Charles Heanley was head of the department of plastic surgery at the London Hospital. He was born in Hong Kong on 28 February 1907, the son of Charles Montgomery Heanley, a doctor, and Mary Morella Heanley née Tassell. He was educated at Epsom College and then at Downing College, Cambridge, where he

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

John Jeffs was a consultant plastic surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London. He was born in Tredegar, Gwent, where his father, Victor Henry Jeffs, was the local butcher. His mother was Ivy Elizabeth Jeffs née Lewis. He went to Lewis School in Pengam. His medical training was at Guy's Hospital, whe

Martin Kelly was a craniofacial plastic surgeon at the Chelsea and Westminster, and Royal Marsden hospitals. An extraordinarily talented surgeon, he died of a heart attack at the young age of 43, stunning his colleagues. He was born Martin Hirigoyen in London on 7 May 1965, the son of Bernard Hirig

Thomas Laird Barclay was a consultant plastic surgeon at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, St James Hospital, Leeds and St Luke's Hospital Bradford. Born in Huddersfield on 26 March 1925, the son of William and Mary Frances Barclay, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University. He qualified MB ChB in

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

John Watson was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. He was born in Blundellsands, Merseyside, on 10 September 1914. His father, John Watson, a lawyer, died when he was 18 months old. His mother, Annabel Windsor Watson née Thorp, the daughter of a Quaker physician

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

Maurice Kinmonth was a plastic surgeon in Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln. He was born in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland. His father, George Henry Kinmonth, was a general practitioner and on account of the deteriorating political situation in Ireland the family moved to London, where he was i

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

Emma Hormbrey was a plastic surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She was born Emma Flindall in London on 4 October 1968 and studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. She qualified with the MB BS in 1994 and gained her FRCS in 1998. Prior to her post in Oxford, she

Frank Robinson, the son of a general practitioner, was born in Bolton in 1914. There had been doctors in every generation of the family since 1800. After graduation from Manchester in 1940 he was called up for service in the RAMC, first at Aldershot and later at Baguley Emergency Medical Service Hos