Born 1875, he entered the London Hospital Medical College in 1895 with the Price science scholarship and subsequently won scholarships in anatomy and biology, and the senior Letheby Scholarship. Qualifying in 1901, he served as house surgeon to Thomas Openshaw, FRCS and James Sherren, FRCS and as house physician to (Sir) Robert, Hutchison and Fred John Smith. He proceeded to the London MD in 1903 and BS in 1905, and took the Fellowship in 1908. He practised for a time in north China and then, settling in practice as a surgical consultant in Hong Kong, he became lecturer in anatomy at the university there, and served on the medical board of the colony from 1937 till the Japanese occupation in December 1941. He had practised originally at Union Buildings and later lived at 167 The Peak. When the Japanese invasion began he was attached as a civilian surgical specialist to an extension of the military hospital set up in St Albert's Clergy Training College, Stubbs Road. At the fall of Hong Kong he lost everything and was interned, as was his wife, at the Stanley Camp, where he died of acute anaemia on 19 January 1945, aged 69. While interned and half-starved he had overtaxed his strength by devoted practice of his profession among his fellow prisoners. Mrs Balean survived him with two sons: Dr Geoffrey Terrell Balean, MRCS 1935, who had been in practice with his father in Hong Kong and was a prisoner of war in Japanese hands when his father died; and Flight-Lieutenant Oswald Bradford Balean, LDS 1938, RAFMS dental section. While occupied with a large practice, with administration, and with teaching, Balean retained his interest in science, did most of his own clinical microscopy and closely followed the work at the Hong Kong Bacteriological Institute of his friend Dr A H Greaves, who afterwards shared his internment. He was a man of simple modesty and active mind, a good operator and something of an artist. His only non-professional interests were collecting stamps and playing the violin. Publications: Lupus erythematosus, a clinical study of 71 cases, with J H Sequeira. *Brit J Derm*. 1902, 14, 367. The effects of acids upon blood, with C E.Ham. *J Physiol*. 1905, 32, 312. **See below for an expanded version of the original obituary which was printed in volume 2 of Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows. Please contact the library if you would like more information lives@rcseng.ac.uk** Hermann Balean was a surgeon in Hong Kong who died in Stanley Internment Camp towards the end of the Second World War. He was born in Brighton, Sussex on 13 March 1875, the son of Hermann Balean, a professor of German language and literature who was originally from Cologne, Prussia, and Sarah Balean née Harrison. Balean studied medicine at the London Hospital. He gained a Price science entrance scholarship and subsequently won scholarships in anatomy and biology and the senior Letheby scholarship. He qualified in 1901 with the conjoint examination, gained an MD in 1903 and his FRCS in 1908. He held various junior posts at the London Hospital, including house surgeon, house physician, clinical assistant surgeon in the outpatients and to the Finsen light department, receiving room officer, senior clinical assistant and assistant demonstrator of anatomy. He was also a resident medical officer at the East Dispensary Hospital on Leman Street. He was later a senior resident accoucheur and a lecturer in midwifery. He then became a ship’s surgeon on board a number of ships, including P & O liners. In 1908 he married Isabel Terrell in Bayswater, London. In the same year he settled in Shanghai, where he worked with a Dr Goode. He then moved in 1911 to Chinkiang, a port on the Yangtze River. Here, in 1911, he was involved in helping the wounded of the Xinhai Revolution, which saw the overthrow of Imperial forces at nearby Nanking, marking the start of the Chinese Republic. In 1916 he moved on to Hong Kong. He practised privately and was an honorary visiting surgeon at the Government Civil Hospital. He also lectured in surgery and anatomy at the University of Hong Kong. Following the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in December 1941, he was interred, along with his wife, in Stanley Internment Camp. He died there on 30 January 1945 from malnutrition and anaemia. He was 69. He was survived by his wife and five children – John Hermann, Geoffrey Terrell, Richard Masters and twins, Oswald Bradford and Barbara Isabel. Geoffrey was interned at Sham Shui Po camp in Kowloon, held separately from his parents. Sarah Gillam