Ernest Cowell was born on 24 February 1886, son of Jasper Cowell of Steyning, Sussex, and was educated at Steyning Grammar School and University College Hospital Medical School where he graduated in 1907, taking the Conjoint Diploma the same year, and went on to take his MD degree in 1909 and the Fellowship in 1911. After holding resident posts at University College Hospital he was appointed assistant surgeon in 1922 at the Croydon General Hospital with which he remained throughout his career, becoming surgeon and ultimately consulting surgeon, but his work was interrupted by distinguished military service in both world wars. He joined the RAMC in 1914 and served throughout the war in France, becoming Lieutenant-Colonel in command of No 1 Casualty Clearing Station, and Commandant of the 1st Army's RAMC School of Instruction. He was twice mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the DSO in 1918. He then returned to civilian practice at Croydon, was elected as Fellow of University College London in 1918, and was County Director and Controller (Surrey) for the British Red Cross Society. From 1938 he was also surgeon to the Mayday Hospital. He remained on the reserve for the Army and was assistant Director of Medical Services 1934-40 of the 44th (Home Counties) Division of the Territorial Army, winning the Territorial Decoration. When war broke out again in 1939 he was recalled to active service, became Deputy Director of Medical Services, 3rd Corps, British Expeditionary Force in France 1940 and to 2nd Corps in England 1940-42. He was then promoted Major-General and Director of Medical Services of the Allied Armies which invaded North Africa in September 1942. He was also chief surgeon under General Eisenhower's command and organised the Air Ambulance Service in North Africa, Sicily and Italy; he was thus director of a vast service of British, American, French, Italian and other allied medical officers and their supporting staff. He was created CBE in 1939, CB in 1940 and was knighted KBE in 1944, and was several times mentioned in despatches. During 1945-46 he was principal medical officer in the Central Commission for Germany and, later, director of health in the United Nations (UNRRA) mission to Greece. For nearly twenty years after the war he continued his civilian practice at Croydon, retiring only in 1965 at the age of seventy-nine. He was appointed an honorary surgeon to the King in 1944, became a Freeman of Croydon in 1945, and a Freeman of the City of London in 1953 in the Company of Coopers. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant for Surrey. He was chairman of the Croydon Division of the British Medical Association 1926-27 and of the Surrey Branch 1936-38 and was active in the central committees and Representative Body of the Association. At the College he was Arris and Gale Lecturer in 1919, and a Hunterian Professor in 1927, and kept up his association with the College, its Museum and Library till near the end of his long life. Cowell married in 1912 Dorothie, daughter of Arthur Miller ISO, who died in 1962 leaving three children. He married secondly in 1966 and removed to Guernsey where he died on 26 February 1971, two days after his eighty-fifth birthday, survived by his wife Mary and by his son and daughter, his second daughter having died before him. Publications: *Hernia*, 1927. *Pocket-book of First Aid in Accidents and Chemical Warfare*, 1937. *Field Service Notes for Medical Officers*, 1939. *Medical Organisation in Air Raids*, with P H Mitchiner 1939, 2nd edition 1944.