Dr Oliver Neil Ransford
Personal Details
Dr Oliver Neil Ransford MRCS LRCP MB BS FFARCS DA Md DPhil
Known as: Neil
25/04/1914 to 05/08/1993
Place of birth: Bradford, England
Nationality: British
CRN: 534794
Education and qualifications
| General education | Bradford Grammar School. Medical School, University of Leeds from 1931 – completing his studies at the Middlesex Hospital, London. |
|---|---|
| Primary medical qualification(s) | MRCS Eng., LRCP Lond., 1936 MB BS Lond., 1937. |
| Initial Fellowship and type | FFARCS by Election |
| Year of Fellowship | 1957 |
| Other qualification(s) | DA (RCP&S), 1937 MD, University of London, 1947 DPhil, University of Rhodesia, 1977 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
After graduation Ransford was a junior resident assistant anaesthetist at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He then worked for one year at Hampstead General Hospital, followed by ‘Tropical Hospital’ in London. After the outbreak of WW2 he was commissioned (November 1939) as a Lt. in the RAMC, and went to Nyasaland to be a Medical Officer in the Colonial Medical Service. He served mostly in Abyssinia and attained the rank of Major. On demobilisation in 1945 he returned to Nyasaland. Prompted by the British Government, in 1947 he moved to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia where he wished to do general practice. However he was soon appointed physician to Rhodesia Railways and, as the only man with the DA in Bulawayo, anaesthetist to the Forces. Later he was appointed Consultant Anaesthetist to the Bulawayo group of hospitals. He remained in this post until his retirement in 1987.
Professional interests and activities
Ransford began to publish on aspects of tropical medicine in 1938, completing several papers by 1948 – including one on therapeutic extradural block in tropical ulcer.
Other biographical information
He married Doris Irene Galloway, a nursing sister, in 1939 and they had one son (who became an orthopaedic surgeon) and two daughters. Interested in shooting and farming in his early years, his main hobbies from the age of 50 were history and archaeology. Between 1966 and 1983 he produced 9 historical books, and by the mid-1970s he was regarded as a world-class expert on the great Victorian explorer, Dr David Livingstone. Sadly he suffered loss of memory from 1988. He died following a road traffic accident at the age of 79, survived by his wife and family.
Author and sources
Author:
Dr Alistair McKenzie
Sources and comments:
[1] Dr Ransford’s self submitted biographical college “Boulton form” dated 1988. [2] Ransford AO. Obituary BMJ 1993; 307: 863-4 (with photograph). [3] Medical Registers and Directories. [4] Rudd R. Dr Oliver Neil Ransford 1914 - 1993. A Personal Appreciation. Heritage of Zimbabwe 1993; 12: 151-4.