Background
Charles Gosse was born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the youngest son of the surgeon William Gosse who, in the hopes of curing his bronchitis, brought his family to Australia in 1850, arriving in Adelaide on 31 December.
Charles Gosse was born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the youngest son of the surgeon William Gosse who, in the hopes of curing his bronchitis, brought his family to Australia in 1850, arriving in Adelaide on 31 December.
He studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1870, and graduated with Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery from the University of Aberdeen in 1872.
He was sent to England for further education. First at Clifton College in Bristol, then at Moorfields Hospital where he served as a Clinical Clerk and gained his Member Royal College of Surgeons in 1870. He returned to Adelaide in 1873 and was promptly taken into partnership with his father. on North Terrace, and received his Doctor of Medicine from Aberdeen in 1875.
He was appointed to the Board of Management of the Adelaide Hospital in 1877.
South Australia had at the time a poor record of childhood mortality, with some 20% of infants dying within three months of birth, and Charles Gosse made it the subject of his special interest. Despite attention from the best medical men of the day, gangrene set in and Doctor Gosse died two days later after amputation of his legal
His successor as ophthalmic surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital and elsewhere was Doctor Mark Johnston Symons (1853 – 26 February 1927). He was elected to the committee of the Institute for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb in 1881 and the Home for Incurables in 1883.
He was appointed to the Medical Board in 1884 but retired in favour of Doctor Mayo.
He was a director of Mutual Life Assurance of Australasia. He was a connoisseur of fine china, especially Minton ware, of which he had a fine collection, all auctioned after his death. Daughter (17 March 1881 – )
Their home was on North Terrace and he had a summer residence "Thorpe" at Waverley Ridge, Mount Lofty.
On his death a committee was formed to establish a Charles Gosse Memorial fund, which established a Chair of Ophthalmic Surgery at the University of Adelaide.
From 1916 an annual Doctor Charles Gosse medal was awarded to the best candidate in the ophthalmology. Among the recipients of this enduring award was Neville Way, who was also a noted player of Australian Rules football and Percival Francis Leitch Hussey who was also a noted yachtsman.
His portrait was photographed by Townsend Duryea around 1880. John Alfred Upton (since 1850) was commissioned by the Charles Gosse Memorial committee to paint his portrait in oils from a photograph, to be hung in the Ophthalmic ward of the Adelaide Hospital.
He was appointed ophthalmic surgeon to the Adelaide Hospital in 1881 and made the third member of its Medical Committee in 1883.