John Andrew Kerr was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 17 July 1903, the first of the four children of John William Kerr, a mineral water manufacturer. His mother Gertrude Adie was the daughter of a goldsmith and silversmith. He attended the George Dixon School in Birmingham and the Birmingham Unive

Kenneth Leslie James was born on 15 July 1906 in Burton-on-Trent, the son of Joseph Henry James, MA, LIB, BD, who had given up the law to become a Methodist Minister, and his wife Minnie, née Longley. His early education was at the Burnley Grammar School but due to the peripatetic nature of his f

Douglas Stanley-Jones was born in London on 2 February 1905. His father, Herbert Stanley-Jones, was a chartered accountant. His mother, Florence Eliza née Parry was the daughter of William Parkes Parry, a wholesale pharmacist, and the sister of Leonard Arthur Parry MD FRCS. Douglas was educated at W

Sir John Peel was perhaps the most celebrated obstetrician and gynaecologist of his era. Born in Bradford on 10 December 1904, he was the son of the Rev J E Peel. From Manchester Grammar School he went to Queen’s College, Oxford, going on to his clinical studies at King’s College Hospital where, aft

Gilbert Causey was born on 8 October 1907 in Wigan, Lancashire, the son of George Causey and Ada, née Hargreaves, who were shopkeepers. He was educated at Wigan Grammar School and Liverpool University. In 1930 he qualified MB ChB with first class honours, having been awarded numerous prizes and meda

Herbert Edward Harding was born in 1907. There is no record of his early education before he entered the London Hospital Medical College where he won a number of undergraduate prizes and qualified in 1931. After resident appointments at the London Hospital he completed the FRCS in 1933 to become sur

The Hon Geoffrey John Orlando Bridgeman, the second son of the first Viscount Bridgeman, was born on 3 July 1898 at 39 Harley Street, London. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, and served in the Royal Field Artillery during the first world war, and was awarded the MC in 1918. He

Victor Horsley Hume Riddell was born at 4 Collegiate Terrace, Rotherham, Yorks, on 23 July 1905. His father was FRCS Ed and honorary surgeon to Torbay Hospital. He was educated at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, Clifton College and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and obtained his blue as a

Richard John Vulliamy Battle was born on 21 January 1907 at 49 Harley Street, London Wl, the son of William Henry Battle, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, London, and Annie Marguerite Vulliamy, who was descended from a long line of clockmakers. He was educated at Highfield School, Liphook, Gresham's

Harold Rodgers was Professor of Surgery at Queen's University, Belfast. He was born in Buldana, near Bombay, India, the third child and second son of Thomas Rivers Rodgers, a medical officer and prison governor, and Elizabeth Idee née Brinkworth, whose father was a civil servant. As a boy he became

The following obitiuary was published in volume eight of Plarr's Lives of the Fellows: Theodore Schrire, nicknamed 'Toddy', was born on 6 November 1906 in Cape Town. He matriculated at the age of sixteen, afterwards attaining his MA from the University of Cape Town, where he received the medal

Selby Tait was born on 9 December 1902 in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of James Andrew Tait, BA, a Congregational Minister, and his wife Anne Olene née Clemmetsen, who was Norwegian by birth. He attended the Dame School, Hexham, then the Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he was awarded the sc