William Alexander Law, known as Scottie, was born in Edinburgh on 22 August 1910, the only son of James Law, dental surgeon, and his wife Agnes, née Jarvis. He was educated at Giggleswick School and won an open scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in the

Brian Thomas came from a strong medical background. His father was a consultant ophthalmologist at Swansea and his father before him was also a doctor, while his mother, Florence, was an Edinburgh medical graduate and her father a general practitioner. Also two uncles and his brothers were in medici

Arthur Bryson was an orthopaedic surgeon in China, Nigeria and London. He was born in China in 1910, the son and grandson of a well-known missionary family. After surgical training in England he returned to China with the Council for World Mission, serving with the Chinese Red Cross in the Sino-Japa