Sydney Vernon Humphries, the eldest child of Sydney William Humphries, a bank manager, and Violet Humphries (née Kirkman), was born on 24 January 1907 at Middelburg, Cape Province, South Africa. He was educated at Michaelhouse, Natal, and Pembroke College, Cambridge, before entering St Thomas's Hosp

Kenneth Buxton was a former medical officer for the Church Missionary Society at Ruanda Mission, Ibuye, Burundi, and subsequently medical superintendent of Mildmay Mission Hospital, Bethnal Green, London. He was born in Hertfordshire, on 19 July 1909. His father, Leonard Buxton, was the grandson of