Norman Shenstone was born at Brantford, Ontario, on 18 April 1881, the second son and second child of Joseph Newton Shenstone, a manufacturer of farm machinery, and Eliza Hara, his wife. His primary education was in local schools of Brantford and Toronto, to which his family moved during his early b

Emerich Polak received his medical training in Prague and qualified in 1925. He continued his surgical training under Professor Rudolf Jedlicka and his first contact with English surgery was in 1926 when the Moynihan Travelling Club visited Prague. For forty years he directed an important surgical d

Libero Fatti was born on 13 January 1901 in Johannesburg of Italian parents, Luigi and Eliza Fatti, pioneers who had come from Sansepolcro, a small town in Tuscany, in 1896. He was educated until 1915 at the German school in Johannesburg and then at St John's College. After matriculating he started

John Gerald Callanan was born in Ennis, County Clare, on 21 June 1920, the son of John Callanan, a British Government Official, and his wife, Margaret. He spent his early years in England, returning for schooling to Mount Mellory where he attended the veterinary college for a while before transferri

Richard Cory was born in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, the son of Francis, a banana planter and his wife, Annie Allen, nee Seymour. He went to school at Cornwall College in Montego Bay and in 1922 spent one year teaching before entering Bristol University for medical training. He was awarded the Suple Prize,

John Stephen MacMahon was born at Cootamundra, New South Wales. His father was a solicitor practising there, but he also had a country property where the animals, the horses especially, fascinated the boy. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Goulburn, and from the very outset had an outstanding

George Alexander Mason was born in 1901 and graduated from Newcastle-upon-Tyne University in 1922 and spent the whole of his professional life in that city. Although in every sense a general surgeon he soon became interested in thoracic surgery and devoted most of his surgical career to that special

Henry Pierre was born in Trinidad in 1904 and received his early education at Queen's Royal College and his subsequent medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, where he qualified MB BS in 1931. The following year he returned to Trinidad and joined the medical service there. In 1

Muriel Cornish Waterfall, one of four daughters of William Duncan Waterfall, (née Cornish) a teacher, was born in Muswell Hill, London on 23 December 1920. She was educated at Tollington Preparatory School, Muswell Hill, and at St George's School, Harpenden, Herts, where she won a number of prizes.

Ralph Beverly Lynn, known as ‘Bev’, was born on 24 August 1921 in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada. Having initially attended a local school, he moved to one in Midland, Ontario. He studied medicine at Queen’s University Medical School in Kingston, graduating top of his year in 1945. After house job

Charles James Officer Brown was born in Melbourne on 24 September 1897, the third child of David Brown and Jamima (née Officer) whose grandfather, Sir Robert Officer, had emigrated as a ship's surgeon to Van Diemen's Land. He attended the Scotch College in Melbourne and proceeded to the Melbourne Un

Maurice Philip Susman was born in Sydney, Australia, on 4 August 1898, the son of Philip Susman, a merchant, and Gertrude, née Lehane. His early education was at Sydney Church of England Preparatory School and Sydney Church of England Grammar School, afterwards entering the University of Sydney for