A wide-ranging doctor

Press, 6 August 1976, Page 4

A wide-ranging doctor

Dr Francis Oswald Bennett, author, historian and physician. died in Christchurch on Wednesday. He was 79. Dr Bennett wrote a fictional history of early colonisation in Canterbury called “March of the Little Men,” a book on eventide homes called “The Tenth Home,” and the centennial history of Christchurch Hospital, 1862-1962, called "Hospital on the Avon.” He also contributed articles to medical journals.

During his career of 50 years as a physician Dr Bennett was awarded a doctorate of medicine in the 1930 s for a thesis based on research while practising at

Blackball. He also won ■ Gold Medal of the Hunterian Society—the first from outside the United Kingdom to win the award.

Bom in Fairview and educated at Timaru Boys’ High School and Otago University, Dr Bennett was appointed to an honorary position on the part-time staff of Christchurch Hospital in 1935, after genera] practice at Te Aroha, the West Coast, and Christchurch. He served in World War I as a private and in World War II as a LieutenantColonel, gaining an 0.8. E. in 1945.

After completing a one-

year post-graduate medical course in London in 1946-47, Or Bennett took up a position as anaesthetist and assistant physician at Christchurch Hospital, later becoming a senior visiting physician. He was a member of the Christchurch Hospital Board’s honorary consulting staff and medical officer for the board’s Homes for the Aged. He was a pastpresident of the' Canterbury division of the British Medical Association and a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians. He is survived by his wife and five children.