Stanley Russell was a consultant surgeon in Orpington and Sevenoaks, Kent. He was born in Forest Hill, London, on 11 December 1903. His father, Charles Neville Russell, was a chartered accountant who founded the celebrated firm of C Neville Russell and Company. His mother was Mabell Annie Farrant. H

Wiles was born on 17 August 1899 the only son, with two sisters, of Thomas Wiles, chairman of Joseph Wiles and Son Ltd, corn-merchants of Mark Lane in the City of London. Thomas Wiles was a successful business-man and an active Liberal politician. He became Chairman of the London Corn Exchange, the