Philip Rowland Allison, the son of J R Allison, was born at Selby, Yorkshire, on June 2 1907, and was educated at Hymers College, Hull. He was one of a family of five, two others of whom became doctors. He entered the Leeds Medical School in 1924 and had a brilliant career, taking the BSc with first

Bill Cleland was a pioneering thoracic surgeon who helped develop open heart surgery in London in the 1950s. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 30 May 1912, the son of Sir John Burton Cleland, professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide, and Dora Isabel Robson. He was proud to be th

James Daniel Hardy was an organ transplant pioneer and the first chairman of the department of surgery and surgeon in chief at the University Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi. Board certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Thoracic Surgery and a fellow of the American Col

William Glasgow Ferguson, or 'Fergie' as he was known, was a thoracic surgeon in Victoria, Australia. He was born in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, on 4 March 1919, the son of William and Sara Ferguson. He studied medicine at Durham, where he qualified in 1942. After four months as a house surgeon at

Lawrence Whytehead was a thoracic surgeon in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in Easty, Kent, on 7 February 1914 and educated at St Edmund’s and Charterhouse. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, and then Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1938. During the Second World War he served in

Born at Poona in 1916, the son of a doctor who founded the Bel Air Sanatorium, Panchgane, Poona, he received his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying in 1937. After house appointments he worked at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex as assistant to Sir Thomas Dunhill, and eventually

Born in Barbados on 21 September 1911, the son of Sir George Laurie Pile CBE, President of the Legislative Council of Barbados, and Emily Elizabeth Lyall, he was educated at Winchester, Caius College, Cambridge and the Middlesex Hospital. After qualifying in 1936 he held house appointments at the Mi

Born in 1919 at Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, he was educated at Repton, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the Middlesex Hospital. After qualification he served as a Captain and graded surgeon in the RAMC. Later he was resident medical officer at Tindal House Emergency Hospital in Aylesbury an

Hugh Morriston Davies was born at Huntington on 10 August 1879, son of William Morriston Davies (MB Ed 1873), who was in general practice there. He was educated at Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge, and University College Hospital, London, qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma in 1903. He won th

John Angus Aylwin was born in Leeds, the son of Ernest Angus Aylwin, an engineer, who married a Miss Bates, but John was the only man in the family to take up medicine. He was educated at the Leeds Grammar School and in medicine at Leeds University, where he qualified MB ChB in 1940. He became a Fel

Helmy Boctor was born in Cairo in December 1907, the youngest child in a family of five. He was educated at the Maronite School, Faggala, and at "Fouad el Awal", Abassieh. He studied medicine at the University of Cairo, qualified in 1932, and held several resident appointments at the Kasr-el-Aini

Born in 1929, Hakim Abdel Malak Samaan studied medicine in London, qualifying MB, BS from Guy's Hospital in 1958. He became surgical registrar in the thoracic unit of the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and passed the FRCS Ed in 1962. Moving to London he held appointments at the Prince of Wales' Hospit