Walter Gordon was a thoracic surgeon. He was born on 11 January 1916 in Modderfontein, South Africa, the third child and second son of Herman Gordon, a confectionery manufacturer and businessman, and Anna née Rabinowitz , a housewife. He was educated at King Edward VII School, Johannesburg, and then

John Fairman Dark was a thoracic surgeon in Manchester. He was born in London on 18 April 1921, the son of Leonard Dark, a sales manager, and Dorothy Rose Dark née Fairman, a London Hospital nurse. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, where he won Harrison and Kitchener sc

Robert Christopher Barclay was a consultant thoracic surgeon. Born on 2 April 1916 in Chippenham, he trained at St George's Hospital and qualified from Cambridge University in 1942. Passing the fellowship in 1946 he was house surgeon at St George's and then resident medical officer at the Royal Canc

John Rashleigh Belcher was a thoracic surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, London. Born in Liverpool on 11 January 1917, he was the ninth in a long line of doctors who originally hailed from Bandon in Cork. He was educated at Epsom and St Thomas’ Hospital, where he graduated at the age of 21, having a

Leslie Temple was a consultant thoracic surgeon at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. He was born in London in 1915 and studied medicine at University College Hospital. After qualifying in 1939, he completed house posts in Aylesbury and Canterbury, and was then a resident surgical officer at Wigan Infi

Lawrence Whytehead was a thoracic surgeon in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in Easty, Kent, on 7 February 1914 and educated at St Edmund’s and Charterhouse. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1938. During the Second World War he served in

Born in 1919 at Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, he was educated at Repton, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the Middlesex Hospital. After qualification he served as a Captain and graded surgeon in the RAMC. Later he was resident medical officer at Tindal House Emergency Hospital in Aylesbury an

Hyder Ismail Sheikh was born on 5 April 1931 at Shahada, Maharashtra, India and educated at the University of Bombay, where he graduated in 1956 with first-class honours in medicine and surgery. After holding house appointments at the Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy Hospital, Bombay, he came to England and was

Donald Ross was one of the foremost British cardiac surgeons of his generation and was renowned for his innovations, superlative surgical technique and clinical acumen. He was also recognised as a great mentor for the many young surgeons who trained under him. He was born on 4 October 1922 in Kim

Edward Delos Churchill was born in Chenoa, Illinois, in 1895. In 1920 he graduated from Harvard Medical School and spent the next four years at the Massachusetts General Hospital. For the next three years he was a Dalton Scholar with Cecil Drinker, and then held a Moseley Travelling Fellowship, whic

Born at Oldham 7 October 1903, son of Llewellyn Buckley, yarn broker, and Sarah Henthorne his wife, he was educated at King Edward VII School, Lytham St Anne's, at St John's College, Cambridge and at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He was house surgeon to Sir Geoffrey Keynes and Harold Wilson at Bart's a

Born at Sunderland, Co Durham on 24 December 1900, the son of Laurence O'Shaughnessy, inspector of customs and excise, and Mary Westgate, his wife, who died on 21 March 1941. He was educated at South Shields High School for Boys and left at the age of sixteen to go to Durham College of Medicine, his