Benjamin Henry Sheares, GCB (12 August 1907 – 12 May 1981), was the second President of Singapore

President of Singapore

The President of the Republic of Singapore is Singapore's head of state. In a Westminster parliamentary system, as which Singapore governs itself, the prime minister is the head of the government while the position of president is largely ceremonial. Before 1993, the President of Singapore was...

.

Early life

Sheares was born the second of six children in Singapore to a Eurasian family with an English lineage. His father Edwin H. Sheares, a technical supervisor of the Public Works Department, was born in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and raised in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Edwin later migrated to Penang and married Singapore-born Lilian Gómez, of Chinese Singaporean

Singaporean Chinese

Singaporean Chinese may refer to:* Chinese Singaporean, the citizens or residents of Singapore who are of Chinese ancestry* Singaporean Mandarin, the dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Singapore...

 and Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

 descent, and had six children - the first died in infancy. Life was hard for the Sheares family with the meagre pay that Edwin received from his post.

As a young child, Sheares was affectionately known as Ben or Bennie. He was a quiet boy who kept much to himself and loved to play at Pierce Reservoir, where his father worked.

He had a close relationship with his sister Alice and often loved to play doctor with her. There was once when he made Alice swallow a one-cent coin as a medical “pill” in their game. Benjamin was six years old then and received a good hiding from his mother Lilian. Throughout his growing years, Benjamin 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, Alice continued to spirit him on with that 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 (O-Level equivalent).

Sheares attended the Methodist Girls' School

Methodist Girls' School

Methodist Girls' School is a girls' independent school, consisting of two sections - the Primary School and Secondary School, located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. It is affiliated to the Anglo-Chinese School family and the Methodist Church in Singapore...

 and then in 1918 went to Saint Andrew's School, Singapore. In 1922, he transferred himself to study at the Raffles Institution

Raffles Institution

Raffles Institution , founded in 1823, is the oldest centre for pre-tertiary learning in Singapore. It is an independent school in Singapore providing secondary and pre-university education. RI consists of a boys-only secondary section , and a coeducational pre-university section...

, 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 Singapore to begin his medical training. But he knew too well that his family could not see him through the hefty school fees afforded by the College, and he won a generous scholarship offered by the Council of the Medical College with his exemplary academic performance. With this quantum, he was able to give $50 monthly to his mother for the support of his family.

He continued to excel in his studies and was awarded four medals by his College. Later, he passed his Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) final examinations with distinctions. Upon graduation and working as an obstetrician in the Kandang Kerbau Hospital and a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the University of Malaya

University of Malaya

The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...

 he continued to support his family, and assumed full responsibility for his family when his father died in 1940.

One of Sheares' main contributions to medicine was a technique to create an artificial vagina

Vaginoplasty

thumb|right|300px|Vaginoplasty: the pre-operative aspect , and the post-operative aspect of a [[Labiaplasty|labial reduction]].Vaginoplasty is a reconstructive plastic surgery procedure for correcting the defects and deformities of the vaginal canal and its mucous membrane, and of vulvo-vaginal...

 for those born without one. A modification of it is still used for sex change operations today.

Sheares was also the first Chancellor

Chancellor (education)

A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....

 of the National University of Singapore

National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....

.

Presidency

Benjamin Sheares became Singapore's second president on 2 January 1971. His mother was 91 years of age, when she learnt that he had become President of the Republic of Singapore. Just two weeks before she died, she had said God has blessed Bennie especially after the way he looked after us and me.
He held the office until his death in 1981. He was succeeded as President by C. V. Devan Nair

Devan Nair

Devan Nair a/l Chengara Veetil, also known as C. V. Devan Nair , was the third President of Singapore and was elected by Parliament on October 23, 1981. He served as President until his resignation on March 28, 1985.-Youth:Nair was born in Malacca, Malaysia, the son of an Indian immigrant I.V.K...

, and buried in the Kranji

Kranji

Kranji is a suburb in northwestern Singapore, located about from the city centre.-Etymology:Kranji is named after a local tree, the kranji or keranji . Its abundance has rapidly dwindled since the first half of the nineteenth century.-History:The first Singapore-Kranji railway from Tank Road to...

 State Cemetery.

The Benjamin Sheares Bridge

Benjamin Sheares Bridge

Opened in 1981, the Benjamin Sheares Bridge is the longest bridge in Singapore, spanning 1.8 km, and the tallest, at 20 m. It is named after Dr Benjamin Henry Sheares, the 2nd president of the Republic. The bridge is part of the East Coast Parkway...

 is named after him, as is a student's residence hall, Sheares Hall, in the National University of Singapore and a college at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

Books