Murdoch Cameron
Murdoch Cameron was Regius Professor of [Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Glasgow)|Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology] at the University of Glasgow from 1894 to 1926. He was a pioneer of the Caesarean section under modern antiseptic conditions, becoming world famous after the success of his first such operation in 1888, at what was then the Glasgow Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary, now the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, an institution he was deeply involved with. He was honorary President of the first international Congress on Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in 1892. His son Samuel James Cameron followed in his footsteps, becoming Reguis Professor of Midwifery at Glasgow in the 1930s.
Early life
Murdoch Cameron was born in Glasgow in 1847 the son of a successful timber merchant, Samuel Cameron, who originated from the Gaelic-speaking farming communities on the Isle of Mull, Argyllshire, and his wife Mary Clow, daughter of William Clow of Drymen, Stirlingshire. He studied medicine at the University of Glasgow qualifying as MB in 1870, and MD in 1872.Early professional life
Specialising in obstetrics at his practice in the Townhead district of Glasgow, Cameron was almost immediately appointed Physician to the Glasgow Lying-in Hospital after his graduation. He retained this post until becoming Physician Accoucher to Glasgow's Western Infirmary in 1878. From about 1884 he acted as Professorial Assistant to William Leishman, Professor of Midwifery at Glasgow. And in 1888 he was appointed Obstetric Physician to the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital. He also acted as lecturer on gynaecology at Glasgow Queen Margaret's College and was a leading fundraiser for the campaign to erect a new Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital on the Rottenrow site in 1880–1.Caesarean section
In an improvised operating theatre crowded with doctors and undergraduates on the top floor of the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital on 10 April 1888, Murdoch Cameron carried out the first Caesarean section under modern antiseptic conditions. The patient, Catherine Colquhoun, was a rachitic dwarf and so was incapable of natural birth. Cameron, who as an undergraduate had worked as a surgical dresser to the pioneer of antiseptic surgery Joseph Lister at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, helped transform the Caesarean section, under antiseptic conditions, from a dreaded and little used procedure, that usually ended with the death of the mother, into the routine and safe operation it has become.Controversial appointment
In recognition of his pioneering work Cameron was appointed honorary President of the first international Congress on Obstetrics and Gynaecology, held in Brussels, in 1892. In 1894, on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for Scotland, Sir George Trevelyan, Murdoch Cameron succeeded Leishman to the position of Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow.It was an appointment that created furious controversy in some quarters. In an anonymous letter to The Times, London, on 8 January 1894, one correspondent condemned Murdoch Cameron's election as 'a heavy blow to the prestige and prosperity of Scotch Universities'. Dr Cameron's only claim to the position, the correspondent wrote, was that he 'is an ardent Gladstonian partisan'.
Nevertheless, Cameron held the position of Professor of Midwifery for thirty-two years, and was awarded an honorary LLD for 'a long period of faithful, useful and distinguished service' by the University of Glasgow at his retirement. During four decades of academic teaching, Cameron taught four of his successors to the Chair of Midwifery: John Martin Munro Kerr, Samuel James Cameron, James Hendry and Robert Aim Lennie. Murdoch Cameron died in Glasgow in 1930.