Arthur Messent obtained an open exhibition to Mill Hill School and proceeded to St Bartholomew's Hospital where he won the Brackenbury Prize in surgery and anatomy. He qualified in 1938 and after a short spell in general practice he joined the Royal Air Force and served in Coastal Command both in the Faroe Islands and the Middle East where he was mentioned in despatches. After the war he continued his surgical training, passed the FRCS examination in 1948, and held senior registrar appointments in Norwich, Reading and Hammersmith before his appointment as consultant in vascular and genito-urinary surgery to the Brentwood Group of Hospitals in 1955. In 1940 he married Margaret, a doctor's daughter and medical secretary at St Bartholomew's Hospital where one of their daughters eventually trained as a nurse. Their second daughter trained as a physiotherapist at the London Hospital. He enjoyed gardening, reading, entertaining and being entertained. He was kind, courteous and ready to help those in need, and it was sad for him and his family when he was struck by a long illness. He retired in 1980 to Nantgaredig in Carmarthen, his wife's birthplace, hoping to enjoy the countryside he loved and he died on 2 August 1985 survived by his wife and daughters, Rosemary and Ann.