Tom Casey was born on 8 October 1929 in Limerick, the son of Michael Casey, a farmer. He was educated at University College, Dublin, and after specialising in ophthalmology became registrar first at the Westminster Hospital and later at Moorfields. He possessed a happy combination of inspiration, su

Roy Mapstone was born in Wedmore, Somerset, on 15 May 1934, the son of an agricultural worker, and after early education at Wedmore Primary School and Sexey's Grammar School, Bruton, entered Bristol University, graduating in 1959. After house appointments he undertook National Service in Germany, Ni

Eric Meyer was born in London on 2 July 1918 the son of Reinhard Carl Johannes Meyer, an ophthalmic surgeon and Fellow of the College, who moved to South Africa in 1920, and his wife, Phyllis, née Bagshaw. He was at King Edward's School in Johannesburg before entering the University of Witwatersrand

Dudley Plunket Gurd was born in Belfast on 18 June 1910 the elder son of Frederick Gurd, a pharmaceutical chemist, and Annie Jane (née Glenn), and was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and Queen's University, Belfast, qualifying in 1932. After early house appointments in Belfast, Liverpool and Londo

Anthony Gordon Palin was born in Wallington, Surrey, on 29 July 1907, the son of Frederick Palin, a barrister. He was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, Oxford University and St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying in 1933. After completing post-graduate training he was appointed consultant ophthal

Arnost Hirtenstein was born in Slovakia in 1909 and qualified MD in Prague in 1934. After military service during which he developed an interest in ophthalmology he entered general practice in a small town in Northern Bohemia but after three years, in 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo and forced

Michael O'Riordan was a consultant ophthalmologist at the Croydon Eye Unit, Mayday Hospital. He was born in Markham, Gwent, on 14 August 1929, the son of Michel Joseph O'Riordan, a general practitioner, and Milwen Mary Lima O'Riordan née Jones, a teacher. He came from a medical background - his fath

Andrew McKie Reid was born on 14 April 1893 and educated at Liverpool University. In 1914 he interrupted his undergraduate career to be commissioned in the King's Liverpool Regiment, and was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 when serving on the Somme with the Machine Gun Corps. In 1918 he was wound

Thomas Crawford Barras came of a distinguished Glasgow medical family. His father, William Barras, was President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists at the time of his death in a motoring accident in 1928, and his grandfather Thomas Crawford also practised as a doctor in Glasgow. Barras was

Oswald Gayer Morgan was born in Seaford, Sussex, on 5 July 1889, the eldest son of William Pringle Morgan and Ethel, née Eastwood. He was educated at Epsom College, Clare College, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma in 1913. A year later he went to Fran

Isidore Spiro served in two world wars. In the first world war he served as an ordinary infantryman in France. He was prevented from sitting the Final FRCS examination in 1939 because he had been called up, and when he eventually obtained leave from the British Expeditionary Force in order to sit he

Allen John Bridson Goldsmith was born on 27 November 1909, the son of an Edinburgh MD. He was educated at King William's College, Isle of Man, and the Middlesex Hospital. He qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1931 and took the MB BS with distinction in medicine and pathology. He held posts at th