James Russell Fergusson Downie (Jim) was born on 5 November, 1932 to George and Gertrude Downie at St Georges Hospital, Kew. He spent his childhood in Auburn attending school firstly at Auburn South Primary School, then Gardenvale, the Melbourne High School where he matriculated with distinction. Th

Godfrey William Arthur was a consultant general surgeon to Worthing District Health Authority. He was born on 17 October 1931 in Pontypool, Gwent, South Wales, the only son of William Arthur, a company director with a building firm, and Elizabeth Arthur née Walby, a nurse. He went to school at the J

Kenneth Barker was a general surgeon at Wharfedale General Hospital, Otley, West Yorkshire. Born on 15 November 1930, he studied medicine at Leeds University graduating MB ChB in 1954. After house jobs at the General Infirmary in Leeds he passed the fellowship of the college in 1962 and was appointe

Lucas Carl Jansen van Rensburg was always known as Boet. Although he was born in Parys, Free State, South Africa, his family lived mostly on the Zambian copperbelt and he travelled long distances to attend boarding school in Bethlehem. He studied medicine at the University of Cape Town and graduated

Kershaw Burjor Khambatta studied medicine at Grant Medical College in Bombay, qualifying MB, BS in 1942. After working as a house surgeon at the Sir J. J. Hospital he travelled to the UK to study for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, passing in 1956, and of the college wh

Monica Lewin was a surgeon at Kingston Public Hospital and a part-time lecturer in anatomy at the University of the West Indies. She was born on 15 August 1925, in Clarendon, Jamaica. Her father, James Mahoney Lewin, was the 'grand old man' of the district of Vere, in Jamaica. He founded and became

Gavin Smillie (formerly Smellie) was a consultant general and vascular surgeon and honorary clinical lecturer at the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow. He was born in Glasgow in 1926, the son of William Smellie, a geologist, and Janet Smellie née Douglas, a school teacher. He spent his early years in Arge

David Negus was a consultant general and vascular surgeon at Lewisham Hospital, London, and a pioneer in the newly emerging sub-specialty of phlebology. He was born on 11 August 1930 in London, the son of a distinguished otolaryngologist, Sir Victor Ewings Negus, and his wife, Winifred Negus née Ren

Arthur Dixon was born in Melbourne on 14 April 1922; the eldest son of R H E Dixon, and was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne. He entered the State Savings Bank as a clerk at the Croydon branch in 1939, living with his family at Lillydale. In 1941 he was conscripted to the Commonwealth Milita

Michael Baddeley, universally known to a wide circle of friends as 'Mick', was a consultant surgeon to the United Birmingham Hospitals. He was born at Wolstanton in Staffordshire on 20 September 1932, the elder son of a mining engineer. He was educated at Chesterfield School, Derbyshire, and the Uni

Stanley Arthur Russell (‘Stan’) Cooke was a consultant general surgeon in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was born on 18 March 1932, the son of Richard Stanley Cooke and Isobel Faulds Cooke née Russell. He was educated at St John’s College, Johannesburg, and then went to the UK to attend medical scho

Sir Peter Morris was the Nuffield professor of surgery, chairman of the department of surgery and director of the Oxford transplant centre at the University of Oxford and president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 2001 to 2004. He was born in Horsham in the state of Victoria, Austral