Andrew Elkington was a consultant ophthalmologist in Southampton and one of the founders of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He was born on 12 December 1935 in Newport, Shropshire, into a medical family; his ancestors had been doctors since the eighteenth century. His father, George Ernest Elk

Born on 23 June 1901 in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, he was the son of William George Boase, MRCS, LRCP. He was educated at Mount St Mary's, a Jesuit college in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and St Thomas's Hospital, London, where he was influenced by the late Philip Mitchiner, then resident assistant

George William Black was born in Boston, Lincolnshire on 21 January 1903 and was educated at Boston Grammar School and at the Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1926. During his early years in London he became very conscious of the divisions in English life, joining the Fabian Society and becoming a

Michael John Gilkes was a consultant ophthalmologist at the Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton. He was born in Montreal, Canada, on 31 August 1923, the only child of Hester Dene Aram Parker, a musician, pianist and singer. She later married Martin Heming Gilkes, an author and teacher, who had lost a leg

Haripada Adhikary was an ophthalmologist at the Royal Preston Hospital. He was born in 1941 in pre-partition India in the small village of Rampal in the district of Khulna, the son of Upendra Nath Adhikary and Kalidasi Adhikary. He initially worked as a mathematics teacher, but later studied medicin

Ivan Cher was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the University of New South Wales’ Teaching Hospital, Sydney. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 22 November 1927, the son of Paul Cher and Minnie Cher née Spiro. He attended Wellington College, where in 1945 he gained the Lance George Memorial

Iris Kane was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, on 22 November 1923, the only daughter of Michael Harry Kirkpatrick Kane, MRCP, and Winifred Alma Roworh, who was also a qualified doctor. She was educated until the age of eleven at the Roedean School, Johannesburg, at which she gained a scholarshi

Roger Trimble was born in Holyhead, Anglesey, on 19 November 1946, the son of Henry John Trimble, a farmer, and his wife Barbara Margaret, née Gill, a writer. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Sheffield University, where he qualified in 1969. After a series of medical and surgical posts

Kandiah Vythilingham was born in Ceylon on 7 November 1910 and qualified with the LMS of Ceylon in 1937. He joined the Department of Health Services in 1939 and was appointed an acting medical officer at the Victoria Memorial Eye Hospital, Colombo. Thenceforward he specialized in ophthalmology, hold

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

Mark Treisman, the son of Wolfe Treisman, an outfitter, and of Esther (née Davis) was born in London on 10 May 1898. His paternal grandparents and several generations of his family were farmers in Lithuania until Jews were forbidden to own land there. He later changed his name to Tree and states tha

Saw Leong was born in Burma on 19 October 1918 in Mudon, where his father, U Saw Ohn Pe, was a landowner and his mother, Daw Tan Ma Chan, a businesswoman. His uncle, Tan Chan Taik, was an ophthalmologist in Rangoon. His sisters, Ma Thwe Ohn Pe and Thein Thein Myint, became GPs in Moulmein and Streat