Stanley Samuel Beare
Life in Elmbridge
Dr Sam Beare was a much-loved GP who practised at the old Weybridge Hospital from 1922-1956.
He was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, his father being an engineer and his mother, Alice (nee Beer) the daughter of The Times correspondent during the Crimean War.
Sam initially studied dentistry at The Middlesex Hospital but never actually practised it, choosing instead to train as a doctor qualifying MRCS LRCP in 1914.
At the outbreak of World War One he joined the Royal Navy and served as medical officer to the Auxiliary Patrol, Dover, where he was responsible for the welfare of 250 minesweepers and crew and saw action at the raid on Zeebrugge (1918) for which he was mentioned in dispatches by Admiral Sir Roger Keyes.
He was later awarded an OBE (Military).
At the end of the war Sam resigned his commission and returned to The Middlesex Hospital as Resident Medical Officer gaining useful experience in surgery and anaesthetics.
In 1922 he was appointed to Weybridge Hospital as partner to Dr Eric Gardner where he quickly established a reputation as a caring doctor and gifted surgeon.
In addition to performing a wide range of routine surgical procedures there was also a steady flow of trauma cases from the Brooklands racetrack.
But perhaps the most challenging moment in his career came on September 4th 1940, when German bombers brought death and destruction to the nearby Vickers Armstrong factory and Weybridge Hospital was overwhelmed with casualties.
A subsequent report on the bombing from the Home Office was full of praise for the way the medical staff had coped.
In 1947 Sam's surgical expertise was formerly recognised by the Royal College of Surgeons who elected him an honorary fellow.
Sam retired from General Practice in 1956 and after a short period in private practice returned to his alma mater, The Middlesex Hospital, to become Hon. Curator of the Ferens Institute for Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) surgery, as well as being Director of Medical Illustration.
He was also an adviser on cancer registration to the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.
He eventually retired from medicine altogether in 1971.
Such was his popularity in Weybridge that the children's ward at the hospital was named after him as is the current Woking and Sam Beare Hospice.
Life outside Elmbridge
Although Sam Beare was the first member of his family to enter the medical profession, others followed.
His younger brother Cecil also trained at The Middlesex Hospital and became a Consultant Surgeon in Redhill.
Sam's son Robin, who as a pilot during WW2 was shot down over Germany and became a prisoner of war, later trained at The Middlesex Hospital becoming a plastic surgeon at East Grinstead with the legendary Archibald McIndoe.
Robin's son John has continued the family tradition and currently practises as an Ophthalmic Surgeon at Kingston Hospital, Surrey.
In 1920 Sam married Cecil and they remained a devoted couple until her death after an eye operation in 1976.
He then married for a second time, Vivienne Maynard, who looked after him until his own death following a short illness in 1978.
She then moved to live with her daughter in Denmark and died a few years later.
In his leisure time Sam was a passionate angler - mainly trout and salmon - and had many entertaining stories to tell about his experiences.
He kept fit by playing tennis and swimming regularly well into old age.
A former colleague wrote that 'we shall not often see his like again'.
Sources
Sam Beare obituaries: British Medical Journal, August 26th, 1978 and Royal College of Surgeons, Surgicat+, E006289.
Family and WW1 naval information kindly supplied by Sam's grandson Julian Beare.
Personal memories of Sam Beare provided by Sylvia Webber (as patient and trainee nurse); Brenda Vey a child patient and witness to the German bombing; Janet Marshall (Weybridge GP); and Pat Gamba (physiotherapist).
'A Short History of Weybridge Hospital', E.N Bradley, 1979.