Sir Robert James Johnstone (1872–1938) was a Northern Ireland physician and politician.

Life

He was born at

Greenisland Greenisland is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies 7 miles north-east of Belfast and 3 miles south-west of Carrickfergus. The town is on the coast of Belfast Lough and is named after a tiny islet to the west, ''the Green Island' ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

on 4 January 1872, the son of Charles Johnstone, a farmer, and his wife Mary McCreavy. He studied at the Belfast Academical Institution and

Queen's College, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. On qualifying, Johnstone took positions at

Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast The Royal Victoria Hospital commonly known as "the Royal", the "RVH" or "the Royal Belfast", is a hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is managed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. The hospital has a Regional Virus Centre, which ...

, Queen's College, and as a pathology student in 1896. He was a medical student in London and Vienna. Specialising in gynaecology, Johnstone then from 1900 worked as assistant to

Sir John Byers ''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 ...

, became surgeon to the Belfast Maternity Hospital and in 1902 had an appointment at the Royal Victoria Hospital. There he became a surgeon in 1908, and succeeded Byers as professor in 1921. In 1921 Johnstone was elected as

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

candidate to the Stormont Parliament for the Queen's University of Belfast constituency. In 1937 he was President of the British Medical Association, and in 1938 he was knighted.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstone, Robert James 1872 births 1938 deaths Presidents of the British Medical Association Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1921–1925 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1925–1929 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1929–1933 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1933–1938 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1938–1945