Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Keogh died in London on July 30th, 1936, at the age of 79.
He was the son of Henry Keogh, Resident Magistrate of Roscommon in Ireland, and was educated at Queen’s College, Galway, taking his medical degrees at the Royal University of Ireland. After graduation he was appointed to the Staff of the Brompton Hospital, London, and in 1880 he entered the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1892 he was promoted to surgeon-major, and in 1900 he was created C.B. and received special promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel for his services in the South African War. From 1902 to 1905 he was Deputy Director General of the Army Medical Service, and from then until 1910 was Director-General. It was during this period that he was instrumental in establishing a Territorial Medical Force, which was so well organised that in 1914 large hospitals were opened and staffed without delay.
In 1910 he was appointed Rector of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, a post which he held for 12 years, although during the Great War his services were again utilized as Director-General A.M.S. in England. From 1921 to 1927 he was Colonel-Commandant A.M.S. He was promoted to K.C.B. in 1906 and to G.C.B. in 1917, and in 1918 was nominated at Companion of Honour. In addition to his degrees of M.D., M.Ch., and D.Sc. of the Royal University of Ireland, he received many honorary degrees, including the M.D. of Dublin, LL.D. of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and D.Sc. of Oxford and Leeds.
He was a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) and of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), and held the first class of the Order of the White Eagle of Serbia. In 1922 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution, on the occasion of his retirement from the Rectorship of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, in recognition of his great services in the advancement of technological education, and as a mark of admiration and respect. The presentation was made by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales at Guildhall, London, on the occasion of a combined dinner of The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and The Institution of Mining Engineers.
Sir Alfred was elected an Honorary Member of the Institution in 1916.
Vol. 46, Trans IMM 1936-37, pp.824-5
