Dr Francois Georges Domaingue

Education and qualifications

Professional life and career

Postgraduate career

Francois Georges Domaingue was born in Mauritius and arrived by the ship , “Durban Castle” at Southampton aged 19 years, having won a scholarship to study medicine St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London. In August 1939, with war on the horizon this will have been quite a daunting challenge for a young man. This was the start of a long  medical career specialising in anaesthesia.

After graduating in 1944 it is not entirely clear at which hospitals Georges started his career. But the 1945 Electoral Register has him residing at the London Fever Hospital (LFH) accommodation; presumably he worked at the LFH as in 1947 he was awarded the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Georges returned to Mauritius in 1947 sailing in the May;  his new wife and infant son followed a few weeks later.  Georges worked at the Port Louis Hospital in order to satisfy the conditions of his scholarship.

According to the obituary written by his son Charles, in 1949 the family returned to England in order to enable Georges to continue the pursuit of his medical training and studies in anaesthesia.

It isn’t absolutely clear where Georges undertook his early anaesthetic training.
According to his  obituary in the Australasian College Bulletin he undertook some of his training in Oxford under the direction of Prof Robert Reynolds Macintosh; this probably  occurred prior to his return to Mauritius in 1947.  During his second period of time in the UK he undertook a further period of training at the Royal  Infirmary in Liverpool where he was a registrar in anaesthetics. The electoral records have him and his wife  in Liverpool during 1949-1950.

About 1951,  the family returned to Mauritius, where  he worked for several  years as a general practitioner, anaesthetist and obstetrician. Georges worked mostly in private practice. He spent about half his time in General Practice at his rooms in Rosehill. The rest of the time, he gave anaesthetics in small private hospitals. One that his son can recall is “Clinic Bon Pasteur, Rosehill”. During this time Georges and his wife also set up an obstetric service at home. Betty was a qualified  midwife and apparently was the mainstay of this particular venture.

In 1966 Georges accepted a post as Director of Anaesthesia in Australia at the  Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne. Georges remained at the Eye and Ear until 1981. He did not retire completely, continuing to practise privately giving anaesthetics, mainly for urology, in private hospitals; later on  he gave up giving anaesthetics, but he acted as a consultant for an anaesthetic group undertaking pre-operative assessments of patients scheduled for day surgery. His son is not sure when he finally stopped working completely, but it would have been around 2000.
 

Professional interests and activities

According to his obituary, whilst in Mauritius Georges managed a case of tetanus: a young boy who had to be paralysed and ventilated for several days; with no ventilator or monitoring available, he used the anaesthetic machine to hand-ventilate the patient. Teaching the senior religious sister at the clinic how to care for the patient allowed Georges time to take the occasional nap. The young boy recovered.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Georges  was a founding member and first president of the Mauritius Medical Association. This organisation was responsible for the eventual formation of the Medical Council of Mauritius.

In 1966 at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia he rapidly formed a close relationship with Ralph Clark, the Director of Anaesthesia at St. Vincent’s Hospital, which was across the road. There were few interactions between the two hospitals, but Ralph Clark and Georges brought about some improvements in the relationship between the two departments, especially with regard to intensive care facilities, and eventually an access tunnel was built. They also instituted trainees working on both sites, and Georges undertook a regular weekly urology list across the road. Prior to these changes, Georges was regularly exposed to the challenges of anaesthetising for oesophagectomies by one particular surgeon, Sir Edward Dunlop, late into the evening without access to intensive care. Clark was instrumental in Georges being awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons of Australasia  in 1967.

In 1973 Georges helped found the Victorian branch of the Society for the Aid of Children Inoperable in Mauritius . For many years Georges and his wife Betty had been undertaking  the work of the society on their own. It included organising the
transfer of children form Mauritius, looking after them at home, whilst making all the hospital, legal and financial arrangements. In 2013 Georges was presented with a commemorative plaque to celebrate forty years of this charitable  work.
 

Other biographical information

Georges was part of a large family in Mauritius where  his father was a planter and, having lost everything in the Great Depression, times were challenging for a period for the family, and apparently shoes were a luxury during his childhood. Despite this Georges excelled at college and was awarded one of the two scholarships available to study overseas.

Georges met his wife whilst training in London, possibly at the Fever Hospital: Hilda Elizabeth (Betty) Haynes a midwife and nurse; they married in 1946. In early 1947 their first child was born. Betty and the infant son followed Georges out to Mauritius in the July of 1947. Three daughters were to arrive at later dates. One daughter was born in Marseille in France in 1951 when the family travelled through France and had to wait until the birth before embarking on a ship for the return to Mauritius. Working as a solo practitioner in Mauritius was sometimes overwhelming and Georges took up sailing to escape the constant demands as no one could find him offshore whilst on his boat.

The family left Mauritius for Australia in 1966 partly because (prior to independence) social tensions, unrest and political  issues were developing; therefore Georges wished to seek security and educational opportunities for his children and family in Australia. He also found that some of the resource issues and limitations in providing a medical service in a developing country had became increasingly frustrating. 

According to his son Charles’ funeral eulogy of his father, Georges presented many facets of character…..he taught his children that one should be respectful and mix with people of all different races and creeds which was in contrast to the prevalent and widespread attitudes prevalent in Mauritius during the 1950’s; however he could also be intolerant of those whom he disagreed with. Additionally partly because of the long hours worked, often returning home late in the evening, he had quite a remote relationship with his children. Like many intelligent men he had many aspects and paradoxes to his personality with a complex mixture of generosity and selfishness, humility and impatience, compassion and pettiness. In other words he was very human. 

Apparently Georges adapted reluctantly to old age. Developing his computer skills to the point where he managed his affairs online, he acquired an ipad, upon which he had subsciptions to several newspapers including Le Monde. He was an avid reader of books. He developed many interests in retirement and enjoyed classical music. He played bridge until the last year of his life.
For many years he cared for Betty who was wheelchair bound and she passed away in a care facility in 2008. Her son Charles mentions that his mother  was a tough lady with many tales of tragedies during the bombing of London whilst working as a midwife.  In later life Georges was frustrated by his  increasing frailties  and decreasing faculties. 
He was  survived by his four chidren Charles, Diana, Irene and Margaret, 12 of his 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren at the time of his death in 2016 at the age of 96yrs.
Following his death the Sydney Morning Hearald honoured Georges with an obituary entitled “Doctor maintained caring role until the end”. His son Charles followed in his father’s footsteps and entered a career in anaesthesia. He authored the obituary in the Australasian College’s bulletin. Regarding Georges’ three daughters, one became a succesful nurse, one entered a career in business and was on several business boards, and the third gained a PhD in linguistics including Mauritian Creole.

Author: 

Dr Innes Simon Chadwick

Sources and comments:

Obituary.  Francois Georges Domaingue (Australasian College of Anaesthesia) ANZCA Bulletin 2016 p102.

“Doctor maintained caring role until the end” . Domaingue. Obituary Article : Sydney Morning Herald July 19, 2016 . Published on Line. Accessed 2024, 7th Feb.

Biographical Information accessed Ancestry.com
Medical Registers UK accessed on-line: Ancestry.com
Medical Directories UK 1946-49, 1950-51, 1952-61: accessed at Edinburgh University Library by Dr. A McKenzie.
Society for the Aid of Children Inoperable in Mauritius. Website accessed Feb 2024.

Private Email Communications between author and Charles M Domiangue kindly providing copies of his father’s qualification diplomas, certificates, funeral eulogy, photograph and other personal information.