Denis Shaw was a consultant surgeon at Keighley and Airedale. He qualified at Leeds in 1940, having represented the Combined English Universities at fencing, and taking his turn at fire-watching. He always remembered watching bombs dropping on the City Museum. After house jobs he joined the RAMC, ri

John Stephens was a general surgeon at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. He was born on 29 March 1919 in Northamptonshire, where his father was an engineer with farming interests. Educated at Stowe School, his scholastic achievements were complimented by a flair for sport, particularly rugby. At Gonvill

Walter Ramsay Allan, known as ‘Peter’, was a consultant surgeon at Bolton Royal Infirmary. Born on 26 October 1927, he was the second of four sons of Walter Ramsay Allan, a general practitioner based in Edinburgh who had fought in the first world war before completing his medical studies at Glasgow

Keith Giles was a consultant general surgeon at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage, and the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, Welwyn. He qualified in 1953 from the London Hospital Medical School. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a surgical specialist in the Royal Army Medical Corps, a surgica

Edward Llewelyn Havard-Jones was a consultant general surgeon in Neath and Port Talbot, and a clinical assistant in the department of genitourinary surgery, United Cardiff Hospitals. He studied medicine at Oxford, qualifying BM BCh in 1942. He was a house surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital, London, and

Will Kershaw was a consultant general surgeon at Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth. He was born on 7 January 1932 and studied medicine at Leeds University where he qualified MB, ChB in 1956. In Leeds he was surgical registrar at St James's Hospital and the General Infirmary and then senior sur

Sir Andrew Watt Kay was regius professor of surgery at Glasgow and an archetypal Scottish academic surgeon. Known by surgical trainees worldwide through his book *A textbook of surgical physiology* (Edinburgh/London, E & S Livingstone, 1959), written with R Ainslie Jamieson, Kay stood alongside many

Brian Higgs was a consultant general surgeon in Wycombe and Amersham. He was born in Bedford on 21 June 1935, and was educated at Bedford College and then Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied medicine. In 1957 he went on to Westminster Hospital Medical School, where he won several prizes, incl

Shorland William Hosking was a consultant general surgeon in Poole, Dorset. He was born in Australia in 1954, and was brought up in India and then Guildford, Surrey. He was educated at King Edward's School in Witley, and then studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, qualifying MB B

Meyer John Lange, known as ‘Nick’, was a consultant surgeon at New End and Royal Free hospitals, London. He was born on 5 August 1912 in Worcester, South Africa, the second son of Sally Lange, a government contractor, and Sarah née Schur. His older brother also became a doctor. Nick studied at Worce

John Fletcher McNeill, always known as ‘Ian’, was a surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. He was born on 15 March 1926 in Yoker, near Glasgow, the youngest of the five children of John Henry Fletcher McNeill, a teacher, and Annie McLachlan, a housewife. The family moved from Glasgow to

The fourth son of William Keate, D.D., rector of Laverton, Somerset; was born at Laverton on March 14th, 1777. John Keate, his elder brother (1773-1852), was the well-known and ferocious head master of Eton. Robert Keate was educated at Bath Grammar School until 1792, when he was apprenticed to his