Second son of John James Street Driberg and Amy Mary Irving Bell, his wife, of Uckfield Lodge, Crowborough, he qualified from the London Hospital where he was surgical registrar and first assistant in the surgical unit and became an assistant surgeon. He served in the RAMC during the war of 1914-18,

John Arkle was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 28 July 1890 and was educated at St George's Private School at Gosforth. Subsequently he went to Edinburgh with a view to becoming an actuary, but after 12 months left Edinburgh to study medicine at Durham University. Arkle was a brilliant student and