Robert Daniel Lawrence

Dr. Robert "Robin" Daniel Lawrence (18 November 1892 – 27 August 1968) MA, MB ChB (Hons), MD, FRCP, LLD was a British physician at King’s College Hospital, London. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1920 and became an early recipient of insulin injections in the UK in 1923. He devoted his professional life to the care of diabetic patients and is remembered as the founder of the British Diabetic Association.

Dr RD Lawrence, better known as Robin Lawrence was born at 10 Ferryhill Place, Aberdeen, a four-storied granite terraced dwelling in a quiet tree-lined street in what was then an affluent middle-class area of the city. He was the second son of Thomas and Margaret Lawrence. His father was a prosperous brush manufacturer, whose firm supplied all the brushes to Queen Victoria and her heirs at Balmoral. When aged 10, the family moved to a larger more imposing newly built granite building, 8 Rubislaw Den North, then on the outskirts of the town and now the most prestigious housing area in the city. He was within five minutes cycling distance of the Aberdeen Grammar School which he attended from 1900–1909. He had a good scholastic record but also excelled at sport. In his later years there he represented the school at rugby and cricket and won prizes for swimming. Throughout his school years his name featured regularly for different events at the annual school sports including in 1907, 2nd prize for the bizarre event "Sword Feats on Bicycle"!

He matriculated aged 18 and went to Aberdeen University to take an MA in French and English. After graduation, he briefly worked in an uncle's drapery shop in Glasgow but gave this up after just a few weeks, returning to Aberdeen where he enrolled back at Aberdeen University to study medicine. He had a brilliant undergraduate career winning gold medals in Anatomy (2), Clinical Medicine and Surgery and graduated 'with honours' in 1916. During his second year, on the advice of his anatomy professor he sat and passed the primary FRCS examination in London. He gave up rugby when a student, but represented the University at both hockey and tennis. He was also President of the Students' Representative Council.

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