Hugh Cairns

Sir Hugh William Bell Cairns KBE FRCS (26 June 1896 – 18 July 1952) was an Australian neurosurgeon. For most of his life he lived in England. His concern about despatch rider injuries sparked research which led to increased use of motorcycle helmets. Early years and education Hugh Cairns was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, but spent his early childhood in Riverton, South Australia where he received all of his primary school education. He went to Adelaide for his secondary education at Adelaide High School and tertiary education at the University of Adelaide. He was awarded the 1917 South Australian Rhodes Scholarship and went to the University of Oxford to read Medicine. He was president of the Balliol Boat Club and represented Oxford as bow in the Boat Race of 1920. Career Cairns worked as a neurosurgeon at the London Hospital and with Harvey Cushing at Harvard before setting up the Nuffield Department of Surgery in Oxford, in which he became the first Nuffield Professor of Surgery. He was a key figure in the development of neurosurgery as a speciality, the formation of the Oxford University Medical School, and the treatment of head injuries during the Second World War. The Cairns Library (one of the Bodleian Libraries) at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford is named after him, as is the medical school Hugh Cairns Surgical Society. A blue plaque for him at his 1920s residence at Loughton has been erected. In June 1946 he received the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.