| Honorific-Prefix: | Dr |
| Peter Daniel Anthonisz | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | CMG, MD, FRCSEd |
| Birth Date: | 25 June 1822 |
| Birth Place: | Galle, British Ceylon |
| Death Place: | Galle, British Ceylon |
| Resting Place: | Galle Dutch Reformed Church |
| Education: | Bengal Medical College St Andrews University |
| Employer: | Ceylon Medical Department |
| Occupation: | Doctor |
| Parents: | Leonardus Henricus Anthonisz, Susanna Dorothea née Deutrom |
Peter Daniel Anthonisz (25 June 1822 - 12 June 1903) was a Burgher doctor who was the first Ceylonese to obtain an M.R.C.P. and F.R.C.S.[1] [2] He was also the inaugural president of the Ceylon Branch of the British Medical Association[3] and a member of the Legislative Council for nine years.[1]
Peter Daniel Anthonisz was born on 25 June 1822 in Galle,[4] the first son of ten children, to Leonardus Henricus Anthonisz (1796 - 1845), the Chief Clerk of the Galle Customs,[5] [6] and Susanna Dorothea née Deutrom (1805 - 1872).[6] [7] In 1838 at the age of sixteen he was appointed as a medical sub-assistant at the Military Hospital in Galle.[1] [6] The following year he was sent to study at the Bengal Medical College in Calcutta, returning in 1843.[6] In the 1850s he worked as a physician at the Military Hospital in Colombo (his patients included the Governor Sir William Henry Gregory).[6] In June 1856 he travelled to England, where he obtained an M.R.C.P. (Membership of the Royal College of Physicians, London)[8] and was elected a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd) on 1 April 1857.[6] He returned to Ceylon in 1858, where in August he was appointed to as the Colonial Surgeon of the Southern Province, a post he remained at until 1880.[6] During this period he travelled to Europe, where in 1863 he received a Doctorate in Medicine from the University of St Andrews (St Andrews, Scotland).[6] In 1881 he left to do further studies. Upon his return in 1883 he took up the position of Chief Medical Officer at Galle.[6] Anthonisz was the first doctor to successfully undertake oesophagotomy and ovariotomy[9] surgery in the country. His oesophagotomy was reportedly the first recorded in British medical annals.[6] [10] [11]
Anthonisz served on the Galle Municipal Council[12] (Fort Ward)[13] and between 1886 and 1895 he represented the Burgher community on the Legislative Council,[6] [13] [14] [15] [16] the first Burgher appointee from a non-legal background.[17] One of his most significant achievements during his time on the Legislative Council was the realisation of the railway line between Colombo and Matara.[6] [17]
On 17 December 1887 he became the inaugural President of the Ceylon branch of the British Medical Association (now known as the Sri Lanka Medical Association).[6] [13] [14] [18] In November 1889 Dr Anthonisz led the local opposition against the Government's proposal to demolish the ramparts of the 17th-century Dutch fort. Anthonisz argued that the fort provided protection from monsoon tidal floods and ships at anchor in the harbour[19] - a fact later proven with the 2004 tsunami. In 1892 he was awarded the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.[6] [20]
Anthonisz died in Galle on 12 June 1903 and is buried at the Galle Dutch Reformed Church.[6] [21]
The Galle Clock Tower was erected in his memory in 1883.[13] [14] [22]
The 'Anthonisz Ward' at the Colombo General Hospital (now known as the 'National Hospital') is named after him.[6] [23] [24]