Alfred Mark Abrahams was born on 30 December 1912 in Norwich, the third son of Herman Abrahams, minister of religion, and Zelda. He was educated at Holy Trinity School and King George V Grammar School Southport, from where he was the first boy to win a Southport Borough Scholarship and the Robert Ge

Jean Sandel was born towards the end of 1916, her parents' only child, in the small community of Taumarunui, twenty-five miles west of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. She was educated at the Girls' High School, New Plymouth (on the coast, sixty miles west of her home), b

Kevin McNamara was born in Auckland on 14 January 1915. His mother died when he was 12, leaving seven children, of whom Kevin was the oldest. His father remarried and had a further nine children. He was educated at the Sacred Heart College, from which he went to Otago University, qualifying at the a

Richard Pomfret Jepson was born in Whalley, Lancashire, on 15 February 1918, the son of Mr W N and Mrs L E Jepson. He was educated at St Mary's Grammar School, Clitheroe, and at Manchester University where he won colours for cricket, soccer and golf. He graduated in 1941 and after early house appoin

Robert Ellis Gibbins was born in Birmingham on 29 July 1914, the son of David Gibbins, an engineer, and his wife Ethel Emilie, née Rohrbach. He was educated at a number of different schools and at Birmingham University Medical School, where he qualified MB ChB in 1938. After resident jobs at the Que

William Girdwood was born in Johannesburg on 25 May 1913, the son of William, a general practitioner and FRCS Edinburgh. Two uncles and his grandfather were all doctors, training in Edinburgh. After Grey High School, Port Elizabeth, William entered Witwatersrand University and won the South African

Henry Moore was born in Fiji in 1912, and graduated MB BS from Sydney in 1937. Following graduation he came to Britain with two research fellowships in 1938. He served in the RAMC throughout the war in the Middle East, Italy and Western Europe, and was awarded the MC in Belgium (for 'liberating a ca

Murray Greig was a former general surgeon at Waitako Hospital, in Hamilton, New Zealand. He was born on 23 April 1908 in Kirin, Manchuria, where his father, James Alexander Greig (FRCS Edinburgh) and mother, Ella Wallace, served with the Irish Presbyterian mission, establishing a hospital in Kirin b

Neville Stidolph was a consultant in urology and general surgery at Whittington Hospital, London. He was born in Mossel Bay, South Africa, on 31 October 1911. His father, Charles Edward Stidolph, was a magistrate. His mother was Florence née Hinwood. He was educated at Grey High School, Port Elizabe

Alan Lionel Lomas graduated from the medical school in the University of Otago in 1938 at the age of 21 and for part of 1939 was house surgeon at New Plymouth General Hospital before joining the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at the beginning of the war. He served in the Western Desert and was awar

Alex Brown was a consultant surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. He was born on 26 January 1919. His father, A Brown, was head of the department of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town. His mother, Mary Graham, had been the first female graduate at Rhodes Univers

George Lewis was born on 24 October 1914 in Bedwas, Monmouthshire, the son of Edgar John Lewis and Ella, née Thomas. His father was a businessman and JP and was also High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1936. George was educated at Malvern College, where he gained an entrance scholarship to Pembroke Col