Herbert Gallagher Explained

Herbert William Gallagher FRCS (1917–2007) was a Northern Irish medical professional, politician and World War II Royal Army Medical Corps officer.

He attended Methodist College, Belfast[1] and Queen's University Belfast, where he studied medicine, matriculating in 1939. At the onset of World War II he volunteered for the British Army's Medical Corps.[2]

In 1940, he was travelling from Northern Ireland to England when the ship struck a mine outside Liverpool. Using his medical skills he tended to the casualties. His war service took him to Egypt and India. He married a nursing sister from the same unit. After being demobbed he trained as a surgeon at Belfast City Hospital. After the National Health Service was created, he became a Consultant at Banbridge and Newtownards Hospitals.[3]

Affiliations

Retirement/death

He retired in 1977, aged 60. He became an Alliance Party councillor and a founding member of Comber Probus Club, which he attended till shortly before his death from throat cancer. He was a widower at the time of his death in 2007.[4]

References

  1. Web site: Logan. Hume. Herbert William Gallagher (1917–2007). Queen's University of Belfast. 28 July 2016.
  2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/96/a7090896.shtml BBC archive of World War II experiences, mentioning Gallagher by name
  3. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/335/7617/455-a Biodata for Herbert Gallagher
  4. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/335/7617/455-a Biodata, ibid.