Denis Astley Sanford was a senior general surgeon in Sunderland. He qualified MB BS in 1936 and, after a house physician post at University College Hospital, London, became a resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Sunderland. He served as a wing commander in the RAF and then, after the S

Raeburn Rodd Talbot was a senior visiting surgeon at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. He gained his FRCS in 1939.

Douglas William Guthrie was educated at Bayfield School and later at Auckland Grammar School. He graduated from Otago Medical School in 1935. After house surgeon years at Auckland Hospital he came to England and passed his Final Fellowship exams in 1939. He returned to Auckland Hospital where he

Born in Sheringham, Norfolk, on 5 July 1914, Francis Edgar Stock's father was Edgar Stephen Stock, a clerk and former farmer. His mother was Olive Blanche née Cook. He was educated at Colfes Grammar School, London, and won the Sambrooke scholarship to King's College in 1933. At King's he won prizes

Kenneth Fraser Donaldson was born in New Zealand on 30 January 1914. He studied medicine at University College Hospital Medical School and qualified MB, BS in 1936. After working as a house surgeon in the obstetric unit at University College hospital, he became a resident medical officer at Wembley

Lord Smith was one of our great presidents. Successive holders of that office have faced many and various challenges, but by any measure the confrontation between the Labour government and the BMA from 1974 to 1975 was a major crisis that threatened the future of consultant practice. Rodney Smith, a

George Oliver Jelly was born on 26 April 1909 in Bury, Lancashire, the son of George Aubrey Jelly, an ophthalmologist, and Kathleen Mary Olive, the daughter of a papermaker. He was educated at Rugby, and read greats at Magdalen College, Oxford, but fell ill just before finals and took up medicine in

Charles Geoffrey Rob was born at Skipton Hall, Skipton, Thirsk, Yorkshire on 23 April 1909. His father was Henry Rob, a farmer, and his mother was Muriel Carter Mitchell, whose father was a general practitioner. He was a cousin of Charles Granville Rob, the vascular surgeon, who was Professor in Lon

Laughton Leask was born on 15 October 1912, the eldest son of William Laughton Rennie, an architect, and Anne Elizabeth Mabel, née Beaton. He went to preparatory school in Hong Kong, thence to Edinburgh Academy and later to Highgate, before going to St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1930 where he won the

Wilfrid Peter Greening (usually called 'Peter') was a former consultant surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He was born in Saxlingham, Norfolk, on 16 May 1914, the only child of the reverend William C Greening, the local rector, and his wife Maud Mary, née Waller. His father died when he was seve

Arnold Gourevitch was a consultant surgeon in Birmingham. He was born in Paris on 24 February 1914, the son of Russian Jewish émigrés. At the outbreak of the first world war his parents fled to England, eventually settling in Birmingham. His father, Mendel, later qualified as a doctor and became a g

Patrick Sames was a general surgeon in Bath with an interest in coloproctology. He was born on 17 January 1912 in Enfield, Middlesex, the only son of Christopher, a railway clerk, and Caroline née Radmore. He was a late entrant to medicine, leaving Harrow County School to become an apprentice in the