Dr Anthea McEwan - An Appreciation
DR ANTHEA MCEWAN MBBS
14th March 1934 – 4th July 2026
AN APPRECIATION
I remember Anthea with affection and admiration, not only as a kind and highly skilled doctor but also as a purposeful and wise person. Her many and varied activities were undertaken with great enthusiasm, as can be seen from her multitudinous achievements.
Anthea was educated at Bishop Fox Girls School in Taunton. The school was founded in 1552 by Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester and has the Motto 'High Standards & High Expectations'. Anthea became head girl. She entered the London Hospital Medical College in 1953, and in 1955 she became a member of the London University Womens' Rowing Club 1st Eight, and gained a Purple. She was also a member of the crew chosen to represent the English Universities at the Junior European Championships in Delft. Her enthusiasm for rowing continued after medical qualification, and she was appointed as the Medical Officer to the Junior Amateur Rowing Association from 1984 to 1986. That included the World Championships in Sweden and in Le Creusot France. She qualified in 1958 and became House Physician & then House Surgeon at the London. Junior Hospital posts followed elsewhere, and then a spell in General Practice. Her first substantive appointment was as Medical Officer in Occupational Health to Marks and Spencer at their Head Office in Baker Street. Afterwards she became the Occupational Health Physician to the London Hospital Medical school.
Outside medicine, Anthea was Chairman of the Joint Parents Association of Park Hill Junior and Infant Schools in Croydon, and she also became Chairman of the Parents Association of Whitgift School. In 1980 her involvement in education expanded further as Chairman of the Joint Board of Governors of Park Hill School, a post which she held for many years. From 1984-89 she became the Occupational Health Physician in Travel Medicine to the Cabinet and Foreign Office, and from 1984 she was also a Consultant in Occupational Medicine to The Eastman Dental Hospital and the City of London Polytechnic, which became the London Metropolitan University. From 1985 she was a Council Member and Joint Secretary of the London Hospital Medical Club. Alongside that, in 1997, Anthea became a Freeman of the City of London and was admitted to the Livery of The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers. She was appointed by them as a steward with a special interest in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2007 she was elected to the Freedom of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.
She said that of all her achievements, one was especially pleasing, and it was also the one which she felt stretched her intellectually; it was being an External and Intercollegiate Examiner in Medicine for Dental Students at Kings College London, from 2001-4.
In 2006 she was appointed to the Editorial Board of ‘Barts and The London Chronicle’, and then in 2007, after some years on the Friends Committee, she became Chair. In 2016 she was elected as Vice-President. Her final years were spent in Somerset in familiar surroundings, but sadly her health deteriorated. Whenever I spoke with her, she was always glad to talk and she was a fund of valuable memories. She continued to express a keen interest in what I had to tell her about the Friends. She knew that the Friends was flourishing, having been renewed under her guidance.
As well as all of that, her son Robert says, ‘she was an excellent cook and Sunday lunches or special events were never just meals but a celebration of wonderfully cooked food. She enjoyed going on holiday to anywhere beginning with S in particular South Africa, South of France and Sidmouth’! Sadly, her husband Tom, who qualified from the London Hospital Medical School in 1957, died on 15th May 2017. He became a Lieutenant in the Seventh Armoured Division; he played rugby for London Scottish 1st XV and he was a Past President of the Romany Cricket Club. Tom was a distinguished consultant anaesthetist and like Anthea, devoted to the London.
Anthea had an amazing life & we are the poorer without her. We send our condolences to her children, Thomas, Robert and Gregor; to Jane & Katie and to her grandchildren, Jake, Breagh, Bay, Freya, Flora, Finlay and Finty, and her great grand-children Hennessy & Brohdi.
Thank you, Anthea; for devoting so much of your life to the Royal London Hospital, its students and its staff and for looking after the Friends so well. You more than fulfilled your school’s motto of 'High Standards & High Expectations'. Your legacy lives on.
Prof. Trevor Beedham. President. Friends of the Royal London Hospital.
August 2026