Gilbert Haywood Howells was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, on 23 August 1897. He was the second son of Henry Haywood Howells, a solicitor. After Newport High School he attended University College, Cardiff, and St Thomas's Hospital. He became surgeon at St George's Hospital, the National Hospital, Moorfields Hospital and, eventually to Upton Hospital, Slough, in each case specialising in ENT. During the first world war he served as a private in the 1/28 London Regiment between 1916 and 1918. In 1926 he married Dorothy Mary Jones and they had no family. His main interests were golf and gardening. He died in 1982 aged 85.