Born on 25 March 1869 at Stoke Newington Green, North London, eldest of the three children of George Jesse Barnabas Stevens MRCS 1866 and his wife Charlotte Honey, he was educated at St Paul's School and Guy's Hospital where he served as house surgeon and resident obstetric officer, after qualifying

Born in 1884 at Boston, Lincolnshire son of William Gilliatt, he received his medical training at the Middlesex hospital, where he was an outstanding student. He won the Hetley clinical scholarship, the junior Broderip scholarship, the Leopold Hudson scholarship and the Lyell gold medal and scholars