James Rudd Ratcliffe was born on 5 October 1899 in the Cape Province, South Africa, the son of a stock farmer who was killed in the Boer war within a few months of his birth. His mother was distinguished for her bravery in nursing the wounded during the siege of Ladysmith. He went to school in South

Raymond Alexander King was born on 5 January 1918 and his early education was in China where his father and grandfather were medical missionaries. He entered the London Hospital Medical College for clinical studies and qualified in 1939. Within a few months he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and

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

Ian Harris was surgeon to the government of Brunei. He was born in Adelaide in 1920. His father had emigrated from Scotland, and Ian himself felt profoundly Scottish. He interrupted his medical studies to join the Royal Navy during the second world war. In the North Sea and later in the Mediterranea

Lindsay Black was superintendent of the Westland Hospital, New Zealand, and orthopaedic surgeon to all the west coast hospitals on the South Island. He was born in Auckland on 20 November 1914, the third child of Wilfred Alick Black, a solicitor, and Linda née Culpan. He was educated at King's Colle

Nicholas Ernest James was born on 20 August 1912 in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of the Congregational Minister. The family returned to England in 1928 and he completed his schooling at Latymer Upper School and then went to the London Hospital where he graduated with honours in medicine in 193

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

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

Puspanathan Sadasivan Vaithilingam was born in Durban, on 19 September 1927, the eldest son in a family of eight brothers and one sister. His father, Sadasivan Vaithilingam, was a successful farmer, and his mother was Pappathee, née Reddy. After schooling at Sastri College he emigrated to Scotland i

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

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,

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