Gerald Nevill was a consultant surgeon in Kenya. He was born on 22 December 1915 in Nurney, County Carlow, Ireland, the son of Alexander Colles Nevill, Archdeacon of the Church of Ireland, and Rosettah Fitzgerald, a teacher of modern languages and one of the first women to graduate from the Universi

John Herdman was born on 15 December 1921. He studied medicine at Oxford, qualifying in 1945. He completed house jobs at the United Oxford Hospitals and at Ancoats, Manchester, from which he passed the FRCS. He then returned to the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research for two years, before underg

Austin Marsden was a consultant surgeon in Ormskirk and St Helens. He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, on Christmas Day 1919, the third son of George Marsden, a shoe merchant, and Agnes née Liptrot. He was educated at St Helens Catholic Grammar School, from which he went on to read medicine at Liv

Gustav Siegmund ‘Gus’ Plaut was a consultant surgeon at Tooting, London. He was born on 2 September 1921 to Ellen Warburg and Theodor Plaut in Hamburg, both from eminent Jewish banking families. His father was dismissed by the Nazis, and took the post of professor of economics at Hull University, wh

Paul Kirton Pybus was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and St Mary's Hospital, qualifying in 1947. After house appointments at St Mary's and at the Royal Marsden, he became surgical registrar at St Alban's City Hospital. After gaining his Fellowship in 1955, he was appointed surgical registr

Richard Pryer was born on 20 September 1924. After education at St Peter's School, York, he entered the London Hospital and graduated in 1947. After serving as house surgeon at the London Hospital he was appointed resident surgical officer at Tindal General Hospital, Aylesbury, in 1948. The followin

Betty Underhill was born on 22 December 1908, the only child of William Wood and Elizabeth Roberts, both head teachers. She was educated at North London Collegiate School and Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a first class honours degree in zoology. She remained at Oxford doing research i

Paul Seargeant was the only child of an automobile engineer, Thomas William Seargeant, and May Lilian née Sanders. He was born in Bristol on 25 February 1924. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Bristol University, where he won gold medals in medicine and surgery, and the Royal Hospital go

Norman Winstone was a consultant surgeon at Selly Oak, Birmingham. He was born in Gidea Park, Essex, on 8 February 1924, the son of Herbert Charles Winstone, a property manager, and Kate née Robinson, a policeman's daughter. He was educated at Gidea Park College and Romford Royal Liberty School, bef

Michael Reilly was born in Sheringham, Norfolk, on 30 August 1913, several weeks post-mature. This procrastination was to be a feature of his life. There was a suggestion that he should be christened 'Fabius', after the great Roman general Fabius Maximus Cunctator, but he was saddled with the family