Sir Hedley Atkins was the son of a distinguished Guy's general practitioner, Sir John Atkins KCMG, KCVO, FRCS, and Elizabeth May (née Smith) Hedley, by which name he was always known, was educated at Rugby, Trinity College, Oxford and Guy's. He was a man of commanding presence and excellent physique

Henry Reynolds Thompson was born in Hampstead, London, on 14 February 1908 the son of Harold Theodore Thompson (1878-1935) MD, FRCP, FRCS, physician to the London Hospital (*Lives of the Fellows*, 1930-1951, p.764) and Elinor, née Waller (whose father was a dental surgeon in Alexandria). He was educ

Roland Lewis was born in Ystalyfera, near Swansea, on 23 November 1908, the third of five sons. His father, William James, who was from an old Cardiganshire family of farmers, trained in Edinburgh and became a GP and medical officer of health to the rural district of Pontardawe. His mother was Const

Herbert Frederick Moseley was born in Canada and studied at McGill University passing his BA in 1926. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and won the Radcliffe Prize. He gained practical experience at St Thomas's Hospital and became Hunterian Professor at the College in 1950. Return

William Gordon Gill was born in Reigate on 3 January 1908. He was educated at Kingswood School, Seaford, and Marlborough College, from where he won an exhibition to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. From Cambridge he went to Guy's Hospital where he qualified in 1932; becoming FRCS in 1934 and M

Hugh Morgan Williams was born in Shrewsbury on 10 September 1908, the son of Roger Morgan Williams, a bank manager. He was taken as a young boy to South Africa where his first schooling was at Potchefstroum College in the Transvaal. Returning to England he entered Bedford School and went to St Barth

Arthur Lewis Eyre-Brook, or 'E-B', was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Bristol. He was born in Inverness, a son of the manse. The family moved south when his father retired, and Arthur was educated at Colyton Grammar School in Devon. He went on to Bristol Medical School, where he did junior post