Thomas Laird Barclay was a consultant plastic surgeon at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, St James Hospital, Leeds and St Luke's Hospital Bradford. Born in Huddersfield on 26 March 1925, the son of William and Mary Frances Barclay, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University. He qualified MB ChB in

John Kirk was a consultant plastic surgeon at the Tayside Regional Plastic Surgery Unit. He was born in Edinburgh on 23 June 1922, but spent most of the first six years of his life in China, where his mother and father, also John Kirk, were medical missionaries. The family returned to the UK in 1928

William Goldthorpe 'Bill' Holdsworth was a senior consultant surgeon at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. Born on 18 October 1911, he was educated at Scotch College and Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne, and graduated from Melbourne University in 1933. In 1935 he went to England, and on the a

Jack Burke will be remembered for successfully developing the first commercially reproducible, synthetic human skin. He was born on 22 July 1922 in Chicago, where he grew up. He started studying engineering at the University of Illinois, but left after Pearl Harbor and joined the Army. At the end of

Robin Lyell Blin Beare was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and St Mary's Hospital, London. He was born on 31 July 1922 in Weybridge, where his father was a surgeon/GP. Robin went to Radley School, where he was a junior scholar. In 1940 he joined the RAF, tra

Charles Heanley was head of the department of plastic surgery at the London Hospital. He was born in Hong Kong on 28 February 1907, the son of Charles Montgomery Heanley, a doctor, and Mary Morella Heanley née Tassell. He was educated at Epsom College and then at Downing College, Cambridge, where he

Emma Hormbrey was a plastic surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She was born Emma Flindall in London on 4 October 1968 and studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. She qualified with the MB BS in 1994 and gained her FRCS in 1998. Prior to her post in Oxford, she

Arthur Henry Martin Littlewood was a consultant plastic surgeon in Liverpool. He was born in Guernsey in 1923 and went to school there. On the outbreak of war he went to England, but was dismayed to be declared unfit for military service. He went to Downing College, Cambridge, and then to University

David Greatrex Maurice was a consultant plastic surgeon at the regional plastic surgery unit in the Newcastle and Hartlepool Hospitals Group and then at Sharoe Green Hospital, Preston. He studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1943.

Raoul Sandon was a leading plastic surgeon in London. He was born in Spain, in Bilbao, on 2 May 1915, the son of an English managing director of an iron mining company, and a French mother. He was first educated in Spain, and then attended school in Arcachon and Pau, France. As a result he was fluen

Neil Solomons was a consultant ENT, facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Penang, Malaysia. He was born and brought up in South Africa. He came from a medical family; his father, Arthur Solomons, and an uncle were general practitioners. Another uncle was a plastic surgeon in Port Elizabeth, a

Donald Cragg McNeill was a consultant plastic surgeon in Salisbury. He was born in 1935 and was educated at the Southern Grammar School, Portsmouth. He won a scholarship to study medicine and trained at St Mary's, qualifying in 1958. Most of his surgical training took place in the Wessex region, whe