Alf Nachemson was one of the giants of his generation in the now recognised and developing specialty of orthopaedic spinal surgery. He spent a year or more in the USA, involved in editorial work and research, particularly at Boston, and remained a popular figure at American spinal conferences, where

Educated at the London Hospital. His name was from the first well known in connection with the early history and progress of orthopaedic surgery in England. In 1838, in conjunction with his brother-in-law, W J Little, and aided by Quarles Harris, he helped to establish the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Ken McCluskey was the first orthopaedic surgeon to be appointed in Northern Ontario, Canada. He was born in Sorbie, Scotland, on 18 July 1925, where his father, James Joseph McCluskey, was a secretary. His mother was Alice née McShane. He was educated at St Joseph’s College, Dumfries, and then Stony

Denys Wainwright was an orthopaedic surgeon in north Staffordshire. He was born on 5 August 1908 in St Helens, Lancashire, the son of Reginald Wainwright, an architect, and Marion Wainwright née Draper, a general practitioner. He was educated at Prescott Grammar School and then went to Liverpool Uni

Timothy Walter Scannell was an orthopaedic surgeon in the north-east. He was born in Cork on 9 July 1940, the fourth son of Frederick Joseph Scannell, an accountant, and Esther Katherine née Harley, the daughter of a merchant tailor. He was educated at the Christian Brothers’ College, Cork, and Univ

Rodney Sneath was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham and a pioneer in limb salvage surgery for patients with bone tumours. He was born in Sheffield, the son of Ernest Saville Sneath, a master printer, who owned the ‘Saville Press’. His mother was Dorothy

Joseph Thambiah Motha was an orthopaedic surgeon in West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds. He was born in Trivandrum, Kerala, India on 13 January 1947, the sixth child and fifth son of Vincent Motha, a businessman, and Philomena Motha. His father died when he was just three months old and Motha was

Maurice Edmond Müller was an eminent Swiss orthopaedic surgeon who developed internal fixation techniques to treat bone fractures and designed new hip protheses. He was born in Biel, Switzerland, and studied medicine at the universities of Neuchâtel, Berne and Lausanne. He gained his MD from the Uni

John Gibson Taylor, known as ‘Ian’, was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. He was born on 8 June 1918, three months before the end of the First World War, the only child of Scottish parents Kate and William Taylor. Ian’s father was an engineer employed at the Royal Aer

James Arnault James was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Kidderminster. He was born on 9 June 1917 in Gwynfe, a thriving farming community in rural Carmarthenshire, Wales. Both his parents, James and Florence (née Jones) were schoolteachers, and had moved to Gwynfe when they married. John and his

Martin Lowy was an orthopaedic surgeon at the Whittington Hospital, London. He was born in Aussig, Czechoslovakia, on 12 December 1933, the son of Julius Lowy, a general practitioner, and Helen Lowy née Wagner. He survived three years in a concentration camp and went to the UK at the age of 11 with

Alastair Lowry Macafee was a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was born on 11 January 1935 in Belfast, the son of Charles Horner Greer Macafee, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen's University, and Margaret Crymble Macafee née Lowry. His maternal