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Son of Thomas Graham of
Edinburgh, was born on 29 July 1856. He graduated M.A. at Edinburgh
university in 1879 and M.B. and C.M. in 1882. He went to Sydney in 1884
but returned to Europe and studied at Berlin, Vienna and Paris. He
obtained the M.D. degree of Edinburgh University and a gold medal for his
thesis on "Hydatid Disease in its Clinical Aspects". Returning to Sydney
he was appointed superintendent of the Royal Prince Alfred hospital which,
largely by his influence, became an excellent training-ground for the
medical profession. From 1897 he was lecturer in midwifery at the
university of Sydney and held this position until 1912. He was founder of
the Surgical Appliances Aid Society, the Women's Hospital, the Trained
Nurses' Association, and was the first president of the New South Wales
Dental Board.
In spite of these
activities Graham found time to do much public work. He was elected a
member of the legislative assembly for Belmore in 1894 and held the seat
until 1901. In 1898 he became a member of the Sydney city council and took
a prominent part in a successful reform movement. His professional
knowledge was also of great use during the plague scare in 1900. He was
mayor of Sydney in 1901 during the visit of the Duke of York and was
knighted. He was again elected to the legislative assembly in 1907 but
lost his seat at the 1910 election. He was for several years
vice-president of the Liberal Association. He died at Sydney on 8 March
1913. He married in 1890 Fanny, daughter of the Rev. G. W. Millard, who
survived him with a son.
Graham was an able man of
broad sympathies and high ideals. His death at a comparatively early age
was a loss to the public life of his state. |
