Douglas Robertson was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Hospital, Sheffield. He was born in London in 1919 of Scottish parents. His father, Falconer Robertson, was a banker, and his mother, Jane Mary Duff, was a teacher. Douglas was educated at the Stationers’ Company School. He entered St B

Romiel Anthonis was the most celebrated Asian surgeon of his day, and a role model to generations of Sri Lankans. He was born in Bambalapitiya, a suburb of Colombo, on 21 January 1911, one of the 16 children of Polwatte Arachchige Michael Anthonis, a master-carpenter, and Hettiarachchige Engaltina P

Philip Shemilt was a highly respected consultant surgeon at Salisbury General Hospital. Over a long career as a general surgeon, which included service during the Second World War and a period spent working in post-colonial Zimbabwe, he carried out 32,000 operations. He was born in Stoke-on-Trent, S

Leslie Le Quesne was professor of surgery at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He was born in Ashburton, Devon, on 24 August 1919. His father, Charles Thomas Le Quesne, was a prominent barrister, originally from Jersey; his mother, Florence Elizabeth Eileen Pearce Gould, was the granddaughter of Sir A

Roger Miles was born in Liverpool on 1 May 1915, the third child of Edwin Griffith Miles, a Presbyterian minister and Annie Miles, née Jones. Most of his childhood was spent in Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast where he developed his lifelong love of sailing and the sea. He was educated at Bradfield C

John Reginald Thompson was born on 13 March 1917 in Paignton, Devon, the son of John Thompson FRCS, GP surgeon of Torquay and Paignton and Elsie, née Royle. His mother was one of the first women to qualify as a doctor when she passed the MD in Manchester in 1909. He was educated at Sherborne School

Maitreyee Chaudhuri was born on 19 May 1910 and died on 6 June 2010, at the age of 100. She gained her FRCS in 1947.

Paul Savage was a consultant general surgeon at the Whittington Hospital, London. He was born, with his twin sister, on 28 January 1916 in Cambridge, the second son of Sir Edward Graham Savage, the chief education officer of the London County Council, and May Savage née Thwaites, who was a nurse at

The son of Lt-Col A Macgregor Rose DSO, RAMC of Aberdeen, Ian Rose was born on 3 December 1912. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and proceeded to St Bartholomew's Hospital where he graduated in 1937. After qualification he held several resident posts at Bart's and took his MA degree in 1938

Archibald Edmund Carter was a consultant surgeon at Ealing Hospital, London. He studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1945 with honours in surgery. He gained his FRCS in 1947. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a surgical registrar at the Royal Northern H

Sudhansu Mohan Ghosh was professor of surgery at the Calcutta National Medical College, India. He was born on 7 March 1907 and was educated in East Bengal, where he gained a distinction in mathematics. He joined the Calcutta Medical College in 1925 and in 1931 successfully passed the primary fellows

John Coxon was a consultant urologist in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He was born in Cambridge. His father, Thomas Coxon, was an industrial chemist with ICI; his mother was Florence Madelaine Proctor Coxon née Lucas. He was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria and then studied medicine at St Thomas’s