Milroy Aserappa Paul, the eldest son of Samuel Chellar Paul, one time senior surgeon to the Colombo General Hospital, and of Dora Eleanor Paul (née Aserappa) was born in Colombo on 20 January 1900. His mother was the daughter of Dr Simon de Melho Aserappa, MD Edinburgh. Milroy was educated at Ladies

Frank Langford was born on 26 August 1900 in Galatz, Romania, the first child of William Morris Langford, a civil engineer and Maria, née Chodkowska, of Polish birth. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, Wycliffe College and the University of Bristol. He qualified in 1924, proceeding FRCS in 1

John Elgood studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, passing the Conjoint Diploma in 1924 and qualifying MB BS the same year. He worked as external midwives' assistant at Bart's and then became senior house surgeon to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham. He then held the post of surgeon to

Illtyd James was born in Barry, Glamorgan, on 12 July 1900, the eldest son of Evan Thomas James, a master tailor, and Elizabeth Jones, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Barry County School, where he held a county scholarship, and later at University College Cardiff (where he took a BSc in 1921

Griffith John Griffiths was born in Barry on 23 September 1901. He was educated at Barry County School and Cardiff University before qualifying from the Middlesex Hospital. He was then in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch for three years on a short service commission in Egypt and Iraq before return

John Henry Milnes Walker was born on 16 March 1902 in Wakefield, the son of John William Walker and his wife Constance Elizabeth, née Holdsworth. His father and grandfather had both been surgeons on the staff of Clayton Hospital and his wife's father had been a physician there. He was educated at Ou

Arthur Elliot-Smith was born in Cairo on 3 June 1901. He was the son of Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith the distinguished anatomist and anthropologist; his mother's maiden name was Kathleen Macready. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, before coming to University College Hospital and on from which

Dudley Marks was born on 3 April, 1899 at Peckham Rye, and was educated at Haberdasher's Aske's School from whence he secured a scholarship to Cambridge. With the outbreak of the first world war he joined the Queen's Own Regiment on his 18th birthday in 1917. In the following year he suffered severe