Gerald Huxham Pearce was born in Stonehouse, Plymouth, on 15 May 1906, the son of Albert Preston Pearce, a bank manager, and Jessie Annie Ridge, of Holsworthy, North Devon. He was educated at Sidcot School, a Quaker school, in Somerset and then University College Hospital, where he was greatly influ

Hedley Walter Hall was born in Farsley, near Leeds, on 3 October 1907. His father, Walter, was a Methodist minister. His mother was Julia Florence née Copestake. He was educated at Goole Primary and Secondary Schools, then Shebbear College, north Devon, where he was captain of the school. He studied