James Learmonth was born on 23 March 1895 at Gatehouse-of-Fleet, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, the elder son of William Learmonth and Kathleen Macosquin Craig. His father, a native of Edinburgh, was the headmaster of the parish school of Girthon, having previously spend many years in Orkney. Hi

Alexander was born on 18 January 1902 in a family long associated with the stage, but from an early age was determined to follow a medical career. He was educated at George Watson's Academy and the University of Edinburgh, and qualified in 1925. He then held resident posts at Edinburgh, London and L

Ascroft was born on 4 September 1906, the only son of James Arthur Ascroft of Bootle, Lancashire and Hannah Byers of Culton, Cumberland. He was educated at Worksop, the Middlesex Hospital, and the University of Strasbourg, qualifying in 1930; the next year he gained the gold medal at his Master of S

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on 8 April 1869, the youngest of the nine children of Henry Kirke Cushing (1827-1910), MD, LLD, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Western Reserve Medical School, and Betsey Wilkinson, his wife. His grandfather and great-grandfather had both been members of the medica

Murray Falconer was born in New Zealand in 1910 and received his medical education at Otago University, Dunedin, from where he graduated MB BCh in 1934 and MCh in 1938. He obtained his FRCS in 1935, a year after he graduated. In 1937 he went to the United States as a Fellow in Surgery at the Mayo Cl

Adams McConnell was born in Belfast on 2 June 1884, and was educated at the Royal Academical Institution and Dublin University, where he graduated in medicine in 1909. He early showed his outstanding qualities by winning a gold medal at the BA examination in 1906, at the end of his pre-clinical stud

Eric Sidney ('Sid') Watkins, professor of neurosurgery at the London Hospital Medical School, transformed safety standards in Formula One motor racing. He was born in Liverpool on 6 September 1928, and won scholarships to Prescot Grammar School and then Liverpool University, where he read medicine.

James Hardman was born and brought up in Birmingham, the son of William Henry Hardman, a chemist, druggist and shopkeeper, and Florence Lilian Hardman. He entered the Birmingham Medical School where he obtained his Primary Fellowship as student prosector in anatomy gaining the Peter Thompson Prize f

Loyal Edward Davis was born on 17 January 1896 in Galesburg, Illinois, the son of Al Davis, a railroad engineer who had worked from the age of seven. It was assumed by all in that small community, except his father, that he would earn his living on the Burlington Railroad. Al, however, frequently ad

Walpole Sinclair Lewin was born on August 20, 1915. His father died while he was very young. After a brilliant career at school he entered university as an exhibitioner and qualified from University College Hospital in 1939. After resident appointments at UCH he proceeded to FRCS in 1940 and at the

George Northcroft was born on 17 June 1911 in Harley Street, London, at the house of his father, a well-known orthodontist. His medical education was at St John's College, Cambridge, and the London Hospital, where he qualified in 1937. He began his career in neurosurgery with an appointment at th

George Frederick Rowbotham was born at Altrincham and educated at Manchester Grammar School, Manchester College of Technology, and Manchester University. After qualification in 1925 he held surgical appointments at Manchester, Salford, Stockport, and London, and returned to Manchester in 1930 as sur