Arnost Hirtenstein was born in Slovakia in 1909 and qualified MD in Prague in 1934. After military service during which he developed an interest in ophthalmology he entered general practice in a small town in Northern Bohemia but after three years, in 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo and forced

Neil Mackillop was born of Scottish parents in Karachi in 1920. He was educated at Glasgow High School and the University of Glasgow where he captained the university rugby team. After qualifying in 1943 and one year in resident appointments he joined the Royal Navy for three years and returned to t

Arthur Terence Sahanandan ('A T S') Paul was a pioneering cardiothoracic surgeon in Sri Lanka. He was born on 5 September 1915 in Colombo, in what was then Ceylon, into a distinguished Tamil family. His father, Samuel Chelliah Paul, was a senior surgeon at the General Hospital, Colombo, and the firs

James Oldfield was born in Sunderland on 10 July 1923. His father was Thomas Oldfield, a shipwright, and his mother was Annie, née Cockerill-Lawrence. He attended Bede Collegiate School, Sunderland, and then went to Durham University to study medicine on a Miners' Association Scholarship. He attende

Bernard Crawford was a plastic surgeon in Sheffield. He was born in Rotherham, Yorkshire, on 30 November 1919. His father, Alfred Edgar Crawford, was a teacher, and his mother, Nellie Cooper, a nurse. He was educated at Rotherham Grammar School and Sheffield University, where his teachers included E

Herbert Fletcher Smith was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, on 26 December 1917, the son of James Fletcher Smith, a general practitioner. He was educated at Bolton School before entering Manchester University Medical School where he was awarded the Dickinson Scholarship in anatomy and in 1939 passed t

Thomas Powell was born on 13 July 1923 at Resolven in South Wales, the son of a miner who took up insurance work when forced to give up mining owing to ill health at the age of 40. He was educated at Aberystwyth County School and Edinburgh University and graduated with honours in 1945, winning the M

Peter Corfield was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 17 June 1922. Both parents were consultant analytical chemists, his father, Charles Edwin, being the editor of Martindale and the British Pharmacopoeia. He also lectured and examined at the University of London, as did his wife Ella, née Caird.

Eugene Hoffman was a consultant surgeon in the Middlesbrough area, specialising in thoracic surgery. He was born in Zilina, Slovakia, in 1914, the youngest of a family of five. He studied medicine in Prague before the second world war. In 1939 his parents were uneasy about the political situation -

Herbert Nevile Burwell was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Dewsbury and district group of hospitals. He was born in Leeds on 12 June 1920, one of three sons of Arthur Reginald Burwell, an insurance broker and Mabel Walker, née Robinson. His brother, R Geoffrey Burwell, was a consultant ortho

Robert Maclaren was born in Glasgow on 27 October 1923 and was educated at Glasgow Academy. His preclinical medical education was at King's College, London, before qualifying from the Westminster Hospital. After two years of resident appointments at the Westminster and Royal National Orthopaedic Hos

Peter Jones was a paediatric surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. He was born in Melbourne on 26 September 1922. His father was William Aeron Jones, a former President of the Australian Veterinary Association, and his grandfather was David Jones, a Welsh sea captain. His mother, Elsi