Bernard Williams was a senior surgeon in Portsmouth. He was born into a medical family on 26 August 1910, his father, Morgan Watkin Williams, being a general practitioner in Morriston, Swansea. His mother, Beryl Jane née Gabe, was the daughter of a GP. He received his schooling at Marlborough Colleg

Sholem Glaser was a general surgeon at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. Born on 12 May 1912 in Cape Town, the son of Hessel Glaser, a fruit-grower, and Sonia née Zuckerman, he was educated at the South African College School and the University of Cape Town, where he followed his cousin Solly Zucke

Born in Sandwich, Kent, on 30 September 1910, John Richard Rose's father, William Richard Rose, was a wholesale grocer, JP, county councillor and was twice Mayor of Sandwich. His mother was Beatrice Matilda Paragreen, a musician and poet, and a governor of St Thomas's Hospital. He was educated at Si

John Howell Hughes was born on 25 October 1908, in Liverpool, to John Hughes, a builder, and Anne Ellen, née Williams. He was educated at Liverpool Collegiate School, where he was captain of rugby, and went on to study medicine at Liverpool University. After qualifying, he was house surgeon and hous

Robert Gerrett Reid, the son of the Rev Dr James Reid, DD, a Presbyterian Minister and well-known preacher, and of Isa Reid (née Gerrett), a school mistress, was born at Oban, Scotland, on 21 September 1909. He was educated at Roborough School, Eastbourne, the Leys School, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospi

William Rotherham Hunter was born in Skelmersdale, near Ormskirk, on 18 February 1911, and was educated at Ormskirk Grammar School and the University of Liverpool, graduating MB BCh in 1933. He took the Conjoint Diploma the same year, and after junior posts at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, and

David Ronald Davies, always 'DR' to his friends, was born on 11 May 1910 in Clydach, Swansea, and remained readily identifiable as a Welshman throughout a long surgical career in London, followed by retirement to Exmoor. After schooling at the Ystalyfera County School, which inevitably gave him an e

William Henry Daines Trubshaw was born in Johannesburg in 1908, his father having gone to South Africa during the Boer War and became headmaster of the Mayfair School in Johannesburg. Trubshaw went to King Edward's School and Houghton College, Johannesburg and then came to St Bartholomew's Hospital

Thomas Ackland was a general surgeon in Melbourne who introduced mammography into Australia. He was born in Melbourne on 8 September 1908, the son of William Ackland, an engineer, and Blanche Glana née Rye, the daughter of a veterinary surgeon. He was educated at Spring Road State School and then wo

Andrew Killey Monro was the son of James Donald Monro MD, of London, and Beatrice, née Killey. His grandfather was also a medical doctor. He was born on 27 August 1907 in London and was educated at Highgate Junior School, Epsom College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He trained at the London Hospit

Arthur Hughes was born at Oswestry in Shropshire on 3 December 1910, the son of the Reverend Hywel Hughes, a Welsh Presbyterian minister, and his wife Myfanwy; he was a twin and his brother John also became a minister in their father's church. His schooling was rather peripatetic because of his pare

'Tim' Merrington was an accomplished surgeon whose career was blighted but whose spirit was undimmed by multiple sclerosis. Within four years of becoming consultant surgeon to University College Hospital, an appointment for which his earlier achievements had long marked him out, he developed the fir