Stewart Harrison was a leading consultant plastic surgeon and a former president of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand. He was born in Highgate, London, on 15 July 1912, the second son of Archibald Harrison, a manufacturer, and Marion Harrison née Taylor. Both his parents died when he was a

Norman August Marais Petersen studied at the University of London and passed MB BS in 1920. In 1920 he also passed the Conjoint Examination at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 1923 he became a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England. He specialised in plasti

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

Born on 19 October 1913, "Gerry" as he was known to everyone, was a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying in 1936 and by 1939 he had obtained his Edinburgh Fellowship. After joining the RAF he showed an early interest in burns and especially those involving the hands. In 1944 he w

Born on 4 July 1856 at Fort St George, Scotland, eldest of the three sons and four daughters of Benjamin Lane, assistant surgeon 80th Regiment of Foot, and his wife Caroline Arbuthnot Ewing, daughter of Joseph Ewing (1790-1868), surgeon 80th and 95th Foot. Benjamin Lane was born at Limavady, Co Derr

Bremner was born in Queensland, Australia on 8 November 1930 and educated at Melbourne University, Victoria; later he moved to Perth, Western Australia, where he was making a distinguished career in plastic surgery when he fell ill and died at the age of forty-two. At the University he won the Syme

Noel Thompson was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 8 September 1914. His father was John G Thompson, a school teacher, and he was educated at King's College, Newcastle, before qualifying as a licentiate in dental surgery in 1936. He remained in hospital practice and passed his BDS degree in 1940. Duri

Bob Ratcliffe was a consultant in plastic, hand and reconstructive surgery at Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow. He was born on 15 June 1957 at St Helens, Lancashire, the son of Robert Ernest Ratcliffe, an electrician, and Jean Elizabeth née Worrall. As a child he was interested in mechanical objects, w

Graeme Bertram ("Blue") Blake was born in Palmerston North but grew up mainly in Wellington, attending Kelburn Primary School and Wellington College. After his medical intermediate year at Victoria University he studied medicine at Otago University from 1958 to 1961. He met Brenda Hayward, a fellow

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

Robert (Robin) Welsh was born on 23 April 1928 in Witbank, Transvaal, South Africa, the eldest son of Dr Robert William Hepburn Welsh, a general practitioner in Pretoria for thirty years, and Evelyn Jessie Watson. He was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, and the University of Witwatersran

David Allen Crockford was born on 21 August 1930 in London. The son of Allen Lepard Crockford, CBE, DSO, MC, TD, MA, MB, BCh, MRCS, LRCP, late Brigadier, RAMC, and then Hon Surgeon to King George VI and HM the Queen. His mother was Doris Ellen, née Brookes-Smith. His early education was at St Pirans