Maurice White Falloon was head of the department of surgery at Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand. He was born in Masterton, New Zealand, on 24 July 1921, the son of John William Archibald Falloon, a sheep farmer, and Grace née Miller, a farmer’s daughter. His father was the longstanding chairman of the

Neri qualified MB BS at Madras University in 1945 and was resident medical officer at Madras General Hospital from 1945 to 1947. Coming to Britain, he held house posts at the Weston-super-Mare Hospital and at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, before becoming a registrar at Whipps Cross Hospital.