John Dickinson, always known as 'Dickie', was born in Birkenhead in 1909. After studying at Cambridge he went on to Guy's Hospital, where he qualified in 1934. He served in the RAMC during the second world war, in Assam and in a mobile surgical unit in Burma. He was appointed to the General Lying

Cyril Jeffery, or 'Jeff', was born on 13 April 1911 in Southsea, the son of Surgeon Commander T W Jeffery OBE RN. He went to the London Hospital in 1929, initially to study dentistry, but changed to medical studies in 1931. He was surgical dresser to Sir Hugh Cairns and Sir James Walton, and was hou

George Oliver Jelly was born on 26 April 1909 in Bury, Lancashire, the son of George Aubrey Jelly, an ophthalmologist, and Kathleen Mary Olive, the daughter of a papermaker. He was educated at Rugby, and read greats at Magdalen College, Oxford, but fell ill just before finals and took up medicine in

'Dan' Desmond was born in London on 18 August 1912, the second son of Dennis William Andrew Desmond, a pharmacist, and Violet Amy née More. He was educated at St Aloysius College, Highgate, and the London Hospital, where he qualified in 1934, and was house surgeon, receiving room officer, and clinic

Frederick Griffiths St Clair Strange, known as 'Derick', was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. He was born at Moh Kan San near Shanghai, China, on the 22 July 1911. His father, Charles Frederick Strange MRCS DTM&H, was a medical missionary who held the Médaille d'