Robert Laird was surgeon-in-chief and professor of surgery at Toronto Western Hospital, Canada. He was born in Brockville, Ontario, on 5 October 1902, the second child and only son of Robert Laird, a clergyman, and Henrietta Laird née Odell. He was educated at North Toronto High School and Queen's U

Paul Winchester Houghton was a general surgeon in Worcester, and served with distinction in the Second World War. He was born in west London into a naval family on 30 September 1911 and was educated at Whitgift School. Until his last days he could remember the hunger caused by rationing during the F

Denis Astley Sanford was a senior general surgeon in Sunderland. He qualified MB BS in 1936 and, after a house physician post at University College Hospital, London, became a resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Sunderland. He served as a wing commander in the RAF and then, after the S

Mohamed Fatin was born on 3 September 1906. He gained his FRCS in 1939. His last known address was in Cairo, Egypt.

Gunewardene was born and educated in Ceylon. He did postgraduate studies in England during the 1930s, taking the Fellowship in 1939. He practised in Ceylon for about thirty years, and died there in his fifties.

Brian McNeill Truscott was born in Hampstead on 29 February 1912, the son of Samuel John Truscott, Professor of Mining Engineering at the Royal School of Mines and Mary Truscott (née Vaughan). He was educated at Oundle School and the Middlesex Hospital where he held resident appointments after quali

Edward George Tuckwell, the third of eight children and the eldest son of Edward Henry Tuckwell, a stockbroker, and of Annie Clarice (née Sansom), was born on May 12, 1910, at Godalming, Surrey. He was educated at Hillside School, Godalming; Charterhouse School, and Magdalen College, Oxford. He then

George Oliver Jelly was born on 26 April 1909 in Bury, Lancashire, the son of George Aubrey Jelly, an ophthalmologist, and Kathleen Mary Olive, the daughter of a papermaker. He was educated at Rugby, and read greats at Magdalen College, Oxford, but fell ill just before finals and took up medicine in

Laughton Leask was born on 15 October 1912, the eldest son of William Laughton Rennie, an architect, and Anne Elizabeth Mabel, née Beaton. He went to preparatory school in Hong Kong, thence to Edinburgh Academy and later to Highgate, before going to St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1930 where he won the

Kenneth Fraser Donaldson was born in New Zealand on 30 January 1914. He studied medicine at University College Hospital Medical School and qualified MB, BS in 1936. After working as a house surgeon in the obstetric unit at University College hospital, he became a resident medical officer at Wembley

Raeburn Rodd Talbot was a senior visiting surgeon at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. He gained his FRCS in 1939.

Lord Smith was one of our great presidents. Successive holders of that office have faced many and various challenges, but by any measure the confrontation between the Labour government and the BMA from 1974 to 1975 was a major crisis that threatened the future of consultant practice. Rodney Smith, a