Croft , John , 1833-1905 , surgeon

John Croft was born in Pettinghoe, near Newhaven, in Sussex, in 1833. He was educated at the Hackney Church of England School. He was apprentice to Thomas Evans, of Burwash, in Sussex, and entered St Thomas's Hospital in 1850, where he served as House Surgeon. He acted as Surgeon to the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital Ship from 1855-1860, and then returned to St Thomas's Hospital to become Demonstrator of Anatomy and Surgical Registrar. He was appointed Resident Assistant Surgeon in 1863, and Assistant Surgeon, and then Surgeon in 1871. He was elected Consulting Surgeon in 1891. He was also Surgeon to the Surrey Dispensary, to the National Truss Society, to the Magdalen hospital at Streatharn, and to the National Provident Assurance Society. He was elected a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1882 and resigned in 1890, after serving as Vice-President in 1889 and acting on the Court of Examiners from 1881-1886.