Born on 31 July 1896 son of Digby Chamberlain, he began his medical career at the University of Leeds in 1913. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he interrupted his medical studies to join the Royal Artillery in which he rose to the rank of Major, but in 1917 medical students serving as combatants were

Born on 27 March 1898 elder son of James Williamson Patrick MD of Leicester and his wife Annie Margaret, daughter of Sir William Vincent, twice Mayor of Leicester, he was educated at Rugby and Caius College, Cambridge, and was commissioned as a surgeon probationer in the RNVR during the first world