John Philip Bentley was a consultant general surgeon at the Connaught, Harrow and Wanstead hospitals. He was born on 5 January 1916 in Bexleyheath, Kent, the son of Roland Cunard Bentley, a chartered secretary, and Margaret Bentley née Budd, the daughter of a medical practitioner. John was the third child and the second son. His great grandfather was William Budd, professor of medicine in Bristol and a pioneer in epidemiology. John was educated at Upton College, Bexleyheath, Christ's Hospital and then Charing Cross Hospital Medical School. He qualified MRCS LRCP and MB BS in 1938 with prizes in medicine and surgery, and a medal as the best student in his year. As a house surgeon he was influenced by Norman Lake, the senior Charing Cross Hospital surgeon. In 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and served until 1946. He reached the rank of wing commander and, in 1942, gained his FRCS with the Hallet prize for the primary examination. In 1947 he won a Commonwealth Fund travelling fellowship, and became a lecturer at Columbia University, New York. He returned to London in 1948 and became a senior registrar at the Charing Cross Hospital, where he was highly admired. Like many surgeons of his era, he acquired consultant appointments in a number of places: small peripheral hospitals had high reputations for providing excellent training. John was on the staff of the Connaught Hospital in Walthamstow, Harrow and Wanstead. He named his leisure activities as swimming and golf, and was also a member of a French-oriented food and wine society. He married Daphne Kathleen Renwick in 1946 and they had a son. John Philip Bentley died in 2011.