Editing Henry Howarth Bashford

{{Short description|English physician and author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_prefix = Sir
|name        = Henry Howarth Bashford
|honorific suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRCP}}
|image       = Sir_Henry_Howarth_Bashford.jpg
|caption     = Sir Henry Howarth Bashford
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|1880|01|13|df=yes}}
|birth_place = Kensington, London, England
|death_date  = {{Death date and age|1961|08|15|1880|01|13|df=yes}}
|death_place = Easton Royal, Wiltshire, England
|other_names = 
|education = [[Bedford Modern School]]
|alma mater = [[University of London]]
|known_for   = Honorary Physician to [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]] (1941–44); [[Author]]
|occupation  = [[Physician]]
|nationality = British
}}

'''Sir Henry Howarth Bashford''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRCP}} (13 January 1880 – 15 August 1961) was a distinguished English [[physician]], becoming Honorary Physician to King [[George VI]].<ref>{{Cite web|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-52184|title=Bashford, Sir Henry Howarth, (13 Jan. 1880–15 Aug. 1961)|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U52184|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1}}</ref><ref name="munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/279|title=Munks Roll Details for Henry Howarth (Sir) Bashford|work=rcplondon.ac.uk|accessdate=12 July 2015|archive-date=10 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110210046/http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/279|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://oem.bmj.com/content/19/1/78.extract|title=OBITUARY -- Medvei 19 (1): 78 -- Occupational and Environmental Medicine|journal=Occupational and Environmental Medicine|date=January 1962|volume=19|issue=1|pages=78–79|doi=10.1136/oem.19.1.78|accessdate=12 July 2015|last1=Medvei|first1=V. C.|s2cid=220143890|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He was also an author, most notably of satirical novels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ABashford%2C+H.+H.&fq=&dblist=638&start=1&qt=page_number_link|title=Results for 'au:Bashford, H. H.' [WorldCat.org]|work=worldcat.org|accessdate=12 July 2015}}</ref>

==Early life==

Bashford was born in Kensington, London on 13 January 1880 the son of Frederick Bashford and Henrietta Eleanor, daughter of the Rev. Henry Howarth, Rector of [[St George's, Hanover Square]] and [[In ordinary|Chaplain in Ordinary]] to [[Queen Victoria]].  On his paternal side, his grandfather  Lt. J. Bashford (later Captain), [[Royal Navy]], was mentioned in the official list of the wounded at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in which he took part on board {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|1786|6}}.<ref name="munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk"/>

Bashford was educated at [[Bedford Modern School]], the [[University of London]] and the [[Royal London Hospital|London Hospital]].<ref name="Who Was Who">''Who Was Who'', Published by A&C Black Limited, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920-2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014</ref>

==Career==

Bashford was Chief Medical Officer to the Post Office (1933–43) and subsequently Treasury Medical Adviser (1943–45).  He was Honorary Physician to King [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]] (1941–44)<ref name="Who Was Who"/> and was the late Honorary President of the Post Office Ambulance Centre, [[St. John Ambulance|St. John Ambulance Association]].<ref name="Who Was Who"/>  He was created a knight-bachelor of the [[Venerable Order of Saint John|Order of St. John of Jerusalem]], announced in the King’s birthday honours on 9 June 1938.<ref name="munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk"/>

==Writing==

Bashford is now remembered as a writer, in particular of the satirical ''[[Augustus Carp, Esq.|Augustus Carp, Esq., By Himself: Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man]]'' (1924), which was first published anonymously.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/11_november/17/radio4_mon20.shtml|title=BBC - Press Office - Radio 4 Christmas highlights Monday 20 December|work=bbc.co.uk|accessdate=12 July 2015}}</ref> He also wrote some popular poetry.

==Family life==

In 1908 Bashford married Margaret Eveline, daughter of Ernest Sutton of Basildon, Berkshire.  They had one son and three daughters.  Bashford died in [[Easton Royal]] on 15 August 1961.

Sir Henry is celebrated by a [[blue plaque]] in the village of Easton Royal, his last resting place, where he was the much-loved village historian and benefactor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/headlines/8887249.Tribute_to_royal_doctor_from_Easton_Royal|title=Tribute to royal doctor from Easton Royal|work=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|date=7 March 2011 |accessdate=12 July 2015}}</ref>

The National Portrait Gallery has a photographic bromide print portrait of Sir Henry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw109351/Sir-Henry-Howarth-Bashford|title=National Portrait Gallery - Large Image - NPG x163938; Sir Henry Howarth Bashford|work=npg.org.uk|accessdate=12 July 2015}}</ref>

==Works==
{{Wikisource author}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
*''Tommy Wideawake'' (1903)
*''The Manitoban: A Romance'' (1904)
*''The Pilgrims' March'' (1909)
*''The corner of Harley Street: being some familiar correspondence of Peter Harding, M.D.'' (1911)
*''Vagabonds In Périgord'' (1914)
*''Pity the poor blind'' (1917)
*''Sons Of Admiralty: A Short History Of The Naval War 1914-1918 with Archibald Hurd'' (1919)
*''The Heroic Record of the British Navy with A. Hurd'' (1920)
*''[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008654683 Half-Past Bedtime]'' (1922)
*''[[Augustus Carp, Esq.|Augustus Carp, Esq., By Himself: Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man]]'' (1924)
*''The Happy Ghost and Other Stories'' (1925)
*''Behind The Fog'' (1927)
*''The Harley Street Calendar'' (1929)
*''The Student Life And Other Essays'' (Intro to work by William Ostler) (1931)
*''The Man On Ben Na Garve [Short story in The Second Century Of Detective Stories Ed EC Bentley]'' (1938)
*''Doctors In Shirt Sleeves'' (1940)
*''Fisherman's Progress'' (1946)
*''Wiltshire Harvest'' (1953)
*''[[Easton Royal]]: A Short History''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewswan.org.uk/eastonroyalhistory.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-07-02 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004200900/http://www.pewswan.org.uk/eastonroyalhistory.pdf |archivedate=4 October 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
*''Lodgings For Twelve''
*''The Plain Girl's Tale''
*''Songs Out Of School''

He also wrote as Peter Harding.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=37411}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Howarth Bashford}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3288}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashford, H.H.}}
[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:People educated at Bedford Modern School]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:English satirists]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Knights of Grace of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:20th-century English medical doctors]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]
[[Category:English medical writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:People from Kensington]]