Mr. Graves Stoker

The Times

January 31, 1938

     Mr. Graves Stoker, F.R.C.S.I., of Gaddesden Hall, Hemel Hempstead, who died suddenly on Friday evening, was a member of an Irish family with a strong medical tradition. His brother, William Stoker, was professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and another relative was the late Sir Thornley Stoker, a former president of that institution, while his grandfather, his father, and two other brothers were also doctors.

    Born in Dublin in 1864, Graves Stoker was the son of Dr. E. A. Stoker, and received his medical education at the College of Surgeons. Dublin, where he was at one time senior demonstrator in anatomy. Continuing his father's practice in Rutland Square, he became consulting surgeon to Cork Street and Drumcondra Hospitals, and for some years was also a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. On the death of his brother Ernest, he took over the latter's practice in 14, Hertford Street, W., and remained there until 1932. During the War he was attached to the Military Hospital, Rochester Row, and subsequently became assistant surgeon to St. Paul's Hospital, Endell Street.

    In common with his brothers, two of whom, Ernest and Frank, were Irish internationals, Graves Stoker was in his youth a keen Rugby football player, playing for the Dublin Wanderers.

    He married in 1903 Constance Bennet, M.B., Ch.B., who survives him with two sons and three daughters.

Mr. Graves Stoker

The Times

February 4, 1938

“G.H." writes:-

    The art of healing was Graves Stoker's life and to it he brought a devotion and an ability that are rarely seen No man read medicine more widely, no man applied the results of his learning with less display. He would seem sometimes almost casually to suggest a treatment or a remedy, which, when one came to inquire, was always discovered to be the most modern of its kind found effective in the light of experience. To the day of his death he never tired of learning, and nothing pleased him more than to listen to the experiences of his friends in other professions.

    It would be impossible in a few lines to tell of the many-sidedness of his life. A fine all-round athlete, he possessed to the end a love for and a skill in ball games. If in driving his car he noticed a game of cricket or football being played, he would stop to watch. It mattered not a bit who the players were. He was quite as interested in a few small boys with a bat and ball as he was in a county side at Lord's.

    Children of all ages loved him, and it was delightful to see him with his own grandchildren. They seemed to have a natural and instinctive community of interest. To hear him speak of his young days was to see Dublin of the eighties and nineties vividly conjured from the past; with him one listened to Tim Healy and Edward Carson in the Four Courts, with him one dined in Trinity College or walked on St. Stephen's Green. That small, brilliant, witty society, of which he and his family were a part, lived again as he spoke, and his listeners could capture something of the spirit of an epoch that seemed to be so much more cultured, pleasant, and sensible than the times in which we live.

    From whatever angle you looked at Graves Stoker his personality reflected something fresh, stimulating, and infinitely kind. No one can tell, except those who were the recipients, of the immense exertions he made and the great burdens he undertook to help, not only those who were near to him. but all others who came to him in trouble. He was a great Irish gentleman who brought to England that indefinable quality of charm and generosity of spirit which endeared him instantly to all kind and manner of people.

John Stoker of Southport, supports search for AE1.....

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