Richard Cruise
Sir Richard Robert Cruise, GCVO, FRCS (27 October 1876 – 24 December 1946) was an English ophthalmic surgeon. He was Surgeon-Oculist to George V and Queen Mary.
Early life
Cruise was born in Purneah in the British Raj,[1] to Francis Cruise (died 1879) and his wife Frideswide, daughter of Edward Kellet of Waterstown in county Meath.[2] He was educated at Harrow School.[3]
Career
Cruise trained at St Mary's Hospital and qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1900.[4] He became an ophthalmologist and worked as a senior clinical assistant in that specialism at St Mary's. He was also the Chief Clinical Assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. In 1903, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He worked as a surgeon at the Bristol Eye Hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital. In 1909, he was appointed to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, where he became a consulting surgeon.[4] He was also appointed to that position at King Edward VII's Hospital in London. During the First World War, he was an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and invented a chain mail visor for soldiers (to protect them from being blinded by shrapnel)[3] which was put into use in late 1917. Though they improved safety, the helmets were unpopular with soldiers, who found them distracting; Cruise developed a second model to address some of the complaints, though it is not clear that it was distributed during the war.[5]
Cruise was ophthalmic surgeon to George V (reigned 1910–36);[4] he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1917[6] and in 1918 he was appointed Surgeon-Oculist Extraordinary to the King.[7] In 1922, he was promoted to Knight Commander.[3] On the king's death in 1936, Cruise was appointed Surgeon-Oculist to Queen Mary, in which office he served till he died.[4] He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1936.[3]
Family and death
Twice married, Cruise's first wife was Margery Woolcombe-Boyce and his second was Eileen Greenlees; he had three children.[3] Cruise died on 24 December 1946.[1]
Likenesses
The National Portrait Gallery, London houses eight portraits of Cruise.[8]
Publications
- Cruise, Richard R. (18 May 1940). "Visor for the Prevention of War Blindness". British Medical Journal. 1 (4141): 53–58. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2177268. PMID 2177268.
References
- ^ ab"Cruise, Sir Richard (Robert)", Who Was Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, 2021). Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^A. C. Fox-Davies, Armorial Families, 7th ed. (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1929), p. 474.
- ^ abcde"Sir Richard Cruise", The Times (London), 28 December 1946, p. 7. Gale CS119620508
- ^ abcd"Cruise, Sir Richard Robert (1877–1946)", Plarr's Lives of the Fellows (Royal College of Surgeons). Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^An example of this invention can be seen at "Mk I Steel Helmet with Second Pattern Cruise Visor: British Army", Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^The Edinburgh Gazette, issue 13099 (4 June 1917), p. 1054.
- ^The London Gazette, issue 30892 (10 September 1918), p. 10659.
- ^"Sir Richard Robert Cruise", National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
