This is a list of London medical students who assisted at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after its liberation at the end of the Second World War.[1] There were 96 in total.[2] [3] Most of the students were in their penultimate year of medical education and were recruited from nine medical schools in London.[4] [5]
They were a feature of a BBC Open Space programme in 1984.
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Oliver Davies, also known as Dan Davies | Died 2 March 1977 (age 52) | Became a general practitioner who co-founded a health centre in Whitstable, established a GP course in Canterbury, was secretary of the East Kent Division of the British Medical Association and served with the Zambia Flying Doctor Service. | [6] |
| Michael Gwynne Douglas Davys | 1922 – 12 June 2002 | Became a psychiatrist in Harrow on the Hill, who specialised in depression in children. | [7] [8] |
| Dennis Henry Forsdick | 1924 – 9 December 2016 (age 92) | Became a general practitioner at the Friarsgate Medical Centre. | [9] [10] |
| John Langford Hayward | 26 April 1923 – 24 February 2013 | Became a breast surgeon who researched treatment for advanced breast cancer. | [11] [12] |
| David Sells Hurwood | 1924 – 22 May 2005 | Contracted tuberculosis at Belsen. Later, became a general practitioner in Syston and was a founder member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. | [13] |
| John Spencer Jones | 1924 – 11 March 2007 | Became a chest physician. | [14] |
| John Vernon Kilby | Became a GP after a starting a career in anaesthetics. | [15] | |
| John Eric Mandel | |||
| James Andrew Turner | |||
| David Maurice Rahilly | born 1922 | Became a general practitioner in Suffolk | [16] [17] |
| David McPherson Strange | |||
| David George Arthur Westbury | 12 September 1923 – 7 June 1983 (age 59) | Became a forensic psychiatrist at Winterton Hospital. | [18] |
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael James Forth | |||
| 7 May 1924 – 1 April 2020 | Later specialized in immunology and became professor of experimental pathology at Oxford. He also pursued a research career at the Medical Research Council and showed that lymphocytes play an important role in transplant rejection. | [19] | |
| Alan John Kenny (A. J. Kenny) | |||
| Norman Lees | In September 1948 he married Pamela Fawcus and joined a general practice (with Dr Rhoades Buckton) in Wymondham, Norfolk, in 1950. | [20] | |
| Bernard William Meade | |||
| Thomas Pimblett | Contracted typhus at Belsen which delayed his medical training by a year. | [21] | |
| John Towers | Became a RMO at the Royal West Sussex Hospital in 1946, followed by a psychiatrist at Graylingwell in 1950, where he completed his thesis on temporal lobe epilepsy and mental illness, and was then appointed consultant psychiatrist in 1955. He developed a scheme for community care of the elderly and promoted co-ordination with social services. | [22] [23] | |
| Ian Clifford Leonard White | |||
| Gwyn Williams | |||
| Sidney Clifford Brookfield Yorke | 1922–2007 | Became a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and later took over from Anna Freud at the Hampstead Clinic. | [24] [25] |
Colonel E.E. Vella reported that there were eight students from Middlesex Hospital:
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon Dutton | Became a psychiatrist. | [26] | |
| Philip David Alexander Kent | |||
| Humphrey Bohun Kidd | His journal is held at the National Archives. | [27] | |
| John Goff Kilner | Became a general practitioner in Epsom. | [28] | |
| Gerald Raperport | His account of his experience at Belsen was published in 1945 edition of The Middlesex Hospital Journal. | [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] | |
| Peter Watts Rowsell | |||
| David Andrew Thomas Tizard | 1922 | Became a general practitioner in London. Son of Sir Henry Tizard. | |
| George Gordon Walker | |||
In 1981, in parliament, Eldon Griffiths calculated that nine students volunteered from St Bartholomew's Hospital.[35]
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Cordley Bradford | 1922–2002 | Became a general practitioner and founded the first purpose built surgery in Gloucestershire. | [36] |
| Leslie William Clarke | |||
| John Roger Bertram Dixey | [37] [38] | ||
| Andrew Ernest Dossetor | Died 5 December 2013 | Due to typhus, his return home from Belsen was delayed. He later became a general practitioner and his case was once discussed in the House of Commons. | [39] [40] |
| Ian McArthur Jackson | [41] | ||
| Edward Deryk Marsh | [42] | ||
| Ian Reginald Davidson Proctor | [43] | ||
| Laurence Geoffrey Rowland Wand | (1924 – 23 November 2012) | Also known as Laurie. After the war was colonel in the Territorial Army. Retired from general practice in 1990. | [44] [45] |
Students from St Mary's Hospital Medical School included:
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Armatage | |||
| Thomas Colin Lyall Brown | |||
| John Hankinson | 10 March 1919Died 9 March 2009 | Prof of Neurosurgery, Newcastle upon Tyne | |
| Thomas Desmond Hawkins | 22 May 1923 – 2 January 2015 | After the war he undertook specialist training in radiology in Oxford and Manchester, was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists in 1959 and then moved to Addenbrooke’s in 1960. He become a pioneer of interventional neuroradiology and between 1979 and 1984 was the Dean of Cambridge University’s school of clinical medicine. | [46] |
| Peter Derek Campbell Jackson | |||
| Gerald Woolf Korn | |||
| Andrew B. Matthews | Died 1995 | [47] [48] [49] | |
| John McLuskie | |||
| Alan Vandyke Price | Later married Pamela Vandyke Price. | [50] [51] | |
| Gordon Caton Thick | [52] | ||
| Roger W. Watson | |||
| John Leslie Clarence Whitcome | |||
Twelve students went from St Thomas' Medical School.[53] included:
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Boyd | died 13 February 2013 | Caught typhus at Belsen, returned to England and recovered after six months. Retired from medicine at age 52 and wrote popular romance novels under the pseudonym Esther Boyd. | [54] [55] |
| Alan David Rowan MacAuslan | 1921 – 25 May 2018 | In 2005, at the age of 83, his story was reported in the BBC News. | [56] [57] |
| Michael Harold Farnham Coigley | Upon return in 1946, with John Stephenson, wrote a paper on treating starvation with protein hydrolysate. He later became a general practitioner. | [58] [59] | |
| Keith Maxwell Fergusson | |||
| Peter J. Horsey | 1924–2015 | Became a consultant anaesthetist at Southampton. | [60] |
| Alex Paton | 2 March 1924 – 12 September 2015 | Became a gastroenterologist, writer and postgraduate dean for North-West London hospitals. He specialised in alcohol misuse and became the first chairman of the medical committee of Alcohol Concern. His book, ABC of Alcohol, went through four editions. | [61] |
| John Anthony Reynolds | |||
| John Stephenson | Upon return in 1946, with Coigley, wrote a paper on treating starvation with protein hydrolysate. | ||
| Peter Barr Taylor | Previously P. B. Taylor, he later appears in the Medical Register as Peter Barr-Taylor. In 1973 he was promoted from flight lieutenant to squadron leader. | [62] [63] | |
| Arthur Thompson Cook | Became a British Army physician. | [64] [65] | |
| Claude Dempster | 1924 – 6 March 2001 | Became a pathologist at the King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor. | [66] [67] |
| Ian Whimster | 3 September 1923 – 18 January 1979 | Gained international recognition for his study of comparative anatomy and experiments with reptiles, particularly observing their colour patterns in relation to their nerve supply. He defined keratoacanthoma, the distinction between pemphigus and pemphigoid and made descriptions of melanocytes and malignant melanoma. He died in a road traffic accident at the age of 55. | [68] |
One account states there were twelve students from the London Hospital.[69]
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Chometon Gibson | 30 April 1921 – 2 May 2020[70] | Reported on his frustrations at treating inmates at Belsen with lack of resources. Became professor of medicine at Robert Larner College of Medicine. | [71] [72] [73] |
| John Arthur Harland Hancock | 1923 – 7 June 1974 | Contracted typhus in Belsen. Later, he became a dermatologist and then a venereologist and edited the British Journal of Venereal Diseases. He wrote on non-gonococcal urethritis and reactive arthritis, then known as Reiter's disease. | [74] |
| Francis Herbert William Johnson | |||
| Charles Alexander Kyndt | 28 August 1921 - 8 November 1987 | According to his journal entry, he was assigned hut No. 207 containing 700 or more women. He became a general practitioner in East London and honorary consultant dermatologist at the Royal London Hospital. | [75] [76] |
| James Horace Sidney Morgan | [77] | ||
| Richard David Pearce | |||
| David Robertson Smith | Became a haematologist Royal Berkshire Hospital. | [78] | |
| P. W. G. Tasker | 19 May 1924 – 2 March 1960 | Assisted as a pilot during the Malayan Emergency and performed some of the earliest studies of the causes of anaemia using radioactive tracer techniques. He later became a general practitioner. | [79] |
| John Brian Walker | 1924 – 15 October 2014 | Became an eye surgeon and then a general practitioner. Later became known for his skill in sailing with the Hornet dinghy fleet. | [80] |
| Eirian (Bill) Williams | 7 May 1925 – 1 March 1991 | Became a physician at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest, and wrote on brucellosis. | [81] [82] |
Those from UCL Medical School[83] included:
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian William Barras | |||
| Paul Walter Clements | |||
| Thomas Crisp | [84] | ||
| Richard Kingsley Jones | |||
| John Henry Raphael | |||
| Mark J. Raymond | |||
| Douglas Ivor Roberts | |||
| Geoffrey Basil Rooke | [85] | ||
| Roger Sheridan | [86] | ||
| Roger Silverberg | Also known as Morris Roger Silverberg. | ||
| Philip Metcalfe Yeoman | Became a consultant to the Bath Orthopaedic Hospital and the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. | [87] [88] | |
Westminster Hospital Medical School's tercentenary booklet states that they sent eleven students,[89]
| Name | Birth/death | Comments | reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell William Andrew Charles Barton | Became a psychiatrist, who in 1968 wrote a controversial article in Purnell's History of the Second World War based on his experience at Belsen. In 1976 his book titled Institutional Neurosis was published. | [90] [91] [92] [93] | ||
| Ronald Eric Citrine | Born 19 May 1919 | Registered as a medical practitioner in New Zealand in 1955, and lived at Paihia. | [94] [95] | |
| Kenneth Charles Easton | 1924 – 8 February 2001 | Pusued a career focussed around the development of prehospital care and emergency medicine. | [96] [97] | |
| Lionel Kentish Garstin | 1923-2010 | [98] | ||
| Andrew David Moore | ||||
| Eric James Trimmer | Also known as Harry. | [99] [100] [101] | ||
| Derek Geoffrey Wells | ||||
| George Millington Woodwark | 1923 – 4 June 2012 | Became a cardiologist who moved to Vancouver Island. | [102] | |
| John Richard Everett Jenkins | Known as ‘Dick’ Everett Jenkins, co-authored Practical Anaesthesia for Lung Surgery (1967) | [103] | ||
| David Phillip Bowles | ||||
| Michael Hargrave | 8 December 1923 – 25 July 1974 | Became a general practitioner in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. His memoirs, written for his mother, were used by historian Ben Shephard in his 2005 book , and were later published by Imperial College Press in 2014, in a book titled . | [104] [105] | |