John Charles Leedham-Green was born in Birmingham on 30 October 1902, eldest son of Charles Albert Leedham-Green FRCS (1867-1931), sometime Professor of Surgery at Birmingham University, and his wife, Ethel, née Lees. He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read chemist

Russell Howard, whose work was to place Australia in the forefront of paediatric surgery, was born on 9 March 1905 in Launceston, Tasmania, the son of George Howard, a settler from Dublin, and his New Zealand-born wife Elizabeth, née Mitchell. He was educated at Launceston Grammar School where he ex

Oswald Tubbs was born on 21 March 1908 in Hadley Wood, Middlesex, the son of Sydney Walton Tubbs, a chartered accountant, and his wife Mabel, née Frost, a butcher's daughter. He was educated at Shrewsbury and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was an enthusiastic oarsman. Unhappily h

Frank Nicholson was a senior surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary. He was born in Cheshire on 6 September 1909, the son of Charles James Nicholson, a cotton merchant. Educated at St Bee's School, Cumbria, he had a distinguished academic record before proceeding to St Catherine's College, Cambridge,

Lionel Jones was born in London on 5 October 1910, the son of Harry Evan, an architect, and Louisa Ada, his wife. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, from which he followed his brother Bertram to St Thomas's Hospital with a Merchant Taylors' scholarship. He had an outstanding career as

Kenneth Buxton was a former medical officer for the Church Missionary Society at Ruanda Mission, Ibuye, Burundi, and subsequently medical superintendent of Mildmay Mission Hospital, Bethnal Green, London. He was born in Hertfordshire, on 19 July 1909. His father, Leonard Buxton, was the grandson of