Leslie Lauste was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Hove General and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton. Born on 30 March 1908, he was the elder son of the famous French pioneer film cameraman, Emile Lauste, who was awarded the Croix de Guerre in the first world war. His mother Bessie née Turley was English and Leslie was brought up in England, being educated at Archbishop Tenison's School. He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he qualified in 1932. In the years preceding the second world war, he held various appointments which enlarged his experience and allowed him to take and pass his FRCS. His final appointment before war came was in obstetrics and gynaecology in Brighton. Leslie wrote, "In the late 1930s it seemed almost certain that war would break out between England and Germany and I had long intended to join the Territorial Army, but I only joined and was commissioned Captain shortly before war broke out. This was at the suggestion of Lieutenant Colonel T Henry Wilson who was in charge of the surgical division of the 21st General Hospital under formation at Eastbourne". They knew each other at St Thomas's and had been in the University of London Officer Training Corps. The events of the next six years were documented by Leslie in a memoir which gave his movements as a prisoner of war, as well as his thoughts on a number of topics. His memoir was donated to the College. It indicates his work as a general surgeon, treating many nationalities, French, Russian, as well as British, in POW camps and hospitals. At times he acted as senior medical officer and negotiated with the Germans in the interests of all patients and, when appropriate, he conducted burial services. From September 1939 to January 1940, he was seconded to Shorncliffe Military Hospital and in January 1940 he returned to the 21st General Hospital, where preparations were being made to move to France by boat from Southampton to Le Havre and thence to a small village outside Boulogne. At the start of the 'real' war, on 20 May 1940, the evacuation of the three general hospitals to Boulogne began. Leslie was ordered to Boulogne, where he had the opportunity to be evacuated, but decided to re-join his unit and remain to look after the wounded. He was made a prisoner of war and during the next year was moved six times, ending up at Stadtroda in southern Germany. Leslie was then moved a further three times during the next four years, ending up in Lamsdorf in Silesia. Then in January 1945, with the Russian advance, came the order to evacuate everyone but patients and medical staff. In practice this meant, for those who could walk, a march of 1,000 kilometres in groups of 1,000. The Germans, including the guards, left subsequently and the POW's were left in no man's land. There followed a period of great uncertainty until 1 March, when the Germans ordered complete evacuation in two trains. Leslie was the senior British officer in the first train of 30 to 40 wagons, with either 16 lying patients or 40 relatively fit people per wagon. The journey lasted five days and ended at Stalag VIIA Moosburg. There the hospital had 2,000 beds, all full, and the patients were of many nationalities. There were over 20,000 prisoners in the camp and Major Lauste was recognised as the senior British medical officer and senior Allied medical officer for Stalag VIIA. It was at this time that Hitler, in a paroxysm of rage about the bombing of Nuremberg and Dresden, ordered that all British and American POW's should be shot. Himmler later countermanded this order and on 29 April the camp was liberated by Patton's Third Army. For his work as a medical officer during his POW years, Leslie was awarded the MBE. On demobilisation, Leslie had hoped to take up a senior resident post in general surgery, but under pressure from Brighton he returned to gynaecology and obstetrics to take up again where he had left off. With the coming of the NHS, he become consultant surgeon on the staff of the Royal Sussex County, Hove General and Princess Alexandra Hospitals. Leslie was a true general surgeon, not afraid to refer when appropriate. He looked after the details of his patients' welfare with kindness and did not believe in early discharge. In his ward work, as well as in the theatre, he believed in a measure of discipline. He was also a firm believer in keeping up to date. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, he belonged to the International Society of Surgery, the 1921 Surgical Club of Great Britain and the Association of Surgeons. He was President of the Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1972 and was a member of the BMA. He wrote a number of papers and spoke to the historical section of the Royal Society of Medicine about the history of hospitals in Brighton and about Dr Richard Russell and his sea water cures. He also had wide interests outside surgery. He was a regular concert and opera goer. He played golf and took an interest in good food and wine. Even in his eighties he was learning ancient Greek and often visited Cambridge for weekend Greek seminars. He was a member and sometime vice-chairman of the Regency Society of Brighton and Hove, where he will be particularly remembered for the long weekend trips he organised to various parts of England and Scotland and the trouble he took to get the details right. He took a great interest in gardens, particularly trees, and often went on field courses to learn more about them. It was a particularly proud day for him when he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society, the tie of which he often wore. Perhaps most noticeable of all was his love of foreign travel, not for holidays, but for historical interest. It is hard to think of anywhere he had not visited and his knowledge of Russian, German and French was a great asset. At the age of 80 he was still travelling, to China and Mongolia, and, at 84, to Tibet. Although in failing health, right up to the age of 90 he still had an active mind and enjoyed many of his interests to the end. He was unmarried. He died on 3 January 2001.