John Gillies (anaesthetist)

John Gillies
CVO, MC
John Gillies. Detail from portrait by Stanley Cursiter.
Born(1895-02-06)6 February 1895
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died18 July 1976(1976-07-18) (aged 81)
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityBritish
EducationBroughton School, Edinburgh
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
OccupationAnaesthetist
Known forGillies anaesthetic machine
President of the Association of Anaesthetists
Textbook of Anaesthetics
SpouseAgnes McGilchrist Anderson
ChildrenFour

John Gillies, CVO, MC, FRCSE, FFARCS, FRCPE, (6 February 1895 – 18 July 1976) was a Scottish anaesthetist, who worked at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE). For gallantry as a serving soldier in WWI he was awarded the Military Cross. He founded the department of anaesthetics in the RIE and became its first director. The Gillies anaesthetic machine which he devised was the first British closed circuit anaesthetic device and was in use until the 1960s.[1] With his colleague HWC ('Griff') Griffiths he pioneered the technique of high spinal anaesthesia to produce hypotension and 'bloodless' operating fields. Gillies anaesthetised King George VI in Buckingham Palace and was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) for this service. He was president of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland from 1947 to 1950.[2]

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