Educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, Thompson qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1941, and was house surgeon at the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital. He served in the RAMC during and after the second world war, and took the Fellowship in 1950. Thompson later went to Jamaica

Robert Henderson was born in Lucknow on 23 December 1916, the son of Selby Herriot Henderson IMS and Ruby, née Wells, whose father was a survivor of the siege of the Residency in Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny. He qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital and did junior posts at the Birmingham Acci

Benjamin John Fowler was born in 1917 in Peterborough where he attended the King's School before entering Guy's Hospital to qualify in 1941. He was called up for Army service, working as a general duties medical officer with some experience in surgery. While in North Africa he was created Chevalier

Alfred Jones (Jim) Evans was born in Llanelli, Wales, on 13 August 1916. His father, Owen Garnon, was a meat purveyor and his mother Cicely Frances, née Evans, was a schoolmistress. He was educated at Christ College, Brecon, and St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, qualifying MRCS, LRCP in 1941. He serve

'Buster' Glover was a consultant ophthalmologist in Windsor. He was born in Hampstead, London, on 5 October 1917, the son of James Alison Glover (CBE, MD, FRCP), the senior medical officer to the Board of Education and the Ministry of Health, and Katherine Merriam, the daughter of a plastics manufac

Lyall Robertson McLaren was born on 15 June 1917 and educated at Epsom College, Downing College, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospital. After qualifying in 1941 he served for four years as a Surgeon-Lieutenant in the RNVR, including three years at sea in the East Indies. He returned to junior surgical appoi