Dr Peter Jones & Dr Ian Thomson
A Lifelong Friendship and a War-Time Call
The story of Dr Peter Jones’s brief but unforgettable time at the Mildmay Mission Hospital in 1943 began years earlier in the biology labs of Mill Hill School. It was there that Peter sat next to Ian Thomson. Though their paths diverged slightly when Ian went straight to Barts in 1937 and Peter went to Cambridge, the two medical students remained in touch, occasionally crossing paths during their clinical training years when wartime air-raid arrangements forced Barts to evacuate patients to facilities north of London.
By June 1943, Peter had newly graduated and rushed to the General Medical Council to officially register as a "Physician and Surgeon." The very day he arrived home, the telephone rang. On the line was his old school friend, Dr Ian Thomson.
Ian was finishing up his first house job as a House Surgeon at Mildmay, but had been ordered to report to the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in Aldershot in ten days' time. Because his contract at Mildmay overlapped with his military deployment by ten days, Ian desperately needed a trusted locum to step in. Sensing a splendid opportunity to finally test his skills as a proper doctor, Peter packed his rucksack, hopped onto his pushbike, and pedalled through the City streets toward the East End.
Stepping Into the Blitzed East End
Arriving at Mildmay, Peter found an area heavily scarred by the Blitz of 1940-1941, with many of the surrounding buildings reduced to ruins. Ian spent an hour showing Peter around the 40-inpatient facility before giving a cheerful farewell. But he didn’t leave Peter empty-handed. Among the patients was a newly admitted two-year-old girl suffering from severe abdominal pain.
Mildmay's house physician had already diagnosed the toddler with acute appendicitis and called for the hospital's visiting consultant surgeon. That evening, Peter scrubbed in to assist the surgeon. They operated to remove a severely gangrenous, perforated appendix surrounded by active pus - an advanced case of spreading peritonitis. Once the operation was successfully finished, the surgeon and the house physician departed for the weekend, leaving the green, newly qualified Dr Peter Jones in sole charge of the critically ill toddler for the next 48 hours.
A Trial by Fire on the Children's Ward
In the pre-antibiotic era, a toddler with active peritonitis was an incredibly high-stakes case. Peter knew that the inflammation would cause the child's bowel to become temporarily paralysed, meaning she could not take fluids by mouth without vomiting. She desperately needed an intravenous drip. Though Peter had drawn blood from adults, he had never performed a "cut-down" procedure to place a cannula into the delicate vein of a dehydrated two-year-old.
With the child still asleep under ether anaesthesia, Peter consulted the hospital’s copy of Bailey’s Surgical Handicraft. Carefully following the textbook, he successfully isolated the delicate vein at the inner aspect of her ankle, secured the cannula, and started an infusion of saline and glucose.
By Saturday morning, the little girl’s condition remained precarious, displaying a silent abdomen and a racing pulse. Seeking more specific pediatric guidance, Peter jumped back on his bicycle and sped through the bomb-damaged streets of Central London to Lewis’s Medical Lending Library on Gower Street. He borrowed Sir Lancelot Barrington Ward’s The Abdominal Surgery of Childhood, racing back to Mildmay to devour the chapter on appendicitis. Following the book's advice, he managed to secure ampoules of Sulphapyridine (an early sulfonamide anti-infective) from the hospital dispensary just before it closed for the weekend.
A Diabetic Scare and Recovery
By Sunday, the little girl was showing signs of improvement. However, when Peter checked her urine, he was horrified to find it loaded with sugar, fearing he had entirely missed an underlying diagnosis of diabetes. Distressed, he immediately phoned Dr George Graham, a dry but good-humoured diabetes expert in Harley Street who had lectured Peter during his clinical years.
To Peter's immense relief, Dr Graham chuckled and told him: "That will teach you that if you give someone glucose through the vein, some will leak out unchanged in the urine!"
The little girl went on to make a swift, complete recovery over the following days, demonstrating the remarkable resilience of a child's body. Peter finished his week-long stint at Mildmay, memories he carried with him for the rest of his life, before moving on to his official house job at Hill End Hospital and eventually his own wartime service in the army.
What Happened Next?
The family connection between the two doctors deepened after the war when Peter Jones married Ian Thomson’s sister, Margaret.
Dr Peter Jones went on to have an illustrious medical career. After serving in the RAMC, he climbed the surgical ladder to become the Consultant Surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital. Upon his retirement, he was named Emeritus Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Aberdeen and published numerous authoritative medical textbooks and surgical articles.
Dr Ian Thomson served with great distinction in the RAMC during World War II. Tragically, around 1946, he developed a brain tumour which cut his surgical aspirations short. Showing immense resilience, he adjusted his career path and joined his father, Dr T.T. Thomson, working as a GP serving the community at the Islington Medical Mission on Upper Street. Sadly, Ian passed away in 1956 at the young age of 38.
Acknowledgements and Credits
This story was kindly shared with the Mildmay archive by Anne Golds, the daughter of Dr Ian Thomson and niece by marriage to Dr Peter Jones. We are incredibly grateful to Anne and her cousins for granting permission to share these wonderful family archives, giving us a vivid insight into Mildmay’s frontline medical history during the Second World War.