Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Sir Charles Bickerton Blackburn (22 April 1874 – 20 July 1972) was an Australian

university chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

and

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 ...

. Blackburn was born in

Greenhithe Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Greenhithe's waterfront on the estuary of the ri ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, to the cleric and entomologist

Thomas Blackburn Thomas, Tom or Tommy Blackburn may refer to: *Anthony Blackburn (born 1945), British vice-admiral and Equerry to the Royal Household, commonly known as Tom Blackburn *Thomas Blackburn (entomologist) (1844–1912), Australian entomologist *Thomas Bl ...

and his wife Jessie Ann, ''née'' Wood. Mainly known as a long-serving

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

(1941 - 1964) and member of the Senate of 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 si ...

, serving on the University Senate from 1919 to 1964. He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine 1932 - 1935. He was also a councillor of the

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regul ...

and the Association of Physicians of Australasia. Blackburn served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a lieutenant-colonel for the

Australian Army Medical Corps The Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC) is the branch of the Australian Army responsible for providing medical care to Army personnel. The AAMC was formed in 1902 through the amalgamation of medical units of the various Australian coloni ...

. He was appointed an OBE for his services towards the Medical Corps, and became the chair of the Commonwealth Royal Commission on the assessment of war service disabilities, in 1924. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Blackburn served in the 113 Australian General Hospital, in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

. Blackburn graduated from 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 ...

(B.A. 1893) and went on to study medicine, transferring to the

in 1896 – M.B.

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

; Ch.M., 1899; M.D., 1903. He began his medical career at the

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School ...

in Sydney, Australia. He set up his own private practice in 1903, but he still remained connected with the hospital. His son was also called Charles (

Charles Ruthven Bickerton Blackburn Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Ruthven Bickerton Blackburn (7 May 1913 – 12 April 2016) was a professor of medicine at the University of Sydney.AC), was similarly a

for the

(

), and was similarly associated with the University of Sydney, becoming the Bosch Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine in 1957. Blackburn died in 1972 in the Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill, at the age of 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Charles Bickerton 1874 births 1972 deaths People from Greenhithe University of Sydney alumni Australian military doctors Australian Army officers Australian Knights Bachelor Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Chancellors of the University of Sydney Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Blackburn family