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

Eric John Arnott was an ophthalmologist and a pioneer of modern cataract surgery. He was born on 12 June 1929 in Sunningdale. His father, Sir Robert John Arnott, was chairman of Arnott Trust, Dublin, and director of *The Irish Times*. His mother was Emita Emelia James. He attended St Peter's Court P

John Holford Cook began his career as an ophthalmologist, but later re-trained as an anaesthetist. Born on 16 May 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, he did not meet his father until he was three years old. He studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, London, and, following qualificati

Margaret Challis was a consultant ophthalmologist at Whipps Cross Hospital. Her parents were both doctors – her father, John Humphrey Thornton Challis, was a consultant anaesthetist at the London Hospital and her mother, Margaret Llewelyn Jones, a general practitioner in Woodford, Essex. Margaret wa

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

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

Brian Harcourt was born on 3 March 1934, the son of John Ellison Harcourt, a scientific instrument manufacturer in Liverpool and Bertha Florence Kneen. His grandfather, Richard Eugene Harcourt FRCS (1858-1921), was an ophthalmic surgeon, also in Liverpool. Harcourt was educated at Quarry Bank High S

Thomas Crawford Barras came of a distinguished Glasgow medical family. His father, William Barras, was President of the Scottish Society of Anaesthetists at the time of his death in a motoring accident in 1928, and his grandfather Thomas Crawford also practised as a doctor in Glasgow. Barras was

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

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

Arnost Hirtenstein was born in Slovakia in 1909 and qualified MD in Prague in 1934. After military service during which he developed an interest in ophthalmology he entered general practice in a small town in Northern Bohemia but after three years, in 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo and forced

Paul Folca was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Torbay Hospital, Devon. He was born on 29 July 1933 in Cheltenham to Joseph and Cecilia Folca. His father had trained as an ecclesiastical joiner and worked at the renowned furniture design company Gordon Russell. During the Second World War, he work