Howard Somervell

Howard Somervell (1890 to 1975) was an English surgeon, mountaineer, painter and medical missionary. Born in Kendal and educated at Rugby School and Cambridge, he trained as a surgeon at University College Hospital. He served in France with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1915 to 1918, and the losses he saw at the Battle of the Somme made him a lifelong pacifist. He took part in the British Everest expeditions of 1922 and 1924, befriending George Mallory, and in 1924 he was awarded an Olympic gold medal for mountaineering. After the first expedition he chose to spend nearly forty years working as a surgeon in India, at mission hospitals in Travancore and later at Vellore. This entry records his life as it is documented, not medical advice.