Benjamin Sheares

Benjamin Sheares
Official portrait, 1971
2nd President of Singapore
In office 2 January 1971 – 12 May 1981
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	Yusof Ishak
Succeeded by	Devan Nair
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Henry Sheares (1907-08-12)12 August 1907 Straits Settlements (present-day Singapore)
Died	12 May 1981(1981-05-12) (aged 73) Holt Road, Singapore
Cause of death	Lung tumour
Resting place	Kranji State Cemetery
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Yeo Seh Geok Sheares (m. 1939)
Children	3
Alma mater	King Edward VII College of Medicine Royal Postgraduate Medical School
Occupation	Physician academic

Benjamin Henry Sheares (12 August 1907 – 12 May 1981) was a Singaporean physician and academic who served as the second president of Singapore from 1971 until his death in 1981. Of Eurasian descent, Sheares was born in the Straits Settlements and graduated from the King Edward VII College of Medicine. He studied obstetrics and gynaecology and worked as an obstetrician at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH) before becoming the acting professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and later professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Malaya in Singapore.

Sheares retired in 1960 and was in private practice before being elected as the president of Singapore by Parliament following the death of Yusof Ishak, the former president, on 23 November 1970. He was sworn in on 2 January 1971. Sheares initially wanted to retire after finishing his second term as he felt that he did not have the energy for another term, but then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew persuaded him to remain and Sheares took on his third term. He served as the president of Singapore for three terms from 2 January 1971 till his death on 12 May 1981. He was succeeded by Devan Nair on 23 October 1981.

Sheares remains the only president to have been elected for three terms and remained the longest-serving President at 10 years – a record surpassed in January 2010 by S. R. Nathan. Both the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and Sheares Hall at the National University of Singapore are named after him.

Early life and education

Sheares was born on 12 August 1907 in the Straits Settlements (present-day Singapore) to an Eurasian family with an English lineage. He was the second of six children to his father Edwin H. Sheares, an English technical supervisor of the Public Works Department, and his mother Lilian Jane Sheares (née Gómez), a Singapore-born woman of Chinese and Spanish descent.

Sheares in the 1940s

When he was younger, Sheares showed ambition to become a doctor – a dream deemed almost impossible for someone who was Asian and came from a poor family in the early colonial days of Singapore. However, his sister Alice encouraged him to follow his dream against his mother's wishes for her son to take up a job as a clerk and start helping out with the family bills as soon as he completed his Senior Cambridge Examinations (present-day GCE Ordinary Level).

Sheares was educated at Methodist Girls' School and St. Andrew's School before transferring in 1922 to study at Raffles Institution, the only school equipped with scientific laboratories – making it an ideal place to further his ambition to become a doctor. In 1923, he enrolled into the King Edward VII College of Medicine (now the National University of Singapore) to begin his medical training. Sheares was aware that his family could not see him through the school fees afforded by the College, therefore he won a generous scholarship offered by the Council of the Medical College with his exemplary academic performance. With this scholarship, he was able to give $50 monthly to his mother for the support of his family.

Medical career

Upon graduation in March 1929, he served as an assistant medical doctor at Singapore General Hospital before specialising in and becoming an obstetrician at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH) in April 1931. By 1937, Sheares had become responsible for all obstetric patients at KKH. In 1940, Sheares was awarded the Queen's Fellowship which would have granted him a two-year postgraduate training in Britain. However, his studies were postponed due to the Second World War.

During the war in 1941, whilst working at KKH, it was damaged by the bombing from the Japanese military and it was converted into a general hospital for injured civilians. Later during the Japanese occupation, Sheares served as head of department of obstetrics and gynaecology and medical superintendent for the local patients section of the hospital. Sheares pioneered the lower Caesarian section which resulted in a lower mortality and morbidity rate in pregnant women than the upper Caesarian section. Sheares also created a technique to create an artificial vagina for those born without one.

After the war, Sheares was appointed as an acting professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the hospital, which he held onto until May 1947 when he went to London for his postgraduate studies at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School to get a degree of Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in January 1948. He returned to Singapore soon after and returned to his post as acting professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at KKH before he became a professor in January 1950 at the University of Malaya in Singapore. In December 1951, Sheares used the remainder of his Queen's Fellowship study to go to the United States for a year. During this period, he observed teaching institutions at different places including the Mayo Clinic.

In 1955, Sheares became the first Singaporean to be awarded a fellowship by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, following his contributions to the sector. Sheares retired in June 1960 and went into private practice until he was elected as the president of Singapore by Parliament. He had been a Honorary Consultant at KKH after his retirement and continued teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students at the hospital.

Presidency

Sheares became the second president of Singapore on 2 January 1971 after a unanimous agreement by Parliament. His mother was 91 years old when she learnt that her son had become the president of Singapore. Just two weeks before she died, she said "God has blessed Bennie especially after the way he looked after us and me." According to a medical assistant of his, Sheares had possibly donated his entire salary as president to charity. In 1974, Sheares was re-elected president by Parliament and served a second term. Whilst serving his second term as president, Sheares taught demonstration classes at KKH to gynaecologists.

After his second term, Sheares had originally planned to retire as he felt that he did not have the energy for another term, but then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew persuaded him and Sheares, then aged 70, took on his third term as president in 1978. Sheares served as president until his death in office in 1981. Devan Nair succeeded him as president.

Personal life

Sheares with his family, circa 1946.

Sheares married Yeo Seh Geok Sheares (1917–2012) in 1939 and they had three children together. Their daughter, Constance Sheares (born 1941), is an arts administrator, curator, and writer. In November 1971, Sheares underwent medical treatment for a vascular disorder in the United States as the operation required had not yet been developed in Singapore. He returned back sometime in February 1972.

Death and legacy

Tomb of President Benjamin Sheares at Kranji State Cemetery

On 7 May 1981, Sheares slipped into a coma after developing a cerebral haemorrhage. On 12 May, two nurses from the Ministry of Health and a security officer with oxygen cylinders and a stretcher were sent to his house. He died later that day at 2:10 pm. He was buried at Kranji State Cemetery.

The Benjamin Sheares Bridge, Sheares Avenue and Sheares Link are named after him. In academia, the student's residence Sheares Hall at the National University of Singapore, Benjamin Henry Sheares Professorship in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Benjamin Sheares Professorship in Academic Medicine, and the Benjamin Sheares College at the Duke–NUS Graduate Medical School are all named after him. The Sheares Block in Raffles Institution was also named after him.

Honours

National

• Singapore:
  • First class of the Order of Temasek (DUT)

Foreign

• Indonesia:
  • Fist Class of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (1974)
• Philippines:
  • Grand Collar of the Order of Sikatuna, Rank of Raja (GCS) (1976)
• United Kingdom:
  • Honorary Knight Grand Cross of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (GCB)

See also

• President of Singapore
• Benjamin Sheares Bridge

References

Bibliography

• Sheares, J. H. H. (July 2005). "Benjamin Henry Sheares, MD, MS, FRCOG: President, Republic of Singapore 1971-1981; Obstetrician and Gynaecologist 1931-1981 A Biography, 12th August 1907-12th May 1981" (PDF). Annals Academy of Medicine. 34 (6). PMID 16010377.
• Tan, K.H.; Tay, E.H. (2003). "The O&G Fraternity & Pioneers – Professor Benjamin Henry Sheares". The History of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in Singapore. Singapore: Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Singapore; National Heritage Board. pp. 412–461. ISBN 978-981-4045-68-1.