William Harry Jayne Weston was born in Liverpool on 28 November 1903 and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. After graduating in science in 1925 he spent nearly eight years as a schoolmaster at Pangbourne and Windsor. At the age of 30 he took up medicine and qualified at St George's Hospit

Robert Oliver Wheeler studied medicine at King's College, London and qualified MB BS in 1941. He passed the Conjoint Diploma in 1940 and the FRCS ten years later. He was surgical registrar to St Stephen's Hospital, London, and to Horton Hospital, Epsom, before becoming medical officer to Savernake H