IME - Robert Hillman Essay Prize

The sum of £5,000 was bequeathed in 2006 in the Will of Miss Leonora Hillman to establish a prize in medical ethics in memory of her brother, Dr Robert Hillman of Glasgow.

****** The following obituary of Dr Hillman appeared in the British Medical Journal on 15th December 1973
Dr. R. Hillman, formerly in general practice at Glasgow, died on 1 December 1973. He was 62. Robert Hillman was born on 15 December 1910 and educated at Hutcheson's Grammar School and Glasgow University. He graduated M.B., Ch.B. in 1936, proceeded M.D. in 1947, and became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1965. Throughout his undergraduate career he was much involved in corporate activities and was elected president of the Students' Representative Council for 1933-4, an honour he always looked back upon with great pride.

After qualifying he spent the years until the outbreak of war in various surgical posts in hospital and was most upset when his attempt to join the Royal Navy was unsuccessful. However, October 1939 saw him as surgeon in charge of a not uneventful whaling expedition to Antarctica. A year later on his return to Scotland he resumed hospital work for a short time, but in May 1941 joined the R.A.M.C. and saw service in the Middle East, India, and Burma, finally, as D.A.D. Malaria, holding the rank of major. At the conclusion of hostilities he returned for a time to another spell of hospital work, but in November 1947 decided to set up in general practice in the Partick district of Glasgow. He always maintained that he was the "last of the squatters." It was there that he found his true metier, and he remained there in singlehanded practice until his retiral in 1971, by which time he had built up what he considered to be an oldfashioned country practice set in the heart of a huge industrial city. He was an active member of the B.M.A. having held a large number of offices, including a successful spell as honorary secretary of the Glasgow Division. He was a member of several Scottish and central committees of the Association, including the Central Ethical Committee, where he believed lay the true heart of the Association. He was currently a member of Council, having represented Scottish general practitioners for five years. He was elected a Fellow of the B.M.A. in 1972.

Bob Hillman was a good malariologist and this formed the basis of his thesis for the M.D. The esteem of his patients was demonstrated by the language of the illuminated address which they presented to him on retirement. He was a happy warrior and a true and loyal friend, having the knack of inspiring affection and friendship in those who knew him. He succeeded in keeping his days fully occupied. "Dr. Hillman in his Hillman" was a regular rally competitor, and he liked to show dogs, or walk in winter rain across the hills to bird-watch. To spend a day with a fishing rod on a loch merely to enjoy the endless beauty of the hills would give him as much pleasure as returning with a bag full of trout. He would derive endless joy from the opera, theatre, and concert hall and perhaps in many ways these were the delights he loved to share the most.

It was half way through a round-the-world trip that he realized quite accurately that he was mortally ill, and on his return to Glasgow his diagnosis was confirmed. He accepted the situation with dignity and in his last weeks bore great suffering with fortitude and courage, supported by the affection of his friends and colleagues. His death leaves us all the poorer. He is survived by his sister Lena, to whom he was greatly devoted and who shared so many of his interests.