John Ramsay

A portrait of Sir John Ramsay, painted towards the end of his life. Sir John Ramsay CBE FRACS (26 December 1872 – 6 February 1944) was an Australian surgeon, known for his association with the Launceston General Hospital.

Career After a year's residency at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1894), Ramsay spent the next year abroad in Auckland as a resident (1895), before being appointed house surgeon at the Launceston General Hospital. In 1896, Ramsay and Dr. Francis John Drake participated in the first demonstration of X-rays by Frank Styant Browne at Launceston General Hospital. In 1898, he became the surgeon-superintendent of the hospital. Designing and building St. Margaret's Hospital in Launceston, Ramsay entered private practice in 1912 upon the hospital's foundation. However, he retained his connection with the Launceston General Hospital, serving as an honorary consulting surgeon for the hospital.

During World War I, Ramsay served, with the rank of major, as a surgeon in the Hornsey Military Hospital in Launceston, later the 12th Australian General Hospital. For his military services, Ramsay was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1924. The following year in 1925, Ramsay became president of the Tasmanian branch of the British Medical Association. In 1927, Ramsay became a foundation fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In the match, against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in January 1898, he recorded a pair, failing to score in either innings.

Recognition For his services to surgery, Ramsay was knighted in 1939 in the New Year Honours; he became the first Launcestonian and the first medical practitioner in Tasmania to be knighted.