John Elgood studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, passing the Conjoint Diploma in 1924 and qualifying MB BS the same year. He worked as external midwives' assistant at Bart's and then became senior house surgeon to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham. He then held the post of surgeon to the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport. He was a Fellow of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain. His wife, Christine Phyllis Elgood (née Frances), had also qualified MB BS in 1923 and, having obtained the DA in 1960, worked as an anaesthetist to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham, and the North Middlesex Hospital. On their retirement they lived in Hungerford, Berks, and he died on 10 May 1979.