William Smiley was born in 1913 and qualified from St Andrews University in 1937. After service in the RAMC with the rank of major, he worked at the Royal Eye Hospital with Sir Benjamin Ryecroft. He was consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Windsor Group at Taplow, Maidenhead and Wexham Park, Slough.

Thomas Stanley Sherwood Gregory was born on 9 February 1916 at New Malden, Surrey, the son of Thomas Gregory, manipulative therapist and Ivy, nee Sherwood. He was educated at Newport Grammar School, Essex, Sherborne School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He studied medicine at St Bartholo

Charles Brown was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon in Bristol. He was born in Aberdeen on 10 July 1915 into a medical family - his father, John Brown, and uncle were both general practitioners, both his sisters married doctors, one sister and a daughter became nurses, and his son-in-law was professor

Francis Joseph Damato was born in Malta on 2 February 1914, the son of Joseph Damato, an architect, and Josephine, née Farrugia. He was educated at St Paul's School, Valetta, and the Royal Malta University Medical School where he qualified in 1937. His brother, Pierre, became an ENT surgeon and a Fe