B. Bromilow-Downing

B. Bromilow-Downing (1912-1980) was a leading medical practitioner and academic, and an amateur theatre maker.

Biography

Born in 1912, he was educated at Grey High School, Port Elizabeth and then at the University o f Cape Town in the late 1920’sand early 1930’s, where he completed an M.B. and a Ch.B. During these student years he exhibited clear leadership qualities, inter alia serving as a member of the Men's Residence House Committee, convener of the Hospital Rag and cheerleader at intervarsity.

Having spent three years in general practice in the South Western Districts, then joined the South African Medical Corps at the outbreak of World War II, becoming second in command of the 17th Field Ambulance in the Western Desert, until taken a prisoner of war at Tobruk in 1942. In the prisoner of war camp in Germany, he played a large role in efforts to keep the morale of the troops up. Among other things, he apparently passed the hours writing a pantomime - a process would later lead to his inspiring involvement in theatre in East London.

On his return after the war, he commanded the military section of the Johannesburg General Hospital and then, on demobilisation, took up a position as superintendent of the Frere Hospital in East London, where he interested himself in the training of personnel in professions supplementary to medicine. At this stage he also became involved in local amateur dramatics and was to be the moving force in establishing the East London Guild Theatre.

In 1956 he was appointed Professional Assistant to the Director o f Hospital Services of the Cape Provincial Administration and in 1957 he was appointed Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Medicine and later that year was confirmed as the Dean of the Medical Faculty and Professor of Medical Education at the University of Cape Town (positions he would hold from 1958 to 1977). In the same year he was nominated as the University’s representative on the South African Medical and Dental Council and was elected to the Council's Committee on Supplementary Health Services, later becoming Chairman of that Committee. In this period he also held numerous other positions in the medical field and broader society, among them being one-time President of the South African Society of Physiotherapy.

He passed away in in Cape Town in 1980, leaving his wife Nan. The couple had two children, theatre photographer Pat Bromilow-Downing [1] and a daughter, Lynne.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

While a student he was an active member of the University of Cape Town Dramatic Society, and after the war, while he was superintendent of the Frere Hospital in East London, he was the moving force responsible for establishing the East London Guild Theatre, for which he produced the pantomimes, on occasion writing the libretto and directing the play himself, in conjunction with his friend, Arthur Markson, who provided the music. Among the works were Sinbad the Sailor (1953).