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Emeritus Consultants Biographies
William Hancock was born in Dublin in 1864. He trained as an engineer and then came to Western Australia where he entered the Public Service as an Imperial Service Officer under the Colonial Office, his appointment being Superintendent of Telephones and later Superintendent of Telegraphs. At the inauguration of the Commonwealth he remained in the State Service and was appointed Government Engineer. With his engineering background, he recognised the implications of Professor Roentgen's discovery of x-rays in 1895 and in 1896 he obtained x-ray tubes from the London Hospital. His official position probably had much to do with the speed with which he was able to obtain these. He first demonstrated the x-rays in the offices of the Medical Department and this was followed by a demonstration in the Perth Public Hospital in August 1896. For a period of 22 years he held the official appointment of Honorary Radiographer to the hospital and for 19 of these he used his own equipment. It has to be remembered that Dr Hancock worked full time as an engineer in the Government Service. His hospital work was done in his own time. In 1924, in recognition of his contribution to science and especially to radiology, the Royal Society of Western Australia conferred on him the Society's first Kelvin Gold Medal. Professor Ross, the President, commented how appropriate it was that the presentation should be made to the nephew of Professor Thomson, a brother of Lord Kelvin. The honorary degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him in 1925 by the University of Western Australia. Dr Hancock was a foundation member of the Roentgen Society of London and an Honorary member of the Western Australian Branch of the British Medical Association. He was a member of the University Senate for many of its early years and made a major contribution to the development of the Crawley Campus. He retired in 1928 due to a disability, probably resulting from exposure to x-rays. Like many other early workers in radiology, he received mutilating injuries to his hands. In recognition of his service, the Government granted him a life pension. On his retirement, the Perth Hospital Board of Management appointed him Honorary Radiologist and he remains the only non medically qualified person to hold such an appointment. He died in 1931 in London aged 68. His memory is perpetuated by a stained glass window in the University of Western Australia and in a memorial plaque at the School of Anatomy, Canberra. His ashes were brought back to Perth and scattered in the grounds of the Radium Laboratory which later became the home of the School of Medicine. |
