Marion Christine Handscome was born on 25 September 1929 in Laindon, Essex. The eldest child of George Seymour Payne, a builder and farmer, and his wife, Stella Rose née Vickers a dancer, she had two younger brothers. After attending Eastholme Harleston School in Norfolk she went to Mills Grammar School in Framlington and then the Sir John Leman School in Beccles, Suffolk. She studied medicine at University College, London and at the London Hospital Medical College, qualifying MB, BS in 1954. House jobs followed at the London, Whittington and St Alfege’s Hospitals. As she began to specialise in ophthalmology, she was appointed the first female house surgeon and later senior registrar at Moorfields Hospital. She passed the fellowship of the college in 1962 and became consultant ophthalmological surgeon to the Coventry and Warwickshire hospital group in 1963. During that time, she was also director of the Orthoptic School in Coventry. A member of the British Orthoptic Society, she was on their council and examination committee and was also an examiner to the Ophthalmic Nursing Board. At the college, she was an examiner for the DO from 1975 to1980 and the FRCS Opth from 1980 to1986. She was also council representative of the college ophthalmologists from 1988 to 1990. She loved riding and became an expert on equine ophthalmology, publishing a couple of articles on the subject. The ophthalmology of Africa and Asia was another interest. In 1952 she married Edward Frederick Ridley Handscome who was a tailor. Their daughter Eleanor became a nurse and their son Roger, an engineer. She later married a Mr Crosthwait and retired to Newport, Isle of Wight. She died in a care home on the Isle of Wight on 27 December 2020 aged 91, survived by her children, and grandchildren Natasha, Charlie and Rupert.