H H Bashford

Sir Henry Howarth Bashford FRCP was a famous English physician who served as King George VI's Honorary Physician. He was also a novelist, primarily of satirical books. Bashford was born on January 13, 1880, in Kensington, London, as the son of Frederick Bashford and Henrietta Eleanor, daughter of the Rev. Henry Howarth, Rector of St George's, Hanover Square and Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Victoria. On his paternal side, his grandpa, Lt. J. Bashford (later Captain), Royal Navy, was named in the official list of the wounded at the Battle of Trafalgar, which he fought on board HMS Royal Sovereign. Bashford studied at Bedford Modern School, the University of London, and the London Hospital. Bashford was the Post Office's Chief Medical Officer from 1933 to 1943, and then the Treasury Medical Adviser from 1943 to 1945. He served as King George VI's Honorary Physician from 1941 to 1944 and was the late Honorary President of the Post Office Ambulance Centre and the St. John Ambulance Association. On June 9, 1938, he was appointed knight-bachelor of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, as proclaimed in the King's birthday honors.