John Reginald St George Stead was born in Grahamstown, South Africa, on 20 June 1908. His father was William Yewdall Stead, a missionary priest, and his mother, Miriam Peterson, was the daughter of an architect. He was the sixth child in the family and the third boy. He was educated at St Andrew's P

Donald Buchanan Brown was surgeon in charge of the wards at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. He was born on 24 June 1910 at Connel, near Oban, Scotland. His family were farmers and ministers, and he was brought up in a Gaelic-speaking household. He attended primary school at Kilmore, south of Oban, w

John Shipman was a consultant surgeon at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. He was born in London on 20 September 1917. His father, Henry, was in business, his mother was Rachel née Harwich. He studied medicine at University College Hospital, where he qualified in 1941 and after junior posts joined t

George Herbert Ashby 'Bertie' Simmons was a surgeon in Guernsey. He was born on 31 August 1911 in Hackney, where his father, George Wickham Simmons, was a bank clerk and a Congregational lay preacher. His mother was Margaret née Offer. The family moved to Mill Hill and he went to Mill Hill School, w

John Charles Alexander Innes qualified with the Conjoint Diploma from the London Hospital in 1939 and graduated MB BS in 1940, obtaining the Fellowship in 1947. After some house appointments he emigrated to Southern Rhodesia, where he practised at Bulawayo, Umtali and Salisbury, holding posts as hon

John Reginald Thompson was born on 13 March 1917 in Paignton, Devon, the son of John Thompson FRCS, GP surgeon of Torquay and Paignton and Elsie, née Royle. His mother was one of the first women to qualify as a doctor when she passed the MD in Manchester in 1909. He was educated at Sherborne School

Ken Wilkinson qualified from St Mary's Hospital in 1942. After house jobs he served in the RNVR as surgeon lieutenant, returning to complete his training at the Canadian Red Cross Hospital, Taplow. He was a true general surgeon, and although his main interest was in urology, he resisted the separati

Frank Ivor Tovey was born on 1 September 1921 in Bath, the son of Ernest and Ellen Louise Tovey. He was educated at Kingswood School and then entered Bristol University Medical School, graduating in 1944. The following year he applied to work overseas under the aegis of the Methodist Missionary Soci

Archibald Edmund Carter was a consultant surgeon at Ealing Hospital, London. He studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1945 with honours in surgery. He gained his FRCS in 1947. Prior to his consultant appointment, he was a surgical registrar at the Royal Northern H

Arthur Bullough was born on 15 January 1910 in Wigan. He qualified from Manchester University in 1934. After junior posts, he joined the RAMC and was in command of no.10 Field Surgical Unit. After the war, he returned to Manchester to become consultant surgeon at the Hope Hospital, Salford, and Tame

Sudhansu Mohan Ghosh was professor of surgery at the Calcutta National Medical College, India. He was born on 7 March 1907 and was educated in East Bengal, where he gained a distinction in mathematics. He joined the Calcutta Medical College in 1925 and in 1931 successfully passed the primary fellows

John Coxon was a consultant urologist in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He was born in Cambridge. His father, Thomas Coxon, was an industrial chemist with ICI; his mother was Florence Madelaine Proctor Coxon née Lucas. He was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria and then studied medicine at St Thomas’s