John Cridlan Barrett was born on 10 August 1897 in Leamington Spa where his father was a pharmaceutical chemist. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School from where he obtained a scholarship to St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. In the first world war he served as a Lieutenant in the 5th Battal

Doris O'Doherty was born on 7 April 1902, the elder of two daughters of Charles Patrick O'Doherty, the assistant secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and of Blanche Mary Clark. After education at the Mary Thatcher Girls' School in Camberwell she secured a St Dunstan's S

John Elgood studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, passing the Conjoint Diploma in 1924 and qualifying MB BS the same year. He worked as external midwives' assistant at Bart's and then became senior house surgeon to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham. He then held the post of surgeon to

Illtyd James was born in Barry, Glamorgan, on 12 July 1900, the eldest son of Evan Thomas James, a master tailor, and Elizabeth Jones, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Barry County School, where he held a county scholarship, and later at University College Cardiff (where he took a BSc in 1921

Griffith John Griffiths was born in Barry on 23 September 1901. He was educated at Barry County School and Cardiff University before qualifying from the Middlesex Hospital. He was then in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch for three years on a short service commission in Egypt and Iraq before return

John Henry Milnes Walker was born on 16 March 1902 in Wakefield, the son of John William Walker and his wife Constance Elizabeth, née Holdsworth. His father and grandfather had both been surgeons on the staff of Clayton Hospital and his wife's father had been a physician there. He was educated at Ou

Arthur Elliot-Smith was born in Cairo on 3 June 1901. He was the son of Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith the distinguished anatomist and anthropologist; his mother's maiden name was Kathleen Macready. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, before coming to University College Hospital and on from which

Dudley Marks was born on 3 April, 1899 at Peckham Rye, and was educated at Haberdasher's Aske's School from whence he secured a scholarship to Cambridge. With the outbreak of the first world war he joined the Queen's Own Regiment on his 18th birthday in 1917. In the following year he suffered severe