George Decker was chief of surgery at J G Strijdom Hospital, Johannesburg, one of the five main provincial teaching hospitals of the University of the Witwatersrand. He was born in Mossel Bay, a coastal town in the Cape Province of South Africa. His parents were of Dutch and German decent; his only

James Finbarr ‘Barry’ Cullen, a consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary, was one of the great names in ophthalmology, though he would never have thought that of himself. He was born in Cavan, Ireland, on 13 July 1928, the son of Bernard Thomas ‘Bertie’ Cullen, a GP, and Maura Cul

Gwyn Roberts was a consultant general surgeon at the Hastings group of hospitals. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, on 26 April 1929, where his father, Clifford Ellis, was a surgeon and his mother, Lydia Flay, a nurse. He was educated at the Prince of Wales School, Nairobi, and Millfield, in Somerset,

The only child of Percival and Lilian Coulter, he was born on 18 October, 1907. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury and King Edward VI, Bath, entering medical school at Bristol University in 1925, from whence he qualified MRCS, LRCP in 1931. He entered the Royal Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant

Air Vice Marshal Rhys Tudor Brackley Jones was born on 16 November 1925 in Middlesex, the son of the late Sir Edgar and Lady Jones. He studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, where he qualified MRCS LRCP in April 1950 and became a house surgeon there. His surgical training rotation continued at Haro

James Hadfield was a consultant general surgeon with a urological interest at Bedford Hospital. He came from a distinguished medical family: his father, Geoffrey Hadfield, was professor of pathology at the London School of Medicine for Women at the Royal Free Hospital. His mother was Sarah Victoria

Ian Ferguson was head of the vascular unit at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. He and his two brothers Neil and Russell were born in Longreach in central Queensland to Peter Ferguson and Leuwin Ferguson née Roxburgh. The Ferguson family owned several large farming properties. Ian had been obsessed by

Alan Lettin, one of the most distinguished orthopaedic surgeons of his generation, noted for his lifelong devotion to orthopaedic training and his commitment to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, was born in humble circumstances in the East End of London, where his father and mother ran a cor

David Crosby was a consultant general surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales. He was born in Cardiff on 12 November 1930, the son of William Crosby, a salesman who had served as a quartermaster in the RAMC during the First World War, and his wife, Elsie. He was educated at Court Road Primary Sc

John Herbert Harker Webster was a consultant surgeon in Southampton. He was born in Heswall, Cheshire, on 2 October 1929, the son of Herbert Webster, a biscuit manufacturer, and Doris Louise née Harker, the daughter of a chandler. In 1935 the family moved to Prenton in order to be near to Birkenhead

Ahmad Kazim was the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first surgeon and the founder and head of the department of orthopaedics at Dubai Hospital, UAE. From a family based in Dubai, he was born in Bombay, India on 15 October 1927, during the time of the British Raj. His father, Haji Abdulla, was a trader w