Ralf Dahrendorf was a German sociologist and politician who became director of the London School of Economics (LSE). He was born in Hamburg on 1 May 1929, the son of Lina and Gustav Dahrendorf, a member of the Social Democrat party in the Reichstag of 1932, where the Nazis had a majority. Just month

Maurice Mercadier was a leading French gastrointestinal surgeon and a former president of l'Académie nationale de médecine. He was born in the small village of Pradelle in the Aveyron region of France on 21 January 1917. His family background was modest and his father died when he was eight years ol

Hartley Shawcross, a barrister, Labour politician and an honorary fellow of the College, will be perhaps best remembered as the leading British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. He was born on 4 February 1902, the son of John and Hilda Shawcross. He was educated at Dulwich College, th

Jessie Blossom Coulthurst (née Henderson) was born in 1898 and married John William Coulthurst MA, JP, the great-grandson of one of the founders of the internationally known firm of bankers, Messrs Coutts and Co. Throughout her life she lived in the Skipton area of Yorkshire where she was a local Ju