Richard John Vulliamy Battle was born on 21 January 1907 at 49 Harley Street, London Wl, the son of William Henry Battle, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, London, and Annie Marguerite Vulliamy, who was descended from a long line of clockmakers. He was educated at Highfield School, Liphook, Gresham's

John Samuel Pattison Wilson, or ‘Iain’, as he was generally known, was a plastic surgeon in London with a particular interest in head and neck surgery. He was born in Edinburgh on 16 October 1923, and at the age of six went away to boarding school at the Edinburgh Academy. He remained in Edinburgh t

Born on 18 August 1902, the son of F M H Eckhoff, a Norwegian architect, he was educated in South Africa at Durban High School, Natal University and the University of Cape Town, and at Guy's Hospital, where he arrived in 1920 with a senior science scholarship. At Guy's he qualified with the Conjoint

Percy Jayes, an internationally known and respected plastic surgeon, was born on 26 June 1915, the first son of Thomas Harris Jayes, a butcher and farmer. His mother, Jessie May, was a daughter of a master mariner. He had one younger brother. Educated at Quernmore School, Bromley, and Merchant Taylo

Arthur Michael Wood, the second son of Arthur Henry Wood, CB, a civil servant in the Board of Education, and of Katherine Mary Altham Wood (née Cumberlege), was born at Guildford, Surrey, on 28 January, 1919. He was educated at Lambrook School, Berkshire, Ringwood School, Winchester College, the Éco

Raoul Sandon was a leading plastic surgeon in London. He was born in Spain, in Bilbao, on 2 May 1915, the son of an English managing director of an iron mining company, and a French mother. He was first educated in Spain, and then attended school in Arcachon and Pau, France. As a result he was fluen

Born on 17 September 1890, the son of a master at Manchester Grammar School, he was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Blackburn, and at Manchester University, where he won the Dauntesey Scholarship and the Sidney Renshaw Exhibition and was later awarded medals in anatomy and physiology. He

Oliver Mansfield was a consultant plastic surgeon to the West Midlands area. He was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1912, the son of Percival Aubertine Mansfield, a general practitioner and Kathleen, a matron of a private nursing home. There was a strong medical tradition in the family - two of his cous

Born at Christchurch, New Zealand on 20 February 1911, son of a sheep farmer and meat exporter, he was educated at Christ College, New Zealand and came to Edinburgh for his medical training, which was continued in London after he had won a scholarship to Guy's Hospital. He was a notable heavy-weight

Michael Hackett, or Mike, as he was always known, was born on 6 August 1931 in Morecambe, Lancashire. He was the son of Jack Hackett, editor of *The Morecombe Visitor* and the nephew of Desmond Hackett, the well-known *Daily Express* sports writer. He was educated at Preston Catholic College and pro

Richard Lionel Spittel was born on 9 December 1881 in Tangalle, a town on the south coast of Ceylon, where his father Dr F G Spittel was stationed at that time as Government Medical Officer. He entered the Ceylon Medical College at the turn of the century, and qualified LMS Ceylon in 1905. He entere

Arthur Rainsford Mowlem was born in Auckland, New Zealand on 21 December 1902, the son of Arthur Manwell Mowlem, a stipendiary magistrate and Alice Marion (née Beecroft). He claimed descent from Durandas, one of William the Conqueror's knights who was granted 2½ hides of land in the Isle of Purbeck