Born on 18 October 1899 at Dalmuir, near Glasgow into a seafaring family, Robert Scarff moved to London at the age of six when his father obtained a post ashore at Tilbury. Robert was educated at the City of London School and the Middlesex Hospital and he qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1924,

Herbert Wilberforce Perkins was doubly qualified in surgery and dental surgery. He was the third son of a silk weaver, William Perkins, and his wife Eleanor (Whitworth). Born in London on 29 January 1881 he was educated at Dame Owen's (Brewers' Company) School, London, and at the Middlesex and Royal

Howard Walter Florey was born on 24 September 1898 at Adelaide. He was educated at St Peter's Collegiate School and at Adelaide University where he graduated in medicine in 1921. He then came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and worked under Sherrington, obtaining a First in the Honour School of Physio

William St Clair Symmers held the Chair of Pathology at Charing Cross. He was born on 16 August 1917 in Belfast, where his father, William St Clair Symmers, an American who had been born in South Carolina and trained at the University of Aberdeen, was Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology, having

Basil Morson was a consultant pathologist at St Mark’s Hospital, London and a pioneer of gastrointestinal pathology. He was born in Hampstead, London, one of three sons. His father, Albert Clifford Morson, was a urologist; his mother was Adela Frances Maud Morson née Phene. Through his father, he wa

Jean Pringle (née Rankin) was head of the department of morbid anatomy at the Institute of Orthopaedics, London. She was born on 30 August 1936 to parents who were relatively elderly. Her mother was a teacher and her father was head of the technical college in Coatbridge, Scotland. He was over 60 at

Sir Roddy MacSween, professor of pathology at the University of Glasgow, was unquestionably one of Scotland’s most distinguished medical practitioners of his time. He was, as the popular press once put it, ‘top doc’, a man with a huge range of interests, both within and outside the sphere of medicin

Rupert Allan Willis, the elder of two sons of Benjamin James Willis, a banker, was born on 24 December 1898 at Yarram, Victoria, Australia. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Giles (née James), was the daughter of a congregational minister, and his younger brother, James Hamlyn Willis, was a well-known bota

Cuthbert Dukes, the son of a Congregational minister, was born on 24 July 1890 at Bridgwater, Somerset. He was educated at Caterham School and the University of Edinburgh and graduated in 1914. He served in the RAMC throughout the first world war attached to the Rifle Brigade, and was awarded the OB

Herbert Spencer was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 8 February 1915, the son of Hubert John Spencer, a coat manufacturer, and his wife Edith Maude, née Lodge. His early education was at Highgate Junior and Senior Schools, and he entered St Mary's Hospital Medical School for his medical studies, wh

The second child and second son of Mr Betty, a pharmaceutical chemist, of Park Street, Camden Town, NW, was born on Nov 3rd, 1852, and was educated at Prior Park College, Bath. He entered University College School in 1867, matriculated at the University of London in June, 1869, and entered Universit

Geoffrey Hadfield was born on 17 August 1889, in Manchester, the son of James Hadfield, a merchant whose interest in the import trade was associated with a love of travel, for he made four voyages round the world, landing finally at Plymouth, which he liked so much that he decided to settle there wh