Biography

Medical missionary and botanist born on the island of St Helena and raised in Durban, Natal. Before committing himself to missionary work, he studied botany under Professor John William Bews at Natal College, Pietermaritzburg, and received a DSc in 1924. The following year he left for Edinburgh to train as a medical doctor, intending to return and take up a career as a medical missionary. He came back to South Africa in 1930 and, after serving three years at the Methodist Mission near Quumbu in the Transkei, was transferred to the Church of Scotland's station near Sibasa in Vendaland, Northern Transvaal, where he founded and directed the Donald Fraser Hospital, named after the influential Scottish medical missionary Donald Fraser (1870-1933) who had worked with the Ngoni in Malawi. As recounted in his book, Who is My Neighbour, during his years as medical superintendent the hospital developed from a rural clinic into a modern hospital complex and a recognised training centre for black nurses. For this achievement he was awarded the Coronation Medal in 1953.