Frank Colby was born at The Mount, New Malton, Yorks, on 27 January 1865, the second son of Dr W Taylor Colby, JP and the younger brother of J G E Colby, FRCS. He was educated at St Peter's School, York, and matriculated from King's College, Cambridge, after winning an open scholarship in science. H

Born 16 April 1868 at Merstham, Surrey, second child and second son of Edwin Peters and Damaris Kingsnorth, his wife. He was educated at Charterhouse and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he took first-class honours in Part 1 of the Natural Sciences Tripos, 1889, and second-class honours in Part 2,