Joseph Mason qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1935 and received his training in surgery at Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Hull Royal Infirmary. He had a special interest in urology and was resident medical officer at St Paul's Hospital. He was consultant surgeon to Hull and East Riding H

John Atwell was a paediatric surgeon in Southampton and a distinguished paediatric urologist. He was born on 17 May 1929 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. His father, Percival John Cyril Atwell, was a manager with Shell Oil; his mother was Doris May Atwell née Gardner. When he was five, the family returned t

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

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

Born 20 July 1876 at Gosberton, Lincs, the second son of Richard Jocelyn Swan (1849-1925), MRCS 1870 (see *Lancet*, 1925, 2, 1257), and his wife Ana Elizabeth, elder daughter of Robert Russell Harper, MRCS 1875, of Holbeach, Lincs. R J Swan was the second son of John W Swan, MRCS 1835, of Ballyragge

James Christie Anderson, third child and third son of James Alexander Anderson, a schoolmaster, and Jeanie (née Boswell), was born in Dundee on 4 December 1899. After early education at Butterburn School and Dundee High School he secured an entrance scholarship to St Andrew's University where he ori

Guy Harrison Baines was born on 16 September 1911 at the Vicarage, St Helens, Lancashire, where his father Albert Baines, a Cambridge graduate, was a clerk in Holy Orders and later archdeacon of Halifax. His mother Mabel (née Harrison) came from Liverpool. After early education at Mostyn House, Park

Born in Hampstead on 6 June 1882 the son of William James Walker, he was educated at the Leys School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took first-class honours in the Natural Science Tripos in 1904. He had his clinical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was assistant editor of the

David Eric Sturdy was a consultant surgeon at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, Wales. He was born in Llanybydder, West Wales on 4 May 1928, the only son of William Frederick Sturdy, a boot and shoe repairer, and Anne Mary Sturdy née Davies, the daughter of a carpenter. There were no medical connec

John Luck was a urological surgeon in Windsor and Maidenhead. He was born on 26 February 1931, the son of Thomas Richard Luck, a manager, and Beatrice Christina Luck née McKenzie. He was educated at Southgate County Grammar School and then won an entrance scholarship to St Mary’s Hospital Medical Sc

Michael McBrien was a general surgeon with an interest in urology at the West Suffolk and Newmarket hospitals. He was born on 4 July 1935 in Maidstone, Kent to Leo Patrick McBrien, a general practitioner, and Elizabeth Rosemary McBrien née Phillips, the daughter of a farmer, and had three sisters.

Born on November 23rd, 1798, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, in which town his father carried on business as a brewer. He received his early education at a neighbouring school, and having been duly apprenticed came to London when 20 years of age. He had expected at once to attend lectures and hospital p