Gerrit Mes was born at Dubbeldoorn, the Netherlands, on 30 June 1903 and went to South Africa with his parents in 1914. His father was a general medical practitioner at Bronkhorstspruit. After matriculating in Pretoria, Mes was a teacher for one year at Dullstroom before he enrolled for a three-year

After passing the MB in 1934 John Russell Barbour was house surgeon to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1935 and to the Adelaide Children's Hospital in 1936. In 1939 he became house surgeon to the Southend General Hospital and passed his FRCS. He was surgical registrar to the London Hospital and su

Mahapitiyage Peiris was born in Panadura, Ceylon, on 28 July 1898, the son of M A Peiris, a merchant, and was educated at St John's School, Panadura, and St Joseph's College, Colombo, before entering Ceylon Medical College qualifying in 1926.After graduation and junior hospital posts he was appointe

Jack Mitchell Hay was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 22 October 1920, the youngest child of Mr Justice Hay. His early education was at Hutt Valley Boys' High School and Victoria University College where he initially studied law for a year before proceeding to Otago University to study medicine,

Frederick Herman Aitken Walker, the only child of Frederick, a cotton manufacturer, and of Edith Walker, was born on 1 July 1900 at Clayton Le Moors, Lancashire. He was educated at Calday Grange School, West Kirby, Cheshire, and, after one year as a medical student at Liverpool University he moved t

Chandra Tiwari was a surgeon based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. He was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, the son of Shiva Ram Tiwari, a landlord and agriculturalist, and Shushila Tiwari, the daughter of an ayurvedic practitioner. He was educated in Etawah and Kanpur and then attended Allalabad Uni

Jack Stevens was born in Ingleton in Yorkshire and was proud of his West Riding roots. He won a scholarship from his school to Christ College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself in the rowing club, as well as academically. He graduated MA, MB ChB in 1949, and spent two years as a National Ser

Anders Langenskiöld was a distinguished orthopaedic surgeon in Helsinki, Finland. He was born in Helsinki in 1916. He wrote a doctoral thesis on electrophysiology under the Nobel laureate Ragnar Granit and worked in field hospitals during the war with the Soviet Union, before graduating in medicine

Born in 1940 in Hove, Sussex, the son of a general practitioner, George Nigel Boobbyer was educated at Prestonville, Brighton, and Haileybury. He read medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, graduating MB BS London, in 1964 and gaining the Conjoint Diploma in that year. He was house surgeon i

Robert Bewick was born in Glasgow on 19 July 1907, the second son of James Dicker Bewick, a business executive and Elizabeth Jane Sloan, daughter of an Exciseman. He was educated at Alexandra Parade School 1912-18, Whitehall Secondary School 1918-24 and Glasgow University Medical School where he won

Drogo Austin was born in Colombo, Ceylon on 17 October 1910, the son of Lester Austin, a banker in the National Bank of India who claimed descent from the Commissar General of the British Army which had captured Ceylon from the Dutch. His mother was Ethel Elfreda, née Nicolle. He was educated at Roy

Ibrahim El Moghraby was educated at Gordon's Memorial College in Khartoum and the Kitchener School of Medicine, where he graduated with distinction in 1935 after winning prizes in both medicine and surgery. He subsequently joined the Sudan medical service and after appointments at Khartoum Civil