Born on 18 March 1928 in Christchurch, Averill was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch, at Canterbury University College and then at the Otago Medical School. He spent two years as house surgeon to Palmerston North Hospital and then came to Britain to study ophthalmology at Moorfields, obtain

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

David Malcolm Joseph Burns was born on 2 November 1927 in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. His father, David, was Professor of Physiology at Durham University and his mother, Clarice Margaret Dugdale, was a biochemist. He attended Newcastle Grammar School and studied medicine at Trinity College, Cambr

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

Edgar Frederick (John) King was born in Midsomer Norton, near Bristol, on 3 December 1899. His father, Edgar James King was in commerce and his mother was Sarah Denning, nee Bird. He was educated at King Edward's School, Bath, and at Bristol University and Medical School. He served as a Second Lieut

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

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

Mark Treisman, the son of Wolfe Treisman, an outfitter, and of Esther (née Davis) was born in London on 10 May 1898. His paternal grandparents and several generations of his family were farmers in Lithuania until Jews were forbidden to own land there. He later changed his name to Tree and states tha

Sir Stephen Miller was born on 19 July 1915 in Arbroath, Tayside, the eldest son of Stephen Charles Miller, an engineer, and Isobel, née Hamilton. He was educated at Arbroath High School and Aberdeen University, where he qualified MB ChB in 1937. His interest in ophthalmic surgery followed a peri

Dr John Lawrence Bignell, a leading ophthalmologist in Melbourne for many years, died on Monday 31 October 2005 after a long illness. John was born in Melbourne on 24 May 1917, the second son of Colonel and Mrs F Bignell; his father was also a doctor and served in France in the First World War. J

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

Saw Leong was born in Burma on 19 October 1918 in Mudon, where his father, U Saw Ohn Pe, was a landowner and his mother, Daw Tan Ma Chan, a businesswoman. His uncle, Tan Chan Taik, was an ophthalmologist in Rangoon. His sisters, Ma Thwe Ohn Pe and Thein Thein Myint, became GPs in Moulmein and Streat