John Dobree was born in Woolwich on 25 April 1914, the son of Hatherley Moor Dobree OBE, a civil engineer, and Muriel née Hope. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey, and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he qualified in 1938. He was house physician at the Metropolitan Hospital and the Western

After graduating MB BS from the University of Melbourne in 1926, Frederick George Fenton became a resident medical officer at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. Deciding to specialise in ophthalmology he became a resident medical officer and later, registrar at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospit

Charles Cory was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon in east Surrey. He was born in 1932, the son of John Walter Edward Cory, a doctor. He was educated at Epsom College and then studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and King's College Hospital Medical School, London. Shortly after qualifying, he held a tem

Rudolph Blach was dean of the Institute of Ophthalmology, London, and a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He was the son of Hedwig Jeanette Blach, a nurse companion. She was originally from Germany, but became a British citizen in 1948, at the same time as her son. Blach stud

William Smiley was born in 1913 and qualified from St Andrews University in 1937. After service in the RAMC with the rank of major, he worked at the Royal Eye Hospital with Sir Benjamin Ryecroft. He was consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Windsor Group at Taplow, Maidenhead and Wexham Park, Slough.

John Cogan did his medical training in Manchester and then specialised in ophthalmology, doing his training in the United Liverpool Hospitals and the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, Stoke on Trent. He was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Chester Royal Infirmary and the Wrexham Hospital Group,

Abraham Werb was a surgeon in the corneo-plastic unit, Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. He was born on 1 April 1919 in Lithuania, the son of Maurice Werb and Pia Werb née Frumer. His family was Jewish, and he spent much of his childhood trying to avoid being harassed by the anti-Semitic loca

Charles Brown was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon in Bristol. He was born in Aberdeen on 10 July 1915 into a medical family - his father, John Brown, and uncle were both general practitioners, both his sisters married doctors, one sister and a daughter became nurses, and his son-in-law was professor

John Moss was a former ophthalmic surgeon at Stoke Mandeville. He was born in Birmingham in 1922 and attended Bishop Vesey School, Sutton Coldfield. At Birmingham University Medical School during the war, he was of the generation of students who regularly did fireguard duties and worked as house sur

Ron Lowe was consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. He was born in Melbourne on 14 November 1913, the third son of William E Lowe, a contractor, and Isabella née Hinde. He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, and qualified as a pharmacist at the University o

John Richard Havers-Strong, generally known as Richard Strong, was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Conquest Hospital, St Leonards-on-Sea. Educated at Oundle School and Queens' College, Cambridge, where his father had attended 30 years previously, Richard became energetically involved in rowing, c

John Ayoub was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the London Hospital, a former Vice-President of the Faculty of Ophthalmologists and a College Council member. He was born on 7 September 1908 in South Kensington, the son of Moussa Ayoub, the celebrated portrait painter, who painted the Council in 19