William Corbitt Barnsley was educated at South Shields High School and graduated in medicine from Armstrong College, Newcastle upon Tyne, where, as an undergraduate, he won many prizes and medals. After a period at Newcastle General Hospital, where he gained general experience in surgery, he proceed

Peter Henry Jones was born in Monmouth on 1 March 1917 and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's West Monmouth School in Pontypool. He studied medicine at the Westminster Hospital and qualified in 1939. After house appointments at the Westminster Hospital he served in the RAMC from 1942 to 1946 as Reg

Wilfred Grundhill was born on 2 March 1920 in Brakpan, where he matriculated at the local high school in 1938. His father had emigrated from England and was employed in the gold mining industry; he developed a lung problem and his son's interest in thoracic surgery was nurtured by this misfortune. H

Born in 1929, Hakim Abdel Malak Samaan studied medicine in London, qualifying MB, BS from Guy's Hospital in 1958. He became surgical registrar in the thoracic unit of the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and passed the FRCS Ed in 1962. Moving to London he held appointments at the Prince of Wales' Hospit

John Hayward was a thoracic surgeon based in Melbourne. He was born in East Brunswick, Melbourne, on 16 July 1910. His father, William Isaac Hayward, was a schoolmaster, and his mother, Ellen Grace née Maling, was a nurse. His education was marked at every step by scholarships and prizes. He won a s

Vernon Thompson ('VCT') was born at Tutshill, Tidenham, Gloucestershire on 17 September 1905, his father, Cecil Charles Brandon Thompson, being a general practitioner and his mother, Dorothy Christian, née Ford, the daughter of a solicitor. He went to Seafield School, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then on to

Aspi Homi Doctor was a thoracic surgeon in Fort Pierce, Florida. Born in Bombay on 4 September 1939 he was the third child and only son of Homi Doctor, a bank cashier, and his wife Mehra née Messman. Educated at St Sebastian High School, he then proceeded to the University of Bombay and studied medi

Cyril John Evans was born in Llandysul, Cardiganshire on 12 June 1915, the son of William, the postmaster, and Letitia (Morgan). He was educated at University College, Cardiff and University College Hospital, London, qualifying MRCS LRCP in 1938 and graduating MB BS London 1939. He trained in surger

It could be said that had Tom Smiley not been a cigarette smoker in 1941, his patients and colleagues, thoracic surgery and his own family and local community would never have known him as a fine surgeon, husband and father and dedicated churchman, for it was a cigarette-case in his breast-pocket wh

Charles Anthony Jackson, 'Tony' to his close friends but always known at Harefield Hospital as 'CA' to distinguish him from his colleague and namesake 'JW', was born in Golders Green on 22 April 1912. His father, Archibald Jackson, was an electrical engineer and his mother was Helen, née O'Callaghan

Robert Brain studied medicine at Birmingham University and trained at the Middlesex and St Bartholomew's Hospitals. He became a Fellow of the College in 1940. He had early house appointments at the General and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Birmingham. During the second world war he served as a surgic

Edmond Lecutier was born in Leeds of French parents, and studied medicine at Leeds University, where he completed junior posts before joining the RAMC. He served with the 5th Indian Division in South East Asia Command, where he formed a lifelong admiration for the Gurkhas. After the war, he retur