Born in Eastern Bengal, 23 June 1878, the sixth child and second son of Frederick William Joseph Rees, of the Bengal civil service, and Alice Hawthorn Heathcote, his wife. He was educated at Haileybury and the Middlesex Hospital, where he won a prize in anatomy and in 1899 a second-year exhibition,

Born 19 February 1879, the eldest son of Edward John Smith, banker, of Bridlington, Yorkshire, and Mary Hewgill, daughter of Dr Hewgill of Repton. He was educated at Pocklington, at the Yorkshire College, Leeds, and at the London Hospital, where he served as house surgeon, after winning scholarships