Bruce Maitland Carruthers (23 April 1892 – 29 November 1951) was an Australian

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and surgeon who became Director-General of Health in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. He served with distinction in two World Wars and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.Who's Who in Australia (The Herald and Weekly Times Limited, 1950) pp 309
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Birth and education

Carruthers was born at Maitland, New South Wales, the son of Rev James Edward Carruthers and nephew of

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Joseph Carruthers Sir Joseph Hector McNeil Carruthers (21 December 185710 December 1932) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1904 to 1907. Carruthers is perhaps best remembered for founding the Liberal and Reform Associa ...

, 16th

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatu ...

. He attended his father's alma mater,

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

(1906–1908) and went up to the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

in 1909 and graduated MB in 1915.

War service

World War I

Carruthers served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in England, France,

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and India from 1914 until 1919 and held the rank of major. After active service he undertook a post-graduate course in medicine in London, becoming a Member and later a Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute.

World War II

In 1940, he rejoined the Australian Army Medical Corps. He served until 1945 and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and was assistant director of hygiene in the First Australian Army. Carruthers was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the military division for distinguished service in the Middle East.

Medical career

New South Wales

Following World War I, Carruthers became a resident medical officer at the Coast Hospital. Until 1927 he worked mainly in mental diseases and undertook post-graduate studies in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

at the

. He worked at

Callan Park Callan Park, with the heritage listed name Callan Park Conservation Area & Buildings, is a heritage listed site in Lilyfield, a suburb in the Inner West Council in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Calla ...

and was in charge of five

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

nerve hospitals in Sydney tending ex-servicemen. He was also associated with Randwick Repatriation Hospital and worked in private practice.

Tasmania

From 1927 until 1935 Carruthers was the senior house surgeon at the

Royal Hobart Hospital The Royal Hobart Hospital is a public hospital in the Hobart CBD, Tasmania, Australia. The hospital also functions as a teaching hospital in co-operation with the University of Tasmania. The hospital's research facilities are known as the Roya ...

and then for a year he was administrator of the Lachlan Park Hospital. He was appointed the Tasmanian Director of Public Health in 1936 and served in that capacity until rejoining the army in World War II. At war's end Carruthers was appointed Director of Hospitals and Medical Services in Tasmania. In 1951, upon the retirement of the Director of Public Health both that office and his own were combined in the position of Director General of Health and he held that position at the time of his death.

Death

Carruthers died at the Royal Hobart Hospital after a long illness and following a funeral service at the Memorial Congregational Church was cremated. The chief mourners were his three sisters, as his parents and brother had predeceased him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Bruce Maitland 1892 births 1951 deaths People from Tasmania People educated at Newington College University of Sydney alumni Australian military doctors Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire