide Hospital and the State Government in the mid- to late 1890s, (see
Nurse Graham) and professional rivalries as exemplified b
this exchangebetween Professor
Archibald Watson
Archibald Watson FRCS (27 July 1849 – 30 July 1940) was an Australian surgeon and professor of anatomy at the University of Adelaide.
Early life
Watson was born at Tarcutta, New South Wales, the son of Sydney Grandison Watson, a retired ...
and Dr
Leith Napier, in which Johnson's name was mentioned. Hence, it was in Melbourne where he graduated in 1897, as did many others, or in Sydney, then took his ''
ad eundem
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
'' at Adelaide.
He served a year as house surgeon at the
Adelaide Children's Hospital
The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on King William Road in North Adelaide, Australia.
It is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flin ...
, then went to Germany, where he gained his doctorate at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
, and also studied at the Berlin University.
In 1900 he worked at the
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...
under Professors
Roux
Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooke ...
and
Metchnikoff.
He continued gaining experience and qualifications at the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
King's, and
St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust.
History
Early history
Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...
s. He studied at the
London School of Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine.
The inst ...
, under Sir
Patrick Manson
Sir Patrick Manson (3 October 1844 – 9 April 1922) was a Scottish physician who made important discoveries in parasitology, and was a founder of the field of tropical medicine. He graduated from University of Aberdeen with degrees in Master ...
and Sir
James Cantlie
Sir James Cantlie (17 January 1851 – 28 May 1926) was a British physician. He was a pioneer of first aid, which in 1875 was unknown: even the police had no knowledge of basic techniques such as how to stop serious bleeding and applying splin ...
, and afterwards to Cambridge, where he studied
preventive medicine
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
with Professors
George Nuttall
George Henry Falkiner Nuttall FRS (5 July 1862 – 16 December 1937) was an American-British bacteriologist who contributed much to the knowledge of parasites and of insect carriers of diseases. He made significant innovative discoveries in immu ...
and
Sims Woodhead.
[
He returned to South Australia and in 1902 was appointed hon. assistant physician at the Adelaide Hospital, and from 1909 to 1924 served there as honorary physician. From 1926 to 1942 he was the hospital's honorary sanitary adviser.][
In December 1902 Johnson was elected to the Adelaide City Council to represent the Hindmarsh ward, but almost immediately required three months' leave of absence to visit Germany with his wife, whose mother was ill. He resigned a year later, in advance of another trip to Europe. In December 1907 he stood again for the same Ward, and was voted in by a large margin, holding the seat until he resigned in February 1924] as a necessary condition of being appointed Health Officer, a very senior position which also required him to resign his membership of the Adelaide Board of Health and its public health committee, of which he had been chairman for 14 years.[
He was at the time also:
*Senior physician at the Adelaide Hospital
*a member of the ]Adelaide Botanic Gardens
The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital ...
board, and one of its Governors
*Inspector of Anatomy at the University of Adelaide
*a member of the Pure Foods and Drugs Board
*on the medico-legal panel of the Crown Law Department.[
*member of the Consumption Board, the Fever Hospital board, and the Influenza Committee][
He was a man of strong opinions, and took a contrary stand against his colleagues on several issues:]
He was skeptical about the effectiveness of Pasteurella
__NOTOC__
''Pasteurella'' is a genus of Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic bacteria. ''Pasteurella'' species are nonmotile and pleomorphic, and often exhibit bipolar staining ("safety pin" appearance). Most species are catalase- and oxidase-p ...
bacteria in the control of rabbits as proposed in 1905 by Professor Danysz, and which had been elsewhere been greeted enthusiastically.
He argued in 1937 against diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
immunization on the grounds that it was effective against the milder forms of the disease but might promote the more dangerous ''gravis'' strain. Concern was raised that his outspokenness might prompt parents to withdraw consent to a measure that had been proved both safe and effective.
Other interests
*Johnson was an avid collector of curios, especially those connected with South Australian history, and dispersed most of them generously to appropriate institutions in his lifetime. Among them was an anchor from the brig ''Rapid'', and a drawing by William Light
William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site o ...
.
*He was a member of the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia
The Field Naturalists Society of South Australia Incorporated was founded in 1883 as a section of the Royal Society, and whose aims were to further the cause of the natural sciences in the colony. It was incorporated in 1959 and is still active. Me ...
and its president 1902–1904.
Family
Johnson married twice: to Margarethe Friedericke Charlotte "Greta" Klevesahl ( – 12 June 1936) in London on 27 September 1900. They had a home "St Margaret's" on Pirie Street in 1914 (became the Red Cross Blood Bank in 1954). She was a sister of Mrs Charles Rasp
Charles Rasp, born Hieronymous Salvator Lopez von Pereira, Local Factbook > Charles Rasp">Broken Hill Visitor Information Centre > About Broken Hill > Local Factbook > Charles RaspAccessed 22 May 2014. (7 October 1846 – 22 May 1907) is known a ...
of "Willyama", Medindie.
They had one son, James Archibald Johnson (1902– ), later known as Dr James A. Angas Johnson.
He married again, to Dorothy Muriel Brandt (1890–1969) on 3 January 1939.
He died at his home, 1 Baker Street, Glenelg South. His widow was still at that address in 1962.
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Angas
1873 births
1951 deaths
Australian public health doctors
South Australian local councillors
Vaccine hesitancy
People from Angaston, South Australia