Michael Hargrave

His memoirs, written for his mother, were used by historian Ben Shephard in his 2005 book After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945, and were published by Imperial College Press in 2014, in a book titled Bergen-Belsen 1945: A Medical Student's Journal.

His papers are held at the Imperial War Museum in London. His memoirs were used by historian Ben Shephard in his 2005 book After Daybreak: The Liberation of Belsen, 1945. The story of the London students was portrayed in the 2007 feature film The Relief of Belsen. His diary, written for his mother, was published by Imperial College Press in 2014, with all royalties donated to Amnesty International and the polio charity Rotary Club PolioPlus.

Hargrave was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and died on 25 July 1974.

He completed his national service with the Royal Air Force in Egypt and Kenya, returning to Wootton Bassett in 1950 to become a general practitioner. By 1956, he had a purpose-built surgery with an appointment system and radiotelephone. He also helped at the ear, nose and throat clinic at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon. In 1957, he became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Hargrave married nurse Joy Thompson in 1948, a year after qualifying as a doctor. They had a daughter, Sally, and a son, David. Both developed polio in 1953, two years before the first injectable Salk vaccine. David made a full recovery, but Sally, who was nine months old at the time, was left with a paralysed leg. She became a secretary and David a GP in Portland, Dorset.

After graduating in medicine in 1947, Hargrave took a house job at Westminster Hospital after which he completed his national service with the Royal Air Force in Egypt and Kenya. Upon returning to Wootton Bassett in 1950, he became a general practitioner and a clinical assistant to the ear, nose and throat clinic at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon. By 1956, he had a purpose-built surgery with an appointment system and radiotelephone.

In 1947, Hargrave graduated in medicine and took up his first house job at Westminster Hospital.

Hargrave had, until May 1945, spent the Second World War at school and studying medicine. In April 1945, he was among eleven medical students from Westminster who volunteered to help relieve a famine in Holland, a part of the Netherlands still occupied by the Germans but awaiting liberation. On the day of departure, the students were informed that they were instead being sent to help at the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

Michael John Hargrave (8 December 1923 – 25 July 1974) was a British general practitioner in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, who in 1945 assisted at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp when he volunteered as a medical student from Westminster Hospital at the age of 21.

Michael Hargrave was born on 8 December 1923, in Simla, British India, the elder of two sons of a decorated First World War pilot who was posted there by the Royal Air Force. Hargrave was sent to England to attend Harcourt Preparatory School at Weyhill, following which he attended St Edward's School, Oxford. In 1942, he gained admission to King's College London and then to Westminster Hospital for his clinical education in medicine.