Ian Fraser Muir was a consultant plastic surgeon for the Grampian Health Board and a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen. He was born on 26 August 1921 in West Hartlepool, the son of John Kerr Muir and Margaret McKenzie Muir née Duke. He came from a medical family: his father was a general

David Greatrex Maurice was a consultant plastic surgeon at the regional plastic surgery unit in the Newcastle and Hartlepool Hospitals Group and then at Sharoe Green Hospital, Preston. He studied medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1943.