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SANDERSON Kenneth Villiers MB BS FRCP FRACP

1921- 2009

Kenneth Villiers Sanderson was born in St Peter’s, SA, on 9th August 1921.  His forebears were early SA pioneers, prominent in public affairs and the legal profession. He was the son of Kenneth Francis Villiers Sanderson, a judge, and Evelyn Kate, nee Johns. He was educated at Scotch College, Adelaide and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide where he graduated MB BS in 1943. He was an RMO at the RAH in 1944. He married Ronda Beryl Gehling on 17th December 1943, and they had three sons. She was the daughter of Gustav Gottlieb Gehling and Selma Selina Gertrud, nee Klaebe. He was to marry again later in life.

Sanderson was appointed an honorary captain in the AAMC on 15th June 1944. He transferred to the 2/AIF at the rank of captain, on 19th March 1945.  He was initially detached to 121 AGH from 28th March 1945 until 15th May 1945 when he travelled to Victoria to receive additional training at the Land Headquarters School of Hygiene and Sanitation. He served in Darwin from 17th June 1945 to 5th June 1946, where he was detached, as MO, to 118 Gen Tpt Coy He returned to South Australia to serve within 4MD before his appointment was terminated on 9th May 1947.

After the war, Sanderson completed his residency at the RGH. He then trained as a physician at the RAH, where he was the assistant medical superintendent from 1950 to 1951. He wrote papers on the application of electromyography to thyrotoxic myopathy. Sanderson travelled to London where he trained in dermatology at the Institute of Dermatology and St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin from 1952 to 1954. Returning to Adelaide he was appointed an honorary dermatologist to the ACH from 1956 to 1958 and an honorary dermato-pathologist at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, from 1955 to 1958.  Sanderson returned to London in 1958 as the Roussel Research Fellow at the Institute of Dermatology from 1958 to 1962. Sanderson was then appointed a physician for Diseases of the Skin at St Georges Hospital, London, and a lecturer in dermatology at St Georges Hospital Medical School, from 1962 to 1986 when he retired. During this time, he was also consultant dermatologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. Sanderson established the first skin cancer multidisciplinary clinic in Great Britain. He wrote scientific papers and a chapter on ‘Tumours of the Skin’ in the ‘Textbook of Dermatology’ 1968. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a board member of the British Association of Dermatology from 1975 to 1980 and President of the British Association of Dermatology, 1984 to 1985. He was regarded as a modest, kind, patient, thoughtful clinician with a great sense of humour. He was a talented silversmith, and his makers mark is registered at the Assay Office of the Goldsmith's Company, London. He designed and made two trophies for the British Association of Dermatology; they were the Bristol Cup and the Wycombe Prize. He returned to Adelaide for the last few years of his life. Kenneth Villiers Sanderson died in Adelaide on 4th December 2009; he was survived by three sons from his first marriage and his second wife Jane, and her daughters.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD