Leslie Simon served in the RAMC and qualified MB, ChB in Edinburgh in 1947. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1952 and a Fellow of the College in 1955. He held posts at the Northern Regional Surgery Centre at Shotley Bridge and at the St Mary Abbots Hospital in Lond

Frank Bishop studied medicine in Melbourne and, after junior posts at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, came to England to specialise in surgery. He worked as a senior house officer at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Kent, and, after passing the final FRCS in 1955, returned to Melbourne as a registrar at t

David Cropley was born in Sydney on 15 June 1926. His father, Oswald Albert Cropley, was a shoemaker. His mother was Hester Sarah Cropley. From the Sydney Church of England Grammar School he went to study medicine at Sydney University, and was for a time anatomical prosector. After qualification, he

Kevin Cronin was born on 24 July 1925, the son of M J Cronin, a general practitioner. He was educated at the Beaumont School, Berkshire, and entered the London Hospital Medical College in 1942. After qualifying, he completed house jobs in neurosurgery under Douglas Northfield, chest medicine under L

Leslie Linder was born in London on 29 October 1923 to Hyman Linder, a merchant and his wife, Anna, née Karsberg. He was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University. In 1962 he became lecturer in anatomy in the University of Natal for two years, and then was casualty surgeon in King E

Guy Debenham was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, on 27 January 1923, the second son of Leonard Snowden Debenham, a surgeon, and Anna Archer-Shee, a nurse and the daughter of a banker. He was educated at Stonyhurst and Edinburgh University. He did junior posts at Leith Infirmary, Worcester, Wolverham

'Sam' Mitchell was a consultant general surgeon in Swansea. He was born in Aberystwyth on 30 May 1926, where his father, Samuel, and mother, Doris née Finlay, were school teachers. He was educated at the County School in Aberystwyth and Cardiff University. His junior posts were on the professorial u

Tony Gabriel was formerly the senior surgeon at the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama, Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was born in London on 10 January 1925 and died in Colombo on 21 December 2007 after a short illness, a few days before his 83rd birthday. He was described by one writer ‘as a person who loved the

Tom Williams was chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Alberta, Canada. He was born in Rhewl, Wales, on 17 April 1925, and spent his childhood and youth in north Wales. He studied medicine in Liverpool, where he completed junior surgical posts, before going to Edmonton, Alberta,

Norman Addison was a consultant surgeon at Bradford Royal Infirmary. He was born in Leeds on 26 April 1925, the son of Herbert Victor Addison and Alice née Chappell. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School, where he won an exhibition and sixth form prizes in biology and chemistry. He went on to stud

Athol James Duke was born in Dunedin in 1928 and his early education was at McGlashen College and at the Otago Boys' High School where he was head prefect and played for the school first XV at rugby. He entered Otago Medical School in 1947, qualifying in 1951, and after completing officer appointmen

Gerard Shawe, always known as 'David', was a consultant surgeon in Redhill. He was born in London on 6 February 1921, the son of Gertrude (née Morgan) and Reginald Shawe. He was educated at the local school in Mill Hill, North London, leaving at 14. Determined to study medicine, he worked for matric