John Winstanley was an ophthalmic surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. He was born in London on 11 May 1919, the son of Bernard Joseph Winstanley, a captain in the Burma Sappers and Miners, and Grace née Taunton, the daughter of a solicitor. The younger of three sons, he was educated at Stoke Hou

Mary Marchant was a former plastic surgeon in Liverpool. Born in 1924, she qualified in medicine at Liverpool and began her career as a house officer at Smithdown Road Hospital. She trained in surgery and practised in and around Liverpool, before specialising in plastic surgery. She helped set up th

Hanuš Weisl was a consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon in South Glamorgan, Wales. He escaped his native Prague in the last kindertransport to London in June 1939. His parents, Alfred, a dentist, and Marie née Mandler, a doctor, eventually joined him in England after the Second World War. After

Michael Douglas Mary Staunton, known as 'Dudley', was a general surgeon in London with an interest in oncology. He was born on 8 September 1925 in Swinford, County Mayo, Ireland, where his father Michael Douglas Staunton was a dispensary doctor. His mother was Ursula Mellett. Of the six children, al

John Gleave was a consultant neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and an accomplished oarsman. He was born in Walsall, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), on 6 April 1925, the son of John Wallace Gleave, a priest, and his wife, Dorothy (née Littlefair). He was educated at Uppingham Scho

Sir Norman Blacklock combined several careers; as a distinguished surgeon in the Navy, later as professor of urology at the University of Manchester, and as medical adviser to the Queen on her official trips abroad. He was born in Glasgow on 5 February 1928, the son of John William Stewart Blacklock