Early Life of Aj Cronin Essay Example
Early Life of Aj Cronin Essay Example

Early Life of Aj Cronin Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 3 (572 words)
  • Published: May 22, 2017
  • Type: Article
View Entire Sample
Text preview

Rosebank Cottage in Cardross, Dunbartonshire was the birthplace of Cronin, who was an only child. His mother Jessie Cronin (nee Montgomerie) identified as Protestant while his father Patrick Cronin was Catholic. In his literary works, he often referred to characters with similar mixed backgrounds. The glass and china merchants from County Armagh, Ireland were Cronin's paternal grandparents who settled in Alexandria. On the other hand, Dumbarton was where Archibald Montgomerie, Cronin's maternal grandfather operated a hatter's shop.

Cronin's parents moved to Helensburgh after their marriage, and he attended Grant Street School there. However, when Cronin was only seven years old, his father sadly passed away due to tuberculosis. His dad had worked as an insurance agent and commercial traveller. After this tragedy, Cronin and his mother relocated to Dumbarton where they lived with her par

...

ents. Despite the difficult circumstances of losing his father at a young age, Cronin excelled academically and in writing skills at Dumbarton Academy, where he received numerous awards for his achievements. Additionally, he also displayed athletic prowess by being a talented football player. It is worth noting that despite the challenges faced by the family after his father's death, Cronin's mother later became Glasgow's first female public health inspector.

From a young age, he had a keen interest in golf and salmon fishing. When his family relocated to Yorkhill, Glasgow, he attended St Aloysius' College in Garnethill where he played football for the First XI and later drew inspiration from this experience for his novel, The Minstrel Boy. Despite considering studying medicine or joining the church, he ultimately opted for medicine as "the lesser of two evils". In 1914, he received a Carnegie

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

scholarship to study medicine at the University of Glasgow and served in the navy during the 1916-1917 session.

After completing his degree in MB, ChB with top honors in 1919, Cronin served as a ship's surgeon on a liner to India later that year. He continued his education, earning a Diploma in Public Health in 1923 and obtaining his MRCP in 1924. The year 1925 saw Cronin being granted an M degree.

After graduating from medical school, Cronin served as a Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War I. He then trained at various hospitals including Bellahouston and Lightburn Hospitals in Glasgow and Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Cronin also conducted general practice work in Garelochhead, a small village on the Clyde, and in Tredegar, a mining town located in South Wales. In 1924, Cronin was appointed as a Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain. His survey of medical regulations in collieries and reports on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and pulmonary disease were published over the next few years. Cronin received his D. from the University of Glasgow for his dissertation on "The History of Aneurysm".

After experiencing the Ystfad Colliery disaster in Pengelly, which resulted in the drowning of thirty-eight miners and a rescue operation lasting eight days to save the remaining twenty-three, Cronin was haunted by this event. His extensive research into occupational hazards within mining influenced his later novels, The Citadel and The Stars Look Down, both set in Wales and Northumberland respectively. Cronin relocated to London, where he first practiced in Harley Street before opening his own medical practice in Notting Hill at 152 Westbourne Grove. During this

time, he was also the medical officer for Whiteleys and developed a growing interest in ophthalmology.

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New