Thomas McNair was born on 1 March 1927 in Edinburgh, the son of David MacMillan McNair, a mining engineer, and his wife Helen Jackson, née Rae. He received his education at George Watson's College before entering the medical school at Edinburgh University where he qualified in 1949. He served in the

James Pryor was born on 15 November 1928 in Horsham, Victoria, Australia, where his father, William Joseph Pryor, was the Town Clerk. His mother was Vera Florence née Cartwright. He was educated at Horsham State School and University High School, Melbourne, before going on to Melbourne University to

Chelliah Mylvaganam studied in Ceylon and gained the MB BS in 1947. In 1956 he passed the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to Ceylon and lived at "Ratna Bhawan", Kirillawala, Webedo, Ceylon.

Neil Stamford Painter was born in London on 23 February 1923, the only son of Robert Painter, a consulting engineer, and Dorothy, née Matthews, a concert soprano. He was educated at St Michael's School, Otford, Kent and obtained a scholarship to Woodbridge School, Suffolk. On leaving school he enter

'Johnnie' John was born on 9 July 1921 in New Tredegar. He was educated at Bedwellty Grammar School. Reports have it that he was a talented scholar with a reluctance to apply his maximum effort either to work or to play. On leaving school in 1940 he entered the Royal Air Force and trained as a navig

Arthur Robb studied medicine at Edinburgh University qualifying in 1945. He returned to the Royal Infirmary and Western General Hospital after his army service to complete his training in urology and general surgery. He was first appointed consultant surgeon to the Southern General Hospital in Glasg

Jacob (Jack) Nayman was born in South Africa and graduated in medicine from the University of Witwatersrand in 1952. His early postgraduate training was at Baragwanath, Coronation and Transvaal Memorial Hospitals in South Africa and he then came to Britain for higher surgical training. He was appoin

The son of a general practitioner, Gammie was born on 1 December 1926 at Bishop's Stortford, and educated at Bishop Stortford College, University College, Oxford and the London Hospital Medical College. After qualifying BM BCh in 1950 he spent two years as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF medical bran

Felix Huber studied medicine at the Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney where he qualified in 1951, and did junior jobs before coming to England to specialize in surgery. He was registrar at the Royal Northern and Mayday Hospitals before returning to Sydney first as honorary specialist at the Bankstown Ho

William Roy Rogerson was born on 3 July 1923 in Melbourne. His father was William Henry Joseph Rogerson, a mechanical engineer and his mother, Stella Amelia née Wilson, was the daughter of a grocer. He qualified from the University of Melbourne in 1947. He was resident medical officer at the Alfred

Christopher Anders was born in Umtata, Transkei, on 28 December 1927. His mother, Lilian, née Westell, had been a London Hospital sister and was doing missionary work in South Africa. His father, Henry Daniel Anders, was a school inspector. Christopher was at the Dragon School in Oxford and on his s

Mary Fredericka Richardson was born in Portland, Dorset on 10 April 1917, the daughter of Surgeon Captain Arthur Henry Sims Richardson, DOMS, RN, who after retirement from the Navy became an ophthalmic surgeon in Hereford in 1927. Her mother was Emma Fredericka, née Barker. She came from a medical f