Formerly Harold Bedford George Russell he was born in Australia on 10 October 1886 the second son of F R Russell and educated at Geelong, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Hospital where he qualified in 1911 and acted as house surgeon and ear nose and throat house surgeon. During 1914-18 he served in the RAMC with the BEF in France, becoming DADMS of the 9th Corps, being mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Croix de Guerre. He was later attached to the facio-maxillary unit at Queen's Hospital, Sidcup, and in 1919 was appointed to the staff of the Throat Hospital, Golden Square and of St Bartholomew's. He became director of investigation at the Metropolitan Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, and was particularly interested in the problems of nasal sinusitis concerning which he contributed many papers. He acted as vice-president of the Section of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology at the BMA meeting in Winnipeg in 1931. A kind, humorous and highly intelligent individual he found in tennis, skiing and gardening, especially the cultivation of roses, the relaxation necessary to him. He married in 1928 Lilian, daughter of Harold Longmore-Mavius, by whom he had two sons. He died at his home in Oxfordshire on 30 December 1957, after much suffering courageously borne, survived by his wife and two sons. A memorial service was held in All Souls, Langham Place on 9 January 1958.