Aleck Bourne

Aleck William Bourne (4 June 1886 – 30 December 1974) was a prominent British gynaecologist and writer, known for his 1938 trial, a landmark case, for performing an illegal abortion on a 14-year-old girl rape victim. He later became a pro-life activist.

Born in 1886, the only son of the Reverend W. C. Bourne in Barnet, Bourne was educated at Rydal School and at Downing College, Cambridge where, in 1908, he received a first class Natural Science Tripos. Granted a senior university scholarship, he entered St Mary's Hospital and, between 1910 and 1911, he had qualified as an MRCS, LRCP (as well as obtaining an MB, BCh, Cambridge, and the FRCS England the following year).

While at Queen Charlotte's, in co-operation with Professor J. H. Burn, he published research papers on uterine action in labour and in response to various drugs. He would hold several residential and other appointments at St Mary's, Queen Charlotte's and the Samaritan until the outbreak of the First World War.

In 1912, he married Bessie Hayward, the eldest daughter of G. W. Hayward, with whom he had three daughters. Enlisting in the British Army, he served as a surgical specialist with the 17th General Hospital in Egypt and the 2nd General Hospital in France between 1914 and 1917 and, in the years following the war, he began a successful consulting practice in obstetrics and gynaecology. In 1929, he was elected a foundation member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and, founding its museum in 1938, served as curator of its museum which he built up considerably during the following years.

A yachting and deep sea cruising enthusiast, he was a member of several yacht clubs during the 1930s and, in 1933, won the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's cup for the best cruiser of the year.

...
Wikipedia