Alfred John Drew, known as ‘Jack’, was a former consultant general surgeon in Walsall. He was born in Ceylon on 17 February 1916, the son of the chief pilot for the harbour at Colombo. He was educated at Nuwara Eliya, and was then sent to Ipswich School at the age of 11. He became head boy and rugby

Maurice White Falloon was head of the department of surgery at Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand. He was born in Masterton, New Zealand, on 24 July 1921, the son of John William Archibald Falloon, a sheep farmer, and Grace née Miller, a farmer’s daughter. His father was the longstanding chairman of the

Richard Vasey ‘Dick’ Fiddian was a consultant general surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital from 1964 to 1989. He was born on 6 October 1923 in Ashton-under-Lyne in Lancashire, where his father, James Victor Fiddian, was a general practitioner-surgeon. His mother, Doris Mary née White, came fr

Robert Fuller was born in Acton, London, on 4 January 1916. His father, Charles, was a company director. His mother was Mildred Kate née Lambert, a housewife. Robert was educated at St Paul's from 1928 to 1934, and then went on to St Mary's Hospital to study medicine. After qualifying in 1939, with

David Gatehouse was a consultant surgeon, first at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Consett, County Durham, and then at Hexham Hospital. He was born in York in 1944 and went on to study medicine at Birmingham University, qualifying in 1968. He held specialist posts in surgery in Birmingham, as a registrar a

Arnold Gourevitch was a consultant surgeon in Birmingham. He was born in Paris on 24 February 1914, the son of Russian Jewish émigrés. At the outbreak of the first world war his parents fled to England, eventually settling in Birmingham. His father, Mendel, later qualified as a doctor and became a g

Fred Graves was a general surgeon in Staffordshire with an interest in urology. He was born in Hereford in 1919, later studied medicine at University College Hospital and specialised in surgery at King’s College Hospital. He was subsequently appointed consultant general surgeon at Staffordshire Gene

Hassan Agha Hashemian was a professor of surgery and head of the department of surgery at the Cancer Institute, Tehran. He was born in Kashan, Iran, on 14 April 1915, the son of Hossein Hashemian, a velvet merchant, and Nagar, a housewife. He was educated at Tehran Boys School, and then received a s

Brian Hayes was a consultant surgeon at East Glamorgan Hospital, Pontypridd. He was born in Tibshelf, Derbyshire, in 1929, the son of a miner. He was brought up in the north east of England, until the family moved to south Wales. He studied medicine in Newcastle, and went on to hold junior posts in

Air Vice Marshal Rhys Tudor Brackley Jones was born on 16 November 1925 in Middlesex, the son of the late Sir Edgar and Lady Jones. He studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, where he qualified MRCS LRCP in April 1950 and became a house surgeon there. His surgical training rotation continued at Haro

Geoff Smiddy was a senior surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary and a prolific author. He was born in Kendal on 4 January 1922. His father was a hotelier and his mother looked after a haberdashery shop. His was not an easy childhood – his father left the family home shortly after he was born and his mo

Eric John Smith was a consultant surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He was born on 31 March 1910 in Norwood, Surrey, the second son of Robert Percy and Edith Smith. His early life was overshadowed by the death from Hodgkin’s disease of his elder brother who had been a child prodigy, and Eri