Robert (Robin) Welsh was born on 23 April 1928 in Witbank, Transvaal, South Africa, the eldest son of Dr Robert William Hepburn Welsh, a general practitioner in Pretoria for thirty years, and Evelyn Jessie Watson. He was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, and the University of Witwatersran

David Matthews was a distinguished consultant plastic surgeon based in London. He was born in Bromley, Kent, on 7 July 1911. His father, Harold Hamilton Matthews, was a surveyor. His mother, Jeanie née Johnstone, together with a governess, educated him until the age of 10. He won an exhibition from

Richard Lionel Spittel was born on 9 December 1881 in Tangalle, a town on the south coast of Ceylon, where his father Dr F G Spittel was stationed at that time as Government Medical Officer. He entered the Ceylon Medical College at the turn of the century, and qualified LMS Ceylon in 1905. He entere

Andrew McDowall was born at Bradford on 22 February 1901 of parents who had been born and brought up in Wigtownshire. He was educated first at Fort William School, where he developed a great interest in history. He went on to George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and then to Edinburgh University, wher

Jagan Nath Madan was born on 12 June 1896 in Sahowala, in the district of Sialkot. He was the second child of Karamchand Adan, a doctor. After school in Batalia he attended the Lahore Medical College in the Punjab where he won a silver medal in anatomy and graduated MB, BS in 1919. After an appointm

Ewen Murchison rose to be Surgeon Captain in the Royal Navy. On retirement he was civilian consultant surgeon to the Navy in Gibraltar. He was an associate member of the Association of Plastic Surgeons. He died in Gibraltar on 19 December 2002.

Rasamay Ganguly was born in Barisal, Bengal, on 1 May 1918. His father Heramba Chandra Ganguly was an excise officer in the Bengal Civil Service. His mother was Hemanginee Mukherjee, daughter of a deputy magistrate in the same service. The second son in a family of six children, he was educated at t