Elizabeth Stewart Dumbreck was born on the 9th November 1873 at 29 Hospital St. Lanark, Hutchesontown and she married James McLay on the 31st December 1901.

Children of James McLay and Elizabeth Stewart Dumbreck

1. Giles Law McLay born 28th February 1902 - married David McKay Hart.

2.William Miller McLay born 11th September 1906 - married Margaret Patricia Magadie

David Hart and Giles McLay were married on the 14th December 1934 and they had two children.

1. David McKay Hart Jnr., born 26th June 1936

2. Aileen Elizabeth McKay Hart, born 1944

Dr. David McKay Hart died suddenly on the 15th May 1984 and Aileen has provided an Obituary to remember the life of her father.

David, Giles and Aileen c 1954

Obituary from the British Medical Journal
Volume 289 6^th October 1984

David McKay Hart, FRCPB, FRCPG, FRFPSGLAS

Dr David McKay Hart, formerly director of obstetrics and gynaecology, Stobhill General Hospital, Glasgow, died suddenly on 14^th May in his 80^th year.

David Hart was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, on the 25^th September 1904 and was educated at Allan Glen’s School.  He studied medicine at Glasgow University, graduating MB, ChB in 1928.  He was appointed McCunn research scholar in puerperal sepsis at the Royal Maternity Hospital, Glasgow, where he later became resident registrar.  He obtained the FRFPSGLAS in 1930 and in 1932 at the early age of 28, was appointed professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St Mungo’s College at the Royal Infirmary and Rottenrow.  

His ability as a teacher was legendary, and before the Second World War students from America and refugees from Europe were in his classes for the Scottish triple qualification. He held appointments in Lennox Castle Hospital, Duke Street Hospital, and the Western Infirmary Glasgow, before being appointed director of obstetrics and gynaecology at Stobhill General Hospital in 1954, where he worked tirelessly until his retrial in 1969 to expand and develop the unit into a modern department attached to the university and involved in under-graduate and postgraduate medical education.  He was also in charge of the obstetrics and gynaecological unit at the Western District Hospital, Glasgow from 1954 until it closed in 1965. 

David Hart, or “Harty”, as he was referred to affectionately (although never addressed as such), was a man of boundless energy and vitality.  He was completely approachable, with a dry sense of humour, although always correctly formal and professional.  He was a good doctor, inspiring great confidence in his patients and colleagues.  A confident, conservative obstetrician of sound judgment, he was a skilled surgeon who had a large private practice and was certainly a doctor’s doctor.  His greatest love was to teach, at which he excelled, and to pass on not only his vast clinical experience and surgical skill in the specialty but also his extensive knowledge of pathology.  He displayed a benevolent paternalism towards his junior colleagues, in whom he took a tremendous interest.  He always managed to find time to talk to them, and no effort was too great to help them in the furtherance of their careers.

He took an active interest in medical politics, making no secret of the fact that he enjoyed the hurly burly of debate in committee. He served on the Western Regional Hospital Board from 1960 to 1967, being vice chairman from 1964 to 1967.  He was also active in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 1951 to 1970, serving variously on the council and on several committees, and as chairman of the Scottish committee from 1961 to 1964. As a result of his travels on behalf of the college he established links between Stobhill Hospital and centres in Kenya, Nigeria and Jordan, which are still maintained.  He was also closely associated with the Central Midwives Board, being elected deputy chairman in 1960 and continuing until 1973.  He held office in the Marriage Guidance Council and was president of the Glasgow and west of Scotland branch of the BMA.  He was also chairman of the consultants and specialists committee and president of the Glasgow Obstetrical Society, of which he was made an honorary fellow in 1984.  He was a founder member of the Gynaecological Travellers.

Harty’s professional life left little time for outside interests until he retired, when he applied his energy to gardening.  At all times, however, he derived great pleasure from his family.  His son David is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Stobhill Hospital, and his daughter Aileen is pursuing a nursing career. His wife and family survive him.

Aileen Hart lives in Edinburgh with her husband Alexander (Sandy) John Crosbie.

Aileen and Sandy Crosbie with their three sons Michael, Kenneth and Ronald - 1997

E-Mail address available, contact webmaster for details --- mail@dumbreck.co.uk