Joe Jaya-Ratnam was born in Ceylon on 17 December 1936. He trained in Colombo, where he practised for 15 years before going to England to train in surgery. He specialised in accident and emergency medicine, was a registrar in Lincoln and Leicester, and a senior registrar in Middlesborough, before be

John Fulford was the former director of Birmingham General Hospital's accident and emergency department and a consultant surgeon. He was born in Birmingham in 1919 and entered the medical school there in 1937. He had a most distinguished undergraduate career and qualified in 1942, after passing seve

Leonard Penrynne Bandera Kiriclla received his professional education at the University of Ceylon, qualifying MB BS in 1947. After coming to Britain he gained the DLO in 1053 and both the English and the Edinburgh Fellowships in 1957. He held posts at St James's Hospital, Balham and at St Mary Ab

Herbert Kitchener Bourns was born in County Galway on 14 July 1916, the sixth of seven children of Harry J Bourns, a farmer and landowner, and his wife Esther Josephine, née Cornwall. His early education was at St Columba's College near Dublin, after which he entered Trinity College Dublin for his m

John Hindle trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital and after junior posts specialised in accident and emergency surgery. He was a registrar to Tilbury and Riverside Hospital and Accident Officer at the Middlesex Hospital before being appointed consultant in charge of the emergency department at Luton

Howard Davies qualified in 1960 and worked first in Newport, and then as consultant to the accident and emergency department at Carmarthen, where he is thought to have worked for 15 to 20 years. After his wife died prematurely of breast cancer, he became rather a recluse and the College has little i

Geoffrey William Hinchley (Geoff) was an accident and emergency surgeon at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, London. Born in Barrow in Furness on 4 December 1959, he was the second of four children. At Barrow Boys Grammar School he excelled both in class and on the athletics field. He studied medicine a

Nicholas Warren studied medicine at London University and the London Hospital, qualifying MB, BS in 1976. He did house jobs in accident and emergency medicine at the London and for the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1983 and became an accident

Thomas Lowden was a casualty surgeon in Sunderland. He was born in Leeds on 25 March 1910, where his father, Harold Lowden, was an engineer and his mother, Ethel Annie Lamb, a schoolteacher. From Leeds Grammar School he won a Holroyd scholarship to Keble College, Oxford, and went back to Leeds for h

Richard Harrison was a consultant orthopaedic and accident and emergency surgeon in south west Cumbria. He was born on 8 July 1922 and studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, London, qualifying MB BS in 1944. He was a house surgeon at the Royal Cancer Hospital, a senior registr

Albert Patrick ('Paddy') Dignan was a former director of Army surgery. He was a remarkable character who was born into a modest family in Dublin. His father, Joseph, a tailor, was able to get all five of his sons through medical school. (Whether an ability to stitch can be inherited remains open to

Major General Norman Rogers was the director of Army surgery, and during his career encouraged the training of Army surgeons and the study of military wounding at the research establishment at Porton Down. He was born on 14 October 1916 in Long Acre, central London, the only child of Charles William