Born in Southwark on October 10th, 1816, the eldest son of Thomas Longmore, Surgeon RN, and of Maria, a daughter of John Elcum. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in June, 1828, and was afterwards educated at Guy's Hospital, where he proved an industrious student and was dresser to Bransby Cooper, subsequently assisting in his private practice and in writing Sir Astley Cooper's life. He became Assistant Surgeon in the 19th Regiment of Foot, being gazetted on February 3rd, 1843, and served with the headquarters of the regiment in the Ionian Islands, in the West Indies, and in North America. He was gazetted Regimental Surgeon on March 3rd, 1854, and then served with his regiment in the Light Division of the Eastern Army from the time of its first taking the field throughout the Crimean Campaign (1854-1855) until the termination of the siege of Sebastopol. During this period he was at his post every day, but suffered severely from the effects of frostbite. He was present at the affair of Buljanac on September 19th, at the Battle of the Alma, Inkerman, and Balaclava, at the sortie of October 26th, 1854, and at the assaults of the Redan on June 18th and September 8th, 1855. For his services he was awarded the Medal with three Clasps, the Turkish Medal, and was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (4th Class). He returned to England on the declaration of peace, and passed the Fellowship. On the outbreak of the Mutiny he was sent with a detachment of his regiment to India, and served with the Army in Bengal, at first as a regimental officer, and after December 31st, 1858, as Deputy Inspector of Hospitals. He was appointed Sanitary Officer to the British Forces in Bengal in January, 1859, but on the reduction of the establishment in July was ordered home and received the appointment of Principal Medical Officer of the Camp, Colchester. His operative skill had attracted such attention in the Crimea that he was given the Professorship of Military Surgery in the Medical School, Netley, founded in 1860 by Sidney Herbert for the better instruction of the medical officers of the Army. He held this post for nearly thirty-one years. On October 19th, 1872, he was promoted to the rank of Inspector (Surgeon) General, and was appointed a member of the Committee on Field Hospital Equipment. On October 10th, 1876, he was placed on the retired list, but was allowed to continue holding his Professorship. He was knighted at Osborne in 1886. He represented the British Government on a number of epoch-making missions. As early as 1864 he was deputed to attend the Congress of Geneva, afterwards known as the Geneva Convention. In 1867 he was sent to Paris and took part in the International Conferences of the Societies for Aid to Wounded Soldiers in Time of War. In 1869 he was British Government Delegate in the Berlin International Conference on Aid to Sick and Wounded in War. The Secretary for War dispatched him to Vienna in 1873 to report on the field hospital equipment collected at the Sanitäts Pavillon of the World Exhibition. In 1874 he read a paper which was the starting-point of the St John Ambulance classes. At the Conference of Societies for Aid to Sick and Wounded in War, held at Geneva in September, 1884, he again represented the Government, and was present at the International Red Cross Meeting held at Carlsruhe in the autumn of 1887. In June, 1887, when the Southern Branch of the British Medical Association met at Netley, he was President and delivered the Annual Address. In 1888 he acted at Antwerp as British Representative and Member of the International Jury for assessing the prizes offered by the German Empress Augusta for the best forms for a movable hut-hospital. In October, 1889, he was sent by the Secretary of State for War to take part in the fourth session of the French Surgical Congress then held in Paris, and was elected a Vice-President. In 1862 he married Mary Rosalie Helen, second daughter of Captain W S Moorsom, 52nd Regiment, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. He died on September 30th, 1895, at his house at Woolston, Hampshire, and was buried at Hamble. The College Collections possess several portraits of Sir Thomas Longmore. Good portraits accompany the biographies in the *Lancet*, *British Medical Journal*, and Guy's Hospital Gazette. His presentation portrait by George Reid is at Netley in the ante-room of the Officers' Mess. Publications: *On the Geneva Convention of 1864, with some Account of the National Committees formed for Aiding in Ameliorating the Condition of the Sick and Wounded of Armies in Time of War*, 8vo, 1866. *Report on the Military Medical and Surgical Field Hospital Equipment at the Universal Exhibition at Paris, and on Certain other Matters connected therewith*, fol, London, 1868. *On the Geneva Convention of 1864, in Relation to the Aid afforded by Volunteer Societies to Sick and Wounded Soldiers during the late Franco-German War*. A Lecture, 8vo, 1872. *Ambulances and Ambulance Service*, 1875. *Gunshot Injuries; their History, Characteristic Features, Complications and General Treatment, with Statistics*, 8vo, illustrated, London, 1877; 2nd ed., 1895. A classic. *Report on a Mission to Paris in October, 1889, to attend the 4th Session of the French Surgical Congress, together with Observations on the Military Medical Schools of France*, 8vo, London, 1890. *Richard Wiseman: A Biographical Study*, 8vo, London, 1891. This is the standard account of Wiseman.