Anthony Barker was born in Birmingham on 3 September 1920, the son of Charles Edward Barker, a solicitor and clerk of court in Birmingham, and Alice Mary, née Short. He was educated at Mill Hill School and the University of Birmingham Medical School, where he met his future wife Margaret (Maggie) Ne

Peter Weston was a consultant accident and emergency surgeon in Nottingham. He was born in Oswestry, but spent his early years in Eastbourne, where amongst other things he taught himself to sail and thereby developed his love of the sea. He went to Chelmsford Hall Preparatory School and was then awa

Katharine Mary Burkill (Kit) was born in Cambridge on 25 October 1929, the daughter of John Charles Burkill, FRS, Professor of Pure Mathematics in the University of Liverpool and later Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Helen Margareta Braun-Pritchard. She was educated at the Perse School and Newn

John Noel Nish was born in Benalla, Victoria, Australia, in 1913, the son of a general practitioner and the grandson of the Reverend Dr Nish who left Scotland to preach to the goldminers in Bendigo. He was educated at Geelong Grammar School before entering Trinity College, Melbourne, for medical stu

David Caro was born in Auckland, New Zealand on 8 February 1922, the son of Harold D Caro, a merchant, and Rubina, née Ballin. He was educated at King's School and College, Auckland, before entering Otago University in Dunedin. He qualified in 1946 and shortly afterwards came to England for postgrad

Edward Abson was a major player in the movement to improve casualty services by the creation of specialist consultant posts. He became one of the first 30 such specialist consultants, being appointed to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, and was later the third president of the Casualty Surgeons' Associa

Albert Patrick ('Paddy') Dignan was a former director of Army surgery. He was a remarkable character who was born into a modest family in Dublin. His father, Joseph, a tailor, was able to get all five of his sons through medical school. (Whether an ability to stitch can be inherited remains open to

Reg Jones, 'Jones the Bones' to his friends and colleagues, was a consultant orthopaedic and accident surgeon in the south east Kent, Canterbury and Thanet area. He was born in Southport on 5 October 1939, the son of Eric Lloyd, a transport manager, and Royal Audrey Joan Lloyd née Johnstone-Brown, a

James Dunbar Morgan was born in Liverpool in 1913 and educated at Liverpool College and at Sheffield University where he graduated in medicine in 1940. He later worked in the orthopaedic department of the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, then under the influence of Sir Frank Holdsworth. He was thus well g

Thomas Lowden was a casualty surgeon in Sunderland. He was born in Leeds on 25 March 1910, where his father, Harold Lowden, was an engineer and his mother, Ethel Annie Lamb, a schoolteacher. From Leeds Grammar School he won a Holroyd scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, and went back to Leeds for h

Richard Harrison was a consultant orthopaedic and accident and emergency surgeon in south west Cumbria. He was born on 8 July 1922 and studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, London, qualifying MB BS in 1944. He was a house surgeon at the Royal Cancer Hospital, a senior registr

Akpaneyen Akpan-Essien was a consultant surgeon in the Cross River State, Nigeria. He was born on 21 March 1946 in Ubium, Ibibio Land, Nigeria, the son of David Akpan-Essien and Grace Akpan-Essien née Udoekpo, both peasant farmers. His great grandfather was a landowner, general and physician to the