Raymond Ramsay was born on 19 August 1916 at Peddie, South Africa. He was the youngest child and second son of Alexander Orlando Ramsay, the owner of a trading post, and of his wife Florence, née Tanner. Both parents were born in England; his father (the twelfth child of a preparatory school headmas

Joseph Peacock was born in Brentford, London, on 22 October 1918, the only child (two sisters having died) of Henry James Peacock, general manager of the Great Western Railway, and of Florence Peacock, née Milton. After education at Reading School and Bristol Grammar School he entered Birmingham Uni

Campbell Reid was a leading hand surgeon. He was born on 25 February 1921 in Cardiff, the son of David William Reid, a general practitioner, and Edith Mary née Smith, a nurse. His grandfather, David Spence Clark Reid, had also been a GP. He was educated at Christ’s College, Finchley, where he played

William Henry Hyde Joseph de Wolffe de Wytt was born on 20 November 1910 at Wood Green, London. His father had at one time been Professor of Pharmacology in the University at Aberdeen. He was educated at Holloway Secondary School, St Bartholomew's Hospital and after his father's death, at University

George Charles Lloyd-Roberts was born in Liverpool on 23 November 1918, the son of Griffith Lloyd-Roberts (MD Edinburgh) and the Hon Gwendoline Frances (née Wynn). He was educated at Eton College, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and St Thomas's Hospital qualifying in 1942. He then joined the Royal Arm

Robert Bradlaw was born on 14 April 1905 in Dublin into a large family with medical and dental connections, the son of Philip Bradlaw, who died when Robert was a child. He was educated at Cranleigh and at Guy's Hospital both as a dental and medical student. After qualifying and a spell in private pr

John Howard Lees Ferguson was the third generation of a medical family. He was educated at Shrewsbury School where he was a classical scholar. Although pressed to continue in this field, he was determined to study medicine and entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before moving to the Middl

Geoffrey Fisk was a senior orthopaedic surgeon at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow. He was born in Goodmayes, Essex, on 26 May 1916. His father, Harry Marcus Fisk, company director of Meredith and Drew, the biscuit manufacturers, was a descendent of an ancient Suffolk family. One of his ancestors

Surgeon captain Bruce Jones RN was born on 26 June 1919 at Ringwood, Hants, the first son of Ernest Victor Jones, a dental surgeon, and Gladys Maud Jones née Sloper. He was educated at Great Ballard School near Hilton, Hants. He then moved on the Sherborne School. Initially, he started dental traini

Irvine Smith was a consultant surgeon to Burton-on-Trent General Hospital. He was born in Ilkley on 5 December 1919. His father, Fredric Battinson Smith, was a forensic pathologist who had won the Military Cross in the first world war and later advised the Ministry of Health on setting up a national

Michael Bates, the second son and youngest of three children of Tom Bates, a surgeon, was born in Worcester in July 1917. There were strong surgical roots in the family, his father being surgeon to the Worcester Royal Infirmary for 34 years, while his paternal grandfather - another Tom Bates - and a

Peter Boreham was a much-loved and highly respected general surgeon in Cheltenham with a major urological interest. He was born on 26 May 1922 in Szechuan, China, into a missionary family. He was the second son of the Reverend Frederick Boreham and his wife Mildred née Slater: an older brother, Doug