Born on 18 July 1900, the son of John William and Eileen MacFarland from Northern Ireland, he spent nearly the whole of his life in Liverpool and was educated at Wallasey Grammar School and Liverpool University where he qualified in 1922. From 1922 to 1925 he held a series of resident appointments a

Henry Cohen was born in Birkenhead on February 21, 1900, the son of a draper and clothier, and was educated at the church school of St John when the fees were 2d a week. One of his school masters remembered him as a brilliant boy 'who showed signs of genius when most boys are only beginning to show