Gordon Tippett was born at Rainham, Kent on 22 October 1901 and entered St Thomas's Hospital for medical studies, qualifying in 1926. After early appointments in the orthopaedic department at St Thomas's Hospital he passed the FRCS in 1932 and served as surgical registrar at the National Temperance

Norman Wynne Roberts, the second son of Dr Thomas Roberts, a general practitioner and later a medical officer of health, and of Elizabeth Roberts (née Thomas), was born at Caernarvon, North Wales, on 2 July 1907. He was educated at Grove Park Grammar School, Wrexham, and at Liverpool University. Aft

David Trevor, the third child and second son of John Trevor, a dairyman and sub- postmaster, and of Sarah (née Jones) the daughter of a sheep farmer, was born in Fulham, London on 24 July 1906. Having started school in North London he was sent to Wales to be brought up by his grandmother n a sheep f

Robert Allen Fitzsimons was born on 16 March 1892 at Maugherow, County Sligo, Ireland, and educated there at Summerhill College. He entered the Customs and Excise branch of the Civil Service by competitive examination in 1911 and in 1912 was transferred from Ireland to the Custom House at Billingsga