This book is the autobiography of one of the old style ‘general’ surgeons – the Compleat Surgeon of its title.
Born in 1889, the completion of his training coincided with the outbreak of World War 1. Taken into the RAMC, he was sent to work on a hospital ship for Indian soldiers, at a casualty clearing station in France and in a hospital in Aldershot. In the midst of all that he married the Irish nurse whom he had met at Addenbrookes Hospital and to whom he had got engaged whilst at Cambridge
During the war, those senior surgeons at St. Thomas’s who passed the pre-war age limit of 60 were retained, but when the war ended, they all retired, leaving a fair number of posts to be filled. He was appointed to be an Honorary Surgeon with which came only a nominal salary. To survive he needed to set up for private practice and to take on work from more senior surgeons, work that might be less skilled, but was essential to back up their practices as well as covering for them during weekends and holidays.
He soon built up a successful private practice of his own with a house in Harley Street. He describes the wide variety of the cases given to him, and those who came to him in his own practice. From 1927 to 1960, he and another surgeon at St. Thomas’s, Peter H Mitchiner, wrote, and revised annually, a worldwide recognised book on surgery.
This autobiography includes his work in St.Thomas’s, other hospitals and in his private practice, and covers aspects of his work involving the Metropolitan Police, nursing homes, the theatre, and events such as the General Strike and the start of World War 2.

Author: W.H.C. Romanis
Release date: June 2013
Format: Paperback, 243 pages
Availability: Available from all good bookshops. For wholesalers via Gardners or direct from the publisher.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1909421042
Paperback Price: £12.99
BIC: BGT, BGB, BM