Patrick Dignan (British Army officer)

Major General Albert Patrick Dignan, CB, MBE, FRCSI, FRCS (25 July 1920 – 11 October 2012) was a senior Irish British Army officer who rose to be Director of Army Surgery between 1973 and 1978.

Early life
Dignan was born on 25 July 1920 in Dublin, Ireland, to Joseph Dignan. Dignan and his four brothers were pushed to be doctors after his father saw that very few doctors were casualties of World War I. He graduated from the medical school of Trinity College, Dublin in 1943 Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor in the Art of Obstetrics (MB BCh BAO). He qualified as a surgeon in 1947 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FRCSI).

Military career
Having been called up for National Service, Dignan was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps as a lieutenant on 7 May 1950. He was given the service number 410605. One year later, on 7 May 1951, he was promoted to captain. He was posted to Malaya during the Malayan Emergency. He served as the only surgeon at Kamunting Military Hospital in Taiping. On 16 June 1952, he transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers. This signalled the end of his national service and his first period of active service.

Later life
Following the death of his wife in 2001, Dignan moved into The Priory care home in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. He died on 11 October 2012.

Personal life
Dignan married Eileen Helena White in 1952. They met when they were both British Army personnel serving in Malaya; she as a theatre sister in the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and he as a national service surgeon. Together they had two sons and one daughter. His wife predeceased him, dying in 2001.

Honours and decorations
Dignan was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours following his retirement from the military.