George Hird received his medical training at the Westminster Hospital and qualified in 1943. After the war he specialized in orthopaedic surgery, doing registrar posts at the Royal National Orthopaedic, the Royal West Sussex Hospital Chichester and the Central Middlesex Hospitals. He became consulta

John Stanley James Morley was born in Withington, Manchester, on 2 March 1918, the son of John Morley FRCS and Mary Ogilvie Simon, the daughter of a congregational minister. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford, Rugby, and University College, Oxford, before completing his clinical studies in

Philip Kerr was born on 22 February 1921, the son of Dugald Kerr, a Scottish civil engineer, and Charlotte Annie, née Tasker. He was educated at Oundle, where he won many prizes, and at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1943 and served as a medical officer in the RAF in Western Eu

Michael Devas, a former consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Hastings, invented what he called 'geriatric orthopaedics'. He was born in Holcombe, Somerset, the son of G E Devas. He was educated at Downside and Cambridge, before going to the London Hospital in September 1940 during the Blitz, at a time

Hugh Osborne Williams, the son of Dr William Neville Pennant Williams, a general practitioner, and of May Williams (née Ridgeway), was born at Connah's Quay on 3 February 1920. He was educated at Epworth School, in Rhyl, before entering the medical school of Liverpool University. In the attenuated w

Born on 14 August 1921 at Northampton; his father was a leather factor, but his great-uncle Henry Briggs FRCS, was the first Professor of Midwifery in the University of Liverpool, and his mother's brother Hugh Reid FRCS, was surgeon to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. James's younger brother Donald Kn

Surgeon captain Bruce Jones RN was born on 26 June 1919 at Ringwood, Hants, the first son of Ernest Victor Jones, a dental surgeon, and Gladys Maud Jones née Sloper. He was educated at Great Ballard School near Hilton, Hants. He then moved on the Sherborne School. Initially, he started dental traini

John Baily was born in Southampton on 29 June 1919, the only son of Guy Baily, an engineer, and of his wife, Kathleen Mary, née Tarrant. His father was at sea while John was a boy, so during his early years he lived with his grandparents in Glasgow. His first school was Glasgow Academy, where his fa