Raymond Dobson was a consultant thoracic surgeon who worked in the Newcastle upon Tyne region. He was born in Darlington on 24 October 1919, the son of Albert Dobson, an accountant in a bank, and Dorothy Dobson née Robson. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and was then awarded

Ian McNicol Smith, known as ‘Mechanical’, was head of the orthopaedic department at Box Hill Hospital, Victoria, Australia. He was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland on 23 April 1920. His father, Thomas Henry Smith, was a butcher; his mother was Helen McNicol Smith née Wilson. His elder brother

Born on 12 May 1920 youngest son of Hubert Chitty FRCS, consulting surgeon to Bristol Royal Infirmary, he was educated at Clifton College and won an exhibition to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took second-class honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos, part I, 1940. He trained at University College

A renowned ear surgeon, Stuart Mawson was a consultant otolaryngologist at King’s College Hospital, London. He was born on 4 March 1918 in London. His father, Alec Robert Mawson, was chief officer of the parks’ department of the London County Council. His mother, Ena Grossmith, was an actress and th

Peter Ferry Jones, clinical professor of surgery at the University of Aberdeen, was an outstanding surgical craftsman, a major academic contributor to coloproctology and paediatric surgery, as well as a renowned teacher of operative surgery. He was born on 29 February 1920 in London, the son of Erne

Richard Welbourn was professor of surgery at Belfast and then at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, where he developed a reputation for endocrine surgery. He was born in Rainhill, Lancashire, on 1 May 1919, the son of Burkewood Welbourn, an electrical engineer, and Edith Annie Appleyard, a teacher. F

John Howard Lees Ferguson was the third generation of a medical family. He was educated at Shrewsbury School where he was a classical scholar. Although pressed to continue in this field, he was determined to study medicine and entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before moving to the Middl

John Baily was born in Southampton on 29 June 1919, the only son of Guy Baily, an engineer, and of his wife, Kathleen Mary, née Tarrant. His father was at sea while John was a boy, so during his early years he lived with his grandparents in Glasgow. His first school was Glasgow Academy, where his fa