Norman Cruickshank was born towards the end of the nineteenth century, was educated at Glasgow Academy and the University of Glasgow and served this city all his life. Immediately after graduating in 1916 he joined the RAMC, serving as a regimental officer until 1919. He was awarded the military cross in the field.

On demobilization he took up house appointments at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, being appointed physician to the outpatient department in 1920. At the beginning of his career he developed an interest in glomerulonephritis, a subject said to have been the basis for his MD and DSc degrees. In 1921 he was appointed assistant to the Muirhead professor of medicine in the University of Glasgow, later becoming an honorary lecturer in clinical medicine. He became assistant physician to the Infirmary in 1926, and physician in charge of wards in 1937. He retired in 1957 having served the Infirmary for some 38 years, for around 20 of which he had been a chief.

Norman Cruickshank functioned very much as a general physician. He acted as representative on a number of medical societies, being a member of the representative body of the British Medical Association, secretary to the Glasgow Postgraduate Medical Association, member of Council and editorial secretary of the Medical Chirurgical Society of Glasgow and editor of the Glasgow Medical Journal. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He wrote a number of articles for journals and a textbook, Bright's disease: a clinical handbook for practitioners and senior students, Baltimore, W Wood and Company, 1933.

After his retirement he went to live in St Andrews and lived there for some years. Shortly before his death he moved south to be nearer members of his family, and was planning to live to be 100.

AC Kennedy
Sir Gordon Wolstenholme
V Luniewska

[Glas.Roy.Infirmary Report 1957/58]