Robert Bell was born in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, on 22 November 1917. His father, Robert Duncan Bell, was a farmer, having previously been a missionary to the Ojibway and Chinook Indians. His mother was Violet Lydia Clarke, daughter of an actor-manager from Bilston in Staffordshire, England. Rob

Bill Schulze was born in Natal and entered the University of Cape Town in 1927 where he had a distinguished career by obtaining first class honours in all the main subjects, which was a unique achievement by any student. In 1933 he qualified with honours and became house physician to Professor Falco

David Woodhead passed the primary FRCS while a student at King's College Hospital and the final in 1949 but decided, after an appointment as demonstrator in anatomy at St Bartholomew's Hospital, on general practice as a career, conducting this in Weymouth from 1951 to 1971. While there he studied Ru

Derek Teasdale was a consultant general surgeon in Rochdale. He was born on 11 February 1919, the eldest son of John Hall Teasdale, a house governor of Royal Waterloo Hospital, and Mabel Hannah Teasdale née Coldicott, a piano teacher. He attended Colfes School in Eltham and studied medicine at King’

Alfred Gunning was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Oxford, perhaps best known for his work on replacement heart valves. He was born on 21 November 1918 in Dullstroom, South Africa, the son of George Ronald Gunning, a police sergeant, and Kathleen Gunning née Dunne, a housewife. He attended the Christian

Andrew Gaston Jessiman was a surgeon and hospital administrator at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston. He was also assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Born in London on 13 January 1949, he was the son of George Gaston Jessiman, a stockbroker on the London Stock Exchange, a

Jeffrey Woodrow Betts was a consultant at Lincoln County Hospital. He was born in Elstree, Hertfordshire, on 20 March 1913, to John Betts, a newspaper proprietor and editor, and Hannah Woodrow, daughter of a farmer and mill-owner. He was educated at St Alban's School and King's College, London. He t

Theo Legate Schofield was a general surgeon at Royal United Hospital, Bath. He was born on 3 April 1918 in Southport, Lancashire, the youngest of seven children. His father, John Thomas Schofield, who owned a successful confectionary business in Manchester, died while Theo was very young. His mother

Colonel John Watts was the first joint professor of military surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal Army Medical College, a post he held from 1960 to 1964. Watts was born on 13 April 1913 at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, the only child of John Nixon Watts, a solicitor, and the Hono

Neil McGuire had a varied surgical career, ranging from active service in the RAMC during the Second World War, followed by general surgical training, 11 years in the Colonial Medical Service, further senior registrar posts (initially in cardiothoracic surgery, before changing to ENT surgery) and fi

Herbert Davis was consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the St Helier NHS Trust in Carshalton. He was born in London on 17 December 1919. His father, Thomas Bowyer Davis, was a master builder. His mother was Jessica Sophia née Mosley. He was educated at Wandsworth School, did his pre-clinical work at Ki

Beric Stutter was born in North London. After graduating in 1938 at the Middlesex Hospital he held various resident posts with the intention of making a career in surgery. War intervened, he joined the Royal Navy and took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk. He served in Arctic convoys, the Mediterran