Anthony Ebenezer Blest M.D. M.R.S.C. (23 July 1796 – 1 April 1882) member of the Royal Physical Society Edinburgh, was a British physician who served in India as a Madras Medical Service surgeon with the Madras Army for 24 years during which time he was assigned to the 36th and 9th Native Infantry Regiments. He converted to homeopathy on his return to Britain to become a member of the management board of  the Hahnemann Hospital at 39 Bloomsbury Square.

Anthony Ebenezer Blest was born in Sligo, Ireland, in 1797. He obtained his M.D. from The University of Edinburgh in 1821 and the following year became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

On 31 May 1822 Blest was appointed Assistant Surgeon with the East India Company (becoming full surgeon in February 1835).

In March 1823 he married Susanna Maggs (1797 – 1867) of Bath, Somerset, at St. Thomas Mount, Madras, India.

In 1826 Blest was assigned as medical officer in charge of the public cattle depot in Mysore, taking over the role from surgeon and botanist Robert Wright.

In February 1847 Surgeon A. E. Blest retired from East India Company Service.

By 1853 A. E. Blest was listed as practicing at 19 Burton Crescent, London.

During the early 1860s the Blest’s resided at 3 Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.

His first wife, Susannah, died aged 71 at “Maison Warwick” in Nice on 1 November, 1867. Blest remarried the following year, his second wife was Marianne Bristow. They were living at 12 Norfolk Terrace, Westbourne Park, London, when he died on 1 April 1882.

Of Interest:

J. Blest, esq. M.D. is listed as a member of the medical council for the Hahnemann Hospital in Bloomsbury.