Arnold Pomfret
Surgeon Rear-Admiral Arnold Ashworth Pomfret was an English first-class cricketer, ophthalmologist and Royal Navy officer.
Life
The son of John Pomfret of Blackburn, Lancashire, he was educated at Blackburn Grammar School. He studied at Manchester University, graduating there in 1922, and the University of Oxford. He joined the Royal Navy in 1923 as a Surgeon Lieutenant on a short service commission. After leaving the navy to concentrate on his medical training, Pomfret rejoined as a Surgeon Lieutenant in August 1926. He was one of the first naval medical officers to specialise in ophthalmology and was the first to undertake major eye surgery.Pomfret became a Surgeon Lieutenant Commander in 1929, and worked at the Royal Naval Hospital, Simon's Town from 1931 to 1934. He became a Surgeon Commander in August 1934 and in 1940 he was medical officer in charge of the Royal Navy Sick Quarters on Liugong Island, Wei Hai Wei, and in that capacity received a Japanese military delegation of the Wei Hai Wei occupying forces. Pomfret subsequently withdrew from Wei Hai Wei along with the remainder of British forces following the occupation. The following year he was made an OBE in the 1941 New Year Honours and was promoted to the rank of Surgeon Captain in June 1944.
He was appointed an Honorary Surgeon to the Queen in November 1953, a capacity he served in until his retirement from active service in October 1957. Pomfret retired with the rank of Surgeon Rear-Admiral, having been promoted to that rank in October 1954. He was made a Companion to the Order of the Bath in the 1957 Birthday Honours. Pomfret retired to Taunton, where he died in April 1984.