Arthur Capel Herbert Bell was born at Epsom, Surrey, on 18 September 1904. His father was John Herbert Bell, a solicitor who was the eldest son of Dr William Bell, general practitioner at Wallasey. The second son, and uncle of Arthur Bell, was William Blair Bell, first President of the College of Ob

Barnett was born on 24 December 1909, and studied medicine at University College Hospital Medical School London, qualifying in 1932, and obtained his Fellowship in 1937. He decided to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology, becoming MRCOG in 1942 and FRCOG in 1956. He went to Shropshire as a co