Dr Alfred William Raffan
Known as: Alfie
21/09/1912 to 16/01/2006
Place of birth: Aberdeen, Scotland
Nationality: British
CRN: 514886
Education and qualifications
|
General education |
Aberdeen Grammar School 1918-31. |
|---|---|
|
Primary medical qualification(s) |
MB ChB, Aberdeen, 1938 |
|
Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Election |
|
Year of Fellowship |
1953 |
|
Other qualification(s) |
DA (RCP&S), 1946 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Raffan had his first house job at Princess Alice Hospital in Eastbourne from July 1938 until January 1939, when he took up a post of resident anaesthetist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI). In September 1939 he began military service in the RAMC and went on to serve in North Africa, Italy, England and Germany. Having attained the rank of Major, he was demobilised in October 1945. By the end of that year he returned to his old post at ARI, designated Registrar Anaesthetist. In 1946 he had short secondments to thoracic units in Oxford and London and he passed the examinations for the DA. Through 1947-48 he was Honorary Anaesthetist for the Children’s Hospital and Municipal Hospitals, Aberdeen which involved country visits. Next he spent a year as Senior Hospital Medical Officer Anaesthetist in Aberdeen before being appointed in 1949 as Consultant Anaesthetist to the North East Regional Hospital Board, in which post he remained until his retirement in 1977
Professional interests and activities
During the Second World War he published on intravenous anaesthesia and on anaesthesia for maxillo-facial surgery in the journal of the RAMC. While the focus of his clinical anaesthesia in the late 1940s was in thoracic and paediatric surgery, this changed to general and plastic surgery in the 1950s. He was President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists for 1967-68, and a founder member of the Scottish Standing Committee of the Faculty of Anaesthetists from 1971 until 1977.
Other biographical information
Raffan married Jean Twort (a medical practitioner) in 1944 and they had a son and a daughter. For his distinguished service in the RAMC he was awarded the TD in 1946, and he continued in the TA Reserve until 1960. He maintained his interest in cricket and golf, becoming President of the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club for 1965-66 and a member of Marylebone Cricket Club from 1975. His wife died in 1975; the following year he married Hellen Patricia Ledingham. In retirement he enjoyed golf and fishing. He was also interested in history, notably compiling a history of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists in 1989
Author and sources
Author:
Dr Alistair McKenzie
Sources and comments:
[1] Dr Raffan’s self submitted college “Boulton form” dated 1988. [2] McKenzie AG. The Centenary of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists 1914-2014 (page 21). The photograph is courtesy of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists.