Hugoe Matthews was an eminent thoracic surgeon who was an expert on the diseases of the oesophagus; he was also an authority on the Victorian nature writer and mystic Richard Jefferies. He was educated at Sutton County Grammar School where, even as a teenager, he knew he wanted to be a surgeon. He q

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

Raymond Dobson was a consultant thoracic surgeon who worked in the Newcastle upon Tyne region. He was born in Darlington on 24 October 1919, the son of Albert Dobson, an accountant in a bank, and Dorothy Dobson née Robson. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and was then awarded

Born 23 August 1881 at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, son of James Roberts, engineer and ironfounder, and Mary Jane Helme, his wife. His father was managing director of J and S Roberts, ironfounders of Swan Village. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, and at St Bartholomew's Hospita

Helmy Boctor was born in Cairo in December 1907, the youngest child in a family of five. He was educated at the Maronite School, Faggala, and at "Fouad el Awal", Abassieh. He studied medicine at the University of Cairo, qualified in 1932, and held several resident appointments at the Kasr-el-Aini

Clem Grimshaw was a thoracic surgeon in Oxford. He was born on 15 May 1915, in Batley, Yorkshire, to a wool family and was educated at Woodhouse Grove, the local Methodist school, where he learned to play the organ. A Latin master encouraged him to go to Edinburgh. On qualifying, he spent a year i

James Daniel Hardy was an organ transplant pioneer and the first chairman of the department of surgery and surgeon in chief at the University Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi. Board certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Thoracic Surgery and a fellow of the American Col

William Glasgow Ferguson, or 'Fergie' as he was known, was a thoracic surgeon in Victoria, Australia. He was born in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, on 4 March 1919, the son of William and Sara Ferguson. He studied medicine at Durham, where he qualified in 1942. After four months as a house surgeon at

Mary Shepherd was a former consultant thoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex. She was born at Forest Hill, London, on 4 July 1933, the youngest of the two children of George Raymond Shepherd, an electrical and mechanical engineer, and Florence May Savile, whose father and grandfather had

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

Philip Rowland Allison, the son of J R Allison, was born at Selby, Yorkshire, on June 2 1907, and was educated at Hymers College, Hull. He was one of a family of five, two others of whom became doctors. He entered the Leeds Medical School in 1924 and had a brilliant career, taking the BSc with first

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