Surgeon Rear Admiral Arnold Ashworth Pomfret (1 June 1900 – 3 April 1984) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, ophthalmologist and

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer.

Life

The son of John Pomfret of

Blackburn, Lancashire Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north- ...

, he was educated at

Blackburn Grammar School Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (QEGS) is a co-educational free school in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. Founded in 1509 as a boys' school, it is now a co-educational independent free school with over 1200 students from ages 4 to 18. Pupils ...

. He studied at Manchester University, graduating there in 1922, and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He joined the Royal Navy in 1923 as a

Surgeon Lieutenant LieutenantThe pronunciation of ''lieutenant'' is generally split between , , generally in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries, and , , generally associated with the United States. See lieutenant. (abbreviated Lt, LT (U.S. ...

on a short service commission.''Surgeon Rear Admiral A. A. Pomfret CB, OBE, MB, CHB, DO, DOMS'', British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition) Vol. 289, No. 6454 (Nov. 10, 1984), p. 1319. Published by: BMJ 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 Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

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 Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern sid ...

from 1931 to 1934. He became a

Surgeon Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in August 1934 and in 1940 he was medical officer in charge of the Royal Navy Sick Quarters on Liugong Island,

Wei Hai Wei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

, 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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1941 New Year Honours The 1941 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 31 December 1940.United Kingdom and Britis ...

and was promoted to the rank of

Surgeon Captain A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Speciali ...

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 In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

, having been promoted to that rank in October 1954. He was made a Companion to the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the

1957 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1957 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

. Pomfret retired to

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, where he died in April 1984.

Cricket

Pomfret played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for the

, for which he is recorded playing in 1929. His three appearances in 1929 came against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC), the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. Against the MCC he took a

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

, with figures of 6 for 39 in the MCC second-innings, which contributed to a 23 runs victory for the Royal Navy, despite having been asked to follow-on from their first-innings. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he ended his brief first-class career with 12 wickets at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 24.25.

Family

Pomfret married in 1928 Carlene Blundstone: they had a son and two daughters. Their daughter Jocelyn married Alexander Crawford Simpson Boswell in 1956. Carlene Pomfret's memoir ''Cabin Trunks & Far Horizons'' was published in 1991.

References

External links

*
Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945 at unithistories.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomfret, Arnold 1900 births 1984 deaths People from Blackpool People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn Alumni of the University of Manchester 20th-century English medical doctors British ophthalmologists Royal Navy Medical Service officers English cricketers Royal Navy cricketers Royal Navy personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Navy rear admirals Companions of the Order of the Bath