Robert Brain studied medicine at Birmingham University and trained at the Middlesex and St Bartholomew's Hospitals. He became a Fellow of the College in 1940. He had early house appointments at the General and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Birmingham. During the second world war he served as a surgical specialist with the RAMC. Moving to London he became thoracic surgeon to Guy's and the King Edward VII Hospital in London. He was also thoracic surgeon to the South East Metropolitan Regional Health Board. A member of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain, he was also a member of the Association of Thoracic Surgeons of Great Britain. He published several articles on the management of hernias and oesophageal strictures. It is not known when he died. [Date of death confirmed as 15 October 1993. Ancestry.co.uk 23 February 2018.]