Born on 18 December 1912, Alfred Cavendish qualified at University College Hospital, and after junior posts joined the RAMC, where he became a surgical specialist with the rank of Major. After the war, he became chief assistant at the North Middlesex Hospital, before being appointed consultant surge

George Fairlie-Clarke qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1938 and after a house surgeon post at Bart's he was resident surgical officer at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells. He retired to Dartmouth where he died on 9 September 2002, aged 89 years.

Katharine Branson was a consultant surgeon at the Bruntsfield and Longmore Hospitals, Edinburgh. She was born in London on 5 August 1912. Her father, Frederick Henry Ewart Branson, was a solicitor. Her mother was Helen Mary, née Brown, the daughter of a solicitor. Katharine was educated at Hall S

Richard Braithwaite Keevil Rickford, the first of similar twins of Leslie Thomas Rickford, a banker, and Gladys Georgina Rickford (née Keevil), was born on 1 June 1914, at Hampstead. He was educated at The Gables, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then at the junior and senior schools of Weymouth College, Dors

Gerald Tresidder ('GCT') was born on 5 December 1912 in Rawalpindi where his father, Lt Col Alfred Geddes Tresidder, FRCS, was a surgeon in the Indian Medical Service. His was mother Lilian Annie, née Trelease. His career followed what was then the Anglo-Indian norm: 'home' at the age of eight, scho