George Denis Elphick was senior resident and chief clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital, house surgeon to the eye department at St George's Hospital and consultant ophthalmologist to the Leicester Royal Infirmary. His last post was as consultant ophthalmologist to the Ministry of Pensions.

Iris Kane was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, on 22 November 1923, the only daughter of Michael Harry Kirkpatrick Kane, MRCP, and Winifred Alma Roworh, who was also a qualified doctor. She was educated until the age of eleven at the Roedean School, Johannesburg, at which she gained a scholarshi

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

Andrew Elkington was a consultant ophthalmologist in Southampton and one of the founders of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He was born on 12 December 1935 in Newport, Shropshire, into a medical family; his ancestors had been doctors since the eighteenth century. His father, George Ernest Elk

Ogilvie Duthie, the eldest son of the director of education at Salford, was born on 19 September 1899, in Manchester. After education at Manchester Grammar School he enlisted in the Navy in 1916, at the age of 17, as a Sub-Lieutenant. Entering Manchester University after the war he qualified in 1921

'Buster' Glover was a consultant ophthalmologist in Windsor. He was born in Hampstead, London, on 5 October 1917, the son of James Alison Glover (CBE, MD, FRCP), the senior medical officer to the Board of Education and the Ministry of Health, and Katherine Merriam, the daughter of a plastics manufac

John Stewart Groves was a consultant ophthalmologist in the Coventry area. He was born in Harrogate on 23 August 1921, the son of Olive and John Arthur Groves. His mother was a teacher and his father a professional soldier. He did his medical training in Leeds, qualifying in 1943, and entered the Ar

Harold Ridley pioneered the use of Perspex lenses in the treatment of cataract. He was born on 10 July 1906 in Kibworth, Leicestershire. His father, Nicholas Charles Ridley FRCS, was a former Naval surgeon who became an ophthalmic surgeon at Leicester Royal Infirmary. His mother, Margaret Parker - h

Born on 23 June 1901 in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, he was the son of William George Boase, MRCS, LRCP. He was educated at Mount St Mary's, a Jesuit college in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he was influenced by the late Philip Mitchiner, then resident assistant

Brian Harcourt was born on 3 March 1934, the son of John Ellison Harcourt, a scientific instrument manufacturer in Liverpool and Bertha Florence Kneen. His grandfather, Richard Eugene Harcourt FRCS (1858-1921), was an ophthalmic surgeon, also in Liverpool. Harcourt was educated at Quarry Bank High S

William Stewart Duke-Elder was born on 22 April 1898 at Tealing, near Dundee, the son of a Scottish minister. Before proceeding to St Andrew's University as a foundation scholar in 1915 he had been a brilliant pupil at school and was invariably top of the class. He graduated MA in 1919 with first cl

Iqbal Singh Chatha, who originally practised as Iqbal Singh, received his medical education at the Glancy Medical School, Amritsar, whence he qualified MB BS Punjab in 1956. Coming to Britain he obtained the DO in 1966 and became a Fellow of the College in 1967. He practised as an ophthalmologist