Alan Doyle Everett was born in London on 8 October 1905, the first son of Herbert, a linen merchant, and Rhoda (Doyle) the daughter of an engineer. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St Bartholomew's Hospital qualifying MRCS in 1929 and gaining the FRCS and also the MS London in 1930. A

Henry Hamilton Stewart was born on 23 August 1904, the son of H A Stewart, a practitioner at Thornton, Bradford. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, King's College Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital. At Cambridge he was placed in the first class in the Natural Sciences Tripos of 1925. At St

Arthur Elliot-Smith was born in Cairo on 3 June 1901. He was the son of Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith the distinguished anatomist and anthropologist; his mother's maiden name was Kathleen Macready. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, before coming to University College Hospital and on from which

James Cosbie Ross was born in Liverpool on 17 May 1904. He was the son and grandson of doctors, his father being James Ross, a general practitioner in Walton, Liverpool. His mother was Delia Cosbie and James, as the eldest child, took the name of Cosbie. James used this name and linked Ross as 'Cobb

Robin Pilcher was born on 22 June 1902 in Northwood, Middlesex, into a family without medical connections, although his younger brother Michael was to follow him into surgery. His father was Thorold Sturtevant Pilcher and his mother Helena, née Neilson. He was a scholar at St Paul's School and a pri