Hussein Ahmed Hussein was born in Berber, Sudan, on 14 November 1904, the son of Ahmed Hussein, an army officer. His early education was at Gordon College and he then entered the Kitchener School of Medicine qualifying in 1931, having obtained a surgical prize. After early appointments he came to En

Roy Mapstone was born in Wedmore, Somerset, on 15 May 1934, the son of an agricultural worker, and after early education at Wedmore Primary School and Sexey's Grammar School, Bruton, entered Bristol University, graduating in 1959. After house appointments he undertook National Service in Germany, Ni

Samir Kumar Biswas was born in Khatura, a village in the Nadir district of West Bengal on 1 July 1929 and was educated at the St Xavier's College and the Medical College, Calcutta. He was always a meritorious student and graduated in 1954 and passed DOMS of Calcutta University in 1956. He then went

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

Derrick Tilton Vail was born in Cincinnati on 15 May 1898, and did his medical course at Harvard University, graduating MD in 1923. He then spent a year as ophthalmic intern at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and in 1926 he became instructor in ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati C

Lewis Herbert Savin was born in London on 26 March 1901. His parents were missionaries who had fled from China at the time of the Boxer rebellion a few months before his birth. Shortly after, his father and mother returned to the hospital that his father had founded at Chao Tung in Yunnan. He used t

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

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

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

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

Dudley Plunket Gurd was born in Belfast on 18 June 1910 the elder son of Frederick Gurd, a pharmaceutical chemist, and Annie Jane (née Glenn), and was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and Queen's University, Belfast, qualifying in 1932. After early house appointments in Belfast, Liverpool and Londo

Bryan Paul Cooper was born in Leicester on 26 December 1931. His family emigrated to Australia four years later and settled in Croydon, New South Wales, where his father worked as a carpenter and joiner. Cooper was educated at the Christian Brothers, Lewisham, Sydney, from which he won an exhibition