Edward Carew-Shaw was born in Lymm, Cheshire, on 28 March 1901, the son of Edward, a cotton broker, and Carolyne Hetty Newman, an actress. He received his schooling at Connaught School, Hove, and then Brighton Grammar School. He began evening classes at King's College, London, and then two years later became a full-time medical student, supporting himself by working in a chemist shop. He later transferred, to study at St George's. Following qualification, he worked as a junior doctor in Southampton and Nottingham, before setting up as a general practitioner in Chelsea. In the evenings he taught anatomy to medical students while he worked for the primary Fellowship examination. He became a chief assistant in ear, nose and throat surgery at the Westminster Hospital, and when he passed the FRCS in 1932 he was appointed as a consultant at the Bolingbroke and National Temperance Hospitals. He also worked at the Princess Louise Hospital for Children, the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and for the Middlesex County. Carew-Shaw joined the supplementary reserve of officers in 1937 and was called up for service on 4 September 1939. He saw service in France and was involved in the retreat from Dieppe and St Nazaire. When the bombing of London began he was seconded from the Army to work at the London Hospital. Following the second world war in 1946 he went to New York to study the technique of fenestration that had been developed by Julius Lempert. On his return he decided not to join the National Health Service and practised from Harley Street. For a time he served as a councillor on Marylebone Council. In retirement he bought a derelict house in Surrey with 35 acres of land, where he developed a beautiful garden and planted thousands of trees. He was married twice; first to Davis Lucy Fryer in 1937 and, when she died, in 1972, to Millicent Beatrice Williams. There were no children of either marriage. He had many interests outside medicine and was considered an authority on Chinese art and ceramics. He collected paintings and as a development of his enthusiasm for gardening he grew mushrooms commercially. He died on 8 May 1998.