Thomas Twistington Higgins was born on 19 November 1887 in Bolton, Lancashire, his father having been Vicar of Congleton. He went to school at Pocklington in East Yorkshire, and then on an entrance scholarship to Manchester University where he graduated MB, ChB in 1909 with distinctions in medicine,

George Macnab was born in Edinburgh on 12 March 1904, and went to school at Edinburgh Academy. He then proceeded to his medical studies at Edinburgh Unviersity and graduated in 1926. After house appointments in West Hartlepool and at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, he came to London and worked at th

Hilary Anne King was born in Cobham, Surrey, on 16 November 1956, the daughter of Charles William King, a structural engineer and Hilda Eileen, née Walker. Her early education was at Rowan Preparatory School in Claygate and at Malvern Girls' College, before entering Leeds University Medical School.

John Francis Rogers Bentley was born in India on 5 March 1920. He entered Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1942. After initial house appointments in the Emergency Medical Service at Guy's Hospital and the North Middlesex Hospital he joined the Indian Medical Service, rising to the rank o

Harold Homewood Nixon (Nicky) was born in Newcastle on 27 February 1918, the son of Isaac Nixon, a chartered accountant. After early education at Fenham High School and the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for pre-clinical studies in 1935 and Durham

Gordon Stuart Baron-Hay was a consultant paediatric surgeon at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Western Australia. He was born in Perth on 26 June 1935. His father was George Kingston Baron-Hay, an agriculturalist; his mother, Vera, was a psychiatrist. He was educated at Wesley

John Grieve Whitaker was born in 1895, the son of a doctor who qualified in Belfast, and his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Grieve, was of Scottish descent. His father died when John was eight years old, and the family then moved to Canterbury, a suburb of Melbourne, where he was educated a

Isabella Forshall was born and spent her childhood in affluent surroundings in Sussex. Details of her family are not recorded but she was educated privately at home where her mother, who read classics at Girton College, Cambridge in the 1890s, had a powerful influence, imbuing her with a keen apprec

Archie Wilmot Middleton studied medicine at Sydney University. After qualifying in 1943, he was RMO at the Repatriation Hospital in Sydney for two years and then registrar at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney for another year. He came to London to specialise in surgery and was regi

Ambrose Jolleys was born on 25 September 1919 in Ireleth, Westmoreland. He was educated at Urmston Grammar School, Manchester, and graduated MB ChB from Liverpool University in 1942. He was appointed a consultant in 1952, the first full-time paediatric surgeon in Manchester. He was a true pioneer

Roger Brereton was born on 31 March 1943 in Crewe, where his father was an electrical instrument maker for the railways. After local schooling he went up to Liverpool University Medical School where he graduated in 1966. His inclinations were at first towards obstetrics, taking the DRCOG, and it was

Samia Salem was born in Alexandria in 1948, where her father Hassan Salem was Professor of Tropical Medicine and her mother, Ehsan Naby, was an art teacher. She was educated at the Lycée Français in Alexandria, and then accompanied her father to Iraq in 1964 where she qualified from the University o