Professor Sir Miles Irving

Sir Miles Irving was born in Lancashire, and professes to remain at heart a "bigoted Northerner".   He trained in medicine at Liverpool University, and subsequently persued a career in surgery at Liverpool, and later in Newcastle upon Tyne.  He and his wife later moved to Austrlia where he undertook further training during a research Fellowship programme.   On returning to England Sir Miles was appointed to St Bartholomew's Hospital in London as Reader in Surgery and Consultant Surgeon.  Later in his career he returned north to be Professor of Surgery at Manchester University.

Sir Miles specialised in bowel surgery, particularly Crohn's Disease, and set up one of two National units for the management of the severest cases.

He also pioneered the development of trauma centres for the treatment of the severely injured, and towards the end of his career he worked with Government Research and Development as Director of New Technologies.  Following retirement Sir Miles became Chariman of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sir Miles recently retired as a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum.

His talk to the OWLC in February 2016 was not on matters medical, or indeed military (except in the widest sense).  He has had a life long interest in the families of the English / Scottish Borders, known as the Reivers.  The name Irving has its roots in the Borders, as do many other names often heard today in many walks of life.  He showed us maps of the Borders, and listed families descended from the rebellious and often violent but highly influential borderers from that area, and illustrated his talk about the Reivers over the last 500 years or so in an excellent and informative presentation.