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. There were 96 in total. Most of the students were in their penultimate year of medical education and were recruited from nine medical schools in London.
They were a feature of a BBC Open Space programme in 1984. Michael Hargrave recorded some of the events in his memoir Bergen-Belsen 1945: A Medical Student's Journal.
Guy's Hospital
Name Birth/death Comments reference Daniel Oliver Davies, also known as Dan DaviesDied 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. Michael Gwynne Douglas Davys1922 – 12 June 2002 Became a psychiatrist in Harrow on the Hill, who specialised in depression in children.Dennis Henry Forsdick1924 – 9 December 2016 (age 92) Became a general practitioner at the Friarsgate Medical Centre.John Langford Hayward26 April 1923 – 24 February 2013 Became a breast surgeon who researched treatment for advanced breast cancer.David Sells Hurwood1924 – 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."Obituary: David Sells Hurwood". British Medical Journal, Vol. 331, 2005, p.519. John Spencer Jones1924 – 11 March 2007 Became a chest physician. John Vernon Kilby Became a GP after a starting a career in anaesthetics.John Eric Mandel James Andrew Turner David Maurice RahillyBorn 1922 Became a general practitioner in Suffolk David McPherson Strange David George Arthur Westbury12 September 1923 – 7 June 1983 (age 59) Became a forensic psychiatrist at Winterton Hospital.
King's College Hospital
Name Birth/death Comments reference Michael James Forth James Learmonth Gowans 7 May 1924 – 1 April 2020Later 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. 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. Bernard William Meade Thomas Pimblett Contracted typhus at Belsen which delayed his medical training by a year. 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.Obituary: John Towers. Psychiatric Bulletin. Cambridge.org., Vol. 18, (1994), p. 443.Morrissey, John and Sainsbury, Peter. (19 June 1959). Observations on the Chichester and District Mental Health Service. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Section of Psychiatry. Vol. 52, No. 1061, p. 42.Ian Clifford Leonard White 1921-2004 Became a psychiatrist, working first in the UK, then emigrated to Adelaide, Australia in 1964 where he worked as a psychiatrist, then child psychiatrist in the public health system, until retirement. <family supplied information>Gwyn Williams Sidney Clifford Brookfield Yorke1922–2007 Became a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital and later took over from Anna Freud at the Hampstead Clinic.
Middlesex Hospital Colonel E.E. Vella reported that there were eight students from Middlesex Hospital: Name Birth/death Comments reference Gordon Dutton Became a psychiatrist. Philip David Alexander KentBorn 1922 Became a psychiatrist. His journal is held at the National Archives. Humphrey Bohun Kidd His journal is held at the National Archives. John Goff Kilner Became a general practitioner in Epsom.Gerald Raperport His account of his experience at Belsen was published in 1945 edition of The Middlesex Hospital Journal. Peter Watts Rowsell David Andrew Thomas TizardBorn 1922Became a general practitioner in London. Son of Sir Henry Tizard.George Gordon Walker
St Bartholomew's Hospital In 1981, in parliament, Eldon Griffiths calculated that nine students volunteered from St Bartholomew's Hospital. Name Birth/death Comments reference David Cordley Bradford1922–2002 Became a general practitioner and founded the first purpose built surgery in Gloucestershire.Leslie William Clarke John Roger Bertram Dixey Andrew Ernest DossetorDied 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.Ian McArthur Jackson Edward Deryk Marsh Supplement to the London Gazette. 10 October 1947, p. 4750Ian Reginald Davidson Proctor 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.
St Mary's Hospital
Students from St Mary's Hospital Medical School included: Name Birth/death Comments reference Robert Armatage Thomas Colin Lyall Brown John Hankinson 10 March 1919 Died 9 March 2009 Prof of Neurosurgery, Newcastle upon TyneThomas Desmond Hawkins22 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.Peter Derek Campbell Jackson Gerald Woolf Korn Andrew B. MatthewsDied 1995 John McLuskie Alan Vandyke Price Later married Pamela Vandyke Price. Gordon Caton Thick Supplement to the London Gazette. 9 November 1948, p. 5876Roger W. Watson John Leslie Clarence Whitcome
St Thomas' Hospital Twelve students went from St Thomas' Medical School. included:
Name Birth/death Comments reference Eddie Boyddied 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. Alan David Rowan MacAuslan1921 – 25 May 2018 In 2005, at the age of 83, his story was reported in the BBC News. 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.Keith Maxwell Fergusson Peter J. Horsey1924–2015 Became a consultant anaesthetist at Southampton. Jones, J. Gareth (2019). "Medical students and "The Anaesthetist" in Belsen 1945". The History of Anaesthesia Society Proceedings. Vol. 52, Cambridge (2019), pp. 30-44Alex Paton2 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.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.Supplement to the London Gazette. 18 SEPTEMBER 1973, p. 11124.The Medical Register 1958. London: The General Medical Council, Part 1, p. 112Arthur Thompson Cook Became a British Army physician. Claude Dempster1924 – 6 March 2001 Became a pathologist at the King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor.Ian Whimster3 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 melanoma. He died in a road traffic accident at the age of 55.
The London Hospital One account states there were twelve students from the London Hospital. Name Birth/death Comments reference Thomas Chometon Gibson30 April 1921 – 2 May 2020 Reported on his frustrations at treating inmates at Belsen with lack of resources. Became professor of medicine at Robert Larner College of Medicine. University of Vermont, "University of Vermont, College of Medicine Bulletin" (1980). University of Vermont College of Medicine, Catalogs. 118.John Arthur Harland Hancock1923 – 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. 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. James Horace Sidney Morgan Richard David Pearce David Robertson Smith Became a haematologist Royal Berkshire Hospital. P. W. G. Tasker19 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.John Brian Walker1924 – 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.Eirian (Bill) Williams7 May 1925 – 1 March 1991 Became a physician at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest, and wrote on brucellosis. Jones, Gareth (September 2017). Letters to the editor. Recruit, retain and resolve. Royal College of Anaesthetists. p. 58.
University College London Those from UCL Medical School included: Name Birth/death Comments reference Brian William Barras Paul Walter Clements Thomas Crisp Richard Kingsley Jones John Henry Raphael Mark J. Raymond Douglas Ivor Roberts Geoffrey Basil Rooke Roger Sheridan 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.
Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital Medical School's tercentenary booklet states that they sent eleven students,