Born at Bolton, Lancashire, on 12 May 1894, fourth child and eldest son of John Edward Panton, MD, MRCS, in practice there, and Emma Louisa Allison, his wife. He was educated at Ilminster Grammar School, Somerset, and Bolton Church Institute, at the Victoria University of Manchester, where he graduated in medicine in 1916, and at St Bartholomew's and Guy's Hospitals. At Manchester University he won the Tom Jones anatomy exhibition, a gold medal in anatomy, and the senior Robert Platt exhibition in physiology in 1913; at the MB, ChB examination in 1916 he gained distinction in obstetrics and gynaecology, and was bracketed equal for the John Henry Agnew scholarship in diseases of children. Panton then saw three and a half years' service as a captain, RAMC. After the end of the war he returned to Manchester, where he served as house surgeon, house physician and resident surgical officer at Ancoats Hospital, and was demonstrator of anatomy at the University. He also served as gynaecological house surgeon at St Mary's Hospital, and won the gold medal for his MD thesis in 1921. He served as surgical registrar at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and in 1925 took the Manchester Mastership and the Edinburgh and English Fellowships in surgery. After a short period at Bolton he settled in practice at 36 Hoghton Street, Southport, Lancashire, in partnership with A W Hare of Birkdale and latterly also with W L Ackerman, MRCS. He was appointed anaesthetist and later became senior surgeon to the Southport Infirmary. Panton served as secretary of the Southport division of the British Medical Association, and was an active member of the Manchester Medical and Surgical Societies. He married in 1926 Kathleen Amy Heath, who survived him with a daughter. He died suddenly at Southport on 1 July 1945, aged 51. Publication: Factors bearing upon the aetiology of femoral hernia. *J Anat* 1923, 57, 106-146.