Sir John Peel was perhaps the most celebrated obstetrician and gynaecologist of his era. Born in Bradford on 10 December 1904, he was the son of the Rev J E Peel. From Manchester Grammar School he went to Queen’s College, Oxford, going on to his clinical studies at King’s College Hospital where, aft

Sir John Croot was born on 14 October, 1907, in Portsmouth, the son of Horace Croot, LDS, RCS, a dental surgeon in Southsea, and Emily Winifred, née Daw. He was educated at Eastman's School, Southsea, and then at Haileybury College, Hertford, from 1921 to 1925, where he was a senior scholar. He trai

Charles Vartan was born on 11 November 1907 at Sandiacre, Nottinghamshire, where his father, Charles Samuel Vartan, was a general practitioner and his mother was Florence Ethel, née Hepworth. His grandfather was Dr P K Vartan who in 1861 had founded the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society's Hospita

'Roley' Lee was born in 1906 to a Lincolnshire family, the youngest of ten children. He went to Brigg Grammar School where he was an outstanding athlete, excelling as much in swimming and tennis as he did in football. He won a scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and then went on to do his cl

Wylie McKissock was born in Staines, Middlesex, on 26 October 1906, the son of Alexander Cathie McKissock, a linoleum manufacturer and author who went under the pseudonym of Alan Graham, and his wife Rae, née Wylie. He went to the City of London School and King's College before winning the Laking Me

Ken McKee was born on 5 January 1906. He was the son of Frank Charles McKee, a general practitioner who had migrated from Northern Ireland at the turn of the century. Ken was educated at Chigwell School before winning a scholarship to the Medical School at St Bartholomew's Hospital. After qualifying

Geoffrey Knight was born on 4 October 1906 at Lowfield Heath, Surrey, the only son of Cureton Hope Overbeck Knight, a produce broker, and Ida Emily Norton, the daughter of a physician whose uncles served as surgeons in the Crimean War. He was educated at Wadham House School, Hove, and Brighton Colle

Victor Horsley Hume Riddell was born at 4 Collegiate Terrace, Rotherham, Yorks, on 23 July 1905. His father was FRCS Ed and honorary surgeon to Torbay Hospital. He was educated at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, Clifton College and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and obtained his blue as a

Philip Vernon Reading was senior ENT surgeon at Guy's. He was born on 16 January 1906 and educated at St Dunstan's College, Catford, and Guy's Hospital Medical School. He gained distinctions in surgery and midwifery, and was awarded the University gold medal in 1931. In the same year he passed his F

Richard Harrington Franklin, or 'Dick' as he was always known, was born in London on 3 April 1906, the son of Major P C Franklin. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1930 and proceeded to a house post at St Thomas's, taking the Fellows

Harold Ridley pioneered the use of Perspex lenses in the treatment of cataract. He was born on 10 July 1906 in Kibworth, Leicestershire. His father, Nicholas Charles Ridley FRCS, was a former Naval surgeon who became an ophthalmic surgeon at Leicester Royal Infirmary. His mother, Margaret Parker - h

Alphonsus d'Abreu, 'Pon' to his many friends, was the younger son of a Birmingham general practitioner and was born on 5 April 1906. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and at Birmingham University. Following graduation in 1930 and resident and registrar appointments in Birmingham he became a lect