Born on 8 January at Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, he served as an infantryman, chiefly in Mesopotamia, in the first world war, before studying medicine at the London Hospital, where he qualified in 1924 and became house surgeon. Becoming interested in obstetrics and gynaecology he was appointed sen

Born on 17 February 1888, son of Paymaster Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Cooke Alton CB, CMG, RN, he was educated at Bedford School. After qualifying from St Thomas's Hospital in 1910, he entered the Royal Navy as a surgeon. Four years later he graduated MB BS at London University. During the first world