William Eric Joseph was born in 1898, the only son of a Congregational minister. He was educated at Taunton School and in 1916 won an open scholarship to Peterhouse College Cambridge. By then he had entered the Artillery Cadet Training School in Exeter, and the scholarship was kept open for him unti

Frank Langford was born on 26 August 1900 in Galatz, Romania, the first child of William Morris Langford, a civil engineer and Maria, née Chodkowska, of Polish birth. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, Wycliffe College and the University of Bristol. He qualified in 1924, proceeding FRCS in 1

Kenneth Owen Parsons was born at Swansea on 12 January 1898, the second son of Tom Parsons, a printer and his wife Florence, née Williams, and was educated at Swansea Grammar School and later at Bristol Grammar School. On leaving school in 1916 he joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers; he was twice wound

Illtyd James was born in Barry, Glamorgan, on 12 July 1900, the eldest son of Evan Thomas James, a master tailor, and Elizabeth Jones, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Barry County School, where he held a county scholarship, and later at University College Cardiff (where he took a BSc in 1921

Griffith John Griffiths was born in Barry on 23 September 1901. He was educated at Barry County School and Cardiff University before qualifying from the Middlesex Hospital. He was then in the Royal Air Force Medical Branch for three years on a short service commission in Egypt and Iraq before return

John Henry Milnes Walker was born on 16 March 1902 in Wakefield, the son of John William Walker and his wife Constance Elizabeth, née Holdsworth. His father and grandfather had both been surgeons on the staff of Clayton Hospital and his wife's father had been a physician there. He was educated at Ou

Arthur Elliot-Smith was born in Cairo on 3 June 1901. He was the son of Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith the distinguished anatomist and anthropologist; his mother's maiden name was Kathleen Macready. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, before coming to University College Hospital and on from which

Dudley Marks was born on 3 April, 1899 at Peckham Rye, and was educated at Haberdasher's Aske's School from whence he secured a scholarship to Cambridge. With the outbreak of the first world war he joined the Queen's Own Regiment on his 18th birthday in 1917. In the following year he suffered severe