Arthur Espie Porritt was born in Wanganui, New Zealand, the elder son of E E Porritt, VD, MD, FRCS, and of Ivy Elizabeth, née Mackenzie, whose father was also a medical practitioner. After education at Wanganui Collegiate School and Otago University, where he had an outstanding athletic record, he s

Walter Stanley Chapman studied medicine at University College Hospital, qualified MB BS in 1926 and was awarded an MD in 1932. He was appointed resident surgical officer to Bolingbroke Hospital and surgeon to the Worthing Hospital Group. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. During the s

John Mark was born at Te Puke in 1901, and winning a national scholarship from his preparatory school he went to Auckland Grammar School and then to the University of Otago where he graduated MB ChB in 1926. After his early resident posts in Auckland Public Hospital he came over to London to work fo

Ralph Marnham was born in Stellenbosch, South Africa on 7 June 1901, the eldest son of Arthur Marnham, a farmer, and Janet (née Micklem) the daughter of a farmer. He was educated at Diocesan College, Rondebosch and on coming to England, at Caius College, Cambridge and St George's Hospital, London, q

Harold Strang Taylor-Young was born on 3 March 1902. He was the second son of Hugh Corbett Taylor, a gynaecologist in Sydney, Australia, and his wife Annie Rankin, née Strang. Taylor-Young noted on his CV form that his father "never legally hyphenated his name", but that he did in 1930. He came t

Born on 18 August 1896 at Windsor, Nova Scotia, son of Aaron Grindon Blauvelt, a manufacturer, and his wife Margaret Chisholm. He was in San Francisco at the time of the great earthquake and fire of 1906, but returned safe to Nova Scotia, and was educated at Dalhousie University. As a medical studen

George Dorling was born in 1905 in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, the son of Arthur Whayman Dorling, secretary to the Congregational Church Building Society, and his wife Jane Elizabeth, née Passfield. He was at school in Loughton before entering the London Hospital Medical School where he was awarded th

Archie Murrell Acheson Moore, known as Dintie, was born in Pretoria on 14 August 1904 and underwent his early education in South Africa. He came to London with his family at the age of seventeen but within a year his father had died, leaving the family with very little money. He entered the London H

Basil Roy Sworn was born on 14 October 1901 in Burnham, Staffordshire, the son of Ernest Andrew Sworn, a doctor, and Alice Sworn. He was educated at Epsom College and St Thomas’s Hospital, qualifying in 1925 with the Conjoint Diploma and graduating MB BS in 1926. He became first a clinical assistan

Shantilal Mehta was a distinguished surgeon and superintendent of the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Hospital in Mumbai, India. He was born on 10 January 1905 in Surendranagar, Saurashtra. As educational opportunities were limited in his local area, Mehta went to live with his maternal grandfather, Motilal

Louis Amos Bennett was born in Nelson, New Zealand, on 16 October 1896. His father was John Bennett, farmer and storekeeper and his mother was Annie, née Ryde. He was educated at Central School, Nelson and Nelson College where he was awarded the junior and senior national scholarships and the Fell S

Raymond Purvis was born in Southampton on 30 December 1904, the second child and younger son of a consultant surgeon, William Prior Purvis, MD, MS, FRCS, and of Dora Raymond, daughter of Walter Raymond, a Somerset author. His paternal grandfather and great grandfather were also medically qualified.