The surgical career of Nigel Kinnear, FRCSI, spanned an era of enormous change. When he was appointed to the Adelaide in the 1930s, hospitals were truly voluntary in that they did not receive subsidies from central government. They were staffed by honorary consultants who received no remuneration for their public work. The honorary staff had considerable responsibility for and input to the day-to-day management of their institutions. Anaesthetic techniques were not as accommodating to the surgeon as they are today. Early in Nigel's career this encouraged both operative speed and skill, both of which he accomplished naturally.
Initially a general surgeon, in the broadest sense of the phrase, in time he specialised in abdominal and genito-urinary work, being particularly proficient in gastrectomy, Millin's prostatectomy, and cholecystectomy and its complications. In the early 1950s he performed his first aortic aneurysm resection and from that time vascular surgery became his particular interest.
Students arriving in the Adelaide to start their clinical years were introduced to the hospital by Nigel, at a time when "orientation" was unknown. They were given a comprehensive tour. This always ended on the roof, where they were invited to identify the various spires and domes viewed when looking North towards the Liffey. Subsequently they would meet him for clinical teaching at the bedside, where his Socratic style would be long remembered, as would his surgical anatomy lectures, which he delivered in Trinity attired in a green theatre gown.
Nigel's surgical technique was meticulous. This was nowhere more evident than in his vascular work, performed without magnification. This meticulousness extended to everything in which he was involved and reflected in his attire - always immaculate - and his writing: bold, black, and even. One of his leisure activities was fishing - on the Slaney in Bangor Erris or in Scotland. He would often spend time in the theatre office tying his own flies - a procedure which it was a joy to watch.
The theatre staff would also be the frequent recipients of produce from his garden and it was not unknown for him to arrange housing for penurious junior staff or to provide holiday time in the family cottage in Rosbeg.
On first acquaintance Nigel presented a rather reserved but charming persona, but on better knowledge he was affable and mischievously good-humoured, and always would provide unfailing support in times of difficulty. Misdemeanours, however, would be met by an invitation for a censorious "chat" in the hospital chapel, after which the matter would not be mentioned again. In everything, what he said he meant, and stood by. His attitude towards patients was sympathetically objective and left them in no doubt about what was being or to be done. Nigel would always encourage new ideas and would often instigate them himself.
At home in Newtownpark Avenue or later in Clonee, Nigel and Frances were genial hosts and of course Nigel enthusiastically encouraged Fiona's passion for horses to which Frances contributed in many practical ways.
At his funeral in Dunboyne, attended by many friends, including five other past presidents of the College of Surgeons to which he had devoted so much time, one felt that a link with a past era had been broken and that friends, past students and patients, had been privileged to have known a truly great and humane man.