George Kenneth McKee

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(5 January 1906 – 18 July 1991) was an English orthopaedist, one of the pioneers of hip replacement surgery in the 1950s. He is now honoured with a bust at the

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) is a large National Health Service (NHS) academic teaching hospital in the Norwich Research Park on the western outskirts of Norwich, England. The university hospital replaced the former Norf ...

Early life

McKee's father was a medical practitioner in Ireland in the late 19th century. He then migrated to England around 1900. McKee was born in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, in 1906, attending Chigwell School and then studying medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College. He received his

Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Roya ...

in 1934. He worked at the Sheffield Royal Hospital before being appointed consultant in orthopaedics at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (N&N) in 1939.

Hip replacement work

McKee moved to

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in 1939. He worked in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (N&N), which he joined in 1939 as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, going on to pioneer primary hip replacements in the 1950s. According to Hugh Phillips, the President of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgery, surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wa ...

2004–2005, "Ken McKee started experimenting with model hip joints in 1938, working with dentists and an engineering firm in Norwich to create the original brass mock-ups. He carried out his first primary hip replacement on a patient in 1951, before Sir John Charnley perfected his own version." He retired to Tacolneston in the 1970s.

Commemorations

In 1972 in recognition of his services to orthopaedic surgery he was appointed Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

and three years later received an Honorary Doctorate of Science of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

in 1986. In addition to a bronze bust cast by his daughter-in-law, the Belgian sculptor Myriam De Kepper, McKee's work at the hospital is remembered with a residence block, McKee House, at the

and a road, Kenneth McKee Plain, built on the former N&N site.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Kenneth 1906 births 1991 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Medical doctors from Norwich People from Ilford British orthopaedic surgeons 20th-century English medical doctors English people of Northern Ireland descent People from South Norfolk (district) 20th-century English surgeons