Gordon France was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Lewisham Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. He was born in Heckmondwike, west Yorkshire, on 12 July 1912. His father was a cabinet maker and joiner, and his mother, Harriet Alice née Firth, a dressmaker. From Heckmondwike Grammar School,

Born on 19 October 1913, "Gerry" as he was known to everyone, was a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying in 1936 and by 1939 he had obtained his Edinburgh Fellowship. After joining the RAF he showed an early interest in burns and especially those involving the hands. In 1944 he w