John Scott was the first full-time paediatric surgeon in the then Northern Region when he was appointed as a senior lecturer and honorary consultant in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1960. He continued to provide the service essentially single-handed for the next decade. He was born in Zanzibar, East Africa

Born at Auxey in Burgundy on 8 December 1871, the son of a landed proprietor and wine-grower, he was educated at a Jesuit school and at Dijon University. Transferring to Paris he discovered his taste for anatomy, was placed first in the examination for externes, served under Delbet 1894, under Rigal

Thomas Twistington Higgins was born on 19 November 1887 in Bolton, Lancashire, his father having been Vicar of Congleton. He went to school at Pocklington in East Yorkshire, and then on an entrance scholarship to Manchester University where he graduated MB, ChB in 1909 with distinctions in medicine,

William Giles Manson was a consultant paediatric surgeon at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. He was born on 16 January 1965. He went to Edinburgh University to study medicine, qualifying MB ChB in 1989. He went on to train in surgery in Sheffield, Glas

Samia Salem was born in Alexandria in 1948, where her father Hassan Salem was Professor of Tropical Medicine and her mother, Ehsan Naby, was an art teacher. She was educated at the Lycée Français in Alexandria, and then accompanied her father to Iraq in 1964 where she qualified from the University o

Ruth Valda Magnus worked as resident medical officer to the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in 1956 and from 1958 to 1959. She was at the Royal Children's Hospital in 1957 and became a surgical registrar there, 1964-65. She became consultant paediatric surgeon at the Dandenong and District Hospital in V

Gamini Wickramarachchi Karunaratne, or 'Gam' as he was always called, was a pioneer of paediatric surgery in Sri Lanka. He was born in Kamburugamuwa, southern Sri Lanka, on 19 April 1929. His father was Wilson Karunaratne and his mother was Tilaka. He had two brothers and five sisters. His early sch

Jay Grosfeld was, in the eyes of many, the foremost American academic paediatric surgeon of his time. A large man with a warm personality and an ever-present friendly smile, he was a wonderful host to visiting surgeons, a superb teacher and someone revered on both sides of the Atlantic by all who kn

Ambrose Jolleys was born on 25 September 1919 in Ireleth, Westmoreland. He was educated at Urmston Grammar School, Manchester, and graduated MB ChB from Liverpool University in 1942. He was appointed a consultant in 1952, the first full-time paediatric surgeon in Manchester. He was a true pioneer

Andrew Wilkinson was the first Professor of Paediatric Surgery in the UK and as such received honours in many countries. Although his father was of Scottish extraction he was born in Taunton, Somerset, on 19 April 1914. He was educated locally and then at Weymouth College before going up to Edinburg

Valentine Andrew James Swain was a paediatric surgeon in London's East End. He was born on 21 February 1910, a twin, in Ilford, Essex, into a family with a strong medical tradition. His father, James Steel Swain, and grandfather were both doctors. His mother was Mary Blanche née MacMunn. He went fro

Harold Homewood Nixon (Nicky) was born in Newcastle on 27 February 1918, the son of Isaac Nixon, a chartered accountant. After early education at Fenham High School and the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for pre-clinical studies in 1935 and Durham