Henry Shucksmith was the third child of Thomas Warth Shucksmith, a farmer of Alvington, Lincolnshire, and his wife Fanny White, whose father was a blacksmith. He was educated at the Alvington and North Coederington Church of England Elementary School followed by the King Edward VI Grammar School, Lo

Noel Kirkman was born in Boothroydon, near Blackpool, on 11 March 1911, the son of William Harold Kirkman, the owner of a small wrought iron works, and Lavinia, née Fereday, one of whose ancestors was Samuel Day Fereday, a general surgeon in Dudley, Worcestershire (1800-1874). He was educated at Wes

Arthur de Sa, the fifth child of Lawrence and Clementine de Sa, was born in Bombay on 13 June, 1910. After education at Antonio da Silva High School, Bombay, he matriculated and secured an entrance scholarship to Elphinstone College, from whence he obtained a Junior Government Scholarship. After sec

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

Stewart Young Feggetter was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 10 April 1908, the son of William Feggetter, a ship broker, and his wife Amelia, née Young. After early education at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he entered the University of Durham for medical studies. His brother, George,

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

Bernard Sanger was at school in Hastings and received his medical training at the London Hospital where he qualified in 1934. He pursued his surgical career at the London Hospital before his appointment to Southend Municipal Hospital in 1938. Rodney Maingot was a visiting surgeon at that hospital