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LENDON Guy Austin MD BSc FRCP FRACP

1895-1970

Guy Austin Lendon was born on 22nd January 1895, son of Dr. Alfred Austin Lendon, an eminent Adelaide physician, who founded the district nursing society in South Australia, and Lucy Isabel nee Rymill. Lendon had one brother Dr Alan Harding Lendon and a sister Dorothy. They lived at 117 Mills Terrace, North Adelaide.  Lendon was educated at St Peter’s College and studied science and medicine at the University of Adelaide graduating BSc in 1912, MB BS in July 1917 and MD in 1922. He joined the Cadet Corps in 1912.

Lendon enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as temporary surgeon (SSC) on the 6th August 1917. He served in HMAS Australia with Fleet Surgeon Alexander Caw from 27th November 1917 until 17th August 1919. During his Commission HMAS Australia was deployed to the United Kingdom. She became flagship of the 2nd Battle-cruiser Squadron of the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet on 8th February 1915. At the end of his posting he was at HMAS Cerberus until the 9th November 1919 when he was transferred to the Emergency List.

Lendon married Mollie Burston the youngest daughter of deceased Brigadier General James Burston in Toorak Victoria on 24th September 1925 in a high society wedding. The Burstons were originally from South Australia. He subsequently undertook postgraduate training in Oxford, England; first at Magdalen College, which he disliked, and later at the Radcliffe Infirmary, which he enjoyed. He was a first-class scholar and an outstanding athlete, excelling in rifle shooting, tennis and golf. He was a formidable competitor in all his fields of endeavor. While studying anaesthesia at the Radcliffe Infirmary he graphically demonstrated, at a BMA meeting, the use of ethyl chloride.

He was appointed honorary physician to the Adelaide Hospital in 1929, on his return to Adelaide. Lendon made his name as a consultant physician and particularly as a clinician, teacher and medical politician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He did not accept opposition or criticism graciously and his quick wit and sometimes acerbic repartee alienated many colleagues, some for long periods. One instance involved his own brother-in-law, Major-General Sir Samuel Burston, who received precedence in appointment to the honorary staff of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. They did not speak together for the latter half of Guy’s life. On the other hand Lendon had many friends, brought together by his extensive interests. He was a keen and adventurous motorist-mechanic from his early days. He enjoyed tennis with a group of first-class players and was a very low handicap golfer who was captain of the Royal Adelaide Golf Club. A love of cats was a less widely known facet of his life. His daughter Elspeth, now Mrs Peter Wells, remembers when a dozen of them shared their home. He was a popular postgraduate teacher and devoted much time and energy to the young, would-be physicians who left the armed forces at the end of World War 2. He was living at Mills Terrace, North Adelaide in 1937. During WW2 Lendon was appointed a Captain in the AAMC. He was transferred to the Retired list of the RAN on the 22nd January 1955 with his appointment terminated on the 21st June 1962. It was unfortunate that illness in his later life, and particularly after the accidental death of his wife, led Lendon to become a recluse. Guy Austin Lendon died on 27th April 1970, he was survived by his daughter.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australia, who Served in World War 1. 

Verco, Summers, Swain, Jelly. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2014. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD