Leader Stirling

The UMCA mission in Zanzibar had been well established by another notable missionary, Miss Annie Allen, in 1878.

Leader Dominic Stirling (19 January 1906 – 7 February 2003) was an English missionary surgeon and former Health Minister in Tanzania.

Born in Finchley, England and raised in Sussex Weald, Stirling attended Bishop's Stortford College and the University of London.

After a brief period of general practice, Stirling joined the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and was deployed to Tanzania.

He spent 14 years of service to the UMCA in Lulindi.

He then converted to Catholicism and joined the Benedictine Mission, working with them in Mnero, where he built another hospital.

After 15 years he left to Kibosho, on the slopes of the Kilimanjaro, where he worked for 5 more years.

During his medical missionary career, he emphasised the training of local nurses, establishing a precedent for official nurse recognition in Tanzania.

Leader Stirling was born in England in 1906, the first of 4 siblings.

His was of a family of ancient Scots and also of doctors, including his uncle Harold Leader, who was a children's physician, his great-uncles Henry Pye-Smith and Rutherford Pye-Smith, and the cousins Charles Pye-Smith, a surgeon, and Jack Pye-Smith, all Physicians of the Guy's Hospital.

He was also cousin of David Stirling founder of the Special Air Service.

The surgical talent seemed to have blossomed in him at early age, when, in 1911, Stirling surprised his mother after she saw him sewing a ripped teddy bear.

Although having encouragement by his family and even a natural curiosity, the choice for the medical career was only taken in his last year at the Bishop's Stortford College, where his Headmaster received the news as a "startling new development".

Decided, he applied for scholarships on Oxford and Cambridge but was not accepted.

He then joined the University of London in 1924 and chose the London Hospital as his medical school.

He borrowed £1,000 from his father to pay his studies, money he was later able to pay back.

The 5 year medical course consisted of 1 year of pre-medical studies at the East London College, now Queen Mary College, where he basically studied zoology.

During his first year he was also a surgical dresser in the London Hospital when he had his first hands-on experiences with medical practice.

In 1925 he began his second year of medical school, now studying at the London Hospital, which was followed by 3 years of clinical course.

He graduated from medical school on July 1929, qualifying MRCS and LRCT in the same year.

In 1933 Leader Stirling left the London Hospital to work in a private practice in South London as a surgeon.

He then worked as Outpatient Surgical Officer at a nearby hospital from his private practice for a brief time, when he finally decided to "continue the upward climb on the ladder of specialization".

He applied for Medical Officer to the General Post Office, Resident Medical Officer to Hertford Hospital and Deputy Medical Superintendent to Sunderland Infirmary.

He got interviews for all of those positions but was undecided.

It was 14 January 1935, when Leader Stirling received a letter from the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), asking, "A doctor is urgently needed at Masasi. Can you come?"

calling him to do Missionary Work in Africa.

This he describes as the event when he "kicked away the ladder" (of specialisation).

3 months after his decision to join the UMCA, Leader Stirling landed in Zanzibar, then the port of entry to Tanganyika.

His experience in Africa eventually led him to the political career, and in 1958 Leader Stirling was elected (unopposed) to the first Parliament of Tanzania.

He held this position for the next 22 years, being the last 5 as Health Minister by appointment of Julius Nyerere.

Besides his medical and political work, Stirling was also interested in Scouting.

His successful efforts to establish a Scout movement in Tanzania eventually led him to the post of Chief Scout of Tanzania in 1962, following the formation of the Republic.

He graduated MBBS, and later, in 1993, was elected FRCS, a very honourable and rare happening.

Dr. Leader Stirling's first job was as a Clinical Assistant in the Children's Out Patient Department at the London Hospital.

After 3 months he got another position as a Clinical Assistant to Surgical Out-patients at that same institution for 3 more months, when he finally got a Resident Appointment at the London Hospital, as a House-Surgeon to the sixth Assistant Surgeon, Sir Hugh Cairns.

While working for Dr. Cairns, he met with Dr. Harvey Cushing, an experience he describes as "one of the great moments of my life".

After his House-Surgeon job, Stirling took a ten days locum in a 1000-bed mental hospital, his first experience with the field.

He would later help develop the first national mental health service in Tanzania.

He then continued his work at the London Hospital as a Receiving Room Officer, then House Physician, and ultimately Resident Accoucheur, the most senior resident appointment.

He deemed himself "very, very lucky" for he got all the House Appointments he wanted and, hence, completed 3,5 years of his early career as a junior staff at the London Hospital.