Born in Dundee in 1921, Lockhart went on to secure a scholarship in 1938 from the High School of Dundee to study medicine at the University of St Andrews. Graduating with his MBChB with commendation in April 1944, Lockhart was immediately commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps having passed Certificate B in the OTC.
On the evening of D-Day, he was in Bradford Royal Infirmary, treating casualties from the Normandy landings. Lockhart was then sent on an intensive and exacting course at the London School of Tropical Medicine, with a view to being posted to S.E. Asia.
Lockhart was then promoted to Captain and posted as Regimental Medical Officer (RMO) with the Royal West African Frontier Force in Burma and was posted to the 30th West African Casualty Clearing Station within the 82nd West African Division.
After the official end of the Second World War in 1945, the West African Division, along with Lockhart and his commanding officer, set sail from Rangoon in HMT Derbyshire to Lagos. The West African Division was repatriated; the recovery of their morale and wellbeing greatly helped by Lockhart and his colleague. Lockhart taught them the Latin he remembered from his classics master at the High School of Dundee. His students were eager and diligent learners, they loved it, one becoming the Bishop of
Lagos in later life.
By the end of 1947, Lockhart worked in Bradford Royal Infirmary gaining medical and surgical experience. He then received further training in radiology at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and St Thomas’s Hospital, London from where he was appointed Consultant Radiologist in administrative charge (at 40 the youngest in the country) to South West Scotland, based at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary. He also developed the General Practitioner Reference Service which proved of great benefit to the GPs and their patients.
Come retirement, Lockhart still assisted colleagues at Longmore Hospital, in West Cumbria. He also managed to obtain a BA(Hons) degree in Arts from the Open University, its Vice Chancellor being none other than his old High School of Dundee classmate Sir Walter Perry. He also started a law degree with the OU at the age of 80 and only gave up when he found it impossible to write fast enough in the exams.
A great traveller and adventurer. Lockhart almost made it to what would become Everest Base Camp whilst on leave in 1945, became President of the Galloway Mountaineering Club and helped install the first ski-lift at Glenshee. He also enjoyed sailing right into his early 80’s. He was a very proud member of the Royal Highland Yacht Club and a Mate with the Ocean Youth Club for a number of years after he retired. He was a huge believer in teaching children to sail and ski, describing these pastimes as the best character-building sports.
Above all, Lockhart will be remembered for his superb paintings, his kindness, wonderful sense of humour, courtesy, generosity and humility and lastly but no less, for his compassion and gift of healing. On 2nd September 2020, aged 99, Lockhart passed away. He is survived by his wife, Anne (née Cruikshank), whom he married in 1970, his son William and two grandchildren.
Obituary sourced from The Scotsman, 17th December 2020.
