John Kirk was a consultant plastic surgeon at the Tayside Regional Plastic Surgery Unit. He was born in Edinburgh on 23 June 1922, but spent most of the first six years of his life in China, where his mother and father, also John Kirk, were medical missionaries. The family returned to the UK in 1928

Robin Lyell Blin Beare was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and St Mary's Hospital, London. He was born on 31 July 1922 in Weybridge, where his father was a surgeon/GP. Robin went to Radley School, where he was a junior scholar. In 1940 he joined the RAF, tra

Brian Coghlan was a consultant cleft lip surgeon at Guy’s Hospital. He was a schoolboy international cyclist and he toyed with the idea of becoming a professional. Medicine won, and he studied at Bristol. His intercalated physiology degree involved working on a project with Ron Piggott at the French

Campbell Reid was a leading hand surgeon. He was born on 25 February 1921 in Cardiff, the son of David William Reid, a general practitioner, and Edith Mary née Smith, a nurse. His grandfather, David Spence Clark Reid, had also been a GP. He was educated at Christ’s College, Finchley, where he played

Arthur Henry Martin Littlewood was a consultant plastic surgeon in Liverpool. He was born in Guernsey in 1923 and went to school there. On the outbreak of war he went to England, but was dismayed to be declared unfit for military service. He went to Downing College, Cambridge, and then to University

After graduating at Manchester and resident appointments there, Rowland Osborne became resident surgical officer at the Park Hospital, Davyhulme. In 1940 he was appointed superintendent of Whiston Hospital, Prescot, a mixed civilian and military establishment where he developed an interest in plasti

Air Vice-Marshal George Henry Morley was born at Portsmouth on 22 February 1907. He went to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School where he qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1929. After house appointments he joined the RAF medical service in 1934 and took the FRCS the following year. In 1940

Emlyn Lewis was born in America on 10 April 1910; his mother brought him at an early age to Wales and he was educated at Monmouth. He later entered St Mary's Hospital and qualified from there in 1929. After obtaining his Fellowship he held appointments of surgical registrar at King's College Hosp

David Ralph Millard, chief of the division of plastic surgery at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, was a pioneering plastic surgeon who developed several techniques used in cleft lip and palate surgery. He was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 4 June 1919, the son of David Millard, a

Ian Fraser Muir was a consultant plastic surgeon for the Grampian Health Board and a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. He was born on 26 August 1921 in West Hartlepool, the son of John Kerr Muir and Margaret McKenzie Muir née Duke. He came from a medical family: his father was a general

Jack Burke will be remembered for successfully developing the first commercially reproducible, synthetic human skin. He was born on 22 July 1922 in Chicago, where he grew up. He started studying engineering at the University of Illinois, but left after Pearl Harbor and joined the Army. At the end of

William Goldthorpe 'Bill' Holdsworth was a senior consultant surgeon at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. Born on 18 October 1911, he was educated at Scotch College and Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne, and graduated from Melbourne University in 1933. In 1935 he went to England, and on the a