Leslie Norman Pyragh was born at Farnley, near Leeds, on 11 April 1899, the son of a headmistress. Unfortunately no further details of his forbears are available. He was educated at Leeds Central High School and served in the army during the final stages of the first world war. He then read medicine

John Francis Neil Ward-McQuaid, the son of Colonel John FTP Ward-McQuaid and his wife Enid Ecila, née Cheshire, was born on 30 December 1918 at Neston, Cheshire. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, where he won several prizes and was a notable cricketer. As the son of a serving army o

Bernard Sanger was at school in Hastings and received his medical training at the London Hospital where he qualified in 1934. He pursued his surgical career at the London Hospital before his appointment to Southend Municipal Hospital in 1938. Rodney Maingot was a visiting surgeon at that hospital

John Holmes Tasker was born in London on 20 January 1917, the son of Dr Ludwig Tasker, a general practitioner, and May, née Gadsden, a registered nurse. He was educated at Epsom College before entering Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1935 with the Haviland exhibition. After completing pre-clin

Ingall received his medical education at the Westminster Hospital and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1952. He gained the London MB BS in the following year. After holding house posts at the Westminster Hospital and surgical registrarships there and at the Royal Portsmouth Hospital, he moved

Alexander McCalister (known as 'Alex') was a consultant general surgeon at the Ulster Hospital. He was born in Belfast on 6 June 1925 and grew up in rural Northern Ireland in relatively poor circumstances: his mother cooked on an open peat fire and they had no piped water in the home. His family sug

Francis John Milward was a consultant surgeon in Chesterfield. He was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, on 5 April 1903, the son of Henry Tomson Milward, managing director of a needle-making firm, and Elsie Townsend née Newton, the daughter of an Anglican canon. An uncle, Frederick Milward FRCS, was

Huw Williams was born in Cardiff on 12 March 1946. He was educated at Dean Close School, Cheltenham, and at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff, where he qualified MB BCh in 1969. He trained in Cardiff where he became lecturer and was later Smith and Nephew research fellow in Newcastle

Born in Bristol on 20 June 1912, 'Bill' Waterfall's father was Robinson Waterfall, a chemical manufacturer of fertilisers. His mother was Mary Louisa Radley, the daughter of a schoolmaster. He was educated at Bootham School, York, where he won an entrance scholarship, but was taken ill, and passed t

Denis George Calvert was a consultant surgeon at Gloucester Royal Infirmary. He was born in Belfast on 23 April 1928, where his father Thomas George Calvert was an insurance manager. His mother, Isobel née Stafford, was the daughter of the fire chief of Belfast. He was educated at Epsom and the Midd

William Hardy Hendren (always known as Hardy) was universally accepted as being the leading American paediatric surgeon of his generation. Known worldwide for his meticulous surgical technique and his pioneering ability to correct seemingly intractable anatomical conditions, he was driven by the man

William Hamer, son of William, a chartered accountant, and his wife, Alice Marjorie, née Evans, was born in London on 22 July 1919. From Boston Grammar School and Oakham School, Rutland, he went to St Mary's Hospital, London. He held house appointments at the Postgraduate Medical School and was infl