Missionary doctor who won an Olympic medal

Thiruvananthapuram: With the London Olympics less than a week away, Keralites have reason to turn nostalgic remembering a British doctor, who won a medal and later made Travancore his home as a medical missionary.

Almost nine decades back, when mountaineering was an Olympic discipline, Dr T H Somervell received a medal in the summer games in Paris in 1924 and later spent many years in the princely state of Travancore as a medical missionary.

He played a vital role in introducing modern medicine to South India as the leading light of Neyyoor Medical Mission set up by London Missionary Society (LMS) in a remote village near Nagarcoil, now in Tamil Nadu.

It was only recently that his family members came to know that their illustrious forebear was an Olympic medal winner.

He was part of an expedition to the summit of the world in 1922.

According to his biographers, Dr Theodore Howard Somervell (1890-1975) came to India as a mountaineer but spent much of his career in Travancore (south Kerala) as a medical missionary.

Though it was lure of the Everest that brought him to India, many people still remember him as a kind doctor.

Utradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the Travancore royal family, recalled that the British surgeon was very busy but never failed to attend to the medical needs of the royal family members on their demand.

Travancore at the time was a princely state and present Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, the nerve centre of the work of LMS, was part of it.

"Somervell used to visit our palace and attended to us whenever we requested. He was very popular in Travancore. I still remember that he treated me also once when I suffered from tonsillitis when I was a boy," the Maharaja told PTI.

He worked at LMS hospital in Neyyoor, now in Kanyakumari district. Besides his expertise as a surgeon, his kindness and compassion made him a revered figure, Marthanda Varma said.

Local historians have it that Somervell, at the age of 32, came to India as part of the second British expedition to Himalayas in 1922. Though the expedition failed, he stayed back for an extensive India tour, taking him to places like Delhi, Saranath, Benaras and finally to Neyyoor.