John Joseph Hamblin

After qualifying with double honours, John Hamblin (“JJ”) completed his junior posts at the Royal London and Poplar hospitals. National service beckoned thereafter. He was initially awarded a six month commission and subsequently accepted a post in Nigeria, working for the medical corps within the UN peacekeeping force deployed for the Congo war.

After his spell in west Africa he returned to the Royal London Hospital and worked on the hospital’s medical unit the for the next five years. This period of his postgraduate training culminated in his appointment as consultant physician at Southend Hospital in 1967, at the unusually tender age of 32.

John subsequently forged a successful and rewarding career. He rapidly established himself …