John Hale was a consultant general and colorectal surgeon at Redhill in Surrey. He was born into a family of market gardeners in the Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire. He showed early academic promise and attended Prince Henry's Grammar School in Evesham, where he was head boy. He then gained a schola

Alastair Gunn was a much-loved and respected consultant general surgeon at Ashington Hospital, Northumberland, and later at its replacement, Wansbeck General Hospital. He had a major interest in colorectal disease and instigated and helped establish the NHS northern region's register of familial ade

'Sam' Mitchell was a consultant general surgeon in Swansea. He was born in Aberystwyth on 30 May 1926, where his father, Samuel, and mother, Doris née Finlay, were school teachers. He was educated at the County School in Aberystwyth and Cardiff University. His junior posts were on the professorial u

Bernard Hand was born on 21 November 1919. His father, Ernest Francis Hand, was an architect and his mother, Mary, née Searle, was the daughter of an engineer. He was descended from Sir William Hillary, founder of the lifeboat service; as a consequence he gave constant support to the RNLI throughout

Lawrence Herbert Hansen was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand in 1929 and after early education at Palmerston Boys' High School entered the University of Otago Medical School, qualifying in 1955. After early hospital appointments in Wellington he came to England to work as surgical registrar at

Abraham Solomon ('Sol') Levitt was a colorectal surgeon in Perth, Western Australia. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 17 April 1927, the second child of Pinchas and Hadassah Levitt, who had emigrated from British mandate Palestine. Pinchas had been born in Bendery, then in Bessarabia, an

John Pendower was a consultant surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London and Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 6 August 1927, less than ten years after the end of the First World War; his father had been a teenage infantryman on the Somme. He grew up through turbulent and exciting times, and

Born on 18 December 1939 in London, David Jagelman was educated at St Joseph's College, Beulah Hill and King's College London, before going on to Westminster Hospital Medical School. After qualifying in 1963 he was surgical registrar, research lecturer and senior registrar at the Metropolitan, Westm

Sir Edward Hughes, known as 'Bill', was Chair of Surgery at Monash University and a former President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was born on 4 July 1919, the third child of Reginald Hawkins Hughes and Annie Grace née Langford. He was educated at Melbourne Church of England Gram

Alex Brown was a consultant surgeon at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. He was born on 26 January 1919. His father, A Brown, was head of the department of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town. His mother, Mary Graham, had been the first female graduate at Rhodes Univers

Graham Sherwood Peck (also known as ‘Pecky’) was a senior surgeon at the Western General Hospital, Victoria, Australia. He was born in Melbourne on 15 May 1930. His father, Claude Russell Lemuel Peck, was a transport manager; his mother was Mary Queenie Peck née Houghton, a housewife. He attended Me

Michael William Noel Ward was a general and colorectal surgeon in Enfield. He studied at Oxford University and trained in medicine at University College Hospital (UCH), London. He did house jobs at UCH and passed the fellowship of the college in 1978. A consultant general and colorectal surgeon at C