Sir Henry Thompson BT, the first English urologist

Sir Henry Thompson was a gifted Victorian. As a surgeon he achieved early recognition by successfully removing King Leopold of Belgium's bladder stone where two other eminent surgeons had failed. He was undoubtedly the most famous surgeon of his age, a position he was to occupy for some 30 years. As well as professional eminence he achieved success in an extraordinarily wide range of endeavours. He was an accomplished artist, exhibiting 12 times at the Royal Academy, a connoisseur and collector of china, a keen astronomer, an authority on diet and cooking and a pioneer advocate of cremation. He was interested in poultry-farming, market-gardening and photography. He published two novels sandwiched between a book on tumours of the bladder and another on the prevention of calculous disease, He was a celebrated host and his dinners--called 'Octaves'--at which he served eight courses to eight guests were legendary. To be invited meant one had 'arrived'. He was friendly with artists, scientists and men of letters--Huxley, Browning, Ray Lankester and Thackeray. At the age of 80 he bought himself a motor-car and 2 years later wrote a book on the anatomy of the motor-car engine. Sir Zachary Cope described him as a versatile Victorian, a fitting description of an extra-ordinarily gifted man. A commanding and slightly intimidating figure with little sense of humour, he achieved distinction in professional, artistic and social circles. Not only did he leave his mark on urology he left his mark on Victorian England.