Sir Richard Robert Cruise, GCVO, FRCS (1876–1946) was an English ophthalmic surgeon. He was Surgeon-Oculist to George V and Queen Mary.
One source gives Cruise's birth year as 1877, [1] others as 1876. [2] [3] He was born in Purneah in the British Raj, [4] to Francis Cruise (died 1879) and his wife Frideswide, daughter of Edward Kellet of Waterstown in county Meath. [5] The baptism record of Richard Robert Cruise (christened in Purneah in December 1876) records a date of birth as 27 October 1876. [6] He was educated at Harrow School. [7]
Cruise trained at St Mary's Hospital and qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1900. [1] He became an ophthalmologist and worked as a senior clinical assistant in that specialism at St Mary's. He was also the Chief Clinical Assistant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. In 1903, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He worked as a surgeon at the Bristol Eye Hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital. In 1909, he was appointed to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, where he became a consulting surgeon. [1] He was also appointed to that position at King Edward VII's Hospital in London. During the First World War, he was an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and invented a chain mail visor for soldiers (to protect them from being blinded by shrapnel) [7] which was put into use in late 1917. Though they improved safety, the helmets were unpopular with soldiers, who found them distracting; Cruise developed a second model to address some of the complaints, though it is not clear that it was distributed during the war. [8]
Cruise was ophthalmic surgeon to George V (reigned 1910–36); [1] he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1917 [9] and in 1918 he was appointed Surgeon- Oculist Extraordinary to the King. [10] In 1922, he was promoted to Knight Commander. [7] On the king's death in 1936, Cruise was appointed Surgeon-Oculist to Queen Mary, in which office he served till he died. [1] He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 1936. [7]
Twice married, Cruise's first wife was Margery Woolcombe-Boyce and his second was Eileen Greenlees; he had three children. [7] Cruise died on 24 December 1946. [4]
The National Portrait Gallery, London houses eight portraits of Cruise in its collections. [3]