Arthur Messent obtained an open exhibition to Mill Hill School and proceeded to St Bartholomew's Hospital where he won the Brackenbury Prize in surgery and anatomy. He qualified in 1938 and after a short spell in general practice he joined the Royal Air Force and served in Coastal Command both in th

Colin Craig was born in Manchester on 11 November 1915, the son of Colin McKean Craig, a medical practitioner of Kendal, Westmorland, and Sophia Maud née McKinna, a nurse. He was educated at Monkton Combe School and St Bartholomew's Hospital. He completed junior casualty posts under Harold Rogers at

Born on 24 May 1914, Walter was the first son of William Theophilus Wiggins-Davies, a manufacturing stationer in Birmingham. He was educated at King Edward School in Birmingham and at Trinity College, Cambridge, before his clinical studies at St Thomas's Hospital. He became a senior surgical registr

Frederick Denis Hindmarsh was born on 11 August 1914 in Ryton-on-Tyne, the son of Ralph Frederick Hindmarsh, a consulting civil engineer. He was educated at Newcastle Preparatory School, Durham School and Durham University. He qualified MB BS in 1938, obtained the FRCS in 1945 and the MS in 1946.

Carl August Richard Schulenburg was born in Ventersdorp, Transvaal, South Africa, on 2 February 1915, the son of August Carl Schulenburg, a general practitioner, and Susanna Maria Madgalena née Lemmer, a farmer's daughter. Two of his brothers became GPs, and one sister a midwife. From Ventersdorp Pr

Kenneth Herbert Taylor was born on 7 August 1915, the fourth in a line of a family of doctors, and was educated at Epsom College and St Thomas's Hospital, graduating in 1938. At the outbreak of the second world war he joined the RAMC and served with the Welsh Guards during the evacuation from Dunkir

Donald Macrae was born on 8 February 1916 and educated at Oundle School. After medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital he graduated in 1938 and served as house surgeon to Professor Paterson Ross. He then joined the staff of the Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital, Alton, as a resident medical officer.

Mortimer Shaw was a consultant plastic surgeon at St James's Hospital, Leeds. He was born on 22 February 1915 in Cleckheaton. His father, William Shaw, was a medical practitioner. His mother was Lizzie née Haigh. From Oundle, Mortimer went on to study medicine at Leeds, where he graduated with first

Lawrence Whytehead was a thoracic surgeon in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in Easty, Kent, on 7 February 1914 and educated at St Edmund’s and Charterhouse. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1938. During the Second World War he served in

Patrick Hunter Jobson was a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at Guildford. He was born in Ilford, Essex, on 19 December 1913, the son of Thomas Battersby Jobson MD, a consultant otolaryngologist, and Muriel Catherine Dorothea née Maconechy, whose father was a clergyman. Jobson was a direct de

James Gardner Jamieson was born in Glasgow on 7 March 1915, the eldest son of James Jamieson, an engineer and Elizabeth (née Tennant). He was educated at Hillhead High School, Glasgow, and at Latymer School, Hammersmith, before entering St Bartholomew's Hospital for medical studies, where he came un

Aubrey Joseph Wilson, known as 'Joe', was a consultant surgeon at Derby Royal Infirmary and Children's Hospital. He was born on 23 September 1913, the youngest of the two sons of Thomas Wilson, a general practitioner surgeon and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Edith Mary Cr