Michael Whiting

John Michael Sturge Whiting (“Michael”) grew up in Leeds, the son of a Quaker family whose liberal and pacifist principles stayed with him all of his life.

After hospital jobs in Chichester and Harrogate (where he learned how to interpret the early electrocardiogram) he moved to the East Riding of Yorkshire to become resident medical officer at the Beverley Westwood Hospital, caring for victims of the blitz and prisoners of war. Some of these prisoners were Russian soldiers caught fighting for the wrong side. The British government agreed that they should be repatriated, but it became evident that they were likely to be executed. One unfortunate prisoner requested an unnecessary operation at the time when he should have been …