Walter Herschel Atherstone was the youngest child of Dr W.G. Atherstone* of Grahamstown and his wife Catherine Handel, and younger brother of Guybon D. Atherstone*. He qualified as Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Master of Surgery (CM) at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1887. He was licensed to practice in the Cape Colony in May 1888 and was appointed during the same month as district surgeon of Bathurst, Eastern Cape, and medical officer of the Kowie convict station. In August 1889 he was appointed acting surgeon superintendent of the newly established Port Alfred asylum, a name later changed to the Kowie asylum. The institution was housed in vacant convict barracks that were quite unsuitable for the purpose. In November 1893 Walter became medical superintendent of the asylum. From 1896 to 1901 he served as acting senior medical officer on Robben Island, but thereafter again became medical superintendent at Port Alfred and remained in this post until 1920. After losing an eye Walter gave up his general practice and devoted all his energies to the asylum which from 1908 admitted chronic cases only. He remained in Port Alfred after his retirement for the rest of his life. He was married in 1888 to Francis ("Fanny") Harrison, with whom he had a son, Dr Harold Damant Atherstone, who joined him in his practice after qualifying in 1915.

In 1892 Walter Atherstone donated fishes and other specimens from Port Alfred to the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. Many years later, in 1912, he presented the museum with some blocks of limestone containing fossils of the mollusc genus Turbo.

List of sources:

British 1820 Settlers to South Africa. Walter Herschell Atherstone. Retrieved on 19 January 2023 from https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/familygroup.php?personID=I3488&tree=master

Burrows, E.H. A history of medicine in South Africa up to the end of the nineteenth century. Cape Town: Balkema, 1958.

Cape of Good Hope. Civil service list, 1896.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the committee of the Albany Museum, 1892, 1912.

Eggsa documents: Death notice of Walter Herschel Atherstone. http://www.eggsa.org/documents/main.php?g2_itemId=540796

Malherbe, D.F. du T. Family register of the South African nation. Stellenbosch: Tegniek, 1966.

Medical and pharmacy register for the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Cape Town, 1893.

Medical, dental & pharmacy directory of South Africa, 1926/27.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Repository KAB, Documents relating to Atherstone, Walter Herschel.

Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository, Vol. NMC 34: [List of medical practitioners, dentists, and chemists and druggists in the Cape Province, as on 31 December 1915].

Union of South Africa. Public service list, 1914.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2023-01-19 12:37:56