Robert Ellis Gibbins was born in Birmingham on 29 July 1914, the son of David Gibbins, an engineer, and his wife Ethel Emilie, née Rohrbach. He was educated at a number of different schools and at Birmingham University Medical School, where he qualified MB ChB in 1938. After resident jobs at the Que

John Herdman was born on 15 December 1921. He studied medicine at Oxford, qualifying in 1945. He completed house jobs at the United Oxford Hospitals and at Ancoats, Manchester, from which he passed the FRCS. He then returned to the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research for two years, before underg

Austin Marsden was a consultant surgeon in Ormskirk and St Helens. He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, on Christmas Day 1919, the third son of George Marsden, a shoe merchant, and Agnes née Liptrot. He was educated at St Helens Catholic Grammar School, from which he went on to read medicine at Liv

Thomas Miller (Tom) was born in Fielding, New Zealand, on 24 September 1917, the third son of Thomas Miller, a Presbyterian minister and Marion Meiklem née Strang, the daughter of a sea captain who became marine superintendent of the Union Castle Line. He was educated at the Otago Boys High School a

Lucien Noel Bartholomeusz was born on 25 December 1910 in Colombo, Ceylon, the son of Hugh William Bartholomeusz, a barrister-at-law, and Alice Maude Jansz. He was educated at the Royal College, Colombo, and entered Ceylon Medical College on 29 April 1929 where he was a distinguished student, being

Stanley Francis Reid, while a medical student at Melbourne, took a keen interest in flying and was one of a small band of students who joined the Citizen Air Force at Laverton, where he won his 'wings'. After qualifying MB BS Melbourne in 1936 he held posts as RMO in the Royal Melbourne Hospital, 19

Donald Patrick Robertson qualified MD from Manitoba University in 1938. He passed the FRCS in 1947. He was surgeon to the Public General Hospital and St Joseph's Hospital in Chatham, Ontario, before joining the surgical staff of the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital in Huntsville, Ontario. He

Alfred Mark Abrahams was born on 30 December 1912 in Norwich, the third son of Herman Abrahams, minister of religion, and Zelda. He was educated at Holy Trinity School and King George V Grammar School Southport, from where he was the first boy to win a Southport Borough Scholarship and the Robert Ge

Jean Sandel was born towards the end of 1916, her parents' only child, in the small community of Taumarunui, twenty-five miles west of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. She was educated at the Girls' High School, New Plymouth (on the coast, sixty miles west of her home), b

Butler was born on 12 September 1916 and educated at Bristol University, graduating with honours in medicine and surgery in 1940. As the second world war was in progress he was immediately commissioned in the RAMC and was posted to India. After the war he held resident posts at Bristol Royal Infirma

Stanley Thomas McCollum was a former President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was born in Athboy, County Meath, on 3 May 1918, where his father, Thomas, was a farmer. His mother was Violet née Roe. From the National School, Athboy, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he won th

Murray Greig was a former general surgeon at Waitako Hospital, in Hamilton, New Zealand. He was born on 23 April 1908 in Kirin, Manchuria, where his father, James Alexander Greig (FRCS Edinburgh) and mother, Ella Wallace, served with the Irish Presbyterian mission, establishing a hospital in Kirin b