JONES, Sir Philip Sydney (1836-1918)

physician

son of David Jones, was born at Sydney on 15 April 1836. He was educated at private schools under W. T. Cape (q.v.), T. S. Dodds and H. Cary, and then proceeded to London to study medicine at University College. During his course he took the medals for anatomy and medicine, graduated M.B. in 1859, M.D. in 1860, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1861. He was awarded the Fellowes gold medal given to the most proficient student in clinical knowledge. He was house surgeon and physician and resident medical officer at University College hospital for a period, and then went to Paris, where he continued his studies in medicine and surgery for some months. Jones returned to Sydney in 1861, and was an honorary surgeon at the Sydney infirmary, afterwards the Sydney hospital, for 14 years, and also carried on a general practice in College-street. He was the first surgeon in Sydney to remove an ovarian tumour successfully. In 1876 Jones gave up general practice, and established himself as a consultant physician. He went to Europe for about three years in 1883, and spent much time studying developments in medicine and in hospital practice. Returning to Sydney he was appointed an honorary consulting physician to the Royal Prince Alfred hospital, and was then considered to be the leading physician in Sydney. He was unanimously elected president of the third intercolonial medical congress held in Sydney in 1892, and in 1896 and 1897 he was president of the New South Wales branch of the British Medical Association. In addresses to these bodies he stressed the value of fresh air, pure food, and uninfected milk, and he was quick in realizing the value of X-rays, and the promise of results to be obtained from serum therapy, then in its infancy. He was unceasing in his efforts for the effective treatment of consumption, and was a pioneer in New South Wales in the use of open air treatment. He was responsible for the opening of the Queen Victoria homes at Thirlmere and at Wentworth Falls for patients in the early stages of tuberculosis, and spent much time in the administration of these institutions. He had been one of the founders of the Royal Prince Alfred hospital and was a member of the board from 1878 to 1883. Rejoining the board of this hospital in 1904, he was chairman of its medical board for many years. He took much interest in education, became a member of the senate of the university in 1881, and was vice-chancellor, 1904-6. He was a trustee of the Australian museum, was connected with the Kindergarten Union, was an early member of the Linnean Society, and was for 51 years a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He was also actively interested in many charitable institutions and in Trinity church, Strathfield, of which he was a deacon. He died at Sydney on 18 September 1918. He married in 1863 Hannah Howard, daughter of the Rev. G. Charter, who died in 1892. He was survived by three sons and four daughters. He was knighted in 1905.

The Medical Journal of Australia, 28 September 1918; The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 1918; Burke's Peerage, etc., 1918.