John Leslie was born in Bath on 22 December 1914. His father, George Herbert Leslie, was a schoolmaster and inspector of schools for the London County Council, having served in the Royal Artillery in the first world war and then with the Army Education Corps. His early education was at Wellington

Jack Small was born on 18 March 1913 in Birmingham, the son of Ernest Small MBE, a mechanical engineer who designed the barrage balloon winches used in air defence in the second world war, and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth, née Morton. Jack was educated at Wylde Green College and Birmingham Universit

Richard Braithwaite Keevil Rickford, the first of similar twins of Leslie Thomas Rickford, a banker, and Gladys Georgina Rickford (née Keevil), was born on 1 June 1914, at Hampstead. He was educated at The Gables, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then at the junior and senior schools of Weymouth College, Dors

Cedric Longland was born at Bolobo in the Belgian Congo on 30 September 1914. His father, Frank Longland, was a civil engineer in East Africa and later Provincial Commissioner for Tanganyika Territory. Daisy Longland, Cedric's mother, was one of the earliest women to qualify in medicine at Edinburgh

An internationally recognised vascular surgeon, Charles Rob made important innovations in the management of aortic aneurysm. He was born on 4 May 1913, the son of Joseph William Rob OBE, a family doctor in Weybridge, Surrey. His mother was descended from Edward 'Grog' Vernon, who introduced the rum

Wilfrid Peter Greening (usually called 'Peter') was a former consultant surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He was born in Saxlingham, Norfolk, on 16 May 1914, the only child of the reverend William C Greening, the local rector, and his wife Maud Mary, née Waller. His father died when he was seve

Ronald George Gibson, the only child of George Edward Gibson, a pharmacist, and of Gladys Muriel (née Prince), was born at Southampton on 28 November 1909. He was educated at Osborne House School, Romsey, and Mill Hill School before graduating from St John's College, Cambridge. He then went to St Ba

Jim Ellis was professor of orthopaedic and accident surgery at the University of Southampton. He was born on 13 April 1912 in Selborne, Hampshire, the son of Frank Stokes Ellis, a wine merchant who went on to serve in the First World War with the Royal Fusiliers, and Ada née Parkes, whose family wer

An accomplished and successful obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dame Josephine was also known to the wider world for her devotion to social and educational reform, and was seen by many as an exemplar for the role of professional women in modern society. Josephine Barnes, happily known to her famil

Norman Hughes was born in Bangor, County Down, on 15 May 1915, the son of William Edwin Hughes, a manager of the Royal Insurance Company in Belfast, and his wife Elizabeth Knox, née Campbell, who was artistic and an enthusiastic gardener and golfer. Hughes was educated at Bangor Grammar School and Q

Gerald Tresidder ('GCT') was born on 5 December 1912 in Rawalpindi where his father, Lt Col Alfred Geddes Tresidder, FRCS, was a surgeon in the Indian Medical Service. His was mother Lilian Annie, née Trelease. His career followed what was then the Anglo-Indian norm: 'home' at the age of eight, scho

Lord Smith was one of our great presidents. Successive holders of that office have faced many and various challenges, but by any measure the confrontation between the Labour government and the BMA from 1974 to 1975 was a major crisis that threatened the future of consultant practice. Rodney Smith, a