Surgeon Vice-Admiral Sir James Watt (19 August 1914 – 28 December 2009) was a British surgeon, Medical Director-General of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, 1972–1977 and maritime historian.

Early life

He was born in Morpeth, Northumberland and was educated at the King Edward VI School there, before entering Durham University, where he qualified in medicine in 1938.

Career

He started work as a house surgeon at Ashington Hospital, Northumberland and as resident medical officer at Princess Mary Maternity Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne. When the Second World War started he joined the Royal Navy, spending most of the time in the Far East, the North Atlantic and the Pacific."The Fight of Faith: lives and testimonies from the battlefield" Bray,P./Claydon,M. (Eds) Ch 4 p42(Blake, R.): London, Panoplia, 2013 When the war finished he continued his medical career at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

, London and the Royal Victoria Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but then rejoined the Navy as a surgical specialist. Posted initially to Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, he also saw service in Korea, Northern Ireland and Hong Kong. He was promoted to Consultant in Surgery in 1956 and became the first joint Professor of Naval Surgery in 1965 with the rank of Surgeon Captain. He became a Surgeon Rear-Admiral when appointed Dean of Naval Medicine and Medical Officer in charge of the

Institute of Naval Medicine The Institute of Naval Medicine is the main research centre and training facility of the Royal Navy Medical Service. History The site was established in 1969 to research environmental health conditions for submariners in the Royal Navy. At a saf ...

in 1969 and was further promoted to Surgeon Vice-Admiral when appointed Medical Director-General of the Navy. He was knighted KBE in 1975. He was elected President of the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthro ...

(1980–81) and President of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

(1982-1984). Watt was President of the

Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers was founded in England in 1771. It was the first engineering society to be formed anywhere in the world, and remains the oldest. It was originally known as the Society of Civil Engineers, being renamed fo ...

for 1996. He was also the President of the Smeatonian Society of History at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

. He was a visiting fellow at University House, the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, Canberra. He was also a historian with a particular interest in medicine at sea in the age of sail. His publications include,
"The injuries of four centuries of naval warfare"
''Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England'', Vol. 57 (1975) * "Health and Settlement 1789-95; Life and death in the colony's early years," ''Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery'', 59 (1989) 923-31 * "James Ramsay, 1733-1789: Naval surgeon, Naval Chaplain and Morning Star of the Anti Slavery Movement", ''The Mariner's Mirror'', 81 (2) 1995, 156-170 * "Naval and civilian influences on eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century medical practice," ''The Mariner's Mirror'', 97 (1) February 2001, 148-166 * "Surgery at Trafalgar," ''The Mariner's Mirror'', 91 (2) May 2005, 251-65

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, James 1914 births 2009 deaths People from Morpeth, Northumberland Military personnel from Northumberland British surgeons Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy Medical Service officers Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers British maritime historians 20th-century English historians 20th-century surgeons Alumni of Durham University College of Medicine