John Daniel Henry Bird was born in Longcot, Berkshire on 4 August 1908. His father, Daniel Henry, was a schoolmaster. He was educated at Ranelagh School, Bracknell, where he won a scholarship to King's College Hospital Medical School where he had a notable academic career. He gained a BSc in physiol

Jack Hesketh Beasley was born in Toronto, Canada on 31 March 1899. He qualified in Canada and came to England, obtaining the FRCS while at the London Hospital. He practised in Blackpool as a surgeon until 1939 when he joined the RAMC and went to France as a surgical specialist with No 4 General Hosp

John Henderson Hunt was born in India on 3 July 1905, the son of Edmund Henderson Hunt, MCh, FRCS (1874-1952, see 1952-1964 volume, page 205) and the elder brother of Alan Henderson Hunt DM, MCh, FRCS (1908-1970, see 1965-1973 volume, page 173). His mother was Laura Mary, daughter of Colonel Sir Jam

Richard Sutcliffe was born on 26 April 1904 in Boston, Lincolnshire, the second son of John Bell Sutcliffe, a shipowner and broker. He was educated at Kirton Grammar School in Lincolnshire and Panel Ash College, Yorkshire, before going to Sedbergh, from where he gained entry to St John's College, Ca

Rushdi Sidra was a general practitioner in Bradford. He was born on 15 October 1943 in Wad Medani, Sudan. His father, Shafig Sidra, was a civil servant for the Sudan government whose last post before retirement was as controller of accounts in the Sudan Purchasing Office in London (from 1964 to 1968

Philip Bosworth (Bos) was a general practitioner, school doctor at Bryanston School and a keen campanologist. Born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire on 11 October 1948, he initially studied chemistry at Imperial College London after a gap year spent in Norfolk. In 1971 he enrolled at Bristol Univ

Ernest Lewis graduated at the University of Witwatersrand in 1953 and served his residencies in the Johannesburg Teaching Group of Hospitals. He subsequently worked at the Doctors' Hospital in New York, the Birmingham Accident Hospital and the University of Bristol. Obtaining his FRCS he returned to

Richard Roberts (Roy) was born in Holywell in 1920. After school in North Wales he studied at the Liverpool University Medical School graduating in 1942. He played an active part in the Medical Student Society and was an excellent speaker at meetings. He decided on a career in surgery and took the p

Reginald (Rex) Salisbury Woods was born in Dulwich on 15 October 1891, the son of Henry Thomas Woods. His mother, Lilian, was the sister of Frank Salisbury CVO, LLD, the portrait painter. He entered Dulwich College in 1906 at the age of fourteen and in his last year was senior school prefect as well

Douglas Bennett was born on 18 July 1918, the son of Geoffrey Bennett, an officer in the North Somerset Yeomanry who subsequently took to ranching in Argentina and his wife Elizabeth Elsa Müller, who was Swiss. He was educated at Minehead Grammar School and at University College Hospital in London,

Alan Mathams was a general practitioner in East Sussex. He did his medical training at the Westminster Hospital, where he qualified in 1977. After junior posts, he chose a career in surgery and was registrar at St James Hospital, Balham, and Epsom District Hospital. He decided to become a GP, joinin

John Fry was born in South London on 16 June 1922, the son of a general practitioner, and was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon, and Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1944. He took his FRCS diploma in 1947, but very soon decided to take up general practice, and he remained a single-han