David Wynn-Williams was a consultant plastic surgeon at Nottingham Hospital. Born on 16 August 1914, his father was a general practitioner in Middlesborough. David was a medical student at the Westminster at the same time as his brother, George, who became a gynaecologist at the Chelsea Hospital for

Alfred Bingold was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, and Lewisham Hospital. He was born in London on 27 February 1913. His father died when he was very young, and his mother, Maria Martha, née Schwager, remarried. Alfred was adopted by her second husband and took his

James Hudson was an ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields in London. He was born on 15 February 1916 in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. His father, William Shand, was a mechanical engineer and farmer. His mother was Ethel Summerskill. He was educated in Massachusetts, at Winchester County Day School and t

Denis Barley qualified from King's College Hospital where he won scholarships in anatomy and physiology, was house physician and house surgeon, and specialised in ENT, becoming senior registrar in the ENT department at King's. He served in the RAMC as Major and then became a consultant ENT surgeon i

Athol George Riddell was born in Whitstable on 31 January 1917. He was educated at Folkestone and University College, London, where he gained the Gold Medal in physiology, graduating from University College Hospital Medical School in 1939. After holding a resident surgical post on the Professorial U

Leon Casimir Louis Gonet was born in 1916 in Simla, where his father was deputy director-general of Indian Posts and Telegraphs. He was educated in various schools in India, and proved to be both an able student and a natural games player. In 1933 the family moved to England and Leon gained a place

John Ivor Pulsford James, or 'Jip', as he was known to all, was a tough character who had an adventurous war in Yugoslavia, gained a reputation as a severely critical taskmaster at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and took on, as a Sassenach, the Edinburgh establishment as Professor of Orthop

Roger Miles was born in Liverpool on 1 May 1915, the third child of Edwin Griffith Miles, a Presbyterian minister and Annie Miles, née Jones. Most of his childhood was spent in Felixstowe on the Suffolk coast where he developed his lifelong love of sailing and the sea. He was educated at Bradfield C

One of the leading anatomists of her day, Ruth Bowden was born in India on 21 February 1915. Her father was a missionary, and her aunt, Edith Brown, had founded the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab. As was usual, Ruth was sent back to England at the age of eight to be educated and to av

Born at Christchurch, New Zealand on 20 February 1911, son of a sheep farmer and meat exporter, he was educated at Christ College, New Zealand and came to Edinburgh for his medical training, which was continued in London after he had won a scholarship to Guy's Hospital. He was a notable heavy-weight

Jean Burton-Brown was a consultant gynaecologist to the east Kent group of hospitals. She was born in Rothsay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland, on 13 July 1908, the only daughter of Alexander Burton-Brown, a colonel in the Royal Horse Artillery and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Ethel