Dr Philip Thornton

Dr Thornton was the first Medical Superintendent at Ipswich Hospital.

He was the only child of Philip Thornton Snr and Elizabeth Hambly Thornton (nee Waterman), and born in his mother’s village of Maker, Cornwall.

Both his paternal grandfather, Thomas Thornton, and his father, Philip Thornton Snr, were Superannuated Shipwrights. They were employed by the Royal Navy at a H.M. Dockyard. Philip’s father had been a draughtsman in the Royal Navy, working at H.M.Dockyards and retired as Superannuated Master Shipwright, responsible for the building and repair of ships and payment of the staff in conjunction with H.M. Dockyard’s Accountant. These men were well educated and, in Philip Thornton Snr’s case well paid. In 1860 Philip Snr was receiving £400, which would probably have increased to £650, per annum and free housing

This allowed for savings to help his son study medicine - a worthwhile investment as his long and respected career showed.

Dr Thornton began his medical training in 1866 aged 20, at Guy’s Hospital, Southwark, London. He studied under Dr Fred C. Cory MD and passed the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons in April 1868. He was appointed as House Surgeon in 1871. In 1870 he had gained his Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries.

In 1873, while a General Practitioner at the Greenwich Union Infirmary he became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh.

On 4 August 1874 he applied for a passport and later that month married Emily Mary Baker in Brockley, England. Emily died in August the following year from phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis or a similar progressive wasting disease).

Dr Thornton’s other work history included: Surgeon Royal Kent Dispensary; Resident Surgeon Poplar Hospital; Assistant Medical Officer Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum, Bromley East; Medical Officer Poplar Smallpox Hospital; House Surgeon and Assistant Medical Officer London Hospital; Medical Superintendent Greenwich Union Infirmary; and Assistant House Surgeon Bristol General Hospital.

In 1881, Philip was 34, a widowed General Practitioner and living with his parents in Greenwich.

He married his second wife, Jane Bustin (an attendant at the Metropolitan Imbecile Asylum, Darenth near Dartford), in November 1882 in Hackney, England.

There are no records for Dr Philip and Jane Thornton emigrating to Australia but in 1883 the Victorian Government Gazette showed Dr Thornton as registering with the Medical Board of Victoria in March 1883. The Thornton’s two eldest daughters, Florence (1883) and Constance (1885) were born in Creswick, Victoria.

After Constance was born the Thorntons moved to Wentworth, NSW where he worked at the Wentworth Hospital until October 1887.

He became the Resident Surgeon at Ipswich Hospital that same year—a position which later became titled Medical Superintendent and which he held until September 1915—a period of 28 years. During this time he was also a Justice of the Peace from 1896 until 1904 and served as a surgeon on the Medical Staff of the Queensland Defence Force (Land) until 1892.

Dr Thornton’s appointment to Ipswich Hospital followed glowing testimonials from his previous positions he had held.

Eleven months after his resignation as superintendent he was appointed in charge of the epidemic hospital in August 1916 on the recommendation of the finance committee,

He and Jane had two more daughters, Edith (1888) and Violet (1890). Jane died in 1903.

Dr Thornton married for the third time, to Kate Macfarlane, a nurse at Ipswich Hospital, in 1903.

He died in 1920 aged 74.

His obituary in the Queensland Times on Thursday 24 June, 1920 paints a picture of a much respected and admired man:

“There were few more widely known persons in the West Moreton district than the deceased. During the many years he served as medical superintendent of the Ipswich General Hospital he came in contact with hundreds of residents of various parts of the West Moreton district.

The many hundreds of persons who received medical treatment at the hands of the deceased doctor had invariably testified to the kindly interest he always manifested in their welfare. No hour was too late, and no task too great for the doctor to undertake, if, by so doing, he was able to relieve pain and suffering. Many there are who have had occasion to feel deeply grateful for his skilful treatment. He was essentially a worker: a man who did not allow unfavourable circumstances to embarrass him, and in the midst of the busy and trying times which medical men—and especially those in charge of large hospitals—so often experience, he maintained that courteous and kindly consideration for others which does so much to relieve the burden of suffering humanity. A typical instance of his tenacity when duty called was afforded last year when the influenza epidemic was causing such widespread anxiety. Dr Thornton loyally stuck at his post during a period when assistance to the sick was so urgently needed and having the good fortune to escape an attack of the malady, he was able to render signal service to the community at that trying period.

With but one exception Dr Thornton was the only medical man in Ipswich who was not stricken with influenza, and it will thus be seen that the duties which were imposed upon him during that anxious time were exceeding onerous.

Up till about a week ago he was attending to his duties as assistant-medical officer at the General Hospital, when he contracted a severe cold, an attack of influenza following, necessitating confinement to his room. He received most careful attention from the members of the medical profession in the city, but he passed away peacefully away at his home.”

During his time as Medical Superintendent, Dr Thornton instigated formal training for nurses at Ipswich Hospital. The first nursing training in Queensland began in 1886 at Brisbane Hospital and Dr Thornton started lectures for senior nurses in Ipswich in 1889 in the subjects of elementary anatomy and physiology, practical nursing and the application of surgical appliances. In January 1890 he reported to the Acting Hospital Committee that four senior nurses had passed these examinations. Initially written examinations were held in Brisbane but after complaints by Dr Thornton that this was disruptive to nurses and the running of the hospital, Ipswich became an approved examination centre in 1907.

This is an early staff photo with Dr Thornton on the left. His future (third) wife, Kate Macfarlane, is in the middle of the back row. She is an ancestor of the late Margaret Macfarlane, Director of Nursing at Ipswich Hospital from 1967-1993.