Born 23 October 1900 at Sutton St Nicholas, Herefordshire. His father, a working man, had migrated to Canada as a boy, and his mother only returned to her native Herefordshire village for his birth, and afterwards took him back to Canada. Some good fortune in dealing with property enabled the family

John Vernon Morris qualified in medicine from King's College Hospital. His first appointment was as research assistant in surgery at the West London Hospital and then he became senior surgical registrar at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. He moved to the Plastic and Oral

Ruth Ansley Watson was born on 16 September 1926, the daughter of a distinguished engineer in the motor industry who had, during the war, worked secretly with Sir Frank Whittle on the development of the jet engine. Ruth studied medicine at Birmingham University and graduated in 1949. She decided to

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

Joseph Brownlee was of Irish descent; his father, J J Brownlee, who died in 1928, came from Northern Ireland and was one of the earliest doctors in Christchurch; his mother's maiden name was McKee. Brownlee received his early education at Waitaki Boys High School; he kept a great interest in his

Ewen Murchison rose to be Surgeon Captain in the Royal Navy. On retirement he was civilian consultant surgeon to the Navy in Gibraltar. He was an associate member of the Association of Plastic Surgeons. He died in Gibraltar on 19 December 2002.

John Robey Cobbett was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and Lewisham Hospital. He was born on 5 May 1930, the third son of Claude Racster Cobbett, a company director, and Constance Evelyn Anne Cobbett née Robey. From the age of four, following the death of his

Rasamay Ganguly was born in Barisal, Bengal, on 1 May 1918. His father Heramba Chandra Ganguly was an excise officer in the Bengal Civil Service. His mother was Hemanginee Mukherjee, daughter of a deputy magistrate in the same service. The second son in a family of six children, he was educated at t

Jagan Nath Madan was born on 12 June 1896 in Sahowala, in the district of Sialkot. He was the second child of Karamchand Adan, a doctor. After school in Batalia he attended the Lahore Medical College in the Punjab where he won a silver medal in anatomy and graduated MB, BS in 1919. After an appointm

Andrew McDowall was born at Bradford on 22 February 1901 of parents who had been born and brought up in Wigtownshire. He was educated first at Fort William School, where he developed a great interest in history. He went on to George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and then to Edinburgh University, wher

David John Dyson Perrins was an expert in the use of hyperbaric oxygen and a former MRC research fellow at Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Born in 1924, he studied medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge, and rowed for the university in the 1946 Boat Race. He completed his clinical studies at St Thomas's,

Fiona Muir was a consultant orthopaedic hand surgeon at the Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre. She was born on 9 August 1971 and studied medicine at Bristol University, qualifying in 1994. She gained her FRCS in 1998 and prior to her consultant appointment was a specialist registrar at the Quee