Ernest Arthur Freeman was born on 20 September 1900 at Streatham, London, and educated at Westminster City School. He was called up in the last few weeks of the first world war and served as a private in the Royal West Surreys. With his ex-serviceman's grant he entered St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1

Robert Debenham, or 'Deb' as he was universally known, was born in Presteigne, Radnorshire, on 3 January 1902, the son of Horace Alan Debenham, a general practitioner, and his wife Maud Constance, who was the daughter of a GP. After preliminary schooling at Brockhurst he was educated at Malvern Coll

Eric William Riches, the second child and eldest son of William Riches, a schoolmaster, and of Kate Riches (née Rowbotham), was born on 29 July 1897, at Alford, Lincolnshire. He was educated at St Dunstan's, Alford, and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Alford, before securing an entrance scholarship