Ruth Valda Magnus worked as resident medical officer to the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in 1956 and from 1958 to 1959. She was at the Royal Children's Hospital in 1957 and became a surgical registrar there, 1964-65. She became consultant paediatric surgeon at the Dandenong and District Hospital in V

Isabella Forshall was born and spent her childhood in affluent surroundings in Sussex. Details of her family are not recorded but she was educated privately at home where her mother, who read classics at Girton College, Cambridge in the 1890s, had a powerful influence, imbuing her with a keen apprec

Vanessa Wright was a consultant paediatric surgeon at the Royal London Hospital. She was born on 1 August 1943 in Chichester, Sussex, and studied medicine at University College, London, qualifying in 1966. She was a registrar at Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, Carshalton and at University Col

Ambrose Jolleys was born on 25 September 1919 in Ireleth, Westmoreland. He was educated at Urmston Grammar School, Manchester, and graduated MB ChB from Liverpool University in 1942. He was appointed a consultant in 1952, the first full-time paediatric surgeon in Manchester. He was a true pioneer

John Francis Rogers Bentley was born in India on 5 March 1920. He entered Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1942. After initial house appointments in the Emergency Medical Service at Guy's Hospital and the North Middlesex Hospital he joined the Indian Medical Service, rising to the rank o

Archie Wilmot Middleton studied medicine at Sydney University. After qualifying in 1943, he was RMO at the Repatriation Hospital in Sydney for two years and then registrar at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney for another year. He came to London to specialise in surgery and was regi

Peter Jones was a paediatric surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He was born in Melbourne on 26 September 1922. His father was William Aeron Jones, a former President of the Australian Veterinary Association, and his grandfather was David Jones, a Welsh sea captain. His mother, Elsi

Gamini Wickramarachchi Karunaratne, or 'Gam' as he was always called, was a pioneer of paediatric surgery in Sri Lanka. He was born in Kamburugamuwa, southern Sri Lanka, on 19 April 1929. His father was Wilson Karunaratne and his mother was Tilaka. He had two brothers and five sisters. His early sch

David James Waterston was born in St Andrews on 26 August 1910, the son of Professor David Waterston FRSE, FRCSE, Professor of Anatomy in the University of St Andrew's and younger brother of Brigadier Richard E Waterston FRCS (*Lives of the Fellows*, 1974-1982, p.406). He was educated privately at C

Harold Homewood Nixon (Nicky) was born in Newcastle on 27 February 1918, the son of Isaac Nixon, a chartered accountant. After early education at Fenham High School and the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for pre-clinical studies in 1935 and Durham

John Meiring Beck was a consultant paediatric surgeon at Leeds General Infirmary. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 10 August 1933. His father, Johannes Henricus Meiring Beck, was a general practitioner; his mother, Mavis Beck née Courtenay, was a legal secretary prior to her marriage. B

Thomas Twistington Higgins was born on 19 November 1887 in Bolton, Lancashire, his father having been Vicar of Congleton. He went to school at Pocklington in East Yorkshire, and then on an entrance scholarship to Manchester University where he graduated MB, ChB in 1909 with distinctions in medicine,