Alec McMillan was born at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire on 14 August 1900. Little is known of his career until he was commissioned in the regular army in 1928. He served in India and China before crossing to France with the BEF in 1939. He was safely evacuated at Dunkirk and then returned overseas to

Francis Allan was born on March 21 1900, received his medical education at St Thomas's Hospital and qualified in 1925. After holding a resident post at his teaching hospital he became an assistant at the Royal Cripples' Hospital, Birmingham, and thereafter spent his professional life in the Midlands

Born on 11 August 1903 in Hong Kong, he was the first child of Richard Octavius Boon, CBE, a civil servant, and Emily Mary Fothergill. He was educated at Edgecliffe Preparatory School in Sydney, Australia and at St Paul's School London. He then became one of the most distinguished students at St Tho

Stephen Power was born in Reading in 1902 the son of a general practitioner in Stamford Hill in North London. He was educated at St Ignatius College and the London Hospital Medical School, graduating MB, BS in 1925. He was appointed house surgeon and subsequently clinical assistant at the London and

Frederick Ridley was born in Birmingham, where his father was a schoolteacher. Having graduated BSc at Birmingham in 1922 he took the MB, BS in 1925 and the FRCS in 1928. As a young man he worked with Fleming on lysozyme, and his basic work on purification helped in the subsequent development of pen

John Cridlan Barrett was born on 10 August 1897 in Leamington Spa where his father was a pharmaceutical chemist. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School from where he obtained a scholarship to St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. In the first world war he served as a Lieutenant in the 5th Battal

John Henry Milnes Walker was born on 16 March 1902 in Wakefield, the son of John William Walker and his wife Constance Elizabeth, née Holdsworth. His father and grandfather had both been surgeons on the staff of Clayton Hospital and his wife's father had been a physician there. He was educated at Ou