Vincent Nesfield was born in India on 12 October 1879, the son of John Collinson Nesfield, Director of Education in India, and Ellen Blumhardt, a missionary who had been through the siege of Lucknow during the Mutiny. He entered St Mary's Hospital Medical School in 1897 and completed a successful career as a student by gaining the Meadows Prize in obstetrics and gynaecology and qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma in 1901. He was a good swimmer, and his ability and self-confidence gained him the nick-name of "Strut". His special interest in chemistry resulted in the invention and patenting of a tablet which placed in water liberated nascent chlorine, and so sterilized any contaminated water. In 1902 he joined the Indian Medical Service, but was seconded in 1903 to house appointments at St Mary's which enabled him to pass the final Fellowship in 1905. He finished these appointments in time to join Francis Younghusband's historic mission to Tibet, where his newly invented tablets stopped an epidemic of cholera. This success led to his appointment as Chemical Examiner to the Government of the United Provinces, but he was soon transferred to the regular service as a civil surgeon. Here he built up a high reputation as a general surgeon, but he also took a special interest in eye surgery and published several papers on the treatment of cataract. In 1914 he was sent to Mesopotamia as a Major in charge of the water laboratories, but became so disgusted with the medical maladministration that he felt impelled to condemn it publicly. He was therefore recalled to India and his pay was stopped for a prolonged period. Ultimately he retired from the IMS, and in 1921 returned to London where he became ophthalmic surgeon to the Queen's Hospital for Children in addition to private practice in general as well as eye surgery. His interest in chemical therapy never waned, and the publication in the lay press of an undisclosed formula for the treatment of many diverse conditions from diabetes to cancer was reported to the General Medical Council and his name was erased from the Medical Register in 1932. But he had a large popular following and continued to practise surgery in his own nursing home equipped with a private laboratory in which he did his own bacteriology, and pursued his chemical researches. After 19 years his Fellowship was restored. He was a clever, kind-hearted and generous man, and when over 80 years of age officiated at the launching of a life-boat named "Vincent Nesfield" by one of his patients who had raised the money to build the boat. His wife Grace died just two weeks before his own death on 24 January 1972. They had four children, of whom one son became a doctor.