Robert J. George (FS 71-78).

The following was written by one of Robert’s colleagues and has been kindly submitted by Mark George (FS 71-78)(M 02-15), Robert’s twin brother.                     

“Dr Robert James George, known as Rob, Consultant Anaesthetist at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin, Moray, died suddenly while out walking on Saturday 12^th October 2019. He had a distinguished career as an anaesthetist, working in Leeds, Hull, Gibraltar and Elgin as well as tours overseas with the army in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Robert was born on 19^th February 1960 in Whitehaven, Cumbria, two minutes before his twin brother Mark. He started life living in a caravan and declared at the age of three that he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. He was schooled at St Bees from 1971 to 1978 and excelled in nearly every subject except Art. This annoyed Robert greatly as his twin was an accomplished artist. Robert joined the RAF cadets becoming the chief cadet in his year and achieved his glider pilot’s licence while still at school. For university he secured a place at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to read medicine, quite an achievement for a boy who started out in a caravan. He worked hard, and played hard, at one point breaking his leg and hobbling around on it for two days before eventually going to the hospital.

Whilst he was still at Cambridge, he became a dad to Helen and then two years later, twins Sarah and Iain came into the world. After university the nomadic lifestyle started as Rob moved around to gain experience as a junior doctor. Eventually he settled on paediatrics, spending some time at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, before several years at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. He then decided to change to anaesthetics, which took him to St James’s Hospital in Leeds, around the time that the TV documentary, Jimmy’s was being filmed. Rob loathed the thought of being on TV so every time anyone pointed a camera at him, he let out some rather fruity language so that they wouldn’t be able to use the footage!

After Leeds, Rob moved to Hull. He became a consultant and at the same time was in the Territorial Army. In between he also did stints as a locum working in Gibraltar. In his years in the TA, Rob rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the trauma he witnessed stayed with him forever. He also recalled the kindness of the locals that he met, especially in Iraq, where they were often invited in for ‘chai’.

At one point, strictly against the rules, Rob took himself off by taxi to Basra to visit a local hospital to see conditions for himself. What he found was from the dark ages and he was so moved by what the medical staff had to contend with, that he got in touch with his own hospital in Hull and arranged an appeal to get supplies sent over.

When Rob came back from Afghanistan, he needed to escape from the world for a while, and in 2004 he applied to work in rural Moray. By this time, he had met Michaela and they found their idyll on the banks of the River Spey where they lived with their three dogs. He enjoyed the wilds and attending the local Highland Games. Months and years of DIY adventures followed as they began their quest to get off the grid.

While in Elgin, he worked hard in a small close-knit team delivering elective and emergency anaesthesia as well as doing inter-hospital transfers to Aberdeen and beyond. Rob was a great colleague and completely unflappable whatever the emergency. Although multi-talented he didn’t flout his intelligence or his talent for anaesthesia. If you were stuck, he’d help you out. He was quiet and unassuming and had a fantastically dry sense of humour with a cheeky fleeting smile. He was unique, one of a kind. He treated everyone as an equal and never stood on formality.

Rob had strong views on politics and was a campaigner for the downtrodden both human and creature. He became vegan and supported animal rights as well as supporting the Scottish Green Party. He practised what he preached on the environment with a green car and a green sustainable off-grid house. He was a skilled cook and the coffee room in theatres got to experience his cakes, tagines and curries. He was an avid reader with a limitless thirst for knowledge, reading everything he could about WW1 and WW2. In the last year or so Rob had been on quite a few adventures, summitting numerous Munros including Lochnagar, Schiehallion and Ben Wyvis.

Rob had worked at Dr Gray’s for fifteen years. He was only 59 years old.  He leaves his mother, Eileen, his twin brother Mark, his three children, Helen, Sarah and Iain; two grandchildren, Ruairi and Iris, and his partner Michaela.”

 

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