It has been difficult to write about Donald Sidey owing to his country of birth, his age and his family, most of whom have either died or disappeared. I will to do my best to record some of the significant parts of his surgical life, particularly in Adelaide where he was involved in the rapid and im

Joseph Peacock was born in Brentford, London, on 22 October 1918, the only child (two sisters having died) of Henry James Peacock, general manager of the Great Western Railway, and of Florence Peacock, née Milton. After education at Reading School and Bristol Grammar School he entered Birmingham Uni

Maurice Hershman received his medical education at St Bartholomew's Hospital and qualified MB BS with honours in 1941, obtaining the conjoint diploma in the same year. After qualification he was surgical registrar at the Postgraduate Medical School, London, assistant principal surgical officer at Cr

Robert Bell was born in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, on 22 November 1917. His father, Robert Duncan Bell, was a farmer, having previously been a missionary to the Ojibway and Chinook Indians. His mother was Violet Lydia Clarke, daughter of an actor-manager from Bilston in Staffordshire, England. Rob

Raymond Ramsay was born on 19 August 1916 at Peddie, South Africa. He was the youngest child and second son of Alexander Orlando Ramsay, the owner of a trading post, and of his wife Florence, née Tanner. Both parents were born in England; his father (the twelfth child of a preparatory school headmas

Derek Teasdale was a consultant general surgeon in Rochdale. He was born on 11 February 1919, the eldest son of John Hall Teasdale, a house governor of Royal Waterloo Hospital, and Mabel Hannah Teasdale née Coldicott, a piano teacher. He attended Colfes School in Eltham and studied medicine at King’

William James McLaren (Bill) was conceived in Montreal when his parents were visiting Canada and born in the UK. Educated in Scotland in Broughty Ferry, he then studied medicine at St Andrews University graduating MB, ChB in 1944. He did house jobs in Carlisle and Oswestry. For his National Service

Fred Hunt was born at Ilkeston, Derbyshire, on 5 March 1899, the son of John Hunt, a schoolmaster, and his wife Clara, née Beardsley, who had seven children. He was educated at the Elementary School and the County Secondary School in Ilkeston, and entered the London Hospital Medical College in 1916,

Jeffrey Woodrow Betts was a consultant at Lincoln County Hospital. He was born in Elstree, Hertfordshire, on 20 March 1913, to John Betts, a newspaper proprietor and editor, and Hannah Woodrow, daughter of a farmer and mill-owner. He was educated at St Alban's School and King's College, London. He t

After qualifying John Drew joined the Indian Medical Service in which he served until the partition of India in 1948. He then went to become Medical Superintendent of the Fremantle General Hospital, returning to England only to pass the final FRCS. In 1954 he went to the Royal Hobart Hospital first

Hughlings Jackson, a distant cousin of the great neurologist, was born on 3 October 1912, the youngest of the five children of William Herbert Jackson, a former master mariner who owned a stevedoring business in London and later worked for the Mission to Seamen. His mother was Beatrice née Walker. F

Howell Pritchard Jones was a consultant general surgeon at Birkenhead who retrained as a physician in rehabilitative medicine following a stroke. He was born in Cerrig-y-drudion, north Wales, on 2 September 1918, the son of William Thomas Jones and Jane Jones née Hughes. The family moved to Rhewl, n