Ambrose Jolleys was born on 25 September 1919 in Ireleth, Westmoreland. He was educated at Urmston Grammar School, Manchester, and graduated MB ChB from Liverpool University in 1942. He was appointed a consultant in 1952, the first full-time paediatric surgeon in Manchester. He was a true pioneer

Peter Rickham was one of a small group of pioneering surgeons who helped to establish the specialty of paediatric surgery in the UK. He was born in Berlin on 21 June 1917, where his father, Otto Louis Reichenheim, was professor of physics at Berlin University. His mother was Susanne née Huldschinsky