Edward Philip Stibbe, anatomist, was the eldest son of Gompert Elias (Godfrey) Stibbe and his wife Sophia Dennis. He received his school education in
Glasgow and Leicester, studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical
School, London, and qualified as a Licentiate of the Royal College of
Physicians of London (LRCP) and Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of
England (MRCS) in 1908. After working as government medical officer at Fiji for
some years he came to South Africa in 1912 to take up the post of district
medical officer at Vosburg, Northern Cape. From 1915 to 1918, during World War
I (1914-1918) he was medical officer at the First Northern General Hospital at
Newcastle upon Tyne and demonstrator of anatomy at the University of Durham
College of Medicine. In July 1919 he was appointed as the first professor of
anatomy at the South African School of Mines and Technology, which became the
University of the Witwatersrand in 1922, and served also as Dean of the Faculty
of Medicine.
Stibbe's earliest scientific work was a study of the
internal mammary lymph glands with special reference to cancer of the breast.
This work resulted in a paper on 'The internal mammary lymphatic glands' in the
Journal of Anatomy (1918). Thereafter
he became interested in physical anthropology and while at Vosburg carried out
pioneering head measurements on local African groups. The results of these
studies were later used in his textbook, An
introduction to physical anthropology (1930; 2nd ed. 1938).
In 1909 Stibbe married Celia Evelyn Rail, with whom he had
two sons and a daughter. However, in 1921 he had an affair with the university's
head typist, Miss Florence Kate Roy. As a result of strong disapproval of
his behaviour expressed by the principal and council, he resigned his post with
effect from 1 July 1922. He started an orthopaedic practice in Johannesburg,
but in July 1923 returned to Britain. Meanwhile he had been divorced and in
1924 married Miss Roy in Durban.
After his return to Britain Stibbe qualified as a Fellow of
the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) in 1925 and was successively demonstrator
in anatomy at the University of Durham, lecturer in anatomy at the University
of Liverpool, and senior demonstrator at University College, London, and at the
London Hospital. In 1935 he was appointed university reader in anatomy and
medical tutor at King's College, University of London, where he was promoted to
professor in 1938. He held this position until his death in 1943. During his
career in Britain he won a considerable reputation as a teacher of
undergraduate students and served as an examiner in anatomy at various
institutions. He made significant contributions to anatomy teaching (in
addition to the physical anthropology textbook mentioned above) as editor of two
textbooks: Practical anatomy by six
teachers (1932), and Anatomy for
dental students by six teachers (1934). His research papers included 'The
accessory pulmonary lobe of the vena azygos' (Journal of Anatomy, 1919), 'A comparative study of the nictitating
membrane of birds and mammals' (Ibid,
1928), 'Sensory components of the motor nerves of the eye' (Ibid, 1929), 'Some observations on the
surgery of trigeminal neuralgia' (British
Journal of Surgery, 1936), and many more.
