Anthony Alfred Bowlby

Anthony Alfred Bowlby was one of Britain’s leading surgeons, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to HM the King and Consulting Surgeon to Bartholomew’s Hospital and to the Foundling Hospital. He served in the South African War, where he was in charge of Portland Hospital. As Advisory Consulting Surgeon to HM Forces he was responsible for co-ordinating surgical arrangements in the BEF.

One of his principal achievements was to bring surgery closer to the front line, making the Casualty Clearing Station, rather than Field Ambulance, the focal point of surgical operations. The sooner wounded soldiers were brought to the operating theatre the better in a war fought without antibiotics. Bowlby was President of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1920 to 1923, when he received a baronetcy.