Patrick Dignan

Major General Albert Patrick Dignan (25 July 1920 – 11 October 2012) was a senior British Army officer who rose to be Director of Army Surgery between 1973 and 1978.

Early life Dignan was born on 25 July 1920 in Dublin, Ireland, to Joseph Dignan. Dignan and his four brothers were pushed to be doctors after his father saw that very few doctors were casualties of the First World War. He graduated from the medical school at Trinity College, Dublin in 1943 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor in the Art of Obstetrics. He qualified as a surgeon in 1947 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FRCSI). One year later, on 7 May 1951, he was promoted to captain. He was posted to Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, and served as the only surgeon at Kamunting Military Hospital in Taiping. This signalled the end of his national service and his first period of active service.

Later life Following the death of his wife in 2001, Dignan moved into The Priory care home in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

Personal life Dignan married Eileen Helena White in 1952.