James Alan Millar White was born in Edinburgh on 14 January 1925, the son of John Letham White, a public works contractor and a nephew of Frankie Jardine FRCS Ed of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. His early education was at George Watson's, Edinburgh and at Edinburgh Academy until 1941 when he went

Colm Galvin was born in Dublin on 2 August 1921. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and studied medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, where he was house surgeon and resident surgical officer. He went to London to be house surgeon to the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, and then did regi

Brian Gadsby Peet was the only child of Edward Gadsby Peet, a master brewer, and Hilda Harriet Harden, a nurse who had worked as a theatre sister in France in the first world war. He was educated first at the Heath Grammar School in Halifax until the age of thirteen and then sent to board at Denston

William O'Flynn was born in County Limerick on 12 April 1927, into a family with a long tradition in medicine as general practitioners. Unfortunately no details of his forbears are available. After education at Presentation College, Bray, County Wicklow he entered the National University of Ireland

Frank Haine was born in Little Wolford, Oxfordshire, on 13 November 1909, the eldest of four boys. His father, Robert John Haine, was a farmer who had moved from Somerset to the north Cotswolds after the death of his first wife. His mother, Marianne Baines Horne, was the daughter of a corn merchant

John Stuart Martin was senior consultant otolaryngologist at Hull Royal Infirmary. He was born on 19 June 1917 in Robinstown, County Meath, and qualified from Queen's University Belfast in 1939. After completing his junior appointments in Belfast he joined the RAMC, where he served in North Africa a

Lou Opit was Professor of Community Medicine at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He was born in Curra Mulka, South Australia, on 22 November 1927. His father, Leon, was a medical practitioner, and his mother was Bertha née Goldman. He was educated at St Peter's Collegiate School, Adelaide, and

Robert (Robin) Welsh was born on 23 April 1928 in Witbank, Transvaal, South Africa, the eldest son of Dr Robert William Hepburn Welsh, a general practitioner in Pretoria for thirty years, and Evelyn Jessie Watson. He was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, and the University of Witwatersran