Sir John Peel was perhaps the most celebrated obstetrician and gynaecologist of his era. Born in Bradford on 10 December 1904, he was the son of the Rev J E Peel. From Manchester Grammar School he went to Queen’s College, Oxford, going on to his clinical studies at King’s College Hospital where, aft

George Pinker, Surgeon-Gynaecologist to the Queen from 1973 to 1990, was born in Calcutta on 6 December 1924, the son of Ronald Douglas Pinker and Queenie Elizabeth née Dix. Like so many English children in those days, he went to England at the age of four, and was educated at Reading School. He wen

Margaret Witt was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the North Middlesex Hospital, London. She was born on 14 June 1930 in Leyton, London, the oldest daughter of Henry Witt, a chauffeur, and Bertha, a lady’s companion until she married. Margaret won a state scholarship to Walthamstow Cou

Christie Brown was born on 1 July 1898 and was educated at the Royal Kepier Grammar School and Durham University, where he gained numerous prizes and scholarships. While an undergraduate he served for a few years of the first world war in a destroyer based on Scapa Flow, but returned to the Universi

Sir Rustam Moolan Feroze, known as 'Mole', was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at King's College Hospital, Queen Charlotte's and the Chelsea Hospital for Women, and was a former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was the son of Jehangir and Diana Feroz

Eleanor Mary Mills was a consultant gynaecologist at North Manchester General Hospital and Stretford Memorial Hospital, Manchester. She was born in Royton, Lancashire, the only child of Joseph Mills, a cotton mill manager and director, and Ada Eleanor Mills née Wood, the daughter of an engineer. She

David Booth was an obstetrician and gynaecologist in East Surrey, Cuckfield and Crawley. He studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1960. He gained his FRCS in 1967. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a senior registrar at the Woolwich group of hospitals

Born in Edinburgh on March 16th, 1873, of a family originally from Dumfriesshire and the district of Sanquhar and Wanlockhead. After attending the City of London School and University College, he entered the London Hospital in 1892, where he was a sprinter and Rugby football player. He held the appo

Currie was born on 16 June 1903 in Leeds, the third son of James Irvine Currie, wholesaler clothier, and Florence Emma, née Dixon. His uncle Hugh Currie, a surgeon in Johnannesburg, was at the relief of Ladysmith. An elder brother, Donald Currie, gained his FRCS in 1923. He was educated at Leeds Gra

Jocelyn Adelaide Moore was born in Monkstown, Co Dublin, on 29 August 1904. Her mother was Adelaide Mary Murphy and her father was Major General Sir John Moore, CB, of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps; she was the eldest of their three daughters. She attended Wycombe Abbey School, Bucks, and the Roya

Naguib Mahfouz was born at Mansoura, Nile Delta, in 1882 and educated at the American Mission School and the Government School of Mansoura, at both of which he acquitted himself outstandingly well. He was an avid reader and his interest in articles on Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus and on

Richard Maliphant was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 17 January 1900, the second son of Richard Maliphant, an official in the Cyfartha steel works, and of Mary Morgan, daughter of a coal merchant. He was educated at Cyfartha Secondary School and went straight into the RNVR where he served in 1917-1918 as