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Name: CLEARKIN, Peter Alphonsus OBE (Dr.)
Birth Date: 1887 Irvinestown, Ireland
Death Date: 16 Jan 1971 Cushendall, Co. Antrim [?1968 Durban]
First Date: 1916
Last Date: 1938
Profession: 1st Asst. Bacteriologist, Laboratory Division, Medical Dept.
Area: Nairobi
Married: In Kilrush, Ireland 1918 Delia Kenny b. 1892
Children: Ronald Anthony (1919); (Dr) Kevin Patrick (Nairobi 21 Dec 1921-7 Sep 2014); twin James Gerard (Nairobi 21 Dec 1921); Peter H. (1928)
Author: Ramblings and Recollections of a Colonial Doctor 1913-1958, 1967
Book Reference: KAD, Red 25, Colonial, Red 22, Nicholls, Gazette, Red 19
School: Queen's University Belfast and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, MD, BCh, BAO
General Information:
Colonial - Path. and asst. MO Oxford County ment. hosp. 1913; MO Sierra Leone 1914; MO and MOH Kenya 1916; Dir. lab Dar es Salaam and dep. dir. lab. serv. Tanganyika 1925; Govt. bacteriologist and pathologist, Br. Guiana 1938 During the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York in 1924 Coryndon was not looking well. Noticing his grey sheen, Dutton asked what was wrong, to be told, 'I believe I am going to have twins.' In fact, he was having trouble with his pancreas. J. Langton Gilks, director of medical services, visited Coryndon in bed one morning but was not unduly alarmed. Dr P.A. Clearkin visited shortly afterwards, was horrified at what he saw and urged immediate admission to hospital. But this was delayed until the evening even though Coryndon was unconscious, because the Chief Justice could not be found to swear in the Acting Governor. Dr H.H.V. Welch, resident surgeon at the European hospital, a drug addict who had been MO at Wajir before the war, operated and found acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis from which Coryndon could not be saved. He died within a few hours and Welch submitted his resignation on health grounds, which was accepted. In fact no surgeon could have saved Coryndon, though Welch later tried to blame his death on the anaesthetic Clearkin had administered, claiming that the Governor's heart could not stand the operation at such a height as Nairobi's.
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Lake Area - Peter A. Clearkin - Medical Officer - Kisumu
Red Book 1919 - Medical Officer, EA Protectorate 1918 - West African Medical Service attached for temporary duty - MO, Nakuru
Career: private practice, Durham (1912); Asst. MO Oxford County Mental Hospital (1913); MO Sierra Leone (1914-16); MOH Nairobi, Kenya (1916-18); MO Kenya (1918—20); Pathologist and Assistant Bacteriologist, Kenya (1920-25); DDLS Tanzania (1925-32); Research Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast (1933-8); Government Bacteriologist and Pathologist Guyana (1938-45); DLS Trinidad (1945-47); Secretary, Faculty of Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast (1947-51); Government Pathologist Cyprus (1951-8); Consultant Haematologist, St. Kevin’s Hospital, Dublin (1958); Retired in Dublin; in final years moved between Jersey and South Africa, died in native Ireland