Born at Blythe Court, Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire on 30 April 1855, the sixth child and fifth son of William Barling, MRCVS, veterinary surgeon and farmer, by his wife Eliza Sharpe. He was educated privately until he matriculated at the University of London in 1875 from Queen's College, Birmi

Born in Hertfordshire in 1862 the son of George Swain, he was educated at Westminster Hospital Medical School, which he entered with a scholarship in 1879. He won the Chadwick and other prizes, and held the usual resident appointments. He went to Bristol as house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, and