| Administrative History | Robert Douglas Lockhart succeeded Alexander Low (1868 - 1950) as Regius Professor of Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen from 1938 - 1965.
An outstanding teacher of Anatomy, he was also author and co-author of the standard and much reprinted teaching texts, 'Living Anatomy: a photographic atlas of muscles in action and surface contours' (London: Faber, 1948) and 'Anatomy of the Human Body' (London: Faber, 1959). He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, 1959-62, and long-standing member and president of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland and Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society (president, 1951).
With his appointment as Professor of Anatomy, he inherited the honorary position of curator of the University's Anthropological Museum (now, Marischal Museum), a role which he gained great satisfaction from and grew to cherish, travelling widely and adding many items to the collections there. His successor in the Chair relinquished the museum position and at the University's request, Lockhart continued to act as curator well into his retirement, 1959 - 1979. In 1979 the University employed its first full-time, professional museum curator: Lockhart was asked to continue as Museum Consultant, but his working relationship with the new curator was difficult and he formally tendered his resignation in 1980.
Outside of work, he had a consuming passion for horticulture and literature, both interests being engaged by his parents whilst very young. His father came from gardening stock in Dumfriesshire and when he moved to Aberdeen, opened a nursery in Cragiebuckler, on the outskirts of the city. Lockhart shared his fathers love of roses, but his chief interest was rhododendrons, of which he became an authority and successful breeder, naming a new variety, Elizabeth Lockhart, in honour of his mother. His interest in literature arose from childhood challenges set by his father to learn passages of classic prose and poetry. He was particularly fond of Robert Burns and from his early twenties became a favorite at Burns clubs and societies across Britain. An entertaining orator, he was also much sought after as an after-dinner speaker, and in his talks cleverly combined his passion for horticulture and literature with contemporary anatomical themes.
In his will he left bequests to the University of Aberdeen, the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society and a number of other local charities and organisations. |