Ascroft was born on 4 September 1906, the only son of James Arthur Ascroft of Bootle, Lancashire and Hannah Byers of Culton, Cumberland. He was educated at Worksop, the Middlesex Hospital, and the University of Strasbourg, qualifying in 1930; the next year he gained the gold medal at his Master of S

Margaret Moore White was born in Derby on 5 February 1902, the daughter of Henry Thomas White, a civil engineer and his wife Adriana, née McBean. Her early education was at Belmont School, Derby, but when she was 13 years old the family moved to London and until the age of 17 she went to the Tremart