Eric William Riches, the second child and eldest son of William Riches, a schoolmaster, and of Kate Riches (née Rowbotham), was born on 29 July 1897, at Alford, Lincolnshire. He was educated at St Dunstan's, Alford, and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Alford, before securing an entrance scholarship

Norman Murdoch Matheson was born in Stanway and was educated at Wellington College, New Zealand, and despite a serious rugger injury which necessitated six months in hospital he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and served in an infantry battalion in France in 1918. He was demobilised in 19

Alistair Campbell McEachern was born on 30 June 1904 at Mt Gambier, South Australia. He was the son of Alexander McLean McEachern, a grazier and his wife, Catherine Jane, née McFarlane. He was educated at Mt Gambier High School and entered the Adelaide High School with the Thomas Price Scholarship i

Tommy 'Tucker' Moore was welcomed in a great many surgical clubs and societies for his engagingly forthright interventions. His criticisms were pungent but invariably good-humoured, and he was very good company. He was born on 11 January 1909 in Sunderland, where his father and mother ran a newspape

James Laurence Lewis was a consultant surgeon and urologist for the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust based at Royal Tunbridge Wells. He was born in Los Angeles, California. His parents, Arthur Lewis and Evelyn Lewis née Eisner, moved to London when he was 14 and he went to St Paul’s School. H

William Houston was born in Newry, County Down, Eire, on 7 October 1916, the son of William Houston, a wholesale draper, and his wife Hilda, née Robinson, the daughter of a hotel proprietor. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin, and later at Trinity College, to which he gained an entrance

Richard Ticehurst was a consultant general surgeon and urologist in Hastings, Sussex. He was born on 3 November 1917 into an old medical Sussex family renowned for its expertise in English wildlife, his father having written the seminal work on swans. He had an older brother, Hugh, who became a loca

George Wilson was a urologist and chief of staff at the Welland Hospital, Ontario, Canada. He was born in Edinburgh on 29 October 1914, the son of George Stewart Wilson, a civil servant, and Catherine Wilson née Campbell. He was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and then went on to stu

Manushehr Sabetian was a consultant surgeon at the London Welbeck Hospital. He studied medicine at Durham University, qualifying in 1954. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1958, his ChM from Liverpool University in 1962 and the fellowship of the Royal Colle

John Kille was a general surgeon and urologist in Burnie, Tasmania. He was born in Surrey, of parents Reginald Kille, an accountant, and Rene Vernon. As a boy he lived near Croyden, spending many hours watching civil aeroplanes and later RAF fighters and bombers, soon becoming a competent aircraft s

Douglas Tooms was a consultant surgeon to the Mid Worcestershire Hospital Group. He received his medical education in Cardiff and was a house surgeon and house physician at Cardiff Royal Infirmary. He was a resident surgical officer at the Gordon Hospital, a registrar at Warneford Hospital, Leamingt

Trevor Ford was a consultant general surgeon and urologist to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, working at Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. The adopted only son of an antiques dealer, Trevor was brought up in London. After pre-clinical studies at Oxford University, he proceed