Thomas Vibert Pearce was born on 26 March 1900 and educated at Newport Grammar School, Isle of Wight. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service and became a pilot. Eighteen months later he entered St Thomas's and in 1923 graduated MB BS. Resident appointments followed at St Thomas'

John Roberts was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1901, the son of Robert Griffith Roberts, a builder, and his wife Margaret, née Thomas. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute. He qualified MB, ChB with second class honours in 1923, having obtained the Gee Fellowship and the Kanthack Medal. He wa

Arthur Reginald Lister was born in Totteridge, north of London, on 4 April 1895 into a distinguished medical family. Lord Lister was his great-uncle, his father, Sir William Lister, and his cousin, Arthur Lister, were well-known eye surgeons, and one of his brothers was a consultant physician at Ply

Harvey Jackson was born on 16 October 1900 and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He studied medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School and qualified with the Conjoint examination in 1923. One of his obituarists states that he had qualified in dental surgery and suppor

Lewis Herbert Savin was born in London on 26 March 1901. His parents were missionaries who had fled from China at the time of the Boxer rebellion a few months before his birth. Shortly after, his father and mother returned to the hospital that his father had founded at Chao Tung in Yunnan. He used t

Michael Wilkinson was the eldest of six sons of Charles Robert Wilkinson and was born in Thetymu, Burma, on 1 May 1899. His father, a civil servant, grandfather and great grandfather were missionaries, and all served in India. His mother was Elizabeth Florence Sinclair and her father was a merchant.

Victor Wilkinson Dix was born in Dorset on 24 May 1899 and educated privately. He served in the Royal Flying Corps from 1917 to 1919, then went up to Cambridge to study medicine there and at the London Hospital. He was appointed assistant surgeon to the London in 1930 and eventually became Professor

Born on 8 February 1891 in the Military Cantonments at Bangalore, Dick Rishworth was the son of an officer in the British Army in India: his mother was the daughter of a major in the Indian Army Ordnance Corps and his great grandfather was an Assistant Surgeon of the East India Company. After educat

Christie was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, on 13 July 1894, the eldest son of Andrew Christie, who farmed in Southland, New Zealand, and Lillian Laura, née Kenrick, daughter of Harry Kenrick, Stipendiary Magistrate. His primary education was at Kaikorai School, Dunedin, then in 1908 at Otago

Born 10 April 1901, fifth child and fourth son of Alderman Thomas Willets Adshead, manufacturer, who was twice mayor of Dudley, and his wife Adeline Hand. He assumed the extra surname Barnie by deed poll. He was educated at Dudley Grammar School and Birmingham University, where he graduated in scien

Bryan Hartop Burns was born on 14 December 1896, at Higham Park, Rushden, Northants. He was the elder of the two sons of Hartop Burns, farmer, and Florence Ann, née Fuller. Both parents came from farming and landowning families in Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire. He was educated first at Kimbolt

Born on 18 August 1902, the son of F M H Eckhoff, a Norwegian architect, he was educated in South Africa at Durban High School, Natal University and the University of Cape Town, and at Guy's Hospital, where he arrived in 1920 with a senior science scholarship. At Guy's he qualified with the Conjoint