Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, on September 12, 1909, the elder son of Arnold Kirz, technical manager of a textile concern, and Josephine, née Neumann. He studied at Prague University and qualified in 1935. He began his career as a surgeon as an assistant in a teaching unit. In 1939 he came

Neil MacDonald was a consultant surgeon at the Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. He was born on 29 October 1927 in Suffolk, the son of E A MacDonald. He was educated at Ipswich Grammar School and Epsom College, from which he won a scholarship in science to the London Hospital Medical College in 1945

Ken Millar was chief of surgery at the Repatriation Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. He was born in Wangaratta, Victoria, on 13 October 1926, the second son of schoolteachers Leonard James Millar and Marion Millar née Amiet. He grew up in a variety of rural towns in Victoria, before the fa

Alan Hunter Tooley was a consultant general surgeon at North Ormesby Hospital, Middlesbrough. He was born in East Ham, London, on 13 May 1930, the only child of Geordie parents. His father, Henry ('Harry') Hunter Tooley, served in the RAF and took part in the Jarrow march before he left the North Ea

Peter Goodall was a consultant general surgeon in Derby. He was born on 8 February 1927 in London, the son of the Rev Norman Goodall, a minister of religion, and Doris Stanton, a Birmingham Medical School graduate. Peter was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Barnet and Highgate School,

Mervyn Dunning was a consultant general surgeon in Shrewsbury. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School, London. He initially trained as a dentist at the Royal Dental Hospital, qualifying in 1941. He held junior posts, as a house surgeon and then senior house surgeon in maxillofacial surgery. He t

Anthony Oliver Robertson was a consultant general surgeon based in Tamworth, New South Wales.

Bernard Langdon Whitaker was born on 22 October 1927, the son of Harold Whitaker, a marine superintendent, and his wife Helen née Wragg, a schoolmaster’s daughter. He was educated at Woking County Grammar School on a county major scholarship. In 1949 he graduated MB, BS from London University having

Gordon Alexander Dyce Lavy was born on 1 October 1924 in Nablus, Palestine, where his parents were working as members of the Church Missionary Society. Having been ordained at Cambridge, his father spent some time as a missionary in the Middle East before deciding on a career in medicine and qualify

Peter Harold Edwin Courtenay was a consultant surgeon in British Columbia, Canada. He was born in London on 5 June 1928, the only child of Harold Edwin Courtenay and Annie Lillian Courtenay née Currie. He studied medicine in London and qualified in 1951. He gained his FRCS in 1957. In 1955 he mar

John Edward Reimer was a surgeon in New South Wales, Australia. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1957. In 2014 he published a book on medical education in New South Wales entitled *Becoming a surgeon and the Sydney Hospital Clinical School* (Nannup, WA, MBS press, 2014). He died on 10 A

Ken Brearley started life in Hampton (Melbourne) where he attended both Hampton Primary and Hampton High schools before winning a scholarship for Years 9-12 at Scotch College, which was quite some distance away in Hawthorn. In 1948, having won a place into Medicine at the University of Melbourne in