George Harold Thomas was born on 2 January, 1889 in Hong Kong, of unknown parents. He was adopted as a child but left to fend for himself after a few years. His early life was lonely and hard due to poverty and privation. He was educated at the Diocesan Boys' School in Hong Kong and the College of M

William Harry Jayne Weston was born in Liverpool on 28 November 1903 and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. After graduating in science in 1925 he spent nearly eight years as a schoolmaster at Pangbourne and Windsor. At the age of 30 he took up medicine and qualified at St George's Hospit

Arthur Cecil Barker Biggs was born in North London on 9 March 1885. His father, John Maundy Biggs, was a general practitioner and a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Florence Elizabeth Biggs, née Hopkinson, his mother, was the daughter of the originator of the Hopkinson piano. He w

Robert Oliver Wheeler studied medicine at King's College, London and qualified MB BS in 1941. He passed the Conjoint Diploma in 1940 and the FRCS ten years later. He was surgical registrar to St Stephen's Hospital, London, and to Horton Hospital, Epsom, before becoming medical officer to Savernake H

Born on 8 February 1891 in the Military Cantonments at Bangalore, Dick Rishworth was the son of an officer in the British Army in India: his mother was the daughter of a major in the Indian Army Ordnance Corps and his great grandfather was an Assistant Surgeon of the East India Company. After educat

William Bruce Norris Bomford, known as 'Bruce', was chief medical officer of British Petroleum. He was born in Salford Priors, near Evesham, Worcestershire on 7 February 1919. His father, Benjamin Norris Bomford, was a farmer and market gardener; his mother, Elsie Bomford née Fisher, was the daughte

Arthur Norman Jones was born on 14 January 1904 in Liverpool, the son of John Lewis Jones, an estate agent, and Catherine Elizabeth, the daughter of a banker. His early education was at the Blundellsands School and Liverpool College, and he went to medical school in Liverpool, graduating MB ChB in 1

Margery Scott-Young was a consultant surgeon at the Rachel Forster Hospital, Sydney. She was born on 25 May 1912 in North Sydney, the daughter of Reginald Charles Scott-Young, a sales manager, and Mary née Crotty. She was educated at the Monte Sant' Angelo College in Sydney and the University of Syd

Mihir Kumar Senapati was a medical officer in Nigeria. He was born on 30 December 1925, the second son of Nilamani Senapati, an administrator in the Indian Civil Service, and Indumati Senapati née Niyogi. He was educated at the Doon School in Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh, India, where he gained the schoo

Keith Franklin Drysdale Sweetman was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 5 February 1914. His father was Joseph Franklin, a hardware merchant, who married Gladys Edith Drysdale. His great grandfather arrived in Western Australia as a civilian in 1834 from the United Kingdom but nothing is known of

Born in South Australia in 1859 he was educated at Hahndorf College and graduated from the University of Adelaide. He then came to England, entered Queen's College, Birmingham, and acted as demonstrator of physiology at Mason's Science College in that city. After taking out postgraduate courses in D

Born on 30 May 1879 at Hailsham, Sussex, the second eldest child of Joseph Burfield and his wife, née Birt. He belonged to a Quaker family with interests in farming and a rope business. He was educated at Beiston in Somerset and at London University and St Bartholomew's Hospital. He came to Norwi