Born at Surbiton, Surrey, on 20 June 1867, the fourth and youngest son of the Rev John Wallace, of Weysprings, Haselmere, and his wife Marion Kezia Jane Agnes Greenway, the daughter of Francis Howard Greenway, a convicted forger and later a prominent architect in Australia. He was educated at Hailey

Hugh Lett came of an Anglo-Irish family but was born on 17 April 1876 at Waddingham, Kirton, Lincolnshire, where his father Richard Alfred Lett (M.B. Dublin 1869) was in general practice; his grandfather had also been a doctor. He was educated at Marlborough College and kept a close connection with

Born on 4 September 1880 eldest of the two sons and two daughters of Samuel Johnson (1846-99), Medical Officer of Health for Stoke-on-Trent and Julia his wife, daughter of James Webb. Mrs Johnson died only in 1931; her children had all adopted her maiden surname, Webb, before their father's name. Dr

Born the eldest son of 12 children on 5 May 1892 at Meresborough House in the country near Rainham, Kent, Cecil Wakeley always looked upon himself as a countryman born and bred and would recall riding his own pony at the age of four. In 1904 he started attending King's School, Rochester, as a day bo

James Paterson Ross, the eldest of four sons of James Ross, an official in the Bank of England, and of May (née Paterson), was born in London on 26 May 1895. After early education at Christ's College, Finchley, he entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School in 1912, with an entrance scholarship

Arthur Espie Porritt was born in Wanganui, New Zealand, the elder son of E E Porritt, VD, MD, FRCS, and of Ivy Elizabeth, née Mackenzie, whose father was also a medical practitioner. After education at Wanganui Collegiate School and Otago University, where he had an outstanding athletic record, he s

Sir Hedley Atkins was the son of a distinguished Guy's general practitioner, Sir John Atkins KCMG, KCVO, FRCS, and Elizabeth May (née Smith) Hedley, by which name he was always known, was educated at Rugby, Trinity College, Oxford and Guy's. He was a man of commanding presence and excellent physique

Edward Grainger Muir was born on 18 February 1906 in North China where his father was a medical missionary. He was educated at Eltham College, and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School where he distinguished himself by winning the Senior Broderip Scholarship and qualifying with the Conjoint Diploma

Tom Brennan was a general surgeon in Leeds and an outstanding trainer, both of medical students and postgraduate trainees. He was born in Dundalk and graduated from University College Dublin in 1962, before going to England to specialise in surgery. After junior posts in London he became a registrar

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

After qualifying from St James’s Hospital, Leeds, Ivor Fussey studied neurophysiology for nine years, gaining his PhD in 1972, during which time he devised platinum microelectrodes that could be implanted in the brain and used to locate vagal afferent impulses. After this experience he decided to sp

Kevin Cronin was born on 24 July 1925, the son of M J Cronin, a general practitioner. He was educated at the Beaumont School, Berkshire, and entered the London Hospital Medical College in 1942. After qualifying, he completed house jobs in neurosurgery under Douglas Northfield, chest medicine under L